Tony Vargas
Legend
The idea of druids getting an animal companion feature came directly from the AD&D 'Animal Friendship' spell, so it's not that big a surprise.Don't have the book in front of me but I will check out Animal Friendship and Awaken. It's still just sort of weird that it isn't something more specific in the class, but on the other hand if it's a spell at least you can do something.
BTW, I think it would be fun, if your druid had money to burn, to just Awaken a new animal every month, and leave a trial of sentient nature-guardians in your wake.