[Originally published August 29, 2013]
As the fire died down, the young ones gathered around Dazulka to hear
the legends of their people. She stood
in front of them and began to tell the tale.
"No one knows just how the story begins, so each starts from the
point where she does know it.
A long time ago there were the ancients. They lived in holes in the
ground and they fled from Sun every morning when he crossed the mountains. No one knows where the ancients came from,
but they lived in a valley between the great pillars of the world that holds up
the sky dome. They asked Creator why He
had made Sun who burned their eyes and their pale skin and drove them away into
the ground, but He would not tell them, for they were not His children. Every morning they grew angry, and wanted to
pull Sun from the sky, but they could not reach him for he was too far away.
Then one day, they saw the People come into the valley over the
mountains. At first, the ancients hid in
their holes, for they thought the People were the children of Sun. But when Sun had left, the People remained in
the valley.
The ancients came to the People then and asked them, why did you come
from over the mountains? The People told them Creator had made them and given
them the valley to hunt the reindeer and swim in the hot springs and to sing
and dance and beat their drums to thank Creator for all that He had given them.
This made the ancients more angry than ever. They did not want to share their valley with
Creator's children, and they did not want to let the People have it either. So before Sun came again the next morning,
the ancients seized the People and dragged them down into their holes, and
would not let them come out to see Sun, their brother.
When Sun came, he was confused.
He did not know where the People had gone, and when he went home over
the mountains, he told Creator that he could not find them. Creator looked for them, too, but because they were in deep
holes he could not see them.
Many sunrises later, the People cried
out to Creator, why have you brought us to this valley where we cannot see Sun,
or hunt the reindeer, or swim in the hot springs, or sing and dance and beat
the drums? Creator heard their cries and
sent his son, Red Serpent, to bring the People back to the light. Red Serpent went into the ground and when
they came out, their eyes hurt, for they had been in the dark for too long, and
whenever the People went back into the darkness, they could always see as if they
were in the light. And this is why to
this day the People can still see when it is dark."