SOURCE: Star Born (1957) by Andre Norton

DESCRIPTION: "...A hopper, its red-brown fur sleek and gleaming in the sun, its eternal curiosity drawing it, peered cautiously from the bushes. Dalgard made mind touch. The hoppers did not really think—at least not on the levels where communication was possible for the colonists—but sensations of friendship and good will could be broadcast, primitive ideas exchanged. The small animal, its humanlike front pawhands dangling over its creamy vest, came out fully into the open, black eyes flicking from the motionless Dalgard to the bright beads on the rock. But when one of those paws shot out to snatch the treasure, the traveler's hand was already cupped protectingly over the hoard. Dalgard formed a mental picture and beamed it at the twenty-inch creature before him. The hopper's ears twitched nervously, its blunt nose wrinkled, and then it bounded back into the brush, a weaving line of moving grass marking its retreat." (Star Born by Andre Norton)

NOTES: The Hoppers are a semi-intelligent animal race that will trade with humans, nuts and food for shiny objects. The Free Folk do not hunt the Hoppers but use them as part of their living communications system. Those Others ruthlessly kill Hoppers for sport. The Hoppers main predator is the Snake-devil.

HISTORY: Norton creates a create perfect for a cartoon or stuffed animal line. This sympathy is needed for when the villains, Those Others, kill them without thought.