Tales from Hallowed Hollow
Follow Your Dreams
Written by
Marg Watt
Published by Moorna Publications at Smashwords
Moorna Publications
Text copyright © Marg Watt 2010
Illustrations copyright © Jenny Finn 2010
ISBN 978-0-9871069-4-0
The moral rights of the author and illustrator have been asserted.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any means or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying (except under statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian Copyright Act 1968), recording, scanning, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of Moorna Publications.
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Follow Your Dreams
“When I grow up I’ll show all the other creatures around here that I’m special, even though they tell me I’m such an ugly badger, and then I’ll travel far and wide to become well known everywhere I go”
These were the words Dagnell used time and time over as he was growing up.
Haigar the old sow badger, had raised him as her own after she’d found him lying on the roadside as a youngster late one night, nearly dead from cold and hunger. Since then he’d always been on the receiving end of all the other young badger’s tormenting jokes, and constant teasing about him looking so different to them.
At the time Haigar had taken it upon herself to take him in and care for the young Dagnell, she’d been well past her prime by badger standards.
During the many years she’d share her life with Pasha – her long dead mate – Haigar had given birth to, and raised many of her own babies, so she didn’t allow Dagnell’s looks to interfere with her strong maternal feelings regarding young and helpless creatures.
Her natural instincts were to love and care for them all.
Pasha had gotten himself caught and killed in an illegal badger trap set by the dairy farmer who owned the land all around. This land adjoined the wild wasteland area where Haigar, along with her mate Pasha, had long ago dug their badger sett into the side of a small hillock beneath a small copse of copper beech trees.
At the time of Pasha’s passing, Haigar was already too old to be of interest to any other male badger, but she still retained the deep desire to care for youngsters. Her mothering instincts had not become dimmed, as she got older. When she’d stumbled upon the near to death youngster on the side of the road that night she hadn’t hesitated for a single moment in adopting him and providing him with the care he needed.
Yes indeed, there was certainly something very different about the young Dagnell’s appearance when she’d first discovered him.
He had been lying among the remains of a wooden crate, and an untidy pile of messy, bedding hay. However, he’d been a baby, and much more importantly for her, he’d been a baby in need.
All her natural maternal feelings came rushing to the fore, overriding any misgivings she may have felt about him at the time.
A baby was simply a baby to Haigar, and nothing else mattered.
She’d been feeling very lonely and downcast living alone in the vast empty badger sett since Pasha had gone to join The Great Spirit, so the thought of hearing the patter of tiny paws around the tunnels once more greatly appealed to her.
She’d willingly taken the young Dagnell into her empty life, and home, with an open mind.
Since then, Haigar had convinced herself Dagnell’s unusual appearance would change as time passed by.
He would somehow transform and take on the classical striped black and white badger’s coat, long pointed snout, and other general features of her kind.
However, no matter how much time passed, Dagnell still maintained the same shorter brownish coloured coat, broader face and nose he’d always had since the day she’d found him.