The Sun's Gifts

Huddled on a raised platform, covered in woven mats, and sheltered by heavy canvas against the wind and rain, a mother held her child close. Light flickered from candles placed throughout the tent, so it was difficult to make out the features of the two faces, one smooth with youth, the other beginning to show fine lines of time. They shared some similarities between them, dark hair and darker eyes, but inconstant light and heavily embroidered clothes obfuscated any real determination of true age besides “toddler” and “mother.”

The wind screamed and the child whimpered, clutching close to its mother.

“Hush, my child, hush. This, too, shall pass. Since the beginning, there have been many things which have changed the face of the earth. Some of them frightening in their coming, others slow, almost unnoticeable until much time has passed. They are numerous and be marked neither as good nor bad.

“In the beginning of our stories, there was dirt and stone and water.  The water rushed between the crevices in the stone and dirt, and leapt playfully, singing water’s joyous song. But the dirt gave way to the water, and thus the water could no longer play. Great fields of mud and water dotted the land, and the stone and rock rose above, exposed by the water’s play. The sun could not dry the expanses; they were too vast. But the sun heated the air, and the air began to move, much as the water had, though the air carried gifts from the sun.

“The air that moves we call wind.

“The wind carved out paths for the water, letting it flow again, and gave the sun’s gifts to the dirt and the rocks. Slowly, slowly, the sun’s gifts opened. They grew both up and down. They put down roots and netted together the dirt until the dirt became land. They clothed the naked stones in green and red and yellow. The roots prevented the water from running away with all the dirt and created more paths and adventures for the water to fall down. Some of the sun’s gifts went to live in the water, too. And as more time passed, the sun’s gifts, which we call plants, grew taller and taller. Some grew so tall that our ancestors turned their heads skywards towards the high branches and said, ‘We will live there.’

“So, we climbed the trees and built our homes in them. We built bridges between the the branches. We collected our water from the rain falling on the leaves.  We descended to hunt and gather and the climb in the mountains and frolic with the water.

“But now, strong  winds have come and our great trees have fallen. Their roots have come to see the sky and great pits are left where they once filled the earth. Our descent was not our choice: We are displaced, living on the same ground as that which we hunt. The wind has changed the way we live once again. Our traditional homes have been taken from us, but here we may find new life for, behold: The wind brings change. The wind brings new seeds, new life.”

The mother tousled her sleeping child’s hair. She smiled, amused, “I guess my stories are that boring, dear heart. Just remember, love, you are my life, my sun.”