Gisella looked into the fox's yellow eyes to show her she wasn't
afraid and that she would stand up for what was hers. She also looked to see
what she would find there, to discover what it was her great-aunt had warned her
against.
The fox's eyes were dark gold. They looked at her with calm
curiosity, to see what she would do. They challenged her to look deeper. They
were the color of flame and they flickered. She looked deeper and saw a golden
meadow under golden clouds and she saw a yellow-gold rabbit running for its
life. She smelled its joy at being a rabbit and its terror at being pursued, and
it seemed she was right behind it, running like the wind. She could almost taste
it and thought she almost had it, when she heard laughter. She blinked and she
was back in the grassy clearing. It was as if she'd wakened from a dream. In
front of her stood a girl of about her age. The girl had a red kerchief and long
black braids like Gisella's. Her blue flowered skirt was like Gisella's also,
and she held a crossbow.
"So this is what it's like to have fingers," the girl laughed,
and pointed the bow at Gisella. "How does the world look from the other side of
the crossbow?"
Gisella knew this girl. She was so very familiar that it took a
moment to realize who she was. Gisella was looking at herself. She looked down.
The grass was suddenly close, and instead of hands, she had two little black fox
feet. Behind her she found a long, white-tipped fox tail. The fox had changed
places with her. This was what Great-Aunt Tanteh had warned her of. While
Gisella looked into her eyes, the fox had slipped into Gisella's body, and now
Gisella was in the fox's.
From The Old Country by Mordecai Gerstein. Copyright 2005 Mordecai Gerstein. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of Roaring Brook Press.
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