Wrath of the Mother
Alternately, "Friigraed and the Child of the Whedya". Originally told by fauns native to the Horizon Watchers region to humans in Kiva in a Klao-Mesik pidgin.
In a smaller sense, it is used to explain the naming/origin/coloring of moutervain and the origin of steads; in a grander one it speaks to the faun matriarchal nature and the Kiva's early history of tribal warfare. The central figure of Friigraed of the Ruu and the Whedya chieftan's child are contenders -- along with Dainda and her child in the "The Mother and the Drought" -- in the Mother and Child constellation; despite the fact it was not Friigraed's child, that it was a mother's empathy that drove her is seen as representative of the power of all mothers.
"Once, the fauns roamed freely with their families -- blood and chosen -- across the land, following the wind endlessly. They would pass into good land, partake of it, then continue; they would pass into bad land, partake of it, then continue.
Then some sought to remain in the good land, longer and longer. At first this was peaceful, but all too soon as much as remaining, they sought to keep others out, and this all too easily lead to conflict. The task then became not the journey, and following the wind, but to take the land in which others remained.
So came the nightfall on the Whedya; in the dusklight the Ruu stole into them, and stole from them. They threatened that if the Whedya did not leave, they would return. The Whedya remained. This continued a second night and still the Whedya remained. On the third they killed the family head and stole his only child, and threatened more.
Yet in turn Friigraed of the Ruu, a mother who had lost her child herself, stole away with the babe and fled to the mountain. Pursued by the Ruu, there she sent word to the Whedya to meet her to return the babe, and waited. On one path she saw their fires and weapons coming for her in the distance, suspecting her of trickery. On the other she saw the Ruu, their fires and weapons coming for her for her treachery. She beseeched the heavens for an end to the conflict and, to prove her conviction and knowing the Whedya were imminent, she opened her veins and displayed her blood for the heavens to see.
When the Whedya and Ruu arrived they found the babe safe but Friigraed dead and, realizing their ways, agreed to peace. Thereafter, the fauns agreed to permanence but on land that both challenged and provided, and as small steads rather than large tribes. They would send their children out in turn to find new land for new steads. In this way all would grow and prosper, and the moutervain on the mountain reminds them of this promise."
Variations & Mutation
- The location of the myth's setting is of some debate due to neither the Whedya or Ruu existing in modern times: while Kivans usually place it locally, at the Horizon Watchers, the location of the constellation instead suggests the Creqira. Additionally, the singular term "the mountain" could also suggest the Haaros, which is given additional credence as a faun holy site (strengthened by the phrase "They would send their children out in turn to find new land for new steads.", suggesting the coming-of-age ritual that does not seem to have existed in faun prehistory). All three locations are home to moutervain.
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