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The Golden Enemy
The story of the last bear in the world who wants to destroy mankind because man killed his entire species for sport. A boy defies the advice of his elders to seek out the bear and communicate with it.
176 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1969
5 people are currently reading
128 people want to read
About the author
Alexander Key
73 books99 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
An American science fiction writer, most of whose books were aimed at a juvenile audience. He became a nationally known illustrator before he became an author. After he began writing novels for young people, he moved his family to the North Carolina mountains, and most of his books include that wild and rugged landscape.
His novel Escape to Witch Mountain was made into a popular film in 1975 and again in 1995. His novel The Incredible Tide became a popular anime series, Future Boy Conan.
He is known for his portrayals of alien but human-like people who have psychic powers and a close communion with nature, and who can speak with animals. In The Strange White Doves, he professed his belief that animals are conscious and aware, and have subtle ways of communicating, perhaps via telepathy.
The protagonists of Key's books are often ostracized, feared, or persecuted due to their abilities or alien origin, and Key uses this as a clear metaphor for racism and other prejudice. In several of the books (most notably The Case of the Vanishing Boy,) Key portrays some sort of communal withdrawing from society with a group of like-minded individuals. - Wikipedia -
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
An American science fiction writer, most of whose books were aimed at a juvenile audience. He became a nationally known illustrator before he became an author. After he began writing novels for young people, he moved his family to the North Carolina mountains, and most of his books include that wild and rugged landscape.
His novel Escape to Witch Mountain was made into a popular film in 1975 and again in 1995. His novel The Incredible Tide became a popular anime series, Future Boy Conan.
He is known for his portrayals of alien but human-like people who have psychic powers and a close communion with nature, and who can speak with animals. In The Strange White Doves, he professed his belief that animals are conscious and aware, and have subtle ways of communicating, perhaps via telepathy.
The protagonists of Key's books are often ostracized, feared, or persecuted due to their abilities or alien origin, and Key uses this as a clear metaphor for racism and other prejudice. In several of the books (most notably The Case of the Vanishing Boy,) Key portrays some sort of communal withdrawing from society with a group of like-minded individuals. - Wikipedia -
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January 5, 2026
Easily one of Alexander Key's greatest works. A cautionary tale of environmental awareness. The Golden Enemy has held up for decades and the messages are meaningful for current times. Futuristic and vast in scope, Alexander Key touches on space exploration, vegetarianism, peace, leadership and the human relationship with the natural world. By reading Key's non-fiction experiences in The Strange White Doves: True Mysteries of Nature, we can see how his ideas of telepathy in intelligent animals shows up in The Golden Enemy and The Preposterous Adventures of Swimmer.
I wish Key's works could be more readily available in printed form. The author's works are available as ebooks, but I'm old school, so have been buying out of print copies when I can find them online. My public library has only Alexander Key ebooks available, no printed editions to borrow. I haven't yet read all of Alexander Key's books, but I've enjoyed everything I've been able to get my hands on and I intend to keep searching.
Read in 2021 and 2026
Favorite Passages:
Dedication
To the slowly vanishing ones of forest and field, who have treated their planet - and their fellow creatures - so much better than has the creature called man.
Something About A Star
There was no mist tonight, and the stars were as bright as he had ever seen them. Directly ahead, rising over the hills, was a star he had never noticed before. It didn't have the cold diamond glitter of the others. It was a warm star, a friendly one, with something about it that seemed to ease the ache within him.
He pointed to it and asked its name.
The oldest herder shook his head, and said quietly, "Why don't you give it a name and call it your own? It looks like a good star, the kind one needs on a lonely night."
"Would there be - people out there? People like us?"
"Why not? We came from the stars, long ago - from a planet like this one. If that star has such a planet, surely man will be living there."
________
"Look at your star while I'm gone, and do a little wondering. I've found a lot of answers that way."
Footprint
On the green planet that circled the youngest herder's star, the forest stretched like a great park over much of the land. Ancient trails led through it, but these days no one except Boy Jaim ever bothered to travel far upon them. Why walk, people said, when it is so easy to fly above it all? But to Boy Jaim - he was looked upon as something of a savage - the forest was a place of endless mystery, and he managed to spend more time it than at home.
Because he spoke the language of the wild, and knew every creature for miles around, it came as a great shock, one morning, suddenly to discover that the forest had turned unfriendly.
________
The trail they were following had once been a highway, but that was millenniums ago in the day of the wheel. Now great trees covered the ages-old gash through the land, and there remained only a winding path kept open by the hooves of deer.
________
From the few books he'd read of the dim past, when man had overrun the planet, there had been evil aplenty. But all that was long ago. Incredibly long ago. Man had changed a lot since those times. Now his numbers were few, and neither man nor beast had harmed each other for ages.
________
In its bright, beady little eyes was a curious new mixture of wonder and fear.
________
He was aware of hidden creatures watching him, suspicious and distrustful. They no longer wanted anything to do with him - and it was all because he was a man-thing.
________
Could the forest have been visited by a phantom? He was almost willing to believe it, because poor Doubtful, who had terrible racial memories, was always dreaming about such things. Doubtful would often mutter and moan in his sleep, and wake up trembling to say that some horror had been after him. Something flesh-eating out of the past.
