Legend

Many thousands of years ago, the great demon Saqeha wanted to devour
man, who was as yet without citadels, who had not yet tamed beasts and
lived in caverns beneath the ground. Every day, Saqeha's huge hand
would sweep the plains, grabbing those who had not reached their homes
in time and they would be ground by her teeth and devoured. The people
wailed and prayed to the Mother, but the Mother's voice came through a
flock of birds and said that Saqeha could not and must not die, for she
was a part of the world and no part of the world could die and leave
the whole intact. And the people asked the Mother, could Saqeha be made
not to harm them? But the Mother's voice came through the rippling of a
lake that Saqeha must harm man, for their suffering was a portion of
the world. Then a child spoke and asked if the need for Saqeha to cause
suffering could be met in some other way, could an offering be made so
that the people's suffering came to Saqeha and not she to them? And the
Mother pondered this and her voice vanished from the people. Saqeha,
although the people did not know it, was half-sister to the Mother,
daughter of the Void and Darkness, while the Mother was the daughter of
the Void and the Light. And while she was the older and the greater
power, the Mother could have no power over her half-sister without
Saqeha willing it, for they were bound by their souls. Now, there was
another thing that the people did not know. Although they said that the
Mother had come out of the womb of the Void, they did not know that she
had been chased out of there by Saqeha. And many ages had Saqeha
claimed that the Mother owed her a boon in return for chasing her out
and allowing the creation of all things. So the Mother's voice came to
Saqeha in a fall of rain and stones and said 'Saqeha, I have an offer,
to give you your boon.' 'At last you come. But you have no offer of
interest to me, crone!' thundered Saqeha 'Not even an offer to make you
more mighty than ever?' 'What wish have I of more might?' 'To be
greater than any thing on earth, to be able to crush, to bury, to burn
and to freeze?' Saqeha turned away in thought. 'A mere half payment for
what I did for you, but I shall accept, sister!' And the Mother spoke
words of her power and Saqeha became the mountains. She could not come
to devour man as she once had, although when they came to cross her
peaks (as sometimes they must) she could bury them with her snows and
rocks, or freeze them with her cold, or blow the top of a volcano and
consume them in rivers of fire. Yet with the sun behind her, her peaks
still throw out a great shadowy hand across plains and valleys, in her
ancient desire to take and devour still.