And with that, Webweave began to tell the tale of Lovely-She-Spins.
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Long, long ago, in this very swamp, used to live a family of very artistic Kimeti...
The mother was a painter, whom had perfected the use of the feather.With her feathers, she painted illustrious drawings on any surface that she could find. Should one look hard enough, I'm sure some could still be found today, in old caves and tunnels under the ground.
The father knew all of the plants in the swamp. He knew each flower by name, scent, and taste, and he knew what each one could do. He knew which plants could help the sick and the wounded, and he knew which plants could do harm and kill. Another property of flowers that he discovered along the way, was their color. It did not take him long to begin creating pastes of every color imaginable so that his mate could paint things even more beautifully.
This family was not complete, however, until one fateful day, the mother gave birth to a single baby sac. They both loved foals, and had wanted a large family, but it was just not to be. So when she gave birth to this one gorgeous baby, it was the happiest moment of their lives. They fawned over the foal, and they showered her with gifts as she grew into first a beautiful filly, and then into a radiant young doe. Her name was Lovely-She-Spins.
This doe began weaving, and the more she did so, the better she became at it. She would use grasses that she knew were best for it, and color them with pastes of different hues, before she weaved them all together into beautiful pictures. She would weave scenes from the tales of the storyteller, and she would weave portraits of particularly handsome or well-known Kimeti. She became so good at her art, that after a while, she began getting very confident that there was no other out there that could best her. Even more than that, she became cocky about her gift, and bragged to anyone who would listen, that she could beat any challenge given to her, nay, that she could weave better than Mother Swamp herself!
Mother Swamp was watching this, and became enraged at the thought of a Kimeti being so full of herself and slandering her name so! She gave the doe one last chance, but she performed this test in secret.
Mother Swamp, as a rickety old Kimeti came across the family and warned Lovely-She-Spins not to boast so, not to call out so meekly of Mother Swamp. But the doe did not listen, she continued to proclaim herself better, no, the best!
In her fury, Mother Swamp revealed herself, in her truest form: a crane, and scorned the young doe one last time, offering her one last chance for redemption. A contest, of sorts, she proposed to the young doe. They would weave, both of them would weave one scene, and if the doe could best her, Mother Swamp would melt away and leave her and her family be.
Her mother and father begged that she refuse and bow her head to the crane, for obviously she would lose to their creator, their guardian. But without a second thought, Lovely-She-Spins accepted this challenge and set to work while her parents bustled about, pleading with her to re-consider and beg for forgiveness to no avail. It took her many moons to weave her scene, but she spent it bragging and humming happily, putting the crane down, claiming that hers would inevitably turn out best.
By the end of the week, the crane majestically swept a wing away to reveal her art. It was an astonishing thing of beauty, a scene of sweetest love, of all that is good. With a smile, Mother Swamp turned to Lovely-She-Spins and asked her to reveal what she had made. With a cocky grin on her maw, the doe stepped aside, to show what she had done. Her painting was beautiful, yes, but it was grotesque, and it spoke of all the evil in the swamp, of all the bad, of all the malicious cruel things that happen.
Shaking with fury, the crane began to boil from the inside, her feathers began to burn and those flames swept across the doe's art piece, dissolving it in seconds. She asked the doe to bow her head and submit to her, but the proud doe would not, instead, she ran as fast as she could and threw herself to the crocodiles. Her parents ran after, but they were too late, she was gone before they could get to the edge of the water. The mother fell to the ground in tears and screamed in agony, with the father silently crying over her.
These emotions flooded over Mother Swamp and the fire died upon her feathers, returning her to the former white beauty. She stalked over to the parents, and past them, making her way into the crocodile pit. After a few minutes, she returned, cradling something in her avian grasp. She stopped before the parents and extended a foot, uncurling her toes as she spoke. "I am merciful, and I have given your only daughter a second chance. But she was foolish, and from that she must learn, this is her lesson." Inside of her grasp was a spider, a little dazed and confused, but definitely alive. "Lovely-She-Spins, and all of her children after her will live their lives weaving webs of beauty that cannot be matched."
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"And so this is why the spider weaves her web. It is her eternal curse and blessing, and she was once a Kimeti."
Webweave stood up and shook out her limbs, as they had fallen asleep where she had lain. With a mighty yawn, her maw stretched before she could look down at the little ones to see that most had dozed off during the story. Gingerly stepping over the foals, she made off to the stream nearby. A quick drink, and then it was time for her to sleep too, after all that talking, she had gotten very tired indeed.
