cernunnos and ceridwen

 Ceridwen was at home in the Great Wood, swathed in the ethereal fog which concealed her divine realm from the world of men. It was autumn, and the leaves had mostly fallen from the trees, and so she sought out her consort Cernunnos to help with the cleanup. "Cern, you old layabout, get your Stag-headed self in here and help me sweep these woods !" But call out as she might, Cernunnos did not reply. She looked in the family room, and the couch stood empty, the television cold and dark. She looked in the garage, and his car was there, but he was not there tinkering with the parts (which he didn't really understand anyway). She looked out back at the kennel where the hounds of the Wild Hunt lay snoring peacefully, and down by the stream where he liked to lay and smoke his pipe. But she could find him nowhere.

 She went home and called Rhiannon, to see if he had stopped by. After seven rings, when she was just about to hang up, Rhiannon answered at last. "Ceridwen," she began, sounding deeply forlorn, "I'm so sorry. I... He... He just stepped out from the woods, into the road, as I came around the corner, and it was so dark, I didn't see him until... And he just stood there, like a deer in the headlights... I'm so sorry..."