

12. The End of the Journey This is the final stage of the hero’s journey. She returns home to her Ordinary World a changed woman and will have grown as a person, gained knowledge, faced many terrible dangers and even death but now looks forward to the start of a new life. Her return may […]
Doris crosses the threshold when she acts on her idea to bake the cakes for the bats. On one hand, it’s in Doris’s normal world to bake these cakes; however, she’s never baked honey cakes for bats before while they were sleeping in the rafters of her house. Will they like the cakes? Will they stop being so afraid? Do they even like parties or will the party scare them? This is a new world. Doris has never lived in her house with trembling fairies AND shaking bats. Will her instinct to bake new crunchy honey cakes serve her well, or will the crunchy honey cakes and the party turn into a total disaster?
Understanding animals shows them respect. Doing so illuminates the interdependence between and among species, including humans. This understanding doesn’t come from books or nature films alone. It doesn’t come from a brisk walk through a zoo. The understanding needed grows through the guided exposure to animals’ stories, strengths, threats and survival skills.