Story of Man

Once there were mountains that no longer exist on this planet today,
canyons that have long since been filled with dust and earth and become
part of the prairies, and people the likes of which will never be seen
on this earth again..

Far out past the mountains and beyond the canyons, a village of people
lived, primitive and tribal in their ways, but warm and loving of their
fellow man. They worked their fields and raised their families. They
joined together with nearby villages for festivals and celebrations of
the changing seasons, always calm in the assurance that life was good
and would remain so.

Back beyond the canyons and deep in the mountains, a presence awoke.
Feeling the air around it, it sensed the peaceful harmony in which the
village and its neighbors lived. The presence fed on fear and hate. It
realized that it would starve in this serene land, and die if it did
not take action swiftly.

A swirling wind arose, and the presence was borne aloft into the air,
whirling through the canyons and picking up substance as the dust
solidified into the shape of a man. Soon the wind could no longer hold
the manshape aloft, and he was set on the ground, to walk through the
canyons to the peaceful land beyond.

Working in the fields, the people of the village had no idea what was
coming toward them. They continued to live, raising their crops, living
in harmony with the earth. But one small child knew. He was a dreamer.
He dreamed of strife and pain and gory death, all at the behest of a
man with red eyes that tore into the souls of any who dared look him in
the eye, and running to warn the village elders, the boy was ignored,
for he was but a child, 10 years old, and had forgotten his place in
the world.

Then one day a figure stepped out from the shadow of the canyon, his
long black hair shining in the sun, his beaded clothing flashing, and a
lone eagle feather hanging from a lock of his hair. The village elders
welcomed the stranger, laying out a feast and offering him the finest
lodge in the village for as long as he cared to stay. There was dancing
and feasting through the night, and the boy watched from across the
clearing, never going within twenty feet of the stranger, for he
recognized him from his dream.

As the red dawn spread in the eastern sky, the stranger spread his
hands out, and said: "This village is wondrous, the people kind. But
where are your defenses?"

"Defenses?" asked one of the elders, "We have no need of defenses. We
live in peace with our neighbors."

The man looked serious for a moment, then spoke again. "But I have been
to see your neighbors, and they hunger for your land, for the corn you
raise here. They think it unfair that the finest land is in your
possession." The elders looked baffled, "Possession? None own the land,
they are welcome in the fields, to raise the corn and feed
themselves."

The boy watched and listened. The man looked into the fire, and said,
"Ah, but would they welcome you to the plains where they hunt the
buffalo? Or perhaps they keep the plains for themselves, thinking your
people not worthy.." The man rose to his feet and said, "Think on what
I have said, and when I awaken, I will teach you to defend yourselves
and take what rightfully you should have." With these words, the man
entered the lodge he had been given and went to sleep, a secret smile
playing on his lips.

At this point the boy spoke up, "I have warned you of the evil to come,
and here it is, recognize it, drive it out, or our way of life will
die." The elders ignored the boy, and looking at one another, they
spoke, "The man is RIGHT! Our neighbors hunt the buffalo, leaving us to
starve on corn and make our lodges from poles and thatch! We must do
something!"

The boy sighed, knowing all to be hopeless, and entering into his own
lodge he pulled together a few personal belongings, then stole quietly
from the only home he had ever known, back into the canyons, journeying
into the wilderness. A girl, just recently become a woman, saw the boy
sneaking away. Knowing of his warnings and believing him a messenger
from the Great Spirit, she crept after him, meeting him at the mouth of
the canyon and begging him to take her with him, to which the boy
agreed.

When the stranger awoke the next day, preparations for war with the
neighbors began. I will not tell you of the details here, it is enough
to tell you that it was horrible and bloody, and the villages were
destroyed, many men strong and brave slaughtered, children orphaned,
wives widowed, and those few who survived scattered, becoming wandering
plainspeople, never to have a true home again.

Deep in the heart of the canyon, the boy was growing to manhood, the
young woman growing more and more beautiful with each passing month.
When the boy reached 12 years of age, he sought and found his vision,
which told him his destiny, to find and rub the stranger from the face
of the earth. Having found his vision, he passed into manhood, and took
his wife into his arms, planting seed in fertile soil, lest he fail in
his duty and his child need fulfill it.

Venturing out into the plains, the new man smelled the air, peered into
the distance, felt with his spirit, and found the stranger far far in
the distance. He journeyed for months, finally reaching the edge of the
land, and found the stranger sitting on a rock looking out at the
waves.

"You destroyed my home and my people, I must now destroy you" he
said.

"HA child! Think you that I am so easily destroyed by a boy playing at
being a man? Braver men than you have tried and failed."

At these words, the new man pulled his dagger from its sheath and
circled 'round the stranger, darting in occasionally to swipe at him
with the blade, and the stranger danced from arm's reach, continually
darting away just as the blade should have sliced into him. The new man
realized that this was futile, that he would never reach the stranger
with his blade, but at a loss as to how to defeat the evil being, he
continued circling, leading the stranger into moving ever back. Soon
they stood ankle deep in the ocean's water, and the new man swiped
again at the stranger, sending him back further, knee depth.

The stranger began to laugh, "You are not a man, you are a boy, never
to BE a man!" and saying this he pulled a dagger and moved as if to
advance on his opponent. But as he raised his leg up to step forward,
it came away, a stump.. for of dust was his body made, and the water
had turned the hardened dust to wet clay.

The new man realized that he had won his battle, and darted forward
quickly, shoving the stranger under the water and wrestling the dagger
away from the evil one, he pushed and kneaded the body until it became
a lump of shapeless clay.

Gathering a few handfuls of the clay, the man walked from the water and
formed a pitcher, and feeling an evil wind surrounding him, he raised
the pitcher high into the air, gathering the evil spirit within.
Holding the pitcher safe in his arms, the man journeyed home to the
canyon, seeking his wife and the child who by now had surely been
born.

As he passed the remains of the village he had been born in, the man
dug deep into the earth, burying the pitcher deep and safe, aware that
some day, some fool would unearth it and release the evil yet again.
Then he turned and walked into the canyon, where he found his wife with
a small boy of about two years of age, his son.

Taking his son into his arms, he charged him as a protector of the
world, a charge that has been handed down from that day to this. Now,
millennia later, the descendants of the man still fight against the
evil presence, trying to harness it yet again.

Perhaps one day, we, all of us shall succeed, perhaps not.. but we are
charged, it is our duty as the sons and daughters of Man.