Visitors climb volcanoes and watch lava floes in mountainous Excited.
“It has the most brilliant sunrises and sunsets,” Miss Doe Friend exclaims.
It teems with rodents: mice, rats, voles, chipmunks, and squirrels. Mountain goats and lions perch. River otters squirm and play. Herons land in the lakes.
"The sky is filled with birds and birdsong,” Doe says.
Meandering trails wind into forests and grasslands.
“No need to pack provisions. Delicious and intoxicating Excitement berries grow everywhere," says the Guide.
Travelers marvel at the peaks and exclaim over vistas. The inhabitants of Excited are mountain climbers, far trekkers, and river rafters.
They live in high mountain chalets but often sleep outdoors under the wide and winking moon. They watch raccoons clean their food in the river, beavers build dams, and deer traipse through the meadow.
In their sleep, the denizens of Excited turn into animals. They shapeshift back and forth between bodies.
They love the Bear King, who lives in Happy Cave and swims in the clear pools therein, dives under, swims up, and raises their snout in the mists of dawn beside the waterfall. They raises their bulk and shake. Lilies blossom where the waterdrops fall.
The Bear King walks assuredly through the forest. As they encounter deer, foxes, and raccoons they smaller Happians walk beside them and raise their voices. The Great Bear leads the singing animals to a circle in the meadow where they begin to dance and all of their favorite foods appear on a long low table.
“It’s a lucky visitor who encounters the Bear King and joins their revelries,” says Miss Emeline Traveler.
The celebration lasts as long as the Bear King remains. Eventually the sleepy bear transforms into a tiny mouse and sneaks away through the wild grasses where they curls up in Happy Cave and grow into a bear again as they sleeps.
Slowly the party fades without the bear’s presence and the animals return to the forest sated.
“It’s called the festival of Bear Dreams,” says the Guide.
“I have been three times blessed to participate," says Miss Emeline Traveler. "Each time remains a great story and a treasured memory.”
Happiness lingers in Excited preventing anxiety and anxiousness from taking root.
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