Bones

Two brothers set out to hunt as winter was approaching. It was going to be a harsh one, and their family was relying on them to bring back rich meat to get them through the cold time ahead. They had been desperately hunting for two days when they chanced on a large elk. The brothers pursued after it eagerly. However, the younger brother was too careless as they descended the hill and lost his footing. He tumbled down, breaking his leg. The older brother helped him to a safe place where he built a camp. They agreed that the younger could look after himself, whilst the older brother would continue to hunt alone in the woodlands nearby. As sundown came, he departed, leaving the younger brother with enough firewood and a club to protect himself.

As the sun dipped out, the younger brother had kindled himself a humble fire. He drew his cloak tight about himself and remained seated beside the fire. Out of nowhere, a voice calls from outside the fire’s glow.

“May I join you by the fire?”

The younger brother was startled and almost tries to stand up. Instead he winces, dropping back onto the rock. He holds the club tight in his hand and stares in the direction of the voice. After a couple of minutes, just as he was to believe it was his imagination, the voice calls out once more.

“May I join you by the fire?”

A few seconds pass. Then the younger brother nods his head almost unnoticeably. Immediately after he does, footsteps snapping on small twigs under foot can be heard approaching. Then a skeletal apparition appears, walking over to sit on a stone on the opposite side of the fire. The skeleton sat there, staring into the flames without moving. The younger brother watched it carefully until the fire died down to embers. Then he drifted off to sleep.

When he woke, the apparition was gone. The next uneventful day passed, with no signs of the older brother returning. Night came once more and the younger brother built up a fire, larger than the night before. The younger brother waited, fully alert. Still, after some time when the voice called out once more, he was startled.

“May I join you by the fire?”

The younger brother once again does not answer at first. The voice repeats itself again at which point he nods once, and the skeleton emerges from the darkness. Taking the same seat on the stone opposite. When the flame dies out, the brother involuntarily falls asleep. In the morning, there is no signs that the guest was ever there.

Around midday, the older brother returns. Sadly, with nothing to show from the hunt. It was not looking good for them and given the circumstances they would return to their family empty handed tomorrow. The younger brother explains the strange occurrences of the past two nights, and that it may appear again tonight.

The night closed in, and the brothers built up their fire. They were warm, but hungry. They waited, expectantly and suddenly the voice calls out to them.

“May I join you by the fire?”

The older brother jumps up, his club raised in his hand. The younger brother waves him to sit back down, reassuring him that it was safe. He complies, sitting back beside his brother. When the voice called out the second time the younger brother nods. The skeleton approaches the fire from the same direction as before, sitting opposite the brothers on the same rock. The brother’s exchanged a look then all sat in silence until the fire dwindled out, and they fell asleep.

In the morning when they woke up, in place of the skeleton on the rock was a large pile of dead hares.