Gabbro, a venerable gnome living in isolation in Colorado’s Sangre de Cristo Mountains, was relaxing in the sunroom of his rustic cottage. He had just returned from his morning soak in the nearby hot spring; on his way home, he had used a beaver dam as a causeway across a mountain stream. On the table next to his chair was a platter of sugar cookies flavored with ground acorns and chopped pine nuts, along with a sturdy mug of a hot chicory-and-spruce needle tisane.

A pair of frisky chipmunks scampered about the room, searching for any crumbs that Gabbro might drop. Alas, the gnome was a careful and tidy eater; the few crumbs never reached the floor but were caught in the hermit’s longbeard. Oh, he wasn’t about to let his tiny friends go hungry; he scattered a few pepitas and sunflower seeds on the floor for them. Yum!

Gabbro watched a family of rabbits – two adults and four leverets – [oh, wait, that isn’t the right word – a leveret is a young hare – a young rabbit is called a kit]. Anyway, Gabbro watched the little furballs eating forbs and wildflowers in the clearing outside his window. Hey, what’s going on? They had all run for shelter among the bushes. A flock of noisy magpies descended on the clearing and began their search for young grasshoppers and other insects.

The hermit gnome reached for his wildlife journal. What animal neighbors had he seen recently?

Once in a while, Gabbro was privileged to observe something special; three wild turkey hens and their poults were foraging in the clearing, accompanied by a mule deer and her fawn while tassel-eared squirrels chattered from the branches of the Ponderosa pines. A young mountain lion seemed to be stalking the poults.

Last week, on Monday, a black bear had ambled through the clearing. Perhaps it sought a deer for its dinner. A few days later, Gabbro had seen a coyote stalking marmots and raccoons. And then, just two days later, a majestic bull elk strode past his window.

Hmmm. Mountain lion, bear, coyote, bull elk. That list of animals reminded Gabbro of something, but what? Lion, bear, prairie wolf, bull. Wasn’t there a line in "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" that sounded like that? Oh, of course; in the second act, when Oberon is plotting against Titania. Yes, strange things happened in that Greek forest! “Now the hungry lion roars, and the wolf behowls the moon!”