Flea Bite Makes the World
Vessunan historians say that this tale originated in their own civilization--they say that about most things--but nearly every culture has a variation on it and claims that everyone else copied theirs.
Summary
In the time before time, when the world was new, flea woke in the grass of Heaven. As always, his first thought was breakfast, but this day he had no host, no flesh to bite. He climbed a bush and waited, stomach growling.
Soon a teloph bull came by. Telopha are known for their tempers, but flea was not worried, being too small for a teloph to bite or gore. He leapt from green leaf to shaggy red fur and landed without so much as a tickle.
Now, Calitai the Great Mother was nearby stirring her own breakfast in a great copper pot. The soup was made with the water of life, a dear resource that wise Calitai had allowed only sparingly into the world below, for she knew its power. She was still planning the distribution in her head, one careful step at a time so that the new world would be orderly. Calitai left the pot to simmer while she fetched more wood for the fire.
It was just then that flea bit the teloph, drinking deeply of the animal's blood. The bull jumped and bellowed. Flea took a second draught. The teloph bucked and snorted, but could not see what was attacking him on his enormous flank, no matter how he turned and turned. Flea bit a third time. Frustrated and angry, the bull fled blindly, hoping to leave his invisible assailant behind. As he charged past Calitai's home, swinging his head in fury, one of his great horns hit the pot and tipped it over.
The Great Mother heard and came running, but she was too late. The soup spilled out and fell upon the world below, the first rain. Life spread across the lands in a riot; new plants, animals, and people sprang up in chaotic abundance.
Thus began our world in hunger, and thus does it continue.
Variations & Mutation
In some more violent and cynical cultures, it is not soup but the World Mother's blood that spills when the charging bull gores her in passing.
In Art
Vessunan children like reenacting this story for festivals because they get to spill a pot of water everywhere without getting into trouble. Competition for the role of the teloph is fierce.
Comments