Blog The Silent Language of Animals
By Eilish Fisher | Guest Blog
Imagine
you are Fia, waking up to a chill in the air. You can see your breath when you exhale,
smell the woodsmoke from the fire. When you crawl out from the furs keeping you
warm, the cold settles on your skin like another layer and even your eyelashes
stick together, icy white and frosty to the touch. Now imagine you go outside
your shelter and waiting for you, warm and soft, is an animal. It could be a
dog, a cat, a horse, or even a wild creature. Whatever its form, you know that
it is part of you, your best friend and someone who will help melt the chill
away and make the day seem brighter just by being there.
For
Fia, in Fia and the Last Snow Deer, that animal is Solas, a beautiful
white snow deer who has been by her side since their births thirteen winter
solstices ago. In the book, Fia and Solas must work together to find the Deer
Mother and bring back the sun to end an eternal winter and save Fia’s people.
But
how do you work with another creature that doesn’t speak? How can you
communicate danger, fear, friendship or even love? How can we speak to our
animals and know they understand? And more importantly, how do we know what
they are telling us?
I grew
up in Vermont, a place known for its cold, harsh, long winters. Like Fia and
her village, the snow, while beautiful, made some things harder to do. At the
time of the winter solstice, when the nights are so long and it feels like
summer will never come back, or even that it never existed to begin with, getting
up in the early morning to care for the animals was not an easy task! I
remember setting out, head to toe in layers and boots, into a white and frosty
landscape hours before school to care for the horses. Sometimes the snow was
waist-deep and sometimes the temperature was so low that the snow couldn’t even
fall.
One
day in school, close to the Christmas holidays, our teacher told us a story
about how on midnight Christmas Eve, all the animals gather around and speak,
telling stories of the year gone by and their hopes for the year ahead. Needless
to say, this was something I had to see! I spent many of the following
Christmas Eves trying to catch the conversation in the barn, wanting more than
anything to hear what my animals had to say, what they liked, disliked, loved
and wished for.
But
even more, I wanted to know what they thought about me. Did I take good care of
them? Were they happy with their beds and stables and the food I gave them? Did
my horse like our hacks and time together as much as I did? What could I do to
make their home better?
And
while I never caught the full Christmas eve conversation, I realised that my
animals already spoke, every day, all the time. It was in their bodies, their
energy, how they approached a situation or another animal or person.
In the
way my dog pushed against me when he was happy, or the way my horse would flinch
at an unknown noise. How my cat pawed my hand when he was hungry, and how the
wild crow left his treasures on the windowsill, pieces of tinfoil and shiny
rubbish, as thanks for the food we left him.
Every
action, every movement is a poem in itself; a gift that any writer, no matter
what age, can translate into words.
When I
wrote Fia and the Last Snow Deer, I knew that the connection and trust between
Fia and Solas was important, but more than that, it was real.
Because
animals do speak, we just need to learn how to listen.
Fia and the Last Snow Deer is published by Puffin and is available to buy from all bookshops now. You can find out more about Eilish Fisher and her upcoming projects on her website.
If you'd like to write your own story about the magic of animals or the importance of friendship, keep an eye out at the beginning of November when our new creative writing competitions will be opening. All the latest info can be found here: www.youngwriters.co.uk/comp