The heart of the hunter
Dear Mischa,
You know that I love you. I want you to be happy, which mostly just means allowing you free expression of your instincts.
Some of the instincts I love most are those that show the wolf who lives deep in your heart. On a night walk a few days ago, you found a deer-trail at the edge of a field. There you paused, silhouetted against the midnight snow with your head and tail held high-and for a moment you were a wolf: beautiful, primal, gentle and wholly atavistic, as you set out into the night with every fibre and every sense quivering with alertness in the timeless rapture of the hunt.
Of course, if you were really a wolf, you'd know that deer are not found at the bottom of small holes in the snow. You'd know that if you wanted to catch them and eat them, you're not going to get very far by padding from hoofprint to hoofprint in the deep snow, sticking your nose into each one and sniffing ecstatically.
Still, you're a happy dog expressing your instincts, and that makes me happy because I love you. And I'm glad you're with me and akeela, because you'd be hopeless if you ever really had to survive like a wolf.
Love,
me.
You know that I love you. I want you to be happy, which mostly just means allowing you free expression of your instincts.
Some of the instincts I love most are those that show the wolf who lives deep in your heart. On a night walk a few days ago, you found a deer-trail at the edge of a field. There you paused, silhouetted against the midnight snow with your head and tail held high-and for a moment you were a wolf: beautiful, primal, gentle and wholly atavistic, as you set out into the night with every fibre and every sense quivering with alertness in the timeless rapture of the hunt.
Of course, if you were really a wolf, you'd know that deer are not found at the bottom of small holes in the snow. You'd know that if you wanted to catch them and eat them, you're not going to get very far by padding from hoofprint to hoofprint in the deep snow, sticking your nose into each one and sniffing ecstatically.
Still, you're a happy dog expressing your instincts, and that makes me happy because I love you. And I'm glad you're with me and akeela, because you'd be hopeless if you ever really had to survive like a wolf.
Love,
me.