The Kestrel and the Owl

A story is told by Hekawi elders:
“In the time of our father’s father, allfather Armunatas and his wife Faloshenka the river mother looked down to see man and beast in their earthly domain, living in harmony. Pleased, the gods decided to share their knowledge by sending a child as an emissary, and came together where the mountains met the river in an emerald valley. But they quarreled over what gift to share, and whether they were best deserved by man or beast. In the end, they sent two brothers, each half-man and half-beast, and each bringing a gift: Nimuatu the Kestrel shared strength from the earth ruled by his father, and his brother Maquami the Owl carried all the knowledge gathered along the entire length of the river by his mother. Given freedom to seek out the deserving, the brothers brought strength and wisdom to the Hekawi and all the clans of the hills, and carried the peoples’ thanks back to their parents in the heavens. Only one place was forbidden to the brothers, the island domain of another god where the allfather had caged a hungry creature of darkness. But a blackbird came to the brothers and whispered that they were children of the gods—were they not welcome in any god’s home? Emboldened, but fearful of their parents’ wrath, the brothers drew clouds across the sky to hide them as they journeyed to the forbidden island…and were never seen again. The clouds created by the brothers still hang heavy in the sky of the valley. It is said the rain is the tears of their mother weeping for her missing children and the thunder is their wrathful father planning his punishment his sons’ return. Thus do the Hekawi know that the strength and wisdom of the people is a gift from the gods, and to be wary of the blackbird’s caw, a warning against pride and forbidden places.”