The Kite Woman Teaches Man
Ti’Peleht se’Tem Pele’a
I made another piece of mythology, this time the "creation" myth of humans. While myths will vary, this one is generally the most common.
When at last all of the gods had gathered Themselves, it was clear They were in need of some direction. Many ran astray across the world, causing disorder and making messes, like children in need of supervision. But none among Them stood definitively above the others, and so it was proposed a contest should decide who among Them was fit to lead the rest.
But what to do? They consulted the eldest of Them, the great goddess of the endless wheel, Erreti, who had already declared Herself unwilling to rule. She cast Her beautiful dark gaze upon the Earth, and spoke softly, that all the others were made to gather closely around: ‘See all the beasts who live on the ground, senseless and dumb. Make gifts to them, that they might share in some of Our power and beauty, and the best of these beasts will earn their patron the title of Queen.’
So it was that all the gods rushed to the Earth to stake Their claims on the amorphous, helpless beasts that populated the world. They set to work just as quickly, infusing the beasts with magic and shaping them in this way and that, fashioning horns and hooves and scales and fur and wings and tails, giving some poison or bright patterns or speed or teeth or claws or strength, to make the best of all the beasts. Many of the first were not so great, and were cast aside as practice items: the snake, beautiful and clever but limbless, slithered off into the bushes to make a name for itself; and the kite, a swift bird, ascended to the skies to dance on the wind, but was otherwise deemed unremarkable. The good lady of the Storm, Khoram, made the peafowl, giving it wings and great beautiful tails with many eyes to see into the land of the spirits; the light moon Nasee created the blackbuck, giving it great horns that stretched up toward the sky, and the speed of a shooting star; the dark moon Elyzo created turtles, with shells that both protected them and mirrored the beauty of the moon; Yetova created monkeys, clever and strong; and when Erreti saw what fun the others were having making all Their beasts, even She stepped down to make a beast Her own, in Her own image, and set loose the first cattle to roam and graze as they pleased.
Soon there were very few beasts left untouched by the gods, and They began to worry. It is only natural to think there is always someone better than oneself, after all! The clever lady Yksi looked upon Her kite, and began to pull at Her hair in frustration: She, above all, desired to win and become Queen. She searched high and low across the Earth, as the others descended into the Oceans to see what They might make of the beasts which swim, daring to venture as far as the Great Beast’s lair.
There She found Man, just as helpless as all the rest, but possessing in them a goodness She had only known before in the gods. She saw in them greatness that had persisted in spite of the terror of Chaos, and rescued them from His lair, guiding them into the sunlight and warmth of the greater world. She set about teaching them many, many things: She taught them of fire, of tools and toys, how to hunt and how to protect themselves against the cold of night, of music and dance and language, and all which makes Man wonderful. Most of all, She taught them to love, and all of Man was good to one another, and kind, and generous, and the goddess was very proud.
She boasted that She had fashioned the best of all the beasts, and so She should be ruler above the rest. The others gathered round to set Their eyes upon Her students, and agreed that She had indeed created the best of all the beasts: clever and companionable and very much like the gods Themselves. ‘She will be a good Queen, as She is the most clever Herself,’ the gods decided. And so it was that She wore the great crown in Fate to rule over all, eternal Mother of Man.
But there was one among Them who felt slighted by Her work: the great beast, the First Death, Chaos. And in His outrage He came up to the Earth and spoke to Man, a gentle and whispered song of deceit, and set into his mind a wicked Knowledge, that which only the gods could understand. He taught them of war, killing, envy, and hatred, all the things which are the worst of Man. He taught them of judgment, of good and evil and all the forces living inside the godly form, and drove them mad with the Knowledge of the Beginning, the End, of all realms and universes, all that which the mortal mind and soul cannot contain, as it is small and simple and composed of only a spark of godly energy.
Man began to destroy itself, running about for days without end, screaming and crying and clawing at flesh until blood ran thick and only bone remained, killing one another and themselves and howling blindly and incoherently in any direction. The rivers ran red and the ground became stained, and their cries were heard even in Fate. The goddess returned to the Earth and could not believe Her eyes, as all Her brilliantly formed beasts had been reduced to raving, staggering, mutilated things. The other gods were quick to doubt: ‘Is this what Her power has made of these beasts?’ But She insisted it was not Her doing.
She captured one of the Men and touched his brow and knew at once what had occurred. She went to find Chaos and demanded He undo what He had done, but He was unrepentant. He would not help find a cure for their madness: ‘Let Us see who is fit to rule now,’ He snarled, a cruel smile on His face. Yksi could not ask the others, either, as They would never trust Her again if She could not fix what He had broken; She hid away for many days and nights to conceive a spell that could bind the terrible Knowledge, to rid them at least of the madness. Then She descended again and gathered what remnants of Man remained, and buried the Knowledge within each soul, that it would only be unleashed upon death to preserve their feeble mortal minds.
At last She was able to seal the Knowledge away, but She could not remove it from them: it had been imprinted upon them as all the good qualities She had placed within them, and so Man has been doomed to an eternity of sin and misery. She returned and restored Her honor among the gods, and Chaos was stripped of His powers as punishment for His crime.
But what of Man? What shall be done to save those who have done nothing but suffer? Nothing, nothing at all: let the mortals find their own way, as the gods have. So mortals kill and steal and cheat, helpless against the terrible Knowledge. In spite of this, it is whispered like a song on the wind that if one can face the Great Beast, who has been banished to His island of Death, He will grant them release from this Evil, but only at a great price.
