While the two enemies were planning to protect themselves, Dastardly sat by the waterfall, putting his aching feet in the water.

It was too cold, but he didn't care at all.

He was working hard, searching for any Indians in sight. But no luck.

Lucky for him, he made a trap for if they pass by the falls, he'll get one for sure.

"They'll ever know what crashed them" laughed Dastardly.

The only con was he didn't know that Cassandra had been watching him.

So, she quietly walked to the trap, stepped on a rock...

Nothing happened.

Dastardly quickly went over to the trap, but when he pulled on a rope...

A rock landed on a log, which sent Dastardly flying into the pond and a hand-made cage fell on top of him.

"Drat, drat and double drat!" he grumbled.

Then, he was approached by someone.

It was Cassandra.

The two just simply stared at each other, neither of them ever breathed.

All Cassandra saw was a man who was different from her people. He was evil looking, but he didn't seem harmful.

And all Dastardly ever saw was a woman who was beautiful and was different from the savages he ever fought in his life.

Cassandra wanted to run away, but she was confused of what to do.

Should I help this stranger or should I run? Cassandra asked herself.

But she remembered what Grandmother Ruth told her: listen with her heart.

Slowly and carefully, Cassandra helped Dastardly out of the cage and onto his feet.

And for once, Dastardly didn't use his weapon. He had dropped the weapon when he stared at Cassandra.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Cassandra" replied the young maiden.

Seeing this, Rocky was amazed. But, Snowball was enraged.

"Oh!" groaned Snowball. "I hate that guy!"

Dastardly briefly smiled, then thought of how he could distract Cassandra.

"I'm Dick Dastardly" he said, in a charming voice.


For the rest of the day, Cassandra got to know more of Dastardly and his world, learning new unusual names. Same with Dastardly with Cassandra's world.

But unknown to her, Dastardly was really trying to con her with his "charming self" to escape her.

Suddenly, Dastardly felt something in his coat pocket.

"Hey!" he shouted.

Laughing, Cassandra picked up Rocky, who was nibbling on cookies and biscuits.

"So the little food burglar belongs to you, eh?" chuckled Dastardly.

"Rocky!" laughed Cassandra.

Hearing the animal's name, Dastardly tried to give him a hand shake.

"Well then, how do you do... Rocky?"

The raccoon sniffled Dastardly's gloved hand... no food.

"What was that for?" asked Cassandra, curious.

"It's called a handshake" replied Dastardly. "That's how we say hello."

"Oh."

Just as Dastardly showed Cassandra the handshake, Snowball leaped on the pale man and tugged on his collar.

"Yeah, I remember you, fluffball!" sneered Dastardly.

Cassandra grabbed Snowball and placed him aside.

"Sorry" she said. "Snowball just doesn't like strangers. He's a very stubborn little guy."

While the two weren't looking, Rocky stole Dastardly's compass.

"Rocky!" scolded Cassandra.

"No, no" Dastardly protested. "He can keep that, I'll get another one when I return to London."

"London? Is that your village?"

"Oh, yes. It's a very big village with carriages, tall buildings that are bigger than these trees and bridges over rivers."

Cassandra was amazed, she wanted to see stuff like that.

Finally, Dastardly gave up and knew that Cassandra must know about his people.

"Okay, okay" he said. "My people came here on purpose. We're building stuff like that here."

"What?!" Cassandra gasped with shock.

Dastardly explained that they will show her people to live better and properly. They would build roads and better houses.

"What, no! We're happy here!" Cassandra protested.

Dastardly would hear nothing of this.

"Look, you don't know any better" he said rudely.

Cassandra tried to walk away, but Dastardly quickly grabbed her.

"Look, there's so much that my people can teach yours. Over the years, we have improved many lives of savages-"

Cassandra was shocked to hear that word.

"SAVAGES?!" she cried.

"No! I don't mean your kind are savages. I mean the ones my people..." Dastardly tried to explain.

"Let go of me!"

"No. I'm not letting leave until I tell you everything."

But Cassandra started to run through the forest for her canoe at the river with Dastardly racing after her.

"Hey! Don't take it that way!" he called.

Cassandra had already reached her canoe was about to row away, but Dastardly tried to swim after her.

"Savage is just a small little term for one who is uncivilized. Uh, no. What I mean by uncivilized is-"

He suddenly tripped and went under.

Worried, Cassandra jumped in after him.

Afterwards, she brought Dastardly ashore where he coughed out the water.

"When I say by uncivilized, it means..." he tried again.

"It means not like you" Cassandra stopped him.

Dastardly didn't understand.

"Of course..." scoffed Cassandra. "You don't know."

"What?" asked Dastardly.

"Follow me and I'll show you what I mean."

Not liking the idea, Dastardly followed any way.

Cassandra started to sing.

"You think you own whatever land you land on

"The earth is just a dead thing you can claim

"But I know every rock and tree and creature

"Has a life, has a spirit, has a name

Then, Cassandra brought Dastardly to the deepest part of the forest to a family of ducks (Donald Duck, Daisy and Huey, Dewey and Louie).

"You think the only people who are people" Cassandra continued.

"Are the people who look and think like you

"But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger

"You'll learn things you never knew you never knew

The duckling were excited to see Cassandra and then played (rather roughly) with Dastardly.

After visiting the ducks, Cassandra heard a cry.

"Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon?

"Or ask the grinning bobcat why he grinned?

"Can you sing with all the voices of the mountain

"Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?

"Can you paint with all the colors

Cassandra held out her hand, Dastardly took it and the two followed the wind blowing across the forest.

"Of the wind?

They leapt over the waterfall and then followed a group of rabbits to a cornfield.

"Come run the hidden pine trails of the forest

"Come taste the sun sweet berries of the earth

"Come roll in all the riches all around you

"And for once, never wonder what they're worth

Then, Rocky pushed Cassandra and Dastardly into the river, almost chuckling.

"The rainstorm and the river are my brothers

"The heron and the otter are my friends

"And we are all connected to each other

"In a circle in a hoop that never ends

And finally, Cassandra brought him to a cliff where they stood at the edge over the entire forest from the river to where the settlers' camp and the Indian tribe were.

"And you'll never hear the wolf cry to the blue corn moon

"For whether we are different beneath the skin

"We need to sing with all the voices of the mountain

"We need to paint with all the colors of the wind

When they got back, Cassandra handed Dastardly a handful of earth.

"You can own the earth and still

"All you'll own is earth until

"You can paint

"With all the colors

"Of the... wind..."

After a moment, Dastardly felt like something is much better than all the glory... as if what he needed was compassion and love.

Then, he realized Cassandra has opened up his eyes to the world.

"Oh, Cassandra, it's really wonderful" sighed Dastardly. "I wish we could do this more."

"Yeah, me too" smiled Cassandra.

Just as Cassandra and Dastardly touched hands, she suddenly stopped and heard something.

"What's wrong?" asked Dastardly.

"Drums" said Cassandra, almost unable to speak. "Trouble."

"What?"

"I should not be here. I have to go."

Cassandra ran for her canoe, but Dastardly politely stopped her.

"But- Cassandra, wait!" he said nervously. "I want to see you again."

"No, Dick Dastardly, I can't" replied Cassandra.

"When can I see you again?"

"I don't know. But I have to go."

Cassandra climbed into her canoe and rode off, leaving Dastardly standing alone.


Wasn't that fun?

BTW: I changed the lyrics from "For whether we are white or copper-skinned" to "For whether we are different beneath the skin" since Cassandra isn't copper skinned and I needed something to rhyme with wind.

To be continued...