________
He shivered as he studied the silent forest across the river. It had never looked forbidding before. Now it was a place of darkness and fear. But home lay in that direction.
________
"Well, you miss things by flying over them," he explained. "I want to follow one of the old trails all the way and see what I can locate."
________
"It whiffs like a bear, so that's what it is - a shining monster of a bear, which makes it a phantom. I think we ought to forget the thing and go home."
"But we can't do that. I've got to find it, and - and try to talk to it."
"Talk to it? Oh, no!"
"But I've got to. Don't you understand? Everything in the forest has been friendly until now. Why, it's been ages since humans and other creatures -"
__________________________________________
The Youngest herder sat up with a start, not sure whether he had been dosing and dreaming, or simply imagining things. For a moment it seemed that his star really had a planet, and that he had been given a close look at it. Had he glimpsed people there like himself, and familiar creatures? . . .
He decided he had only imagined it, but it didn't matter. He could pretend it was real. It helped to believe there might be another like himself out there . . . someone with the same thoughts and feelings, perhaps with troubles like his own . . .
If it were man's old planet, there might be dangerous creatures on it, things that hated man.
Only, hatred had to have a reason . . .
Enemy
There was no use trying to hide anything from her. Their minds were so closely adjusted that fears as well as thoughts could be communicated, often without their even trying.
________
"It was a phantom," Doubtful mumbled. "I've seen things like it in my sleep."
________
The Elder's stepped gardens tended mainly by his pupils, usually gave forth a pleasant medley of bee drone, birdsong, and splash of water from the many springs. Today no birds were singing, and there was a discordant new sound Boy Jaim had not heard there before. It came from the closed gate near the bottom of the hill - the worried baa-baa-a-ing of goats demanding attention.
________
It never occurred to him that he had talents the others did not possess.
________
"It has happened before," he was saying, warming to one of his favorite subjects. "And it will happen again. Almost without warning - unless we learn to read the signs."
________
"I always had a feeling they were just plain murderous, though Father thinks they were demented. Could so many people be demented?"
"Ha!" said the Elder. "Possibly. It's all a point of view. In one sense they almost had to be determined to live live in those ghastly beehives of cities, roaring around on wheels, and to be forever so incredibly busy -- though heaven knows what they were so busy about. No one has ever learned." He shook his head. "However, many things happened at the Barrens. But what with continents changing and sinking, and the polar ice melting and flooding things, we've few records left to help us. We many never know the truth unless we learn to make better use of the Pool of Knowledge."
There was a sudden silence. Then young Hiras asked, "Is there really a Pool of Knowledge, sir?"
Old Emmon looked at him witheringly. "Where do you think inspiration comes from? Out of man's trifling little brain? Ha!" He pointed a trembling fear aloft. "All that ever has been, all that ever can be and will be, is forever out there waiting. We have only to learn to see it . . . "
________
"Why, I declare!" he exclaimed. "It must be a cat!" L'Mara looked at him blankly, and the Elder added, "A cat, my dear, is an extinct household pet. I have a description of one somewhere in the library. The creature was carnivorous, and some members of it's family were exceedingly large and fierce." He shuddered slightly, "I consider it fortunate that all carnivorous creatures are extinct. There are the bears, of course, and a dog or two - but these days the worst thing they eat is fish."
"Don't forget about man," said L'Mara.
"Eh? Man?"
"Yes, sir. Wasn't he once a flesh eater? And he still eats fish sometimes."
"Please," the Elder begged, looking pained. "I find the subject revolting."
_________
"Imagine giving it up for those clumsy and complicated contraptions that needed roads to run on!"
"Why did he?" asked L'Mara.
"Because he was quite mad, of course. All ancient man seemed to care about was getting from one spot to another in a hurry. Don't ask me why . . . "
_________
"Man also ate the cow, didn't he?" L'Mara asked. "Just as he did the pig?"
"We won't go into that," said the Elder, "Sometimes I doubt that such barbarous creatures were our true ancestors."
_________
"Is-is this what used to be known as wealth?"
"I believe," said Emmon, "that the right name for it is money."
"What was it for?"
"A medium of exchange," said Emmon. "I understand it was considered a good thing once. There were such vast numbers of people, you see, that life had become extremely complicated. Really, it passes belief. Anyway, when one needed food or clothes, he was unable to produce them as we do. He had to use money to buy them."
_________
"Perhaps that's why ancient man was always in such a hurry. And it may explain why he had such concern for time. Why, everyone in his day carried a time instrument! Every blessed second was so valued - " He stopped and tilted his head. "What is that noise I keep hearing? Is it the bleating of goats?"
"Yes, sir," Boy Jaim replied uneasily. "There's a bunch of them down at the gate."
"For pity's sake, what do the silly creatures want?"
Boy Jaim didn't consider goats exactly silly. But they certainly were curious and stubborn enough, and they'd worked out things pretty well to suit themselves.
_________
The goats, in exchange for milk and hair, were always making deals for special pastures to graze in. Their sly deals had long been a subject for much laughter, but there'd be nothing to laugh about this time . . .
___________________________________________
The stars winked out with dawn, and again the youngest herder faced the reality of day.
. . . .
He'd done more imagining than wondering during the night, and no answers had come to him.
But questions were tumbling through his mind . . . questions about man and beast . . .
