Mr. Zusam wobbled through the fallen leaves, like a roaming brown bush. He was the picture of clumsiness and determination, somehow the two merged wherever Mr. Zusam was grouching about. All the other porcupines referred to him as Zeus. He roamed around the forest all by himself and that was just fine with him. The other porcupines had long come to terms with the fact that Zeus was fine on his own; they let him be and he didn’t fuss with them. He lived in the hollow of a stout tree that looked oddly enough quite like this greying, wobbling, porcupine.

Zeus wasn’t mean, but he was a stickler for how the forest should be. He liked things exactly as he had always known them. The bears have their place and they can eat what they like, the birds have their nests and their trees, the deer prance about and run by now and again, and so on, etc. Zeus had his place too, and it happened to be a very lovely clearing not too far from his tree. The clearing was the perfect distance because it kept him agile, at least in porcupine terms. This little place was down hill from the stream that ran through his section of the forest and the sun hit it just right in the morning; perfect conditions for a big beautiful clover patch to grow. And that is precisely what grew there, all over the clearing.

Zeus ate to his heart’s content every morning, at the same time, at the same patch. That was until the hedgehogs showed their ugly little faces.

One morning, when he wobbled into the clearing, he grinned as he always had when he climbed up the hill looking for the fluffy white blooms of the clover. His face went blank as he glanced around and saw not one single fluffy bloom. The flowers had all been eaten clean. He puffed as he foraged around the hill. Smelling and huffing some more, he squinted into the trees trying to see if any other porcupines had wandered into what they knew was his patch. He didn’t see anything. He scanned the hillside for deer prints and saw none.

“Who would do such a thing to my precious clover patch?” He asked no one.

A round ball emerged from behind his old grey form, “Your clover patch?”

Zeus yipped as he startled, “Where did you come from?”

“We came from the other side of the stream. My clan managed to survive a big storm, but we lost our home when a great wind knocked over a tree and crushed our den. We even had to flee the area because a group of wolves came through and claimed our crushed den as their own. That’s why we’ve ended up over here.”

“Well, I’m sorry about all that but this is my patch. You’ll have to find your own.”

“Surely there is enough clover here to feed my clan along with all of your relatives!”

“Whether that is the case or not, I did not welcome you here, and I have been eating this clover for longer than you’ve been alive, I can assure you. I happen to know a lot of creatures on this side of the stream and there is a big fallen tree down the way where I’m sure some of them will share mushrooms and moss with you.”

“We had a small clover patch with shrubs all around it, but now we would like to stay here.”

“This is just ridiculous! You cannot simply walk into my patch and decide that it’s good enough for you. I have been here since as long as I can remember. You see any other porcupines here? No. Because they all have the decency to know what is theirs and what is mine. You silly looking rodents can find someone else’s patch. I can plainly see you have already eaten for the day, as all my fluffy white blooms are gone. So go somewhere else tomorrow and leave this old one to his own.”

With that long rant the hedgehogs felt unwelcome enough to listen to Zeus. The oldest hedgehog, Mantel, was merely a boy compared to the porcupine. But he knew that his clan needed food, and enough of it to survive. Mantel was not one to argue when the person was not willing to listen, so instead of fighting he simply went to search for more food for his people. The little group of hedgehogs gathered up their belongings and followed Mantel into the new forest.

It was a couple of days before the white fluffy blooms of the clover sprouted again. That morning Zeus made his way through the forest, wobbling and dusting up dry leaves as he crawled across the ground. He could see the little flowers as he headed towards the hill. As he eagerly went toward the clearing he began to hear branches creaking and snapping along the edges of his morning path. Suddenly a figure appeared before him and he bristled his long grey cloak of quills. His eyes shut tightly and he felt a great paw smack him across the face. He flipped several times and before he took another breath something much larger than his own body fell upon him. He risked a peak and saw a large dark wolf standing over him.

“What do you think you are doing out here?” The wolf snarled at him.

The porcupine didn’t know what to say. He always took this path for his morning meal.

“I am going to eat.”

“No your not.” The wolf grinned.

“I am just an old porcupine. I’m just going over there to my clover patch.”

The wolf wasn’t paying any attention to the mumbling rodent. “We are going to eat.”

“But I was…” Before Zeus could finish his sentence the wolf had smacked him again.

With each pounce and paw the wolves yelped at the quills, but after sometime they had managed to strip Zeus of his long grey cloak. The wolves managed to beat him senseless, but before they could eat him the sun had fully risen and the quills must have been too much to deal with considering he was a fairly old porcupine and a scraggly one underneath that fur.

Zeus laid there in dirt for hours until he heard a small voice and a little paw pushing him back and forth. He woke up agitated at the thought that the wolf had come back with its pack to finish the job.

“Get away from me, can’t you see I’m a lousy meal anyway?”

“I’m not here to eat you! Look, you’re alright.” Mantel pushed him some more.

Zeus lifted his head a little bit. He groaned and set it back down on the ground. He was surrounded in a bed of his own long grey quills.

“It’s you again.” He breathed slow shallow breaths as his eyes closed.

“You’re going to be ok. But what was it that has happened to you?”

Zeus sighed and paused before simply saying, “Wolves.”

“It looks like your quills must have protected you. Yours are much longer and sharper than ours.”

Zeus kept silent. He laid there on the forest floor and tears began to drip from his closed eyes. He had never had such an attack happen in all his years of going back and forth on his little path. Now he was strewn about the forest floor in piles of his own proud cloak. He knew he was left for dead, naked with his scrawny old porcupine body. The last thing he wanted was for a group of these miserable young hedgehogs to come and see him humiliated and then go eat all his fluffy white clovers.

