Northern Stories -
Émile Maheu
Why deer and wasps get along quite
well, thank you!
Once upon a time, there was a mother deer with her three little spring
fawns, fawnies as we call them affectionately. She taught them all sorts
of tricks to survive in the woods such as the kind of hay to eat, the
kind of tree leaves that tasted good, and what streams would provide
them with a cold refreshing drink. Now, the mother deer and her family
lived near an old abandoned sugar bush cabin to which they often
retreated when they needed protection. Also, when the mother deer had to
leave for a short while, she always said to her precious little ones:
- Stay inside, my darlings. Lock the door. Open only when I tell you to
do so.
One day, as the mother was wandering alone in the woods, she came upon a
small brook trickling from under a rock and decided to enjoy a drink of
cool refreshing water. The water was very cold indeed! At that moment,
she noticed nearby that a wasp was drowning in the brook. The mother
deer immediately took pity upon the little insect, and taking a strong
branch in her teeth, she passed it on to the wasp who promptly clutched
to it for dear life. She was saved! Then the wasp spoke:
- Thank you very much for having saved my life. I am the Queen of that
hive over yonder. If one day you need my help, come to the hive. Call
for me and I will come immediately.
And without further ado, the wasp flew away in the direction of the
hive, all the while belting out her usual little singsong, Bzzzzz !
Now, one fine day, not long after this incident, the mother deer said to
her fawnies:
- We are now right in the middle of a bad drought, my darlings. I must
go out to find food and good drinking water for you. Our own creek has
dried up. It’s completely empty! You will stay here. Lock the door
tightly and open it for no one because I saw a wolf around here not too
long ago. He was just skin and bones, and he was lurking about.
Certainly he too was looking for food.
Now, my little darlings, you are to open the door only when you hear me
say:
- Open up, my little ones, open up. This is your mother asking you to do
so.
The fawnies promise to do exactly as their mother had asked. But the
wolf was not far away! He had seen the mother leave the cabin. In no
time at all, he was near the door which the fawns had barricaded with
all sorts of things such as old sugar dishes and old sugar pails. Being
the braggart that he was, the wolf said in his loud voice:
- Open up little ones. I am the wolf and I eat lambs and fawnies.
However, the fawns felt quite sheltered behind the door they had so well
barricaded, and they bravely answered the wolf:
- Try to come in wolf, if you can! But you will never succeed!
Hearing this, the wolf was quite irritated. He trier to open the door
with his claws, his teeth, his tail, but all without success. He left
furious, screaming these menacing words to the fawns:
- You will pay me dearly for this affront. Mark my words!
Not long after, the mother returned and said:
- Open up my little ones, open up. This is your mother asking you to do
so.
The children opened the door and threw themselves in their mother’s arms
saying:
- The big bad wolf came, but we didn’t open the door.
- Good! That was the right thing to do, my little angels, because he
would have devoured you. Unfortunately, I must leave again tomorrow. I
think I found a plentiful source of food. Keep the door well barricaded
until you hear the same words:
- Open up, my little ones, open up. This is your mother asking you to do
so.
All this time, the wolf was hiding behind the cabin. He smelled the
tender fresh meat (yum! yum!) of the spring fawns and had by chance
heard the mother’s recommendation. After a while, when he felt the
mother had gone a certain distance into the woods, the wolf arrived at
the door and with a feeble and trembling voice, said:
- Open up, my little ones, open up. This is your mother asking you to do
so.
One of the fawnies said:
- Oh! That doesn’t sound like mother’s voice!
The second one replied:
- Our mother has stepped in very cold water yesterday. Maybe she caught
a cold.
The third said:
- Well, we are barricaded. Let’s open just a wee bit and see who is
there.
Looking through a crack, they saw the muzzle and the sharp teeth of the
wolf who was now trying to force open the door. Fear gripped all three
darling fawnies. One of the smaller ones said:
- He will take away the barricade, and then he will be able to break the
lock.
The fawns saw that the door was opening slowly. Luckily, this particular
cabin just happened to have a loft. Quickly the fawnies ran up to this
safe area. And just as soon as the fawns had reached the attic and
barricaded the trap door securely behind them, they heard the wolf enter
the cabin. That wolf was darn mad ! His meal had escape him again! He
was fuming with rage. He gnashed his teeth in anger and growled loudly.
The poor wee fawnies upstairs were so terrified that the blood froze in
their veins just listening to all those noises. But the wolf told them:
Nothing is lost by waiting. Your mother will appear shortly and I will
devour her first. Then I will wait for all of you, and I will eat
everyone for dessert.
Saying this, the wolf barricaded the door in the same manner that the
fawns had done before so that the mother would not notice that something
was amiss. He left only one little peep hole from a knot in one of the
planks in the door. This manoeuvre was to allow him to see outside.
At that moment, the mother deer was making her way out of the woods. She
was completely unaware of what had happened. Arriving at the door, she
said as usual:
- Open up, my little ones, open up. This is your mother asking you to do
so.
The fawnies in their loft heard this and they began shouting at the top
of their lungs.
- Go away, Mommy, go away! The wolf is in the cabin. He is just waiting
to eat you. As for us, we are barricaded in the loft. You see, he cannot
catch us here.
Immediately, the mother turned round and left. She needed time to think!
And she asked herself:
- Just how am I going to free my little ones?
All of a sudden, she thought of the wasp’s promise to her:
- If one day you need my help, come to the hive. Call me and I will come
immediately.
Without losing one minute, the mother deer ran to the hive and asked the
guard at the door to let her speak with the Queen.
However, the sentinel very impatiently answered:
- Don’t even think about it! You a deer, speak with her Majesty the
Queen! Go away before I “sic” the wasps on you.
- I want to see the Queen immediately! Call her now otherwise, you will
regret it.
The sentinel was quite taken aback to hear such words. And without
further ado, he went to the Queen and told her the story. The Queen
answered:
- That must be the mother deer who saved my life last spring. I will go
and see what she wants.
It didn’t take long for the mother deer to explain the situation
accurately. Then the Queen said:
- Wait a minute. We will settle this matter right now, once and for all.
She then took command of an army of wasps. They all took flight. The sky
was black with them. Now they were flying towards the sugar bush cabin.
Upon arriving, the Queen made a short reconnaissance flight and easily
discovered the knot hole that the wolf had left in the plank of the door
to allow him to see outside. She then gave her army the signal to enter
the cabin. One by one, the wasps all passed through that tiny hole.
There were now thousands and thousands of them swarming inside the
cabin. And, they began to sting the wolf on the yes, the muzzle, the
paws and under the tail. The wolf really took a rough beating. With
incredible effort, he succeeded in opening the door. Then he bolted out,
running towards the forest, all the while being chased by furious wasps,
their stingers sticking out long like this.
When all was finished and the wasps had left the cabin, the mother deer
went to fetch her little ones upstairs. Seeing her, they ran to her feet
saying:
- Mommy! Mommy, we were so frightened for you, and we were afraid for
ourselves also. Our tanks go to all your good friends the wasps. They
are the ones who saved us.
Ever since that time, deers and wasps have been good friends,
And the wolf remembers well the lesson learned.
Tales of my younger days. A-Émile Maheu Des Hazards, April 12, 1998
Translated from french by Mary Wiss, August 200 Sudbury, Ontario.
