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The Spirit of Anger as told by Quad

Once there were two stags, a grey one who was old but wise, and a brown one who was young but stubborn. The two deer often bickered about little things. The grey deer thought the brown should listen to his words of experience, but the brown deer wanted to do things his way and hated being lectured.

One evening, the two of them were so angry with each other that they lowered their antlers toward one another and began to fight. Their antlers crashed and shook the silence of their land. They scared away all other creatures around them, each deer determined to take the other down.

As the fight continued, something appeared before them - a great forest spirit that looked down at the two stags curiously. The two deer stopped their fight, both shocked at the appearance of the great spirit. The creature was massive, with a body similar to a deer's, but had a long snout with rows of teeth. His eyes were blood red, glaring down at the two who were considerably smaller.

"Keep your anger at each other.", the spirit said to them, "It pleases me to see such hatred."

"I'm not here to entertain you!", the young brown stag called out.

The spirit laughed, licking his lips, "You will continue fighting, or I will devour you both!", the spirit replied, "How about a challenge? I will spare the winner's life. Now, fight!"

The two stags looked back at each other, both having the same idea about the spirit's words. Neither wanted to die today.

The two locked antlers once again, both struggling to force the other down, both with the same determination. However, one of the stags slowly was losing his strength.

The brown stag collapsed, forced down by the older stag. His antlers pressed against the defeated brown's, as if he was declaring his victory. The young stag struggled to catch his breath, his body tired and unable to continue the fight.

The grey stag unlocked his antlers with the defeated stag and stepped back, looking up at the spirit. The great creature stared intently at the young deer, "You are victorious, old one. Now leave me to my meal."

The old stag shook his head, "No."

The spirit tilted his head, "You refuse to let this one die? After fighting with such anger and hatred?"

"Take my life instead. I am old and have lived my life, but my son is too young to die this afternoon. He has much to learn.", the grey stag replied.

The young brown stag looked up to his father, hearing the words that would spare his life. Tears filled his eyes, though he felt such hatred before, he did not want to see his father be eaten.

The great spirit bent down, preparing to eat the old stag. The grey deer closed his eyes and waited for the spirit's teeth to sink into his body.

...However, he felt the spirit kiss him on the head.

"My son, you have proven your love.", the spirit said. His body shrank, and took a more familiar form - Michael appeared before them.

The brown stag slowly rose to his hooves, confused about what had just happened. His father understood, though - the forest spirit was really a god, who tested the two of them, not on their hate but their love.

"Your child has many lessons to learn, perhaps the first may be of selflessness, and the value of wisdom.", Michael spoke, "May he be forever inspired by your love. You both have my blessing."

And thus, the god transformed into a crow and flew away. The father looked to his son, "I nearly lost you.", he said.

The young stag looked back to his father, "I'm sorry...", he said, "...for doubting you."

The two would see many more days together, never fighting again, both looking to each other with respect and love.

--End--