He ran home lightly through the gathering dusk along the narrow game-trails. He was familiar with their twists and turns, the places where the herons waited, the places where the marsh foxes marked their territories, the places where he had to run silently as a shadow so as not to disturb the singing frogs. It had taken him years of concentrated practice before he could pass through the game-trails without disturbing the wild animals; now it was habit. Their deep silences did not mock him; their knowledge was unwritten, their thoughts unspoken, their ways economical, gracious, beautiful. In
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