Author's Notes: This chapter starts with a song from the Japanese version, translated as, "Off My Path". For one of the lines stating, "Off my path!" I put in the more English version of the phrase, "Keep out of our way!" It's all the same meaning in Japanese.

Chapter 3: Become the Beast

Off my path!
Off my path!
Off my path!
Off my path!
We will live freely
In the shadow of these dells.

Off my path!
Off my path!
Off my path!
We will live without chains
On the sweep of these vast yellow plains.

Off my path!
Off my path!
Off my path!
Off my path!
Running faster than the prairie wind,
We'll vanish in the darkness of the night.

Off my path!
Off my path!
Off my path!

All night Chirin ascended the rocky mountain, struggling up boulder after the boulder. He was worn, tired, and hungry, but his great anger and resentment gave him the strength to carry on. He sought only one thing: the wolf.

He leapt up still more rocks, his bell ringing as he went. He stopped when he reached a ledge. He had been climbing for some time, but he could still not find the one he sought. "Hey, you! Wolf!" he cried into the night, yelling out over the mountains. "Where are you?" He ran a short distance and then shouted again. "Hey, Wolf! Come out!"

Chirin jumped back and forth on this ledge for some time, quite perplexed. He was so near the top and thought for sure he would have met the wolf by now.

But then he looked up and could see to slanted, glowing, blue eyes staring down at him from the rock above, the top of which bore the outline of the sleeping wolf.

Chirin momentarily forgot everything but his fear. He jumped in fright and fell, tumbling head over heels toward the edge of the ledge. He stopped just short of it, and the pain of his fall brought him back to his senses. Once he recovered, he glared over his shoulder at the wolf.

The wolf was staring right at him but hadn't moved.

Chirin was filled with so much fear that he trembled. But all he had to do was think of his mother lying lifeless on the shed floor, and his fear left him, leaving him filled only with rage. "Wolf!" he cried, jumping to his feet and spinning around to face him. "Bring my mother back, or I'm going to kill you!"

He leapt at the wolf, trying to scramble up the rock to get to him. "Wolf," he cried, "you've killed my mother; she's dead now! I'm going to kill you!" He failed to clear the rock and slid back down again, only to jump up on it once more. "I mean it!" he cried. But again he failed and fell onto his head.

The wolf did nothing; he did not even stir.

Chirin didn't know what made him angrier: the fact that the wolf had killed his mother and deserved to die but couldn't be touched, or the fact that the wolf completely ignored him. With another wave of rage, he looked up and spotted the wolf's tail hanging off the rock. "She died to protect me!" he cried, leaping up and grabbing the wolf's tail. "I hate you!"

The wolf finally moved but only his tail. He swung it back and forth, flinging little Chirin around like a toy on a string. At last, with a flick of his tail, he bashed Chirin's head against an overhanging rock. The sudden pain made Chirin let go, and he fell several yards below. A rock broke his fall, and he bounced off it only to bounce off another and a last land on a boulder above a chasm.

But though beaten and bruised, Chirin felt no pain; he only felt his anger for the wolf growing stronger. With a new flood of strength, he picked himself up and began to climb back up toward the wolf, leaping from rock to rock in single bounds in a furious charge, only to have to climb carefully up them once he landed on them.

At last, he reached the ledge where he had stood before and perceived the wolf. He tried to pull himself up, but his adrenaline was beginning to fail him. But his anger had not. "Wolf!" he cried. "You killed my mother! You killed her! Bring . . . my . . . mother . . . back!" he cried at the wolf, gasping and shaking in an effort to pull himself up.

But at last his strength failed him, and Chirin slipped from the ledge and fell into the dark chasm below, landing on his back among the stones. He then knew only blackness.

The wolf sat up and watched Chirin fall until he could no longer hear the ringing of the bell.

The next morning, while the sun was still rising, the wolf was drinking from a puddle of cool, clear mountain water when Chirin came upon him. Chirin sat down on his haunches a short distance from the wolf. He had realized last night that he was not big enough, strong enough, nor tough enough to kill the wolf. So this morning, he had made his decision on what to do next.

He took a deep breath, gathering his courage, before he spoke. "Wolf," he said, "all right, I've decided to be your apprentice to learn to be strong just as if I were a real wolf like you! Make me your apprentice!"

The wolf stopped drinking and looked up. There was no emotion in his features; his face was a mask.

Perhaps he was puzzled. Chirin tried again, talking much faster than need be. "I want to become strong like you!" he explained. "I don't want to be a weak and timid lamb! I'm sick of being a sheep!" He shook his head. "All we ever do is stand in corners and shake! I'd rather be a strong wolf! I want to learn to be a scary wolf just like you are. You like the idea of me becoming your apprentice, don't you? Wolf," he pleaded, "may I become your apprentice?"

