Author's note:  In telling this story, I have had to translate all conversations into English in order to be understood.

The morning sun felt warm on my back as I crept across the clearing into the safety of the trees.  I had no real need to be hunting for food, as I had enjoyed a good breakfast, but my hunting instincts were aroused, and there is no denying nature.  I was in peak condition, sleek and fit, all my senses were at peak efficiency, and I knew that with the weapons which were a permanent part of me, I was a deadly force to be reckoned with.

I skirted a large tree, and began to follow a trail which I felt may lead to a promising victim.  The singing of birds overhead distracted me momentarily from the trail, and made me wish for wings.

I spotted a couple of animals I recognised as not being to my taste, so after a short chase, just to keep in practice, I let them go about their business, and went hunting something a little larger.  The shadows were growing longer before I finally found an animal that looked as if it might provide a good morning snack, though I had not the faintest idea of what it was called.  After a short chase and a swift attack, the animal lay dead at my feet, blood oozing from the wound in its neck.

'Take it home and eat it, or enjoy a picnic in the woods?', I wondered, but before I had time to make any decision in the matter,  I heard a muffled cry for help.  The voice sounded very weak, so I felt confident in investigating.  Rounding a large shrub, I came upon a sorry sight.  He was only a youngster, and was lying beside the ruins of a trap, from which he had quite clearly just extricated himself.  He was bedraggled and still damp from last night's rain, and didn't have much flesh on his bones, although I felt that that was not his normal state.

'Help!', he called again, very weakly, and I approached him.

'Well, you're in a right state,' I said.  'How long have you been here?'

'I don't know, about 4 or 5 days I think.  Please could you spare me some of your food?  I haven't eaten for days, and I need to regain my strength if I'm to make it home.'

There was something vaguely familiar about him, in his light brown hair and blue eyes, but now wasn't the time for a discussion on where we might have met before.  As I still wasn't particularly hungry, I decided to help him, and dragged my catch over to where he could reach it. 

With a minimum of preparation, he tore into the meat, and between mouthfuls he expressed his gratitude.  'I don't know how I would have managed without you,' he said.  'Can I ask you one more favour, please?  I would be eternally grateful if you could help me get home safely, and I know my family would make you welcome.  We would be happy to count such a generous soul among our friends.'

My family were used to my need to get away from time to time, and I knew they wouldn't worry if I didn't show up for a couple of days, so I decided to escort him home.  It took a few hours, due to his extreme weakness, but we finally made it to a log cabin beside a slow meandering stream. 

There was smoke rising from a chimney, and a clutch of chickens pecking their way around a dirt yard, and it looked like a lovely peaceful home, and strangely familiar. 

'Home,' he murmured, and raised his voice.  'Ma!'  His weak cry went unanswered, so I added my stronger voice to his.  After a minute or so, the door opened and a large rosy cheeked woman, probably the farmer's wife, stood in the opening.

'Tom!,' she cried.  'Where have you been, we've been so worried about you, and the kids have been looking all over.  Your mother has been out of her mind with worry. What have you done to yourself?  That's blood!  Oh, come here and let me fix it.'

Then she noticed me for the first time.  'And who is that female?' she asked.

Coming closer she dropped to her knees and took Tom into her arms, and he tried to give her an account of what had happened, showing her his injured leg.  The woman fussed over him for a few minutes, making sure that his leg wasn't too badly hurt, then she looked more closely at me.  'I know you,' she said slowly, 'You're Tom's sister Tabitha.  You went to live with Leroy and Addie Atkins six months ago.  Didn't you recognise each other?'

Looking down at Tom, she said 'Tom, did you realise, your own sister just saved your life!'