Maggie and the Kits, Part VII

What will the humans do?

The next morning, both the man and the woman came outside just after first light. They looked in the direction of the kittens, who had spent the night at the edge of the clearing. The kittens stood up. The humans held still. 

The kittens offered a soft “mew” and then sat down again. The woman stepped forward one step and stopped. “What do you need?” She asked in a friendly voice.

The kittens weren’t sure what she was saying, but it was friendly, and they understood the tone and unaggressive body language. 

The kittens got to their feet and slowly backed away toward the trail, then turned around. Jack looked over his shoulder and offered another “mew”. 

The woman glanced at the man, never really taking her eyes off the kittens. “If that wasn’t an invitation to follow, I don’t know what is,” she breathed. “Let’s go.” 

She moved slowly in the direction of the kittens. The man followed.

If the kittens knew what a high five was, they would have done it. They were nervous, but excited. 

“Hang on, mama,” Fiona whispered. “We’re bringing help!”

The small party went quietly through the woods, the kittens stopping frequently to let the humans catch up. When they got to the den, the kittens hurried inside to see how their mother was doing. Leaving her alone for over 24 hours had been hard on them. 

Maggie lay on her side, breathing shallowly. She felt as though she was slipping in and out of consciousness, so when the kittens first appeared she didn’t believe they were there. The kittens slowly approached and licked her face, her paws, and the wound on her leg. Their need to make sure she was safe brought Maggie back. She raised her head slowly and smiled at the kittens - and then she smelled the others. A low growl raised in her throat.

 “Don’t worry, mama, these are nice humans. No sticks. You need help. Maybe they can help you. We were desperate, we didn’t know what to do, so we went to the clearing thinking maybe we could catch something there for you to eat, but we remembered what you said about leaving the animals alone. So we did. The people were so nice! They just left us alone. We couldn’t disobey you, and we couldn’t hurt their animals. So we stayed at the edge and let them see us.

“They didn’t try to shoo us away or anything, they just looked, and we could feel that they meant us no harm. Then they went into their den, and this morning when they came out the first thing they did was look for us. So here they are.

“Let them help you.”

Maggie was in no shape to defend her kittens, and she was frustrated. What if these humans took them away? What if they hurt her babies? The kittens were staying away from the humans, but they had so much trust! What to do?

A face appeared at the entrance to the den. It was the woman. Then another face appeared. A male. Maybe her mate? How odd to have a mate that stayed around. 

Maggie and the humans stared at one another. Maggie felt a little fear from them, and that made her afraid. What if they weren’t what the kittens believed they were?

Then the woman made a low sound. It was soothing, melodic. What was that noise? Maggie liked it, whatever it was. She could feel the humans relaxing, and she relaxed. Her first instinct was to protect her babies and herself, but the humans stayed far enough away that she almost, almost felt safe. So she let herself ride on the waves of the sound.

The kittens were off to one side, staying close by their mother and watching the humans carefully. They really hoped they had made the right decision to bring the humans here. They had lived in this den for a long time without anyone ever finding it, and now two people knew where it was. They hoped they were as reliable as the kittens hoped. It was a huge leap of faith on their part to bring them here.

The woman kept her voice low, and said to the man, “She’s hurt! Look at her leg. What can we do? She’s big and powerful, but must feel so vulnerable right now.”

“I don’t know,” the man replied. “We’ve doctored our own animals, but they’re domestic, not a wild cat. We can’t do anything that would cause her to depend on us. Maybe we should call in Parks and Wildlife.”

The woman made a small face. “I’m concerned that if we do that, they’ll just put her to sleep and grab the kittens. Those kittens need their mother.”

“What if we try to help her ourselves, and if she doesn’t like it, then we call in Parks and Wildlife?” She continued. “I really want to protect these three. This is their home, and it’s on our land. They should be allowed to stay here. Those kittens trusted us enough to bring us here. They must have been watching us for months. I can’t just turn their mom away.

“And look at that wound - it looks like a gunshot. Humans did this to her. No wonder there’s no trust!”

“C’mon,” said the man. “I have an idea. She needs food, and she needs something she would catch on her own. Let’s see if we can find her something.”

