Once the sea was a swamp, and once the swamp was a river, and once the river was a plain. What the plain was before, no woman can say. But the People of the Plain, who lived in the company of tigers, fled from the sun and came south. And as they came, the plains became a river, and the river became a swamp, and the swamp became a sea.
The People of the Plain came to an island, where fish were plentiful, and where water was cold and swift.
One day, Voles the toolmaker, who was only a man, was killed by the biggest tiger in the world. And his son, Volen, cried out, “How are we to slay this tiger so that it may never slay another?” And he set to work making a weapon, just as his father before him had done.
But there was another toolmaker in the village, a cunning woman named Feya, and she said, “We have no need to slay tigers. What we need are weapons to hunt food.” And she set about making a weapon for catching food.
And the weapons made by Volen were used to hunt the large animals, and the weapons used by Feya were used to hunt small animals. But Voles said, “Which of our two weapons is best? For there can be only one toolmaker.”
They could not decide. So they called upon the Four Wanderers, who visited the village in the course of time, and the Four Wanderers said, “Let she whose is best become the new toolmaker,” and they led the People of the Plain to the river.
And Feya was there, and she slew many fish with her spear. And Volen was there, and he could catch nothing. And the Four Wanderers said, “Feya’s weapon is better for catching fish, so she is to make all such weapons from now on.”
But sometimes, Volen’s weapon was used, when tigers came to attack the people. And that is how it came to pass that the First Challenge happened.
No comments:
Post a Comment