Time of Trouble
How do you stop a goat invasion?
_________
Andru, last evening, had been inclined to laugh at the whole thing.
"Did you actually see this fabulous creature?" Andru asked.
"All I saw was its footprint," he told his uncle. "But that was enough. If you'd been in the woods with me and seen how everything acted, or heard Old Man when he talked to Emmon and me . . ."
Boy Jaim would never forget the way Andru raised one eyebrow and slowly shook his long gray head. "Son, there's no such thing as a bear that size, in spite of what you think you saw. You're letting your imagination run away with you. As for the color -" Andru smiled, all at once, and added, "Oh, there could be a mutation, I suppose. That would produce the color, and of course everything would be afraid of it. Animals are so excitable. And those ridiculous goats . . . "
________
"I never realized there were so many goats to plague us. Their numbers astound me. The Council ought to have most of them destroyed."
There were several shocked faces. Tira said sharply, "Andru! You don't mean that!"
"Goats! The way I feel about them now -"
"Civilized man doesn't take life," Tira reminded him.
________
There were gasps, followed by a shocked silence. Then Tira's mother, a thin, quiet woman named Malla, said solemnly, "It has begun."
"What has begun, Mother?" There was a note of fright in Tira's voice.
"The Time of Trouble. Everyone knows the prediction."
Boy Jaim had heard the prediction all his life. Where it had come from he didn't know, but it was one of those things people always repeated with a laugh because it seemed so silly. It didn't seem silly now, and the thought of it brought a sudden unpleasant prickling down his spine. Man will be afflicted by hoof and claw, and there will follow a time of trouble . . .
One of the neighbors grumbled, "Well, we've sure had it by hoof and claw. Maybe Malla's right."
"Malla's always right," Zimah muttered. "I think the Trouble has started."
________
"That's the logical thing to do," old Emmon replied. "But I'm afraid," he added, spreading his thin hands, "that logic isn't going to help us now. We cannot change what will be. It is in the stars."
________
"I'm not thinking of the prediction," old Emmon said mildly. "It's the stars I'm concerned about. I studied them last night, and I don't like what they tell me. We are in for trouble."
________
"All I know is that the planets and the stars are in positions they haven't been in for a millennium. Certain delicate balances are in danger of being upset. Almost anything can happen."
"After a goat invasion," Andru growled, "I'd say it's already happened."
________
It was a little hard to think about weapons, for people hadn't needed such things for ages. The ancients in the day of the wheel had used something called a gun, but he wasn't sure how it worked.
________
"I've about decided," old Emmon was saying, "that the beast is demented. Has that occurred to you, Boy Jaim?"
"Why -why no, sir. It could be sort of crazy, but somehow I don't believe it is."
"Then why is it driving the goats? Why is it trying to plague us? What has it got against us? Ha! I say the beast has a devilish bee in its bonnet - and that amounts to dementia."
"Well, it's sure got something in its bonnet." Boy Jaim admitted. "But it can't be really crazy, or the other animals wouldn't have listened to it. I mean, it took an awful lot of brains - or some sort of mental power - to turn everything against us."
"Everything? Even the birds?"
"I haven't seen a bird since I came home yesterday. Have you?"
Verdict
There was the immediate feeling of coiled grace ready to explode into movement, which other bears didn't have. And most startling of all, there were its eyes - which were looking directly into his own. Black eyes, cold and knowing. Intelligent eyes . . .
Come closer, the eyes seemed to be urging him. Closer . . .
_______
"Heaven preserve us from such a monster! Did you notice its eyes?"
Boy Jaim moistened dry lips. "I sure did."
"Hypnotic!" the Elder squeaked. "Positively hypnotic! I knew something was wrong before I saw it, but I couldn't move my hand. If Doubtful hadn't barked - "
Doubtful admitted that he'd whiffed it in his sleep, and had nearly jumped out of his skin. Then he added plaintively, "I wish we could go somewhere and forget it."
Boy Jaim was beginning to wish the same thing. He put his arm around the dog and heard old Emmon say, "Mutant! That's what it is - an impossible mutant! And it's intelligent. That makes it a terrible danger. I don't know why we have to be afflicted with it at a time like this, when the very stars are threatening . . ."
________
The moment was historic. Man had long ago ceased the taking of life. Life was sacred, and to destroy it for any reason - people felt - would be an at of barbarism.
Some of the more sensitive Councilmen, stricken by conscience, refused to vote. But one by one, the majority of them rose and gave their consent to Andru's plea, and the Elders approved. The Golden One must die.
________
"Are you listening to me?"
"Of course I'm listening! How can I help it? You're like a bee right in my head."
________
. . . now suddenly he was faced with his aloneness in a world where no birds sang, and not even the chatter of a squirrel broke the stillness. The very sunlight seemed cold.
________
He moved on up to the terrace, and suddenly paused, smiling. A huge toad sat there at the edge of the sunlight, waiting for flies. "Hi, Warts," he said, and stooped and touched the toad, whom he'd known for years.
Warts was too limited to do more than blink at him by way of recognition, but it was a welcoming blink and it wiped away some of Boy Jaim's feelings of lostness.
_________
A little flash of movement jerked him to the left. Abruptly he cried. "Scatterbrain - hey! Don't run off! Don't you know me?"
