"You shall be changed and even more changed, our children!" cried the Twin gods in such fashion and voice that none failed to heed in all that great council,
You shall now be men,
Like the men of first nations,
Like the perfeet Corn Maidens;
Walking straight in the pathways
And full in the sunlight;
Clothed in garments, and tailless
(So that you may sit straight in council
And stand the more seemly).
And your feet shall be webless,
And hands void of talons,
Yet full-furnisbed, for fighting."
Then the clans were ranged
In processions like dancers,
First, the fronts of their faces
Were shorn of their forelocks
By the Twina with their weapons,
And fires of the lightning,
That the Sun on his journeys
Might know them, his children,
And warn them of shame.
Again in processions,
Their talons were severed
And webbed fingers slitted;
And again in processions
Their webbed toes were parted
With the knives of the lightnings.
Then sore was tbe wounding
And loud cried the foolish;
But the Gods told them, "Bear it!"
So that they and their children
"Be fitter as men."
When finally the people
Were ranged in procession
And their tails were razed sharply,
There were many who cried
(Little heeding the foremost
Who cared nothing, since no longer
The pain they had suffered),
And these, in their folly,
Shrinking farther and farther
Fled away, in their terror,
Crazed, and ˘hattering loudly,
Climbing trees and high places,
And bereft of their senses
Wandered far (seeking safety,
Sleeping ever in tree-tops)
To the south Summer-conntry.
Seen again by far walkers
"Long of tail and long handed
Like wizened man-children,
Wild, and noisy of monthing,
Their kind still live there,
Eating raw things like creatures,"
Say the words of the ancients.
"Thus it always happened
With those who feared greatly
The words of the fathers,
Yet feared not their warnings!"
Say the words of the ancients.
Thereafter more and more people became more goodly of favor, for they dwelt long in Hán'hlipínk'ya, where, see! that this might be so, their useless parts had in sacred theft been stolen, as it were, from them, and they gained great strength, and in the fulness thereof they sought more often than ever to war with all strangers (whereby they became still more changed in spirit), which the Two Beloved watched, but said nothing!
But there came a day when the people grew vain and insolent, saying, "Look now, we are perfect of parts and surely have attained to the Middle place or its equal. Let us build greatly and lay up store, nor wearily wander again even though the earth tremble and the Two command us forth. Do you think we shall not be strong and defy even the Fearful?" cried the Men of the Knife, the stout warriors of the Twins. But what of all that? This! Even while they were speaking in this brave fashion the mountains trembled often, and although it sounded from far off, much did it abate these boastings!
©1996, Richard Hooker
For information contact: Richard Hines
Updated 6-6-1999