But then he gasped, his ears fluttering in fright and eyes wide. The wolf was approaching him. Did he not like the proposal? Was he coming to eat him? Chirin wasn't going to wait to find out. With a cry of fear, he spun around and scampered away, his bell ringing as he ran. Running along the rocky mountain chasm not more than three yards, he spotted a pillar of rock. He quickly scrambled up to the top, where he might possibly observe the wolf in safety.

The wolf came walking through after him but did not even give him a second glance. He walked on by the rock where Chirin was perched as if he wasn't there, as if Chirin were some bothersome fly he was trying to ignore.

Seeing that all seemed safe, Chirin slid down from his rock and landed on his rear on the stony path. He watched the wolf pad up the spot where he had been sleeping the night before. The great predator leapt up onto the rock, yawned, stretched, and then lay down to take a nap.

Seeing this, Chirin gathered more courage and went running up to the base of the ledge where the wolf was perched. He tripped as he ran, making his bell clank, but he was up again in an instant. "Wolf!" he yelled at the wolf. "Tell me how to become a wolf! I'd be a really great apprentice, so why don't you just let me try?" He started pacing. "I'll do anything you demand!" he told him boldly. "I'll endure any suffering!"

Still the wolf remained still with his eyes closed, as if asleep.

Chirin kept pacing. "I'm not going to leave you alone, so why don't you just wake up and listen!" He stopped pacing and glared right at the wolf. "Please!" he cried. "Stop sleeping! Stand up, Wolf!" He started jumping up and down. "Wake up, wake up, WAKE UP!"

"Quiet, pipsqueak!" the wolf scolded, interrupting Chirin's last yell.

Chirin, surprised that at last the wolf had spoken, leaned back in fear.

The wolf's eyes were open just barely, glaring at him sleepily. "What's a runt like you bothering me for? Have you forgotten that you're just a lamb?"

Just a lamb, huh? "I want to become a wolf!" Chirin yelled. "I want you to teach me how to be a scary wolf!"

"Do me a favor," the wolf told him sleepily. "Behave yourself as befitting a ram. Go back to your meadow; graze and grow. And in a couple of months, when you get big and fat, I'll come and eat you for dinner." And with that, he closed his eyes.

"But I don't want to!" Chirin complained in a loud whine. "I want to be like you!" He started approaching the rock where the wolf lay, jumping up and down desperately. "Make no mistake, I will become a wolf! Look, how does this sound? If things don't work out, feel free to go ahead and kill me and eat me! No hard feelings."

He leapt up onto a rock in front of the wolf so he would be forced to look at him. But much to Chirin's contempt, the wolf still kept his eyes closed. In fact, he even growled at the end of Chirin's speech as if in irritation.

Chirin huffed. "Ooh," he groaned, "you think I'm just a stupid kid and just fooling around, but I'm serious!"

"Pest," the wolf rumbled without opening his eyes.

Chirin put his chin in the air. "All right!" he said. He turned to leave. "Go ahead and be that way! I won't beg you anymore! You'll see! I'm going to show you how much I want to be a wolf! I'll become a wolf by myself!"

A short while later, Chirin left the mountains and was out on the open plains. Every now and then, he stuck his head out of the tall grass and looked around, trying to decide what prey to pick first. At last he exclaimed, "Ah-hah!" About a hundred yards away was a small herd of bison.

Chirin furrowed his brow and started forward. Time to start being a wolf!

The bison were grazing contentedly, one of them even yawning, when Chirin snuck up in the grass and appeared between two of the bison. Now was the time. He let loose his most terrifying roar to scare the bison. Nothing happened.

Chirin tried again. This time, one of the bison next to him turned its head to look at him questionably. Feeling the breath on his shoulder, Chirin turned to face the bison, who was busy chewing some cud. The one on the other side of him also turned to look at him in bewilderment. "Watch it!" Chirin warned the bison. "I'm a wolf! I'm going to eat you!" And with that, he roared again.

By now, the whole group of bison were circling around him and watching him as if they didn't know what to make of him.

Irritated that things weren't going as planned, Chirin said, "Really, I'm a wolf! You better start running in terror!"

The bison next to him looked at each other over his head and then burst out into laughter, which the rest of the herd quickly joined.

They were laughing at him? Perhaps Chirin hadn't made his message clear enough. "I'll show you," he said. "Brace yourselves for it! I'm going to eat you up," he warned, "so you better start running!"

Finally seeming irritated with him, one of the bison beside him put its head down and huffed in his face. The force of its breath was so strong that Chirin was sent flying backward, bouncing off the ground and then getting struck by the other bison's hoof, kicking him nearly a football field behind him.

Chirin landed on his rear in the grass and then flopped onto his belly. That was not a good start. "It seems the enemies were too big," he said to himself. "Maybe I should start with something smaller."

A skunk who had looked up to see the lamb's misfortune started laughing at him. Already feeling miserable, Chirin certainly didn't appreciate it. But then he realized the skunk was smaller than himself. Leaping to his feet, he said, "You'll do fine, wise guy! I'll whop you!"

But the skunk just glared at him tiredly and then did a hand stand so her rear was pointed toward Chirin. Then she sprayed him.

Disgusted at the sudden overwhelming stench and the stinging in his eyes, nose, and mouth, Chirin staggered over backward, hardly daring to move. That was absolutely horrible!

Little did he realize he had landed in the middle of a prairie dog town. He was in the middle of a triangle made by three holes. A prairie dog popped its head out of each hole, one with a little one in tow. At seeing the silly little lamb twitching in pain and smelling like skunk, they all started pointing fingers at him and laughing.

"Huh?" Chirin gasped when he realized he was being laughed at. He opened his eyes and saw the prairie dogs. So he was being laughed at again! Starting to feel really angry, Chirin leapt to his feet and yelled, "Beat it!" All but the pup scrambled back down into their holes. Finally the mother reached up and grabbed her baby, pulling it down with her.

Finally someone was acting scared of him! Feeling empowered, Chirin pawed at one of the holes. "That's right!" he said.

But just then, he felt someone pulling at his tail. The mother prairie dog from the hole behind him had hold of his tail and was pulling him backward. Shocked, Chirin turned around to face her, but she disappeared into the hole before he even saw her.

Meanwhile, while he turned his back on the other hole, the prairie dog in that one peered out and started scratching at Chirin's rear. Yelling in pain and shock, Chirin leapt straight up into the air. He then spun around to take down the prairie dog and dove for him, but the prairie dog leapt out of the hole and out of the way. Chirin landed headfirst in the prairie dog's hole.

The prairie dog waved a signal to the other adults in the other two holes. At that, the prairie dogs got out of their holes, pushing a whole load of dirt in front of them. Even the baby joined in, carrying a little bit of dirt over his head. At the hole where Chirin was stuck, the prairie dogs shoved their dirt in, and the next thing Chirin knew, he was being encased in a ball of dirt, padded to perfection by the prairie dogs.

Happy with their work, the lead prairie dog leapt up onto the ball while the other two adults pushed it. The prairie dog on top got up on two legs and started walking on it like a circus animal on a ball. The baby followed along behind.

All the while, Chirin was trying somehow to break free and get some air.

When the prairie dog and the ball of dirt reached the edge of a steep hill, the prairie dog tried to stop, but he couldn't. He fell over backward, flipped in the air, and landed on his stomach. Meanwhile, the ball of dirt, with Chirin inside, went tumbling down the hill.

Chirin knew he was bouncing down some slope, but he didn't know anything else until the ball of dirt hit a rock on the way down and burst apart. Chirin yelled as he went flying over the rock and landed in a briar patch.

At the top of the hill, the prairie dogs burst out in laughter. They were laughing so hard that their stomachs hurt!

Chirin felt every thorn as it dug into his fleece coat. He groaned as he crawled out of the briar patch, feeling sore, bruised, and hurt all over.

So much for being a wolf.

Not knowing what else to do, he headed back toward the mountains.

That evening, at sunset, Chirin came plodding up the mountain, dragging his feet. It was taking every bit of energy left in him to make the last of the climb.

At last he reached the watering hole where the wolf had drunk this morning. Dragging himself toward it with the last of his strength, he placed his front hooves in the water and began to lap it up, soothing his parched, aching throat. But weak as he was, he lost his footing and plunged headfirst into the puddle. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing, though; it was actually rather refreshing. He quickly thrust his head out of the water to breathe and found the waterhole was shallow enough that he could sit on his haunches and keep his head clear of the water.

Huffing in air to his tired body, he didn't think he had the energy left to look around him. But he looked up when he saw the wolf coming straight for the waterhole, his glowing blue eyes looking right through him. "I tried," Chirin said.

But it seemed the wolf already knew that Chirin had tried . . . and had failed. Nearly at the waterhole, he changed course and walked by without a second glance. He was headed down the trail toward the gorge that would lead him off the mountain.

Chirin got to his feet. "Hey, wait!" Chirin cried. "Where are going, Wolf?"

The wolf didn't answer, didn't look back, didn't slow his pace.

Realizing he was leaving, Chirin struggled to get out of the water and run after him. "Wait, Wolf!" he cried, getting to dry rock. "Wait for me! Take me with you! Hold on, Wolf!" He bounded after the wolf, fueled by determination alone, bell ringing as he ran. "Don't go! Come back! Wait!"

But the wolf didn't stop.

"Wolf!" Chirin cried as the wolf disappeared from sight.

Before he disappeared into the gorge, Chirin managed to catch up with the wolf and follow him into the sunset.