The chipmunk stopped, and one bright eye peered at him curiously and suspiciously from the safety of a corner. He spoke again. Now Scatterbrain slowly approached and suddenly threw himself upon him, chittering and making a great fuss of recognition.
________
Scatterbrain might be flighty and excitable and have a little difficulty communicating, but he wasn't stupid. Not a bit. He knew exactly what he was doing, though it didn't seem to make sense.
________
What actually happened at the Barrens? Was ancient man's last huge city destroyed by a meteor, as we have been taught? Or was that teaching a lie?
We in the Five Communities think highly of ourselves, as if man could do no wrong But secretly I think otherwise. I suspect we are the remnants of a murderous race, and that man himself was mainly responsible for what happened at the Barrens.
I hope I am wrong. Emmon insists that Nature alone caused the destruction and points out that the entire surface of the globe was entirely changed at about the same time. I do not like to think that man might have disturbed a balance that triggered the entire change - but I cannot help wondering.
The fact remains that there were only a few survivors: a small group of humans who were our ancestors, and a limited number of birds and animals. Why did these few survive when all the rest died? Were they tougher than the others, and immune to something that killed the majority? Or were they mutants? If they were mutants, then all of us today, man and beast, belong to new breeds - though whether or not we are any better still remains to be seen.
___________________________________________
When the star appeared, serene and beautiful, he caught his breath and forgot the anger and the hurt and the confusion in him.
. . . .
He shook his head, and suddenly wondered why man and beast were always at odds. Did man really have the right to kill?
Plea
"Years ago, both your parents and I knew you were developing abilities uncommon to the majority. Because of them, we believed a certain extra ability would show up later."
________
"Skies above, science tells me trouble is due - but it doesn't give enough facts so we'll know which way to jump."
"Jump?"
"That's what I said! We're coming under cosmic and planetary attractions that can kill us all -
. . .
We need facts to stay alive. Even one fact could be enough."
________
"The council said the bear must die, and I intend to kill it. And a few goats as well. It's time we taught all those fool animals a lesson!"
________
"Bloodthirsty idiots!"
More Favorite Passages in Comments Below.
I wish Key's works could be more readily available in printed form. The author's works are available as ebooks, but I'm old school, so have been buying out of print copies when I can find them online. My public library has only Alexander Key ebooks available, no printed editions to borrow. I haven't yet read all of Alexander Key's books, but I've enjoyed everything I've been able to get my hands on and I intend to keep searching.
Read in 2021 and 2026
Favorite Passages:
Dedication
To the slowly vanishing ones of forest and field, who have treated their planet - and their fellow creatures - so much better than has the creature called man.
Something About A Star
There was no mist tonight, and the stars were as bright as he had ever seen them. Directly ahead, rising over the hills, was a star he had never noticed before. It didn't have the cold diamond glitter of the others. It was a warm star, a friendly one, with something about it that seemed to ease the ache within him.
He pointed to it and asked its name.
The oldest herder shook his head, and said quietly, "Why don't you give it a name and call it your own? It looks like a good star, the kind one needs on a lonely night."
"Would there be - people out there? People like us?"
"Why not? We came from the stars, long ago - from a planet like this one. If that star has such a planet, surely man will be living there."
________
"Look at your star while I'm gone, and do a little wondering. I've found a lot of answers that way."
Footprint
On the green planet that circled the youngest herder's star, the forest stretched like a great park over much of the land. Ancient trails led through it, but these days no one except Boy Jaim ever bothered to travel far upon them. Why walk, people said, when it is so easy to fly above it all? But to Boy Jaim - he was looked upon as something of a savage - the forest was a place of endless mystery, and he managed to spend more time it than at home.
Because he spoke the language of the wild, and knew every creature for miles around, it came as a great shock, one morning, suddenly to discover that the forest had turned unfriendly.
________
The trail they were following had once been a highway, but that was millenniums ago in the day of the wheel. Now great trees covered the ages-old gash through the land, and there remained only a winding path kept open by the hooves of deer.
________
From the few books he'd read of the dim past, when man had overrun the planet, there had been evil aplenty. But all that was long ago. Incredibly long ago. Man had changed a lot since those times. Now his numbers were few, and neither man nor beast had harmed each other for ages.
________
In its bright, beady little eyes was a curious new mixture of wonder and fear.
________
He was aware of hidden creatures watching him, suspicious and distrustful. They no longer wanted anything to do with him - and it was all because he was a man-thing.
________
Could the forest have been visited by a phantom? He was almost willing to believe it, because poor Doubtful, who had terrible racial memories, was always dreaming about such things. Doubtful would often mutter and moan in his sleep, and wake up trembling to say that some horror had been after him. Something flesh-eating out of the past.
________
He shivered as he studied the silent forest across the river. It had never looked forbidding before. Now it was a place of darkness and fear. But home lay in that direction.
________
"Well, you miss things by flying over them," he explained. "I want to follow one of the old trails all the way and see what I can locate."
________
"It whiffs like a bear, so that's what it is - a shining monster of a bear, which makes it a phantom. I think we ought to forget the thing and go home."
"But we can't do that. I've got to find it, and - and try to talk to it."
"Talk to it? Oh, no!"
