An effort to put more stuff out there - 947 Words
Thought I'd post some of my writing as of late here, both for my reasons and if anyone wants to read it. I should do some drawings to go with it soon.
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It is done. Completed. Concluded. It has been many years since I first began this journey of words and stories, but finally, I am finished. I sit here with my paper and my pen and ink, and my notes, like little children, stacked in piles of crisp paper and twine around my tents and lamps. I sit here to commit these stories to eternal memory, so that the whole of the world might read and learn the histories of our gods and ancestors.
I begin with the oldest notes, the ones that begin with me as a young woman, when I left with a band of Red traders and began traveling with them, collecting their stories as we went across the Green lands and towards the ocean. I did not know what I would discover when I first began; truly, I had no idea what sorts of stories the exotic peoples across the seas told about their gods--and my gods as well! But, as my memory is strongest with these things, I shall begin with my gods, the stories of my people, and these stories written in a young hand.
My grandmother used to tell this story during the spring festival, when our god brought the world back to life after her great sleep, when the snow began to melt and the tiny pieces of green began to appear on the tree limbs. I remember her standing in the center of our camp by the light of the fire, with her arms spread so wide, her thick winter robes looking like bird wings as she waved her arms around. She would always let her hair loose over her shoulders during these magnificent stories, as binding it back would be very disrespectful to the Green, or so she told me.
She would always begin with the story of the creation, of how before everything began there was nothing but a whiteness more blinding than the snow and the Creator, the Green, who slept as a child does in the womb before it is born. For countless years the Green slept, and dreamed of beautiful things, and when she awoke, she decided to make them. She first made the grasses and mosses, the littlest of the plants. Then she made the trees, the fruit-bearing and the ever-green and the ones with trailing leaves, and she made the trailing plants and vines to crawl up their mighty trunks. She made the flowers and their many colors, she made the waters and the lily-pads to rest upon them. And when she looked back, she saw that it looked very nice, very nice indeed. Satisfied, she slept, hoping to dream of something much more wonderful than what she had just created. While she slept, her creations grew, and grew, and grew.
When she next awoke, she found herself in the obscuring darkness of the leaves and vines, which made her very scared, for she was a young goddess in those days. So, she made the sun to give herself light, and a sky to put the sun in. However, the sun was so powerful that it began making her lovely creations wither and crinkle, which made her angry and frightened. So, she made the moon to balance out the sun when it got too hot, and so created night and day. And the Green was so pleased with herself that she went to sleep again, to dream up something even more magnificent.
When she awoke the next morning, she began creating things to live in her new creation of plants and night and day, running things and flying things and swimming things. She made them in many colors and shapes, and it pleased her so much that she practically threw herself to the ground and willed herself to sleep, so that she might create something MORE wonderful.
However, when she woke up, she had no more ideas. So, she traveled in her new creation for a while, but very quickly became frustrated and angry, for she had simply created too much! Whenever she paid attention to her animal creations, her plants would begin withering from either too much sun or too little of it. Whenever she focused on getting the right amount of sunlight on her plants, the animals would begin to wither away from the lack of attention. After several trips back and forth between the sky and the ground, the Green sat down and simply began to cry, feeling that she had messed up terribly and done too much. She wanted so badly for everything to live, and she could not bring herself to take anything out of existence.
Out of the tears that the Green shed on the ground, a sister emerged who was as fair and graceful as the Green was kind, whose name was the Blue. She told the Green that she would manage the affairs of the sky, and immediately the Green had the most marvelous idea of all. As the Blue rose into the sky to direct the sun and the moon properly, the Green created the gods of the animals: the Black, king of the birds; the Brown, queen of the snakes; and the Yellow, prince of the beasts. She created them to manage the creatures she loved so dearly, but could not manage on her own. And when she had finished this, she was utterly ecstatic, and decided not to make anything more for a long time.
Thus, the Green created the world, and all of the other gods within it.
--
It is done. Completed. Concluded. It has been many years since I first began this journey of words and stories, but finally, I am finished. I sit here with my paper and my pen and ink, and my notes, like little children, stacked in piles of crisp paper and twine around my tents and lamps. I sit here to commit these stories to eternal memory, so that the whole of the world might read and learn the histories of our gods and ancestors.
I begin with the oldest notes, the ones that begin with me as a young woman, when I left with a band of Red traders and began traveling with them, collecting their stories as we went across the Green lands and towards the ocean. I did not know what I would discover when I first began; truly, I had no idea what sorts of stories the exotic peoples across the seas told about their gods--and my gods as well! But, as my memory is strongest with these things, I shall begin with my gods, the stories of my people, and these stories written in a young hand.
My grandmother used to tell this story during the spring festival, when our god brought the world back to life after her great sleep, when the snow began to melt and the tiny pieces of green began to appear on the tree limbs. I remember her standing in the center of our camp by the light of the fire, with her arms spread so wide, her thick winter robes looking like bird wings as she waved her arms around. She would always let her hair loose over her shoulders during these magnificent stories, as binding it back would be very disrespectful to the Green, or so she told me.
She would always begin with the story of the creation, of how before everything began there was nothing but a whiteness more blinding than the snow and the Creator, the Green, who slept as a child does in the womb before it is born. For countless years the Green slept, and dreamed of beautiful things, and when she awoke, she decided to make them. She first made the grasses and mosses, the littlest of the plants. Then she made the trees, the fruit-bearing and the ever-green and the ones with trailing leaves, and she made the trailing plants and vines to crawl up their mighty trunks. She made the flowers and their many colors, she made the waters and the lily-pads to rest upon them. And when she looked back, she saw that it looked very nice, very nice indeed. Satisfied, she slept, hoping to dream of something much more wonderful than what she had just created. While she slept, her creations grew, and grew, and grew.
When she next awoke, she found herself in the obscuring darkness of the leaves and vines, which made her very scared, for she was a young goddess in those days. So, she made the sun to give herself light, and a sky to put the sun in. However, the sun was so powerful that it began making her lovely creations wither and crinkle, which made her angry and frightened. So, she made the moon to balance out the sun when it got too hot, and so created night and day. And the Green was so pleased with herself that she went to sleep again, to dream up something even more magnificent.
When she awoke the next morning, she began creating things to live in her new creation of plants and night and day, running things and flying things and swimming things. She made them in many colors and shapes, and it pleased her so much that she practically threw herself to the ground and willed herself to sleep, so that she might create something MORE wonderful.
However, when she woke up, she had no more ideas. So, she traveled in her new creation for a while, but very quickly became frustrated and angry, for she had simply created too much! Whenever she paid attention to her animal creations, her plants would begin withering from either too much sun or too little of it. Whenever she focused on getting the right amount of sunlight on her plants, the animals would begin to wither away from the lack of attention. After several trips back and forth between the sky and the ground, the Green sat down and simply began to cry, feeling that she had messed up terribly and done too much. She wanted so badly for everything to live, and she could not bring herself to take anything out of existence.
Out of the tears that the Green shed on the ground, a sister emerged who was as fair and graceful as the Green was kind, whose name was the Blue. She told the Green that she would manage the affairs of the sky, and immediately the Green had the most marvelous idea of all. As the Blue rose into the sky to direct the sun and the moon properly, the Green created the gods of the animals: the Black, king of the birds; the Brown, queen of the snakes; and the Yellow, prince of the beasts. She created them to manage the creatures she loved so dearly, but could not manage on her own. And when she had finished this, she was utterly ecstatic, and decided not to make anything more for a long time.
Thus, the Green created the world, and all of the other gods within it.