Once, there was a man named Mr. Niels, and he had a son called Maison. His wife had died of a rare disease, and he needed more money to raise the family. Mr. Niels was an experienced hunter, and made his prpfot out of killing animals, and selling their meat and fur. Every week he would set out, hunt down the creatures of the wild, and then he would sell his goods at the market. He made enough money for a modest living, but he knew it would not get him far. He needed something more. One day, he took some money, and went for a visit to the town's library. After looking through some books and scanning through some titles, he found what he was interested in. The Book of Rare Animals. He pulled the book out of the shelf, and sat down at a table. Mr. Niels looked through the book for hours looking for the perfect animal, until he came across the right page. The Mouflon. The book said it was an indigenous species, only found on the island of Cyprus. There was a picture of the animal on the next page. It looked like a goat, but its horns were huge and twisted with mysterious patterns. They could be sold for a lot of money, Mr. Niels thought as he closed the book. He finally found something that was going to help him.
For the next month, Mr. Niels studied Cyprus through books. He learned about the place and its culture, but most important of all, where he was going to find the Mouflons. He did notice is that the animal was an important symbol for the people of the island, but he was not going to let that stop him. He slowly began planning out his trip to the island for the upcoming summer. He was going to have to hunt more, and raise a greater amount of money for travel. His son, Maison, would accompany him and they were going to achieve his plan together.
After a few months, Mr. Niels and his son, flew to Cyprus, were they would be staying at a village up in the mountain of Troodos. The people there were very friendly. The woman next door brought them a delicious cake and traditional cheese
The man who owned the coffee shop offered them a free drink and the elder next door offered to take them for a tour around the place. That's when he saw a Mouflon for the first time, climbing up the rocks at the side of a cliff. It had beautiful brown fur, with a white line down its nose, but all Mr. Niels looked at were its horns. They were grey and full of puzzling lines, but for a second they turned to gold, and his eyes flashed with excitement. The very same night, Mr. Niels told Maison to load the guns, and pack the traps for they would leave at dawn. Once he fell asleep , Mr. Maison dreamt of the Mouflon he saw this morning, with its huge golden horns. The Mouflon was looking at him in the eye. Slowly its horns began falling apart and turning into coins when they hit the ground. The body followed, also crumbling into piles of treasure. When Mr. Niels woke up from his dream, it was only four in the morning, but the excitement took over his desire for sleep. He hastily woke up his son, got dressed, ate breakfast, and packed anything extra they would need. It was still dark outside, but he and his son took the path up the mountain, the silver moonlight guiding them through the forest. They began setting up their equipment; nets, snap traps, a cage, and tripwires. In just two hours, the beautiful forest full of peace, turned into a beautiful, deadly trap. The sun slowly rose up in the sky; the mountain side putting on its golden dress, filling the forest with life. All day the two men traveled around the place checking on their traps. There was nothing until late evening, where they found a dead mouflon on the ground, next to the activated tripwire. Mr. Neils was proud of his work, and he decided that one was a good catch for the first day. While making their way down the path, and towards the village, he noticed something on the nearest cliff. It was a huge mouflon, with a fur coloured in magnificent tones of black and brown. Its horns where a perfect round shape and they weren't the dirty grey color, but a nicer cleaner shade of it. He immediately signed to his son to target the mouflon. His son shot at the animal, and hit it. But the mouflon didn't fall down. Instead it jumped off the side of the cliff, and out of the hunters view.
At that evening, Mr. Niels told the villagers about the special Mouflon he saw. Everyone knew about it and they called it The Mountain Guardian. They said it was faster and stronger than all other Mouflons. That should of scared Mr. Niels, but it just made him think how much more precious it was. So the next morning they set out again, but this time, their only target was The guardian of the mountain. While Mr. Niels was setting up his snap traps, he heard a caterwaul behind him. He slowly turned his head around, reaching for his gun, but before he got his hand on it, he was knocked back. He lifted his head up, to come face to face, with a dark orange furred fox. It bared its teeth at him, and slowly more foxes emerged from the bushes. They made deep rumbling sounds, slowly surrounding him. He took his gun, and spun it around, hitting the closest fox. The fox backed away, and for a second it seemed like the blow scared the creature, but it just aggravated it even more. It shook its body, and dashed towards the hunter. The fox was close, but suddenly a huge shape arose from the shadows of the trees, and ran into the fox, throwing it back onto the tree behind it. Mr. Niels stayed on the ground like a statue, while watching the mouflon chasing the foxes away. But when he looked closely, he realized that wasn't just any mouflon. It was The Guardian. It ran around, constantly ramming into the foxes, frightening them away with its blows. After a while, they were no more. Mr. Niels got up, and faced the animal that had just saved his life. He reached his hand out, and the Mouflon moved closer. He touched it, its fur was soft under his fingers. And then he hastily pulled away. He quickly picked up his gun, and threw it over the edge of the mountain side. When he turned around, The Guardian had disappeared. The rest of the evening, Mr. Niels and his son cleared the forest from the traps, and as the sun faded away, they took the path to the village.
Two years passed since the incident with the Mountain Guardian. Mr. Niels took a job as a forest ranger, and learned about everything the wildlife had to offer. He made the money he needed, and lived the rest of his life happily ever after.
