It was still raining. I never liked rain to begin with, and I also never liked the creepy old oak thing. It was too bad that it was the only shelter around when it started raining. That weird echo noise that comes from it… ugh… it just weirds me out, you know man?

Anyway, I found myself housed with about… Man, I can’t remember… pretty sure it was like, six or seven fawns. I like fawns. I won’t admit that to everyone. Hell, sometimes I wish I could have kids of my own. Maybe adopt one of the little orphan buggers or something.

But I’m getting off topic. Anyway, all of these little fawns had one thing in common; they were getting out of the rain. I was the only adult there, so they all huddled next to me, curled into my curly red fur and whatnot. It was pretty damn cute, but I digress.

“Sir, tell us a story…” one of the little fawns asked me. Soon there was an entire chorus of them. “Story! Story!” they whined, pressing against me. Guh, that got me. These little buggers were just too cute.

“Okay…” I muttered, trying to think of something to tell them. Unlike other deer like Trees or Seed, my story-telling abilities, well… to put it in simple terms, suck. Royally. I had to try though… Poor kids…

I thought of something nice, then. Not very good, but it would do. “Alright, why don’t I tell you kids why the oak tree is hollow?” the fawns quieted down and cuddled against me, smiling.

“Once upon a time, there was a beautiful young doe princess named…” I paused here, and looked at one of the braver looking fawns that didn’t seem afraid at all. “What’s yer name, kid?” I asked. The little fawn wagged her tail

“Sterrrrre!”

“Okay… A beautiful doe princess named Sterre. She lived with her twin brother…” I looked at a little fawn next to her, one that hadn’t said a single word. Sterre bounced up and nuzzled him.

“Oiiiisss! Oiisss!” Ah… Now I remembered, Poltergeist’s kids

“Okay, she lived with her twin brother Otis. Now these two royal deer were loved by all of the other deer in the forest. Except for a big, mean deer named…” I looked around and picked out a nice looking little guy. “What’s yer name?” he flinched. Ah. The shy type.
“Z-Zanny, sir…”

“Alright, Except for a big, mean deer named Zanny…” the other fawns giggled at this. “Well, one day, the big, mean deer Zanny cast a big curse on the princess Sterre and the prince Otis…” the fawns gasped and huddled even closer (if that was possible).

“You see, the big, mean deer Zanny wanted nothing more than to kill the up incoming king and queen just because he wanted the throne all to himself. So ya know what he did?” I leaned my head down to get close to them.

“He cursed them! And imprisoned them in the oak tree that we’re sitting in right now!” the fawns squealed with delight, some climbing over me. “Now, keep in mind. It was so long ago, the great oak wasn’t hollow yet, so the prince and princess couldn’t just walk right on out. They were trapped forever.” Just then a little energetic fawn I knew personally, Kiraki, came tumbling into the oak, shaking herself off and spraying water everywhere before running off, giggling happily.

Well… that was Kiraki for ya.

“Anyway… With the prince and princess imprisoned, everyone was unhappy. The prince and princess were stuck in the great oak for years and years before a great hero decided to fight the big, mean deer Zanny. And his name was…” I looked around, and then spied a fawn I knew.

“His name was Ruscion.” I said. “A great, powerful worrier. He wanted nothing more than to kill the big, mean deer Zanny and save the prince and princess. So one day, he went down to the great ruins and consulted the wise and all-powerful twins…” I looked around again. “…Echria.” The fawns were giggling now, amused. I looked again. "...And Celeste."

“The great, wise Echria and Celeste told the great worrier Ruscion that the only way to take down the big, mean deer Zanny would be to free the prince and princess, who would teach him how to… be a nice person…”

Hey, they were fawns… Not like I could give them something gruesome.

“So the great worrier Ruscion walked up to the big oak, took his mighty antlers and started to pound against it. Slowly, he wore his way into the wood, creating a deep hollow space. In the middle of this space were the princess Sterre and the prince Otis, perfectly alright.”

“After the prince and princess were free they set out and met up with the big, mean deer Zanny and told him that cursing them wasn’t a very nice thing to do. The big, mean deer Zanny, amazed that the two royal folk broke his curse, declared that he would no longer be the big, mean deer Zanny, but the great, nice deer Zanny.”

“And that, kids, is why the old oak is hollow.”


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I'm sorry, Quad. This went way overboard for me. I tired adding in as many fawns as I could. I know I didn't even get half... and I'm sorry.
Whether or not this will qualify, consider it a gift for the fawns here. I love you guys.
(For Quad's Forest Fables project)