"But I've got to. Don't you understand? Everything in the forest has been friendly until now. Why, it's been ages since humans and other creatures -"
__________________________________________
The Youngest herder sat up with a start, not sure whether he had been dosing and dreaming, or simply imagining things. For a moment it seemed that his star really had a planet, and that he had been given a close look at it. Had he glimpsed people there like himself, and familiar creatures? . . .
He decided he had only imagined it, but it didn't matter. He could pretend it was real. It helped to believe there might be another like himself out there . . . someone with the same thoughts and feelings, perhaps with troubles like his own . . .
If it were man's old planet, there might be dangerous creatures on it, things that hated man.
Only, hatred had to have a reason . . .
Enemy
There was no use trying to hide anything from her. Their minds were so closely adjusted that fears as well as thoughts could be communicated, often without their even trying.
________
"It was a phantom," Doubtful mumbled. "I've seen things like it in my sleep."
________
The Elder's stepped gardens tended mainly by his pupils, usually gave forth a pleasant medley of bee drone, birdsong, and splash of water from the many springs. Today no birds were singing, and there was a discordant new sound Boy Jaim had not heard there before. It came from the closed gate near the bottom of the hill - the worried baa-baa-a-ing of goats demanding attention.
________
It never occurred to him that he had talents the others did not possess.
________
"It has happened before," he was saying, warming to one of his favorite subjects. "And it will happen again. Almost without warning - unless we learn to read the signs."
________
"I always had a feeling they were just plain murderous, though Father thinks they were demented. Could so many people be demented?"
"Ha!" said the Elder. "Possibly. It's all a point of view. In one sense they almost had to be determined to live live in those ghastly beehives of cities, roaring around on wheels, and to be forever so incredibly busy -- though heaven knows what they were so busy about. No one has ever learned." He shook his head. "However, many things happened at the Barrens. But what with continents changing and sinking, and the polar ice melting and flooding things, we've few records left to help us. We many never know the truth unless we learn to make better use of the Pool of Knowledge."
There was a sudden silence. Then young Hiras asked, "Is there really a Pool of Knowledge, sir?"
Old Emmon looked at him witheringly. "Where do you think inspiration comes from? Out of man's trifling little brain? Ha!" He pointed a trembling fear aloft. "All that ever has been, all that ever can be and will be, is forever out there waiting. We have only to learn to see it . . . "
________
"Why, I declare!" he exclaimed. "It must be a cat!" L'Mara looked at him blankly, and the Elder added, "A cat, my dear, is an extinct household pet. I have a description of one somewhere in the library. The creature was carnivorous, and some members of it's family were exceedingly large and fierce." He shuddered slightly, "I consider it fortunate that all carnivorous creatures are extinct. There are the bears, of course, and a dog or two - but these days the worst thing they eat is fish."
"Don't forget about man," said L'Mara.
"Eh? Man?"
"Yes, sir. Wasn't he once a flesh eater? And he still eats fish sometimes."
"Please," the Elder begged, looking pained. "I find the subject revolting."
_________
"Imagine giving it up for those clumsy and complicated contraptions that needed roads to run on!"
"Why did he?" asked L'Mara.
"Because he was quite mad, of course. All ancient man seemed to care about was getting from one spot to another in a hurry. Don't ask me why . . . "
_________
"Man also ate the cow, didn't he?" L'Mara asked. "Just as he did the pig?"
"We won't go into that," said the Elder, "Sometimes I doubt that such barbarous creatures were our true ancestors."
_________
"Is-is this what used to be known as wealth?"
"I believe," said Emmon, "that the right name for it is money."
"What was it for?"
"A medium of exchange," said Emmon. "I understand it was considered a good thing once. There were such vast numbers of people, you see, that life had become extremely complicated. Really, it passes belief. Anyway, when one needed food or clothes, he was unable to produce them as we do. He had to use money to buy them."
_________
"Perhaps that's why ancient man was always in such a hurry. And it may explain why he had such concern for time. Why, everyone in his day carried a time instrument! Every blessed second was so valued - " He stopped and tilted his head. "What is that noise I keep hearing? Is it the bleating of goats?"
"Yes, sir," Boy Jaim replied uneasily. "There's a bunch of them down at the gate."
"For pity's sake, what do the silly creatures want?"
Boy Jaim didn't consider goats exactly silly. But they certainly were curious and stubborn enough, and they'd worked out things pretty well to suit themselves.
_________
The goats, in exchange for milk and hair, were always making deals for special pastures to graze in. Their sly deals had long been a subject for much laughter, but there'd be nothing to laugh about this time . . .
___________________________________________
The stars winked out with dawn, and again the youngest herder faced the reality of day.
. . . .
He'd done more imagining than wondering during the night, and no answers had come to him.
But questions were tumbling through his mind . . . questions about man and beast . . .
Time of Trouble
How do you stop a goat invasion?
_________
Andru, last evening, had been inclined to laugh at the whole thing.
"Did you actually see this fabulous creature?" Andru asked.
"All I saw was its footprint," he told his uncle. "But that was enough. If you'd been in the woods with me and seen how everything acted, or heard Old Man when he talked to Emmon and me . . ."
