it is possible the hermit may not be entirely alone though it may seem unlikely.
i saw two years at sea about a man alone in the woods who was not alone though his cat only watched him and groomed. there were pictures of a girl and a younger man, the hermit-to-be. there were trees all around that seemed to speak with the wind, and when he went to sleep in his tiny trailer he woke up and stepped out and his trailer was in the pinetops where it stayed after the dream and he put a ladder up.