A MOUNTAIN STORY

My grandmother Oliva, when she was only 9, knew all the

mountains around her beautiful village, called Retuerto. It’s
a village located in a peaceful valley of the Picos de Europa,
in Leon. It’s there where I have spent long summer seasons
when I was a child. Here the water tastes better and the
wind is complete pure to breathe.
My grandma was a very brave girl, and each day she
bravely led her family's herd of cows.
One morning like any other, she was alone with all the
cows on the mountain, when she saw a bear rushing from
afar.
The big animal was coming closer and closer to her, and my
grandmother didn’t know what to do. She was complete
aware that if she tried to run, her tiny legs wouldn’t be
faster than the bear's.
So, in a survival reflex, she chose to drop to the ground
and pretended to be dead.
The animal came and approached my grandmother...
She, holding her breath, prayed that it wouldn't do
anything to her. Finally, after sniffing and shaking her a bit,
it walked away peacefully. My grandmother says she stayed
on the ground for a long time and only opened one eye to
see if the animal was gone before getting up again.
And this is one of the stories of one of the bravest women I
know.