An Alongside Tale

"IN THE BEGINNING": A WINDRU TALE

 

(I recorded this story at a Windru gathering of a full moon in summer. I have translated it as best as I could, and added the title.)

 

In the middle of the Great Land, there is a sea. In the middle of that sea there is an island, and on that island there is a tall mountain. All about its knees are fair lands and beautiful woods, and it is said that an image of the world in its first beauty lives there yet.

There as a crown to his labors the Creator set the first Fathers of all of the Peoples of the earth, and over them, to protect until they should come into their full stature and inheritance, he gave one of his own mighty servants to be Archon of the earth. And for the Archon were made seven servants and counsellors, the YerÒni, to aid him in the completion of his tasks.

To the first Fathers of the Peoples, to the Vulags and Worogs, the Humans and Windru, to the Gethen and Avri, the Creator said, "To you is given all the earth, to abide in and to fulfill, in peace and friendship, until the end, when I shall gather you unto Me. Here on this isle shall you dwell, and when your numbers have increased you shall go forth into the rest of the world and bring it to perfection. For I give you the gift to strive for the good, which is Mine own, even to earn it.

"All the earth is yours, to serve and be served by; into your hands I give it. But one place only is withheld from you, and I command you not to enter there: the door and the chamber at the top of the mountain. By this you shall learn obedeience. Honor my servant as you would Me until My return. Now be blessed; you shall surely see Me again."

For a long time the Peoples of the Earth lived happily together on the island, without strife or labor; that was a golden time and place. But an evil thing happened that ruined that first age, and this is how it was.

Ever the Fathers of Men were the most curious and restless of the races; to them had been given great and varied gifts of mind and body. Long before the time the Peoples should have left the isle had come, they had walked the shores, gazing far off in yearning to the lands that would be. One day, as they walked by the waves, and to the woe of the world, they met the Dragon of the Sea.

The Dragon of the Sea was a mighty beast, and very crafty. It was his pride to be the greatest of all animals, and while he could think and speak, he had not the indwelling, and was as the beasts that perish; and he was envious that such small creatures should have the favor of the Creator. The Great Enemy of the World spoke through his mouth that day, stirring him up to sow evil.

"Good day to you, O Fathers of Men," he said. "What are you doing, walking by the wide water's shore?"

"We are looking afar to the lands that will be," they answered, "For we already know this place and are eager for new things to see and different places to go."

"You know already all the isle?" the Dragon asked. "Even the chamber at the peak of the mountain?"

"Do not speak of what you do not know, old water-worm," they said. "That place is forbidden us."

"And for good reason," said the Dragon of the Sea. "The secret and the beauty of that place is too great for children such as you. If once you entered there you would have the power of the Archon and you would know the secrets of the Creator. That great deed is too fearful for weak ones such as you." And with that he went back into the deeps.

But he had accomplished his purpose, and planted doubts and desires into the hearts of men.

After that day the first Fathers of Men had no rest. Day and night the words of the Dragon of the Sea dwelled in their minds, poisoning all pleasure. Finally the Fathers of Men gathered together the Fathers of the Worog and Windru, of Ivra and Vulag, and of the Gethen, and brought them to the forbidden door, and declared their will to enter it. And though none of the other Peoples would enter with them, and all spoke against it, none could keep the Fathers of Men from their desire.

The door was plain and unadorned, with no lock or bar to hinder entry. The Fathers of Men thrust it back and went in.

At first they strode through a curtain of darkness, but then they came to a room whose roof was open to the sky. They stared for an instant at a chamber that was empty, save for some dust upon the floor. Then the price of their pride fell on them, and they were shorn of the protection and the mastery and the first glory that had been theirs, and that they had not known until the loss. And they fell dumbstruck and bereft to the stone floor.

Then to their horror the other Fathers of the Peoples came in, thinking that the men had after all perhaps found great secrets and treasures, and desiring a share in them. And thus the doom fell on them as well, and all the people of the earth fell short of the obedience of the Creator.

So it is that disease and mishap rule on earth today, and the peoples of the earth are born and die in pain and fear. For from losing the Obedience they have lost their Mastery of body and world, and they have fallen from the first wisdom and power of their creation.

On the first Fathers of the Peoples came a shame and fear of each other, and this drove them from that place, for they could not stand before the gaze of the Unfallen for that dishonor. Each race separated and fled far apart from each other, and dispersed into other lands, so that after the beginning they have been sundered and estranged.

And the Archon, in punishment for his part in that evil, made the Dragon of the Sea as witless as the other beasts, and so his children are, to this day. And this is why its kin, the Dragons of the Air, make war on the Peoples of the earth.

To humans, for their deeds, fell a great task, but that is a story for another moon.

 

(Editors Note: When the Gethen and the Worog tell this tale, it is the Mothers of the Peoples, instead of the Fathers; the Ivra use a sexless term that simply means Parents.)