Folyosó Autumn 2024

Anna Bori Forgács

I was born to run, to feel the earth under my hooves, and to live free. I am a horse, wild at heart and full of spirit. People say I’m strong, graceful, even a symbol of freedom.

In the wild, I’m part of a herd—my family. Together, we move as one across fields, swift and silent. In the herd, we have each other’s backs. We can communicate without words—a soft neigh, the flick of an ear, or just a look. We trust each other completely, and with that trust comes freedom. Alone, we’re vulnerable, but together, we’re safe, powerful, and strong.

Sometimes, though, I’m with humans. They call me their partner, companion, and friend. They offer me care, food, a warm hand on my neck. They have their saddles but the best humans understand that I can’t be fully controlled. My heart is free, and my spirit is wild. Those who know me well see that I’m more than just an animal; I’m a creature with a mind and will of my own. The humans who respect that get my respect in return.

Humans are amazed that I can sense how they feel, picking up on their moods without a single word. They don’t realize that’s just what horses do. When a rider gives me “free rein,” letting me choose my path, I know they trust me. They let go of control, and in that moment, we become a team.

When I’m out on a run with my rider, we’re moving as one. We’re partners, sharing the thrill of running free. The weight of the rider feels less like a burden and more like having a friend alongside me, and together, we chase the feeling of freedom.

Even with the humans I care about, I stay true to myself. I still remember what it’s like to be wild—to feel the grass, the open land, and the joy of running without limits. I am strong, gentle when I want to be, powerful when I need to be. And no matter how close I get to the humans, I am always myself. I am a horse, a creature made to live free. Even when they put reins on me, even when I’m asked to follow, I am still wild at heart. I’ll carry them as my friends and partners, but my spirit? That will always belong to the wind.

Balázs Kalcsó

Once upon a time there was a secret area in a secret world where animals ruled. They lived in various communities, like humans. The biggest of all the communities was the fish kingdom. From immense depths to the top of the ocean the fish lived happily.

One day they woke to find that some of them were missing from the river areas. They immediately alerted a team of investigators, and their people established  a connection with every other kingdom. The investigators concluded that a new threat was emerging. The fish king was furious and wanted to find the lost citizens. Whenever they tried to speak with the king, he ignored them, not wanting to hear about a potential threat. The answers soon arrived from the other kingdoms. The birds offered to circle above their area to scout the waters. The land-based kingdoms also provided support.

Then one day the king was found dead. He was murdered! An emergency council was set up, and they started questioning everyone. Then one of the birds called them and said that a dinosaur had eaten their king. The fish were livid and asked the land kingdom if they knew about it or not. Upon learning that the land had been taken by the dinosaurs, they fled to the birds. Then the remaining kingdoms declared a war against the dinosaurs.

After centuries of fighting they came to an agreement that they would leave each other alone and live in harmony. A new species was established by the dinosaurs which did not eat flesh but plants. This would lead to a long period of peace. The lands were devastated, but they did not know that an old threat would bring new harm, this time coming from space.

A big asteroid was going towards Earth; they had not prepared for this, as the dead king had ignored it. Soon the dinosaurs thought it was a kind of twisted mockery which the fish and the bird kingdom had created against them. So another war broke out, but the asteroid collided with Earth. The fish were fleeing towards the depths and the birds to the mountains, but few remained of both kingdoms. With big clouds and no sunlight all kingdoms were separated and their languages destroyed; they basically did not know that the other existed.

After the Earth cooled down, repopulation of the lands was the goal for both the fish and the birds. And that is the story of a world where animals ruled the world.

The humans later appeared and started exploring the oceans. One prophecy that was once told in the fish kingdom said: ”After the Doom we went deep into the crust and lived there for long decades. We established a safe haven 11 kilometers deep into the ocean. It is sealed and it will protect us. Down here the waters are warm, and surprisingly lush seaweed forests are to be found. There will be a Conqueror (humans) which will further harm us, but they will never be able to travel to the depths because the vault will not be opened until the fish rise once again.”

Zaránd Lánczi

Meet Zoltan — not your typical house cat but a magnificent black panther, with captivating eyes and an insatiable curiosity that drove him to investigate every corner of his owners’ home during the day and truly thrive under cover of nightfall.

Sitting on top of the large refrigerator, he observed the world below him unfold before his eyes; passersby rushed along the streets displaying a mixture of concern and happiness on their faces while cars sped by with their headlights piercing through the night’s darkness. Zoltan remained a quiet spectator absorbing every minute detail around him.

One evening he noticed something. A tiny brown bird that typically visited the feeder early was behaving oddly; it fluttered erratically with ruffled feathers, and its beak aimed towards an alleyway ahead. Intrigued by the scene unfolding before him, Zoltan quickly jumped off the fridge and stealthily made his way to the window to take a look.

Peering into the shadows ahead of him, he detected a soft meowing sound that caught his attention immediately. A small kitten was stuck under a toppled box. Zoltan wasted no time. He jumped off the windowsill and rushed towards the alley where the kitten was trapped. With a tender push of his paw, against the box’s edge, he managed to free the feline from its predicament.

The grateful cat nuzzled against Zoltans leg with a purr. He brought it to his apartment and gently settled it on a blanket. He observed the cat’s recovery with warmth in his heart as its eyes conveyed thanks. From that momentous day onward, Zoltan stepped into the role of the community’s guardian angel, ever willing to assist those requiring a helping hand.

