I am thinking that from the rest of my notes some reader will decide that my whole life consisted of nothing but suffering, sorrow and struggle. This is not so at all; it is true that the Gods have arranged man so that evil leaves a deep imprint on his memory, and good is erased and erased from it in the short weeks and months. However, there are many bright times in my life, and my present story is about one of them.<\/p>\n
But before I begin, I will address you, reader. I do not know what tribe and what nation you will be if you ever stumble upon what I have written, and so I will first tell you a few things that you may not know. I have read the Hellenic chroniclers before, and they say very little about my people, and even fewer are true words. Therefore, be attentive.<\/p>\n
I myself am from the Betian people, as you may have already understood from my dialect, namely from that part of it that calls itself the Digittas.in original d\u0268\u0263\u0268do\u02b0 <\/b>singular, d\u0268\u0263\u0268di <\/b>pl.<\/span><\/i>. My people have many beautiful wives, and not a few who take anyone's breath away at the sight of them. But the men of my tribe care little for them, preferring their own kind. Men fight alongside men, walk alongside men, and even lie together; and it often happens that they have not one lover, but two or even three. They see wives as an ordinary thing, a beautiful trinket, which is an honor to possess and which can continue your lineage with sons. Sometimes I think that if gold necklaces and earrings had the power to bear children, then my people would get rid of wives altogether.<\/p>\n Now you will not be surprised if I tell you that when Gwenneda and I became friends, some in my village began to despise me even more than before. Was it right for a man of my age to hang out with a girl and spend so much time with her as I had never spent with any of the young men? But it was not only a new misfortune that befell me then: others suddenly reached out to her, and what was more unexpected - not only the girls. Then at last I had those whom I could call friends, and now I will tell you about one of them - a dark-haired, sly youth named Trevomoretre\u03b2\u1ecd\u03b2\u0303\u1ecdro\u02b0<\/b>, from Prabetan *demand <\/i>"village" and *maros <\/i>"large". Cf. modern Bothian name Trefor.<\/span><\/i>.<\/p>\n I could go on and on about our pranks and tricks, and two sun circles would hardly be enough to list them all. But one of them comes to mind first of all. We were sitting on the river bank, and he was drawing something on the sand with a stick - and suddenly he turned to me, and his eyes lit up with a fire so familiar to me.<\/p>\n \u201cBrunvenn,\u201d he said, \u201chave you ever shown yourself to any of our people in your fox form?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cUnless it\u2019s through carelessness,\u201d I answered him.<\/p>\n - Wouldn't you like to?..<\/p>\n I didn't immediately understand where he was going with this.<\/p>\n \u201cBut for what purpose?\u201d I answered again. \u201cIt\u2019s enough for me that many people avoid and shun me, but what if the whole village hates me?\u201d<\/p>\n "And none of the older ones will love you anymore," he shrugged. "But think about the younger ones they are arming against you. If you suddenly showed them that you are not nearly as scary as some say, then maybe?..<\/p>\n There was a grain of truth in his words. And it was very firmly seated, as I realized much later.<\/p>\n In the end it was decided to do it this way. Three of us gathered in the forest behind the village: me, Gwenneda and that same Trevomore. I turned right before their eyes - they themselves wanted to see the transformation, although I resisted. And, in truth, none of them showed fear or disgust, except that Gwenneda became a little paler in face than she had been before.<\/p>\n And then Trevomore climbed right on top of me. I was about fifteen then, and he was a year or two younger than me, but still much smaller in body, so I don't remember his weight causing me any discomfort. Gwenneda had her hair braided in a special way and walked beside me. And so we entered the village, the three of us, me on all fours, Trevomore on horseback, and Gwenneda striding proudly at my right hand.<\/p>\n Needless to say, we raised the ears of everyone we could? What else could one expect from those who saw a fox the size of an average wolf? I think that if my friends had not been with me, the Beta relatives would have grabbed their weapons, and I would have had to run back to the forest to lick my wounds.<\/p>\n However, no one laid a finger on me; the adults poured out into the courtyards and followed me with glances in which fear, disgust and bewilderment were mixed in equal parts. But the children... one of the younger ones walked towards me, and his mother, not paying attention at first, suddenly rushed after him - but it was too late. Gwenneda, taking the boy by the hand, led him to me with a smile, and he, a little timidly, first stroked my neck... and immediately after that grabbed my ear.<\/p>\n The others came running after him. Trevomore had to get off me to drive away the most zealous ones, and I was already busy with them as best I could: I rode them on my back, and rolled in the dust with them, and played tag for an incalculable amount of time. Only the bravest of the parents came closer to me and led their children away, while the rest were afraid to take two steps; they just stood there and gnashed their teeth, afraid that I would become furious and grab one of their children by the throat.<\/p>\n When the fun was over, Trevomore and Gwenneda took the children aside, and I myself withdrew from them and changed back into a human. Some of them did not even understand what had happened; some understood and immediately became gloomy, but most of all there were those who took my transformation for granted.<\/p>\n I can't say that my life has become easier since then, but it has definitely become more fun. And it was then that the betas of my tribe finally realized that I would have to be taken into account after all.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":1097,"menu_order":2,"template":"","yoast_head":"\n