The Overconfident Raptor

A short story by DTG:

That day started out like the rest for the man: boring, forgettable, and worst of all, pointless. What could change? The world just sucked for him now.

The old man was no different at first either. Boring and pointless. Then it happened.

"From you I ask a favor." The man said, weak with age. The old man could not want much could he? "There is a tree on that mountain." He said, lifting a finger and pointing to it. "What about it?" He asked, confused. "It has a history. My family has owned it and has eaten its fruit for decades, but they want to cut it down to build on."

The "they" of course, was referring to the small government of the place. "I'll go up and see what I can do, but not for free." He told him, so the man tossed him a coin.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The man was a fool. Well, both were. He didn't care about the tree, he wanted the poor unsuspecting man to rid the place of me. I was smarter than that.

The truth was that, ironically, MY family had owned the land, and therefore the tree. Humans always think they're better than us, when in reality they are arrogant fools.

The man climbed steps up to the top of the small mountain. It must have taken forever. He had a spear just in case. I watched as he climbed. I hid well, and the weak eyes of the man weren't able to gaze upon even my outline.

Once he had reached the top I prepared to pounce. I assumed I would easily take his life, but he fought hard, and I collapsed in defeat fairly quickly. He was about to finish me with his spear, but let me live instead.

I laid there for what felt like hours.

I learned two things that day:

Don't be arrogant and don't underestimate others.