The man and woman left. The kittens were a little upset. They went to a lot of trouble to bring the humans here, and nothing had changed. Mama was still tired, hurting and hungry, and they were getting hungrier by the minute. What were those humans going to do?

The kittens laid back down by their mother. They would not leave her again. Their effort to get help seemed to have fallen flat, and now two people knew where the den was. They had put the whole family at risk.

Maggie could feel how sad the kittens were. She wearily raised her head and licked them. “You did good,” she murmured. “Humans are unpredictable, and as soon as I’m feeling a little better we’ll move on. We’ll go someplace where no one can find us.” She laid her head back down and promptly feel asleep. The kittens cuddled in closer.

Hours later, it seemed, the kittens woke up to a small sound outside. They smelled the humans again. Were they going to hurt the cats?

The sound drifted away, and with it, the human smell. Then they smelled something else, too. Rabbit! Freshly killed, it seemed. Jack, always ready to take action, got to his feet and went to the den door. Outside, a few feet away, were two dead rabbits.

“Food!” He exclaimed, and went out to retrieve the gifts. He smelled the two rabbits thoroughly. No scent that shouldn’t be there, although he could smell a little human on each of them. But nothing that seemed dangerous.

He brought the two rabbits back in the den, and woke up his mother. “Mama, look! A gift! One for you, and one for me and Fiona!” He nudged one of the rabbits closer to his mother.

Maggie raised her head and could smell the good food in front of her. Her mouth started to water and she got slowly to her haunches. Ow, that hurt, sitting on her back leg, but she ignored the pain and tore into the rabbit. Her stomach, which had been so empty, filled with the life-giving food and she could feel some strength returning to her body. She looked over at her kittens, who were devouring their food as well.

Maggie felt grateful toward the humans who would bring this gift to her and her kittens. Her philosophy of not stealing from another species had led to a level of trust.

Over the next few days, fresh rabbits appeared outside the den. The humans never came close. They left an offering every couple of days, and left the lions totally alone. 

Maggie’s strength came back, and it wasn’t long before she was able to sit in the sun outside the den. Her leg would never be 100%, but she could move well enough to hunt, and one day the humans came by with their gift and saw her.

“I think they don’t need our help any more,” whispered the woman, and the man agreed. They laid down their final gift, far from the mouth of the den, and went slowly on their way.

The humans put up “No Hunting” signs all around the edges of their property. They knew the kittens would grow up and find their own territories, but any animal that was within their borders was as safe as possible from hunters. If anyone tried to come onto their property, they fiercely sent them on their way.

Fiona and Jack did grow up big and strong. They learned how to hunt on their own, and got very proficient in bringing down a deer, burying it with leaves for future meals, and making sure they had enough to eat. When they were old enough to leave the den on their own, they went deep into the mountains, away from humans and their smoking sticks, to live their lives and not bother anyone. 

Maggie stayed in her den. She traveled very carefully in her territory, and kept well away from any sounds that startled her. She would never put herself in a position of being chased by dogs and men with sticks again. If she heard anything that sounded foreign, she immediately returned to the area behind the signs around the perimeter of the friendly humans’ property, and hid. She always limped a little, but it didn’t stop her from being a powerful hunter.

Only two humans ever knew about her den, and they weren’t talking. They had formed a powerful, respectful relationship with another species, and they lived their own lives and kept out of each others way.

Maggie had several litters of kittens over the years. She would always bring her new kittens to the clearing and tell them the story about the people who lived there, and how they helped her get well. She cautioned her kittens always that people in general were to be left alone and not trusted, and to get well away from them, but she also wanted her kittens to know that there were people who knew how to live with nature, not against it. 

Maggie wished there were more people like that. These two humans were very special, and Maggie appreciated them, and the time they had helped her family survive when she and her kittens surely would have perished without help. The humans hadn’t needed to do that. They knew how to live within the confines of a natural existence with the beings around them. Maggie’s philosophy of no harm, which most lions embraced, had helped her and the humans teach one another well. She and the two humans lived in harmony to the end of their days.

This story is a fantasy, but there are elements that we can all embrace. No Harm. Respecting another being’s needs. Helping where help is needed. Live and let live. These are things we can do for our animal friends, and for our fellow human beings. Be Maggie. Be these kind humans. Make the world a better place.