Jadon Andrew Robles

I kind of feel stupid writing about owls as in my opinion they are one of the few creatures that make you feel like they know more about you than you know about them. If you have ever seen an owl in the wild, you will agree with me that they give off a sense of power, control and wisdom in ways that even the most respected author, philosopher or politician couldn’t. But here I am ready to write about my understanding of them after admitting that I probably have an embarrassingly limited amount of knowledge.

The first time I saw an owl was in a small park in the middle of a city. In all my years of bird watching this was not the place I expected to see my first owl. The park was by no means large, with so few trees that you could probably count them on your fingers. It intrigued me so much at the time that I had driven over an hour to this park in the suburbs of Istanbul just to find this owl that I had heard was nesting here. Not surprisingly, despite the fact that there were no more than ten trees that the owl could be in, it took me over half an hour to find the animal. But when I did find it, what I saw was breathtaking. A ball of feathers not moving a muscle, looking at me with the look that your dentist gives you after noticing that once again you forgot to floss. Not only did it feel like the owl was looking down upon me, both literally and figuratively, but it also felt like it was looking at me with a sense of disappointment, as if it wished that it could look upon something actually worth looking at. I definitely felt like the inferior being in the interaction. In reality, though, owls are the birds that resemble us the most. Similar to other birds of prey, owls have very amazing vision, but what sets them apart is the placement of their eyes. Like horses, most birds’ eyes are on either side of their head, which gives them the ability to see most of the way around their head but really hurts their depth perception. For owls, their eyes are like those of humans, placed on their face and facing forwards; this gives owls amazing depth perception, and their ability to turn their head 360 degrees prevents them from missing out on their field of view. Also proportionally owls’ heads are way bigger than other birds, also similar to humans’. I find it comical that the creatures we say are the smartest and wisest in the animal kingdom are the creatures that are most similar to us, like owls and monkeys. Humans clearly think quite highly of themselves.             

In all that I just wrote, I assumed that the owl even noticed that I was there and if it did notice that it cared; this may well be a false assumption. It is very possible that in reality the owl couldn’t have cared less about my being there and the fact that I assumed he looked at me with any feeling at all shows all the more how as humans we assign value to ourselves that was never there in the first place.

İpek Uğurlu

There was a cage and a family under these roofs, and there were two lives under them. The family was peaceful and happy, the room was bright and warm. They were drinking tea and talking about how their daughter was talented in literature. While the cage was cold, empty and uncomfortable. The cage was in the only place that did not get any light. There was a hidden life under the cage, a naive and bashful bird.

The family got that bird from an animal store. The mom has an allergy to cats, so they bought a bird that they never looked after, when all of them really wanted to buy a cat.

Can we say that the bird is living? While it can’t use the wings that God presented. When it couldn’t see the beauties of the earth with the family that it  never recognized. When it can’t make a nest on the upper branches to feed the babies it never had. When it couldn’t taste the beauty of flying between the towers and the clouds. When it would never understand the amusement of being fed by people in the parks. While it can’t say goodbye to the people in the ships who are waving their hands to it.

Zsombor Górán

Once there was a cat who lived a lousy life. Let’s call him Toast because his fur looked like slightly burned toast. . He lived on a farm eating mice and chasing birds all day. He was a bit chubby but so fast that if he had raced with lightning he would have won. He was living the life of a king. Napping on the old pear tree next to the shed. Or roaming the streets of the city stealing sausages and bacon.

One day this paradise came crashing down when his owner had a stroke while working on the field. The owner died and the farm was sold to a sweet old man. He was short and almost blind, with white hair. The problem was that the man had a cat too. Its name was Coal. He was  a strong young black cat ready to take on the world. The day they moved in, Toast was resting on the old pear tree. He had the most comfortable branch with a great view. Then he felt a strong push and was thrown off the tree. He was still half asleep and didn’t even realize what had happened. Then he saw the new cat sitting on his branch. He jumped up the tree and confronted the new cat. It was arrogant and selfish. It didn’t care about Toast’s branch. Toast tried to take the spot, but he was knocked off the tree with one slap. From that day on Toast was determined to take his branch back.

He got up and went to the city where he used to steal sausages from the market. After borrowing a sausage from the butcher, he was stopped by an old gray cat with many scars . The cat demanded the sausage, but Toast wasn’t going to give it up that easily. When he refused to give the sausage the old cat jumped on Toast, pinning him to the ground in less than a second. Toast was humiliated, but he saw how powerful the old cat was. Toast offered to get sausages for him every day, but the old cat would have to show him how to fight. The old cat agreed. Toast trained every day, every night for the duration of the summer. By the time the leaves started to fall from trees, he was a master. Now he could even beat the old cat without breaking a sweat.

This was the time to take back the pear tree. He ran back to the farm and found Coal sleeping on his tree. Wasting no time, Toast climbed up the tree. He challenged Coal to a fight. Whoever loses has to leave the farm. Coal eagerly accepted the offer because the last time they fought he defeated Toast with a single slap. But this time was different. Toast jumped at Coal, knocking him off the tree. He fell to the ground; while he was getting up, Toast jumped on him and pinned him down. Coal tried to cut Toast with his claws, but Toast just dogged it and slapped Coal in the face every time.  At last Coal gave up; he knew he was defeated. When Coal was ready to leave, Toast stopped him and offered to share the pear tree. He still kept his favorite branch but allowed Coal to stay on the farm. And they lived happily until death.