\n<\/p>\n
The panther Copyright Joseph Anthony of the Wonder Child Blog<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The panther moved through the trees, like living fog. Its ears twitched and its tail switched. It looked over its shoulder\u2014followed by a force that struck fear into its heart. As it streamed through the leaves and branches, like a snake with legs, it grew more and more agitated and wild. It could hear the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nmoved through the trees, like living fog.
\nIts ears twitched and its tail switched. It looked over its
\nshoulder\u2014followed by a force that struck fear into its heart. As it streamed through the leaves and
\nbranches, like a snake with legs, it grew more and more agitated and wild. It could hear the singing closing in on it in
\nthe distance. The panther was
\nterrified. How could its pursuer know
\nwhere it was? It blended into the night
\nlike black paint onto black canvas, but still the singing followed. It followed
\nlike an invisible river. Legend had it
\nthis tamer of wild things used its dreams to follow its prey. The deeper the panther glided through the
\njungle, the louder the singing became. It
\nwas maddening. Legend had it this singing hunter used the pages of the night
\nitself to read its prey\u2019s movements. How
\ncould the panther match such wisdom?
\nThis hunter was said to even write messages in the leaves that signaled
\nothers to help show him the way. This
\nhunter even spoke with other hunters\u2014unafraid of the competition, and shared
\nhis secrets and listened to theirs. This
\nhunter would not be denied. Still the
\npanther tried, it slid through the trees growing more and more afraid. Finally,
\nin complete and utter desperation, the panther turned and sprang on its
\npursuer, knowing it would mean suicide\u2014for no one conquered this hunter. But this being followed, this impending
\ncalamity and doom, was too much for the panther to bear. And so it leapt, loosening a thick, guttural
\ngrowl. Its pursuer simply stepped aside,
\nand in the flash of a second was on the panther\u2019s back, laughing, and singing. The panther shot up the nearest tree hoping
\nto lose its unwelcome rider. It leapt
\nfrom one branch to another, but still the hunter clung on, singing and
\nlaughing, having the ride of his life.
\nAnd then the most feared thing began to happen\u2014the thing the panther had
\nalways heard would happen if you came into contact with this strange hunter. The hunter began stroking it behind its ears
\nas he sung the most hypnotic, luminous song it had ever heard. The singing began seeping into the panther\u2019s
\nmoon-colored brain. And then, like a
\nkitten, the panther began descending from the treetops until it finally
\nalighted onto the ground. It tried one
\nlast time to run, but its legs gave way, and soon it was stumbling and
\nsplashing through the dew-drenched ferns until it collapsed, helplessly
\nswooning. The hunter kept petting it and
\nsinging his lullaby of morning and sun, of eternal spring and eternal summer,
\nof rivers of laughter and ponds covered with golden leaves. The panther just closed its green eyes
\nand sighed, purring, defeated, completely tamed. And the child, that rider of panthers and dragons,
\nthrew his arms around the panther\u2019s neck and wept. The panther, to the amazed delight of the
\nwatching rabbits and tree-mice, wept also.
\nThen the child stood and sang his song even louder than before. As he sang a light began pouring from his heart. The light created a glow that surrounded the
\npanther. The panther stood on its hind
\nlegs and began dancing with the child. With its deep,
\nhusky voice, it began singing.
\nAnd as it sang, it danced in the light until it disappeared into the
\nchild\u2019s waiting, infinite heart.\n<\/p>\n