Boy Jaim would never forget the way Andru raised one eyebrow and slowly shook his long gray head. "Son, there's no such thing as a bear that size, in spite of what you think you saw. You're letting your imagination run away with you. As for the color -" Andru smiled, all at once, and added, "Oh, there could be a mutation, I suppose. That would produce the color, and of course everything would be afraid of it. Animals are so excitable. And those ridiculous goats . . . "
________
"I never realized there were so many goats to plague us. Their numbers astound me. The Council ought to have most of them destroyed."
There were several shocked faces. Tira said sharply, "Andru! You don't mean that!"
"Goats! The way I feel about them now -"
"Civilized man doesn't take life," Tira reminded him.
________
There were gasps, followed by a shocked silence. Then Tira's mother, a thin, quiet woman named Malla, said solemnly, "It has begun."
"What has begun, Mother?" There was a note of fright in Tira's voice.
"The Time of Trouble. Everyone knows the prediction."
Boy Jaim had heard the prediction all his life. Where it had come from he didn't know, but it was one of those things people always repeated with a laugh because it seemed so silly. It didn't seem silly now, and the thought of it brought a sudden unpleasant prickling down his spine. Man will be afflicted by hoof and claw, and there will follow a time of trouble . . .
One of the neighbors grumbled, "Well, we've sure had it by hoof and claw. Maybe Malla's right."
"Malla's always right," Zimah muttered. "I think the Trouble has started."
________
"That's the logical thing to do," old Emmon replied. "But I'm afraid," he added, spreading his thin hands, "that logic isn't going to help us now. We cannot change what will be. It is in the stars."
________
"I'm not thinking of the prediction," old Emmon said mildly. "It's the stars I'm concerned about. I studied them last night, and I don't like what they tell me. We are in for trouble."
________
"All I know is that the planets and the stars are in positions they haven't been in for a millennium. Certain delicate balances are in danger of being upset. Almost anything can happen."
"After a goat invasion," Andru growled, "I'd say it's already happened."
________
It was a little hard to think about weapons, for people hadn't needed such things for ages. The ancients in the day of the wheel had used something called a gun, but he wasn't sure how it worked.
________
"I've about decided," old Emmon was saying, "that the beast is demented. Has that occurred to you, Boy Jaim?"
"Why -why no, sir. It could be sort of crazy, but somehow I don't believe it is."
"Then why is it driving the goats? Why is it trying to plague us? What has it got against us? Ha! I say the beast has a devilish bee in its bonnet - and that amounts to dementia."
"Well, it's sure got something in its bonnet." Boy Jaim admitted. "But it can't be really crazy, or the other animals wouldn't have listened to it. I mean, it took an awful lot of brains - or some sort of mental power - to turn everything against us."
"Everything? Even the birds?"
"I haven't seen a bird since I came home yesterday. Have you?"
Verdict
There was the immediate feeling of coiled grace ready to explode into movement, which other bears didn't have. And most startling of all, there were its eyes - which were looking directly into his own. Black eyes, cold and knowing. Intelligent eyes . . .
Come closer, the eyes seemed to be urging him. Closer . . .
_______
"Heaven preserve us from such a monster! Did you notice its eyes?"
Boy Jaim moistened dry lips. "I sure did."
"Hypnotic!" the Elder squeaked. "Positively hypnotic! I knew something was wrong before I saw it, but I couldn't move my hand. If Doubtful hadn't barked - "
Doubtful admitted that he'd whiffed it in his sleep, and had nearly jumped out of his skin. Then he added plaintively, "I wish we could go somewhere and forget it."
Boy Jaim was beginning to wish the same thing. He put his arm around the dog and heard old Emmon say, "Mutant! That's what it is - an impossible mutant! And it's intelligent. That makes it a terrible danger. I don't know why we have to be afflicted with it at a time like this, when the very stars are threatening . . ."
________
The moment was historic. Man had long ago ceased the taking of life. Life was sacred, and to destroy it for any reason - people felt - would be an at of barbarism.
Some of the more sensitive Councilmen, stricken by conscience, refused to vote. But one by one, the majority of them rose and gave their consent to Andru's plea, and the Elders approved. The Golden One must die.
________
"Are you listening to me?"
"Of course I'm listening! How can I help it? You're like a bee right in my head."
________
. . . now suddenly he was faced with his aloneness in a world where no birds sang, and not even the chatter of a squirrel broke the stillness. The very sunlight seemed cold.
________
He moved on up to the terrace, and suddenly paused, smiling. A huge toad sat there at the edge of the sunlight, waiting for flies. "Hi, Warts," he said, and stooped and touched the toad, whom he'd known for years.
Warts was too limited to do more than blink at him by way of recognition, but it was a welcoming blink and it wiped away some of Boy Jaim's feelings of lostness.
_________
A little flash of movement jerked him to the left. Abruptly he cried. "Scatterbrain - hey! Don't run off! Don't you know me?"
The chipmunk stopped, and one bright eye peered at him curiously and suspiciously from the safety of a corner. He spoke again. Now Scatterbrain slowly approached and suddenly threw himself upon him, chittering and making a great fuss of recognition.
________
Scatterbrain might be flighty and excitable and have a little difficulty communicating, but he wasn't stupid. Not a bit. He knew exactly what he was doing, though it didn't seem to make sense.
________
What actually happened at the Barrens? Was ancient man's last huge city destroyed by a meteor, as we have been taught? Or was that teaching a lie?
