In Russian folk tales, various protagonists, most often warriors, come upon a directional stone at a crossroads. They face the choice of freedom and the freedom of choice in the context of Fate.
When I passed by this wooden fence with a moose skull mounted on it in rural Rockies, I imagined the following lines inscribed below, as if it were that very fateful crossroads, albeit in the Northwest:
If you head left, you will lose your horse.
If you head right, you will lose your life.
If you go straight ahead, you will live, forgetting yourself.