“Things aren’t so bad, porcupine, I assure you of that.” Mantel left him lying there and wandered off where Zeus couldn’t see from his vantage point.

A little while later Zeus could hear voices of little creatures milling about. He was still in a great deal of pain so he didn’t strain himself to roll over to look at the commotion. He took a nap, hoping that he could at least regain a little strength and crawl home before anything more happened to him. After sometime he woke from his nap and heard that the commotion had died down. He opened his eyes and saw that all around his head he had great tufts of the fluffy white blooms from his clover patch. At once his eyes were wide and he reached out and grabbed one of the flowers and began eating it. He had forgotten just how hungry he was and now it was all he could think about.

Zeus ate and ate until just about all the clover was gone from around his head. Then he heard the voice again. The dreaded hedgehog was back.

“Did you get enough to eat?” Mantel asked as though he was pleased with himself.

“Yes I did… so it was you that brought me all the fluffy white blooms? I had hoped it was one from my porcupine family who had come to visit.” Zeus knew better than to think another porcupine would want to visit him.

“Well it was I, and some of my family.” Hedgehog began to sound a little less than pleased with himself. “We wanted to help you. We haven’t eaten any of your clover though.”

Zeus kept silent again.

“Do you think you are well enough to make it home?”

“I will be soon. You can get on with wherever you were going. I’m glad you didn’t eat any of my clover.” The hedgehog nodded graciously and began to walk away from the porcupine.

Night fell in the forest and Zeus still had not rolled over from his humiliated bed. He was just beginning to fall asleep when he began to hear pacing a little ways down the path. He grimaced, thinking that the hedgehog would probably be coming to check on him again.

“No, sir, I’m not dead yet.” He called out into the air.

Just then he heard a growl, the kind of growl that hedgehogs certainly do not make.

“You’re not dead yet?”

It was the wolf.

Zeus froze as he felt cold chills ripple across his naked body. There was nothing to protect him now. He thought of the beautiful fluffy white clover he ate a few hours earlier. He was glad he had those flowers as his one last meal. He thought of is little stout tree and how happy he would be if he had been able to wobble back into the trunk.

“It’s just me here now. I think you would make a perfect meal for me.” The wolf was leaving little to the imagination.

Zeus heard the steps grow closer. He heard the snarl begin. But there was nothing for him to do. He tried to curl into a ball, but without any quills he would just be making it easier. Instead he dug into his strength and rolled over onto his stomach. He began to crawl. That was when he heard another voice coming closer beside him.

The hedgehog came to check on him after all.

“Get out of here. Can’t you see the wolf is going to finish me?”

Mantel didn’t listen. He quickly climbed on the naked porcupine back.

“We are not so different, now, you see?” Mantel said as he let his spikey fur cover Zeus’ back. “Go quickly to your home!”

Zeus began to crawl as fast as he could. It was surprising to the hedgehog to see how fast the old porcupine could go, even with the added weight of another animal.

The wolf was fast.

Zeus ran down the path to his trunk as fast as he could.

The wolf was faster.

He could see the hole, but as he wobbled hastily toward it he felt the wind of the wolf pass over him and heard the teeth clamp. Cold chills ran over all of his body as he jumped toward the tree.

There was no longer any covering on him. The hedgehog had protected him.

“It would have been me!” He looked out of his hole in utter shock.

Zeus couldn’t believe that the little hedgehog would have done such a thing. Hadn’t he learned of the wolves considering what had happened to his clan on the other side of the stream? Then the old porcupine’s face grew sullen. “I guess that’s why he protected me.”

The old porcupine stayed in his hole for the next couple days. His quills had begun to grow in and despite his growing hunger he found it very difficult to leave. He was still pondering over what the hedgehog had done. The one who protected him wasn’t another porcupine. The one who protected him wasn’t even his friend.

The next morning, Mr. Zusam finally wobbled out of his stout little tree and began down the path to his clover patch. He saw that on the hillside, hundreds of fluffy white blooms had grown like a blanket over the green clover leafs. It wasn’t the same any more. As he looked at the flowers he began to cry. He wobbled up the hill and he began picking dozens of the blooms and collected them into a great bunch.

Mr. Zusam took all the flowers he collected and he wobbled over to the stream and began shouting with his raspy old voice. “Hedgehogs! Hedgehogs! I need to come to my clover patch!” He waited and waited. Then he called again, the same thing.

It was about the fifth time he called that he suddenly heard a rustling coming from the woods next to the clearing, the side that faced his path.

“Hedgehogs!” He shouted and raced to them earnestly.

He saw the cautious faces of several little rodents. “I want you to eat these.” He placed the blooms in front of them. “I held such anger towards you, but I’ve learned that I was wrong. We survive together.” He continued to tell them just what their clan leader had done for him in the forest.

The hedgehogs still stared at him, stunned and questioning.

“I’ve been alone for a long time. I like being alone. But it hasn’t taught me what this means.” He motioned to the flowers. “Your friend gave me these and then he gave me his life. Even when I still didn’t understand what it meant. Now I don’t want to be alone anymore. I want to be a part of your clan. We can share this clover patch. Not because he protected me, but because I now know the reason why he protected me.” And then Mr. Zusam cried. His little body shook and he began pulling up more of the fluffy white blooms around where he and the hedgehogs were standing.

The voice of one of Mantel’s clan began to speak calming words to Mr. Zusam, “Mantel protected you just as he would any of us in his clan. So you are already family to us.”

The porcupine was silent, and that was all right with the hedgehogs. They were silent too, but they all began to eat the clover blooms together.