We in the Five Communities think highly of ourselves, as if man could do no wrong But secretly I think otherwise. I suspect we are the remnants of a murderous race, and that man himself was mainly responsible for what happened at the Barrens.
I hope I am wrong. Emmon insists that Nature alone caused the destruction and points out that the entire surface of the globe was entirely changed at about the same time. I do not like to think that man might have disturbed a balance that triggered the entire change - but I cannot help wondering.
The fact remains that there were only a few survivors: a small group of humans who were our ancestors, and a limited number of birds and animals. Why did these few survive when all the rest died? Were they tougher than the others, and immune to something that killed the majority? Or were they mutants? If they were mutants, then all of us today, man and beast, belong to new breeds - though whether or not we are any better still remains to be seen.
___________________________________________
When the star appeared, serene and beautiful, he caught his breath and forgot the anger and the hurt and the confusion in him.
. . . .
He shook his head, and suddenly wondered why man and beast were always at odds. Did man really have the right to kill?
Plea
"Years ago, both your parents and I knew you were developing abilities uncommon to the majority. Because of them, we believed a certain extra ability would show up later."
________
"Skies above, science tells me trouble is due - but it doesn't give enough facts so we'll know which way to jump."
"Jump?"
"That's what I said! We're coming under cosmic and planetary attractions that can kill us all -
. . .
We need facts to stay alive. Even one fact could be enough."
________
"The council said the bear must die, and I intend to kill it. And a few goats as well. It's time we taught all those fool animals a lesson!"
________
"Bloodthirsty idiots!"
More Favorite Passages in Comments Below.
July 12, 2016
This is a wonderfully inspiring book with a positive message for older children & adults that teaches why & how not to be prejudiced or racist by teaching the way of compassionate understanding, through an exciting page-turning story that holds the interest without being preachy about it. This would be a terrific book to read with your child, & if they are like me & the people I know who read it, they will want to re-read it again & again. I have read reviews on other sites where adults re-read this book, as well. It is that good!
I was so affected when I first read this book as a child, that I saved it for the child I hoped to have one day; and he loved it so much that he saved it for the child he hoped to have one day, too. A third generation has now been born in our family since I first read this book, and this book will help guide this new baby's life towards one of compassionate understanding & patience with differences, instead of hatred and ignorance. My son & I both grew up non-prejudiced & non-racist, and this book had a lot to do with inspiring those wonderful values, with a fascinating story that doesn't feel like one is learning something so important & profound.
Since this is a book for older children & I know parents will want to know more, please note that there are SPOILERS below, without giving away the ending:
-- SPOILERS below --
The Golden Enemy by Alexander Key is a science fiction story that holds up well (it first came out many years ago), about an older boy who travels in the woods with his best buddy, his dog. They travel in a hovercraft, which is fun for a child to read about & imagine. It is set in the future, with a human race that exists on another planet that is very much like Earth. They had some type of feud with a giant bear race, and the humans killed almost all of them, due to tragic misunderstandings between them. The boy in this book, Jaims, is able to telepathically communicate with the last remaining giant bear of this species, and intends to kill him due to his own misunderstandings. In return, the bear also wants to kill humans, because he is the last of his kind and alone. (Stick with me, this sounds intense but it is a very heartwarming book, & a cartoon has more violence than this wonderful story!)
At first, the boy & this bear 'hear' each other's thoughts & they are unkind and angry, full of bad intent towards one another. But as they communicate more & more, they learn things about each other that ends up transforming their attitudes by the end of the book, & the magic that this author weaves is to also help open the hearts & minds of the children reading it, inspiring them to be more like the characters end up being with one another. I won't give away the ending, but by the time the last page is read, one feels as if their hearts have been opened up with compassion towards others, and the message of trying to understand & show compassion is born into one's psyche, which is a wonderful thing not easily achieved. 'The Golden Enemy' gives an incredible message of finding peace with others we may not understand at first, by learning more about them first & not assuming the worst.
I cannot recommend this book more highly for children & adults alike, especially on the day that I am writing this review, when an interfaith memorial service is being held in Dallas, TX USA for the slain officers who were ambushed by snipers in a terrible hate crime on July 8, 2016. God bless those officers & their loved ones, & the people who have been hurt by prejudice & racism to the point where they feel such rage that they want to blindly hurt others without even knowing them...which is exactly how this book starts out. This book is so appropriate for children of these current times now, just as much as it was when I first read it during a time in the USA when desegregation was taking place in our school system. Reading this book, then seeing how 2 races were treating each other @ school was a real eye-opener, as it will be for your children. This message cannot be sugar-coated; it must be felt, and this book gives both sides of the story so the child can 'feel' the emotions & the joyful outcome that compassion brings. It is a very inspiring, healing book. If you have any misgivings, I urge you to get the book & read it yourself first before casting it aside, instead of avoiding it because it sounds too intense. It is not written in that way at all, and is quite appropriate for older children.
My fervent wish is that this book will be reprinted so more children & adults can read it (you can still find it on Kindle), & a movie made for a world-wide audience in desperate need of the inspiration to be compassionate towards others despite our differences. This book is a balm for all of our souls.
