Page 130 - Lavender-B-4

We reached home late in the evening
and my mother gave us some tea

and roti.

Although we were bursting with

emotions we decided that it would be
safer to pretend that things had gone
smoothly.

While we were having tea, Mother said
that she had been thinking about us all
day. She had been worried. We did not

tell her what had happened. How do
you tell your mother that you had faced

a snow leopard? We did not want our
mother to worry. We smiled and bravely
told her everything was okay.

Somewhere we knew what we were doing was wrong. Traditionally, each herder
is supposed to alert other herders if there is a carnivore in the valley, threatening
the herd.

This way, the herders going the next day are better prepared
and can be accompanied by four instead of two shepherds to How do you Let’s connect

protect the animals and themselves. Instead, we had decided get rid of guilt?
to keep the news secret, to ourselves. life skill managing emotions

We were ridden with guilt!

The next day, I noticed that since we had not alerted the villagers about the snow
leopard, only one male shepherd went into the pasture. We worried ourselves sick
about what would happen. Would our friend be in danger? By deciding not to tell

anyone, had we put his or the goats’ lives in danger?

For a whole day, we waited, standing at the entrance of
the village, our eyes glued to the mountains. traditionally: usually
carnivore: an animal that eats
By the evening, our friend returned. Thankfully, no meat
accompanied: went with
animal was harmed. someone
ridden with guilt: to feel
After about two months, I gathered the courage to unhappy because you think
that you have done something
confess to my mother about what had happened and how wrong

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