Favorite myth? Bonus points if it’s not the main one!
Is it too stereotypical if I say a myth about the Noble Sneasler? I've told it before. I apologize if it is a long story!
Once, there was a child. He was young, and he wandered away from the settlement in search of his parents. The elders told him that they were far away, beneath the ground, so he thought he might find them if he too went far away and beneath the ground. He traveled south, from the icelands to the highlands, where there was much ground to be found.
"Where are you going?" asked the Noble Sneasler. "This is not where your home is. It is not an easy life in the icelands, but even I know that humans are safer in packs."
"I want to find my parents," replied the child. "Everyone tells me that they are gone. They are beneath the ground, and so they must be beneath Mount Coronet, for that is where there is the most ground. If I can get under the mountain, perhaps I will find my parents."
The Noble Sneasler nodded. "You are right, shining child. There is much ground here. We shall cover it together- follow me, and I will dig below the cliffs, rather than climbing them."
Even with sharp claws and toxin, it took the Noble Sneasler many days to dig even a small cave into the mountain. "Have we found your parents?" asked Sneasler, but the boy shook his head, and so the Noble Sneasler kept digging.
"Have we found them now?" asked the Noble Sneasler, but again, the boy shook his head. And so the Noble Sneasler kept digging. Again and again this continued, until both Noble Sneasler and the boy lost count. All that they knew was the darkness of the Wayward Cave they dug.
At last, the Noble Sneasler saw sunlight, coming from the passage it had carved through the mountain. "Surely we must have found your parents by now?" the Noble Sneasler asked, but the boy shook his head once more, weeping rivers of tears down his face. With careful paws, the Noble Sneasler wiped these tears away, and they soaked into their claws, stronger than the poison it already made- these bitter tears allow Sneasler now to paralyze its foes, as sorrow may paralyze us, or to make its opponents drowsy, as we may sleep to avoid sorrow.
"My parents are not here. You have dug a hundred tunnels, but they are still not here. Where are they?" the boy asked, still held by the Noble Sneasler.
"I do not know, but I will always seek them. For now, you may hold their memory with you, and return to your clan. Let the burden of seeking that which is lost rest on me, while you live your life. I will bring it to you, if I find it, but even that which is lost does not wish for company in being wayward. It wishes only to be found, and that burden is too great for anyone but me to dedicate a life to. I am strong enough to dig these tunnels and scale these cliffs, so allow me to bear this as well- I will find these lost things, and I will bring them to those who yearn for them."
Wiping his face and standing straight, the boy nodded. "Yes, Noble Sneasler. I am grateful for what you have done for me. I would like to go home now- however, I am afraid that in my absence, I too have become lost. My family does not know where I am, and neither do I. How can I go home now? I hoped that my parents would show me the way, but we did not find them."
And so, for the first time, the Noble Sneasler gathered a child into its arms to return them. "I will show you to your home," it said, and held the child close as it returned to the Pearl Clan Settlement with him. He had been missing for so long, there was no room for anger- only joy that he was back.
Everyone celebrated his return, for they worried about this wayward child, and they offered him his favorite meals if he promised to never scare them this way again, but he insisted that he did not need them. "I only wish to eat bean stew with the Noble Sneasler- it is their favorite. They will need the energy to seek what has been lost, both above and beneath the earth. Think not of me, whose burden has been lifted, but of the Noble Sneasler, who has taken it from all of us. We must show our gratitude! Prepare a bean stew, and tell the Noble Sneasler what you miss! Let it be found by them, and let us live our lives."
To honor the boy's words, the clan agreed- the Noble Sneasler must be rewarded for its efforts, even if they had not yet borne fruit. This is why beans are gathered, and then prepared into a stew- to find what has been lost, we must nourish the one who seeks it.
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