I was so affected when I first read this book as a child, that I saved it for the child I hoped to have one day; and he loved it so much that he saved it for the child he hoped to have one day, too. A third generation has now been born in our family since I first read this book, and this book will help guide this new baby's life towards one of compassionate understanding & patience with differences, instead of hatred and ignorance. My son & I both grew up non-prejudiced & non-racist, and this book had a lot to do with inspiring those wonderful values, with a fascinating story that doesn't feel like one is learning something so important & profound.
Since this is a book for older children & I know parents will want to know more, please note that there are SPOILERS below, without giving away the ending:
-- SPOILERS below --
The Golden Enemy by Alexander Key is a science fiction story that holds up well (it first came out many years ago), about an older boy who travels in the woods with his best buddy, his dog. They travel in a hovercraft, which is fun for a child to read about & imagine. It is set in the future, with a human race that exists on another planet that is very much like Earth. They had some type of feud with a giant bear race, and the humans killed almost all of them, due to tragic misunderstandings between them. The boy in this book, Jaims, is able to telepathically communicate with the last remaining giant bear of this species, and intends to kill him due to his own misunderstandings. In return, the bear also wants to kill humans, because he is the last of his kind and alone. (Stick with me, this sounds intense but it is a very heartwarming book, & a cartoon has more violence than this wonderful story!)
At first, the boy & this bear 'hear' each other's thoughts & they are unkind and angry, full of bad intent towards one another. But as they communicate more & more, they learn things about each other that ends up transforming their attitudes by the end of the book, & the magic that this author weaves is to also help open the hearts & minds of the children reading it, inspiring them to be more like the characters end up being with one another. I won't give away the ending, but by the time the last page is read, one feels as if their hearts have been opened up with compassion towards others, and the message of trying to understand & show compassion is born into one's psyche, which is a wonderful thing not easily achieved. 'The Golden Enemy' gives an incredible message of finding peace with others we may not understand at first, by learning more about them first & not assuming the worst.
I cannot recommend this book more highly for children & adults alike, especially on the day that I am writing this review, when an interfaith memorial service is being held in Dallas, TX USA for the slain officers who were ambushed by snipers in a terrible hate crime on July 8, 2016. God bless those officers & their loved ones, & the people who have been hurt by prejudice & racism to the point where they feel such rage that they want to blindly hurt others without even knowing them...which is exactly how this book starts out. This book is so appropriate for children of these current times now, just as much as it was when I first read it during a time in the USA when desegregation was taking place in our school system. Reading this book, then seeing how 2 races were treating each other @ school was a real eye-opener, as it will be for your children. This message cannot be sugar-coated; it must be felt, and this book gives both sides of the story so the child can 'feel' the emotions & the joyful outcome that compassion brings. It is a very inspiring, healing book. If you have any misgivings, I urge you to get the book & read it yourself first before casting it aside, instead of avoiding it because it sounds too intense. It is not written in that way at all, and is quite appropriate for older children.
My fervent wish is that this book will be reprinted so more children & adults can read it (you can still find it on Kindle), & a movie made for a world-wide audience in desperate need of the inspiration to be compassionate towards others despite our differences. This book is a balm for all of our souls.
September 23, 2019
Another of Alexander Key's books recently brought back to the world as ebooks. Alexander Key wrote Escape to Witch Mountain, and this book is another gem of his, aimed at primary/mid grade children.
Boy Jaim lives in a future where humans live in peace with themselves and nature on another planet. One day, however, he encounters something thought to be banished from the world: hate.
He encounters a bear - last of its kind, and some kind of sentient alien bear at that. Humans wiped out the other bears, so this one is full of hate for humans. Boy Jaim finds himself telepathically linked to the bear and we see them encounter each other in hate, hostility and fear, but over the course of the book they come to understand each other.
The book is a great little message of understanding and compassion and hope. I find Key's dialogue a little clunky, his style a little dated, but this story is timeless. I am glad it was brought back as an ebook.
Boy Jaim lives in a future where humans live in peace with themselves and nature on another planet. One day, however, he encounters something thought to be banished from the world: hate.
He encounters a bear - last of its kind, and some kind of sentient alien bear at that. Humans wiped out the other bears, so this one is full of hate for humans. Boy Jaim finds himself telepathically linked to the bear and we see them encounter each other in hate, hostility and fear, but over the course of the book they come to understand each other.
The book is a great little message of understanding and compassion and hope. I find Key's dialogue a little clunky, his style a little dated, but this story is timeless. I am glad it was brought back as an ebook.
November 19, 2025
4.8 stars
This author also wrote several
other books including The Forgotten
Door.
I read this book when I was younger and
I absolutely loved it.
I think that it has a fantastic, unusual and
very unique plot.
I cannot believe that it has so few ratings.
This author also wrote several
other books including The Forgotten
Door.
I read this book when I was younger and
I absolutely loved it.
I think that it has a fantastic, unusual and
very unique plot.
I cannot believe that it has so few ratings.
May 27, 2022
A favorite!
Read this as a freshman in high school, almost 50 years ago. At the time, I thought it was one of the best books that I ever read. Now, all these years later, Ireread it, and I am happy to say it still is!
Read this as a freshman in high school, almost 50 years ago. At the time, I thought it was one of the best books that I ever read. Now, all these years later, Ireread it, and I am happy to say it still is!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews