THE FIRST TRIBE
THE SEER, BURNING BUSH, TELLS A STORY
One day the moon dropped into the swamp. In the sky, where the moon had once hung, there was a large gaping hole. The stars became confused without the moon to guide them. Without the moon, the sun too felt lonely and the night dragged on and on and on. Without the moon, the night was no longer a time of calm rest and respite for dark things, unknown things had started to prowl the swamp. Demons, specters, ghosts and shadows crawled through the dark hole in the sky and descended into the swamp.
"We must find the moon!" The kimeti cried. Yet the swamp was so big, what could they do? Determined, several went out to the farthest reaches of the swamp in search of the moon. But none could find the moon. Those who came back, came back empty handed, and most did not return at all. They simply disappeared, as if the darkness had swallowed them whole. The kimeti panicked, thinking only of themselves, they scrambled away to hide. Having given up the search for the moon, the darkness encroached further and further into the swamp.
In time, the shadows grew more and more numerous, and kimeti started disappearing one by one. Sometimes an entire family would be swallowed by the darkness. Many were worried, but many more were scared. And it continued like so for many days, until, finally, it could not go on any longer. The Motherfather woke from the mire and called for her children. All the kimeti felt the calling, a dull thud in their hearts that told them where to go.
The kimeti came together again at the Ghost Thistle Mound and stood in silence. They had been called by the Motherfather, but the Motherfather could not do any more, this was a problem that her children would need to solve themselves. The kimeti stood around the mound, but no one spoke up. For the longest time, there was silence, until finally a young buck walked up and addressed his fellow kimeti.
"Are we going to hide until the shadows eat us one by one? No, we cannot, we must not! We are not little mice who hide scared in the ground waiting for the wolves to pass. We were not made to be immobile and inactive. Right now is the time for action: We must find the moon."
"But how?" The other kimeti asked. They had tried before hadn't they? But it had all been to no avail. "Haven't we done that before? Won't we just die?"
"No," the buck said, "before, those who were lost went alone, but this time we will go in pairs."
"But how will we know if someone has found the moon? Or what will happen if both kimeti get lost? What will we do then?"
"How about a songbird," a young doe suggested. "They can communicate in the darkness. A songbird's song reaches farther than any of our voices. If one group finds the moon, then the songbird can sing to tell the rest, and the other songbirds will return the song until it spreads across the entire swamp."
The kimeti nodded in agreement. Those who had songbird companions ventured forward and offered their familiars. Seemingly heartened, the Kimeti paired up and vanished into the darkness in search of the moon.
In the end, they found the moon hiding in the depths of a pool. The songbird's song reached the other groups and they came together to pull the moon from the waters and throw her back into the sky. With the moon back in its rightful place, the shadows slowly disappeared. Many of those who were lost made their way back, but others were lost forever. Perhaps they are still walking in the shadows of the swamp.
After that, many of the kimeti went their separate ways but some, the young doe and the young buck and a few of the volunteers, stuck together. They lived together and never felt loneliness again. They were the first tribe, and since then, tribes have only been few and far between---
The dark doe turned, her bright eye blazing in the darkness of the night.
"Perhaps you doubt my story, but I have dreamed of the future and have seen darkness. That is what the swamp has told me; the future is uncertain. But I know one thing, the times have changed, and the age where we wander alone is over. From now on, we must live together with each other and the swamp. Or we too will be swallowed by the darkness."
