Once Upon a Winter's Night Read Online Free PDF Page B

instead.”
    The Bear again raised his head, and cocked it to one side as he looked at her, and then he gave a soft whuff.
    “Does that mean yes, that I have guessed aright?”
    Again the Bear whuff ed.
    Camille clapped her hands together and laughed. “Oh, Bear, you are not much of a conversationalist, yet when you speak, I listen. But hear me now: my breakfast was sparse, and all of this travel and your constant chitter-chatter has made me quite hungry; you wouldn’t happen to have some food in those bundles you carry, now would you?”
    The Bear rumbled deep in his chest, and then turned and padded to the great oak, where he dipped his head low, almost as if in obeisance. Perplexed, Camille looked on as the Bear raised his head and canted it to one side as if listening to unvoiced words from the oak. But Camille could hear nought but the sibilant rustle of new-green leaves overhead. The Bear then turned and began circling the tree, snuffling along the ground. He stopped and scooped one powerful forepaw down into the soft loam.
    He turned to Camille.
    “ Whuff. ”
    Camille stepped to where the Bear stood, and she looked into the foot-deep gouge, where, within, she espied a dark double-fist-sized growth of some sort.
    “You wish me to dig that out, O Bear?”
    The Bear whuff ed softly and looked into the hole as well.
    Camille knelt and pushed away soft loam, and she reached with two hands and grasped the growth and pulled it up. Dark, it was, almost black and somewhat spongy, and it had an earthy aroma. Frowning, she said, “This feels somewhat like a mushroom, but I think it is not. Let us take it to the stream and wash it off, and then we shall see.”
    Moments later, with water yet dripping, Camille broke off a small piece, and just as the globular growth was dark on the outside, it was dark on the inside as well. Camille looked at the broken-off piece suspiciously. “Are you certain, O Bear, that this is safe to eat?”
    “ Whuff. ”
    Camille took a small nibble and gasped, “Oh, my. How delicious.” She took another small bite, her eyes watering in joy.
    Her face suddenly blossomed with enlightenment. “Oh, Bear, I think Fra Galanni spoke of these. This is a truffle, right?”
    “ Whuff. ”
    She broke the truffle in two, and gave the larger portion to the Bear.
    “Fra Galanni named this the food of the gods, and now I see that he spoke true. He told me that a truffle’s ‘character’ is somewhat like that of garlic laid over a penetrating earthiness, combined with a pungent sensation like a whiff of strong wine. Of course, I never knew what he was talking about, for, though I had eaten wild garlic, I had never had a strong, pungent wine, or wine of any kind, or aught I could say had an earthy taste, whatever that might mean. Yet now I suppose I know what he meant—these flavors in combination—though for the individual things he cited, but for garlic, I still have no idea of their essence.”
    With a snap and a gulp, the Bear’s portion was gone, but Camille savored hers to the last, the Bear looking on somewhat avidly as she ate it in small bites. She cocked an eye at him. “If you want more, O Bear, I suggest you dig up another.”
    The Bear groaned and looked back at the tree, but made no move to comply. After a moment, he went downstream to a pool, and shortly had a fish to eat. Even so, now and again, he glanced up as if asking, “Are you going to finish all of that?”
     
    They rested awhile, but then the Bear stood and whuff ed.
    “Oh, is it time to go on? But it is so peaceful here.”
    The Bear rumbled low in his chest.
    “All right, all right, O Bear, but first—” She stepped into the bracken to relieve herself, the Bear standing guard and looking everywhere but toward her. Camille then trod to the stream and washed her hands, and, after taking another deep drink, she once again mounted up.
    Onward through the wondrous springtime woods they went, the midnight-black Bear and his