“Do the owls ever get caught by our other enemies?”
“Sometimes. Among our lesser enemies the lynx is said to be wiser than the wisest owl. The lynx eats rabbits, mice, and birds. He studies the habits of these creatures. He knows that the owl is always watching to swoop down on some helpless field mouse. My own mother told me that when a lynx is hungry for owl meat, he will burrow in well-packed snow, leaving a small opening in the crust about the size of your tail. He then lies on his back in his snow cave and pokes his short bobtail through the roof and wags it to and fro. When the owl sees it, he thinks it is a field mouse. He swoops down to catch his own supper and meets his finish in the sharp claws and teeth of the lynx.”
“The lynx are more cunning than the wolves. Do you fear them as much, mother?”
“No, my son. When they attack our kind, it is usually a weak fawn or an injured reindeer.”
“Mother, that little caribou cousin of mine—the fawn with the big antlers—couldn’t run very fast. Do you think the wolves would catch him?” White Sox now asked.
“It’s quite likely they would,” said Mother Reindeer. “The weaklings always go first to feed our enemies, and their going helps to save the strong ones. A wild caribou can never hope to die a natural death. Our wild cousins know that at some time or other they must be caught and eaten by their enemies. Their freedom, which appeared so attractive to you, is dangerous and deprives them of protection. Even when some of their number are always on watch, prowling enemies will take them by surprise, as they did yesterday.”
“Mother,” said White Sox, thoughtfully, “knowing this, why didn’t one of us stand watch while the other slept?”
“One of us did,” she answered. “I slept the ‘caribou sleep,’ half a minute on and half a minute off, while you slept the reindeer sleep.”
White Sox was greatly surprised when he heard this. He felt that he had been very thoughtless and selfish. “You should have let me do my share of watching,” he said.
“You were too tired, my son,” his mother told him. “Besides, you knew nothing about the ways of caribou and wolves before we came on this visit to our cousins. In the big herd the reindeer sleep long and sound; they have no fear of enemies. The Eskimo herders and the collies watch over them. Cowbells frighten the wolves and scare them away.”