It was long time before she spoke, and when she did, her voice was barely a whisper, so soft that it could be mistaken for the wind, "Let me tell you a story:
Long ago when the swamp was young, a lone kimeti walked quietly through the night. He looked up into the sky and was greeted by the sight of more stars than you can imagine for many have since left their place in their sky to fall to the earth. It was one such star that streaked across the sky, falling, falling, falling until it was rushing towards him.
In shock, the buck could only watch as the star threatened to engulf him whole, but instead of burning him, the white flames resolved themselves into the form of a bright white crane. It's eyes shined like stars with an unmistakable intelligence. The buck bowed down low for he knew immediately that this crane was the MotherFather, come to bless him with herhis presence.
'Come child, let us walk. The night is long and I have a story to tell you.'
You see, this buck had been walking through the night, unable to sleep, because he had been plagued by nightmares in which he could no longer trust his own words. In those dreams, he manipulated himself and others with his quick words. That was his name in fact, Quick Words, and his particular skill with words had always served him well until now.
Because of these nightmares, he had resolved never to speak again because he was afraid of what disaster he would wreck on the lives of those around him.
He could not deny the MotherFather though, so he walked with the crane.
'Once there was a learned kin who traveled the land filling her mind with knowledge. One day she came upon a kiokote stallion who was in dire need of help. The physical strength of the stallion, and even his herd, could not solve his problem. When the doe learned of his plight, she turned to her wits to formulate a solution for him. When she presented her solution to him, so desperate was the stallion that he immediately followed her instructions. As if by some miracle, the solution did work and so impressed by the doe was the stallion that when the doe was to go on her way, he presented her with many gifts that any kin would be honored to have.
It was with these gifts that she set off, no more proud than she had ever been, only glad to have been able to help a fellow kin. However, the gifts that she had been given attracted attention and as she was traveling, she was attacked and killed. The gifts were stolen from her dead body and the thief ran away. The stallion who had gifted her these precious treasures heard of her murder and immediately launched a search for her killer.
The jealous buck was easy to find, even though he was crafty and sly. Gifts of that magnitude were difficult to hide. The stallion exacted revenge, or more precisely his justice, upon the thief and killed the buck in a single blow. Despite this, the stallion was extremely distraught over the doe's death and considered that it was his fault she was killed for he had given her the gifts that had attracted her killer's attention. He felt guilty and cursed himself all day. He could not eat or sleep and he would not talk, the guilt consumed him so.
One day, the stallion's most trusted mate brought a healer to the stallion. The healer possessed the blessing and power bestowed upon him by the MotherFather. He claimed that he could bring the doe back to life and immediately the stallion was overjoyed, but then, he asked, 'Can you also bring the thief back to life?'
The healer said that he could not and the stallion told the healer not to bring the doe back to life if he could not also bring the thief back to life.'
Quick Words interrupted then, 'Why would he do such a thing? The thief deserved to die.'
'Why indeed? The healer asked the stallion that very question, to which the stallion replied, 'The thief should not be punished for the murder of the doe if the doe is not dead.'
The stallion's most trusted mate then said, 'So you have not changed anything at all.'
'Nothing? Why, he is speaking again is he not?' the healer said, and walked away.
And now, so are you.'
The crane looked at the Quick Words for a long moment, letting the fact of his speak sink into Quick Words's memory, before rising into the air with a few elegant flaps. As the MotherFather flew away, shehe said, calling back, 'We are as we are, good and bad, but we should not feel guilty for things we have not done, though perhaps, your guilt is a good indication that you would never do what you feel guilty for, but even I do not know what lies in your future.'"
(This is a story told to Nose-in-the-Air in the course of their first meeting in rp linked here. The rp gives the full context of the story in relation to why she tells it. The story told is based on a fable/folktale about a king.)