God, Man & King: Chapter 4

[Khaos King]

It's winter the snow covers the forest, the ground is harden by the cold and frost. It's been several seasons since i have been allowed to live near the village and its people the Dine. They have given me a home within the forest a few miles from their village. In return i have given them the few precious seeds and stories that i carried with me during my escape from Teotihuacan. I have taught them all i know of farming techniques helping them store the grain and dried foods and fruits for this winter, I now sit here in my small lodge looking out the door at the snowy fall as i try to once again return to the land of the spirits and receive a sign from my Father. I hold in my hands a small cup of hot mushroom tea to help me on my spiritual journey while i'm wrapped with a blanket and chew on a peyotl button.

As i stare out i begin to rock back and fourth watching the colors swirl in front of me, i can hear my mortal heartbeat resonating within me, i can hear my breathing as if it were coming from another place. The veil of the mortal world begins to open allowing me to see into the spirit realm. I hear the whisper of the ethereal beings not gods but also not mortal men something in between They speak to me:

Spirits of the World: " why have you come here little Prince?"
"this not your domain......not anymore."

I answer back:

"I wish to go home, to be what i was, i need to know how."

Spirits of the World: have you already forgotten how, Godling?
can your mortal mind not grasp what it was that you lost or did you never truly know to begin with?
You must know what it is you seek to be what you wish to be?

i become annoyed and try to retain my calmness in order to remain in this realm between worlds.

"I seek to regain what i lost to be a god."
"please speak clearly to me and not in riddles, My mortal mind cannot grasp such abstracts."

Spirits of the World: "and what did you lose and how can one find what one has lost?"

"I lost my purity and therefor my divinity are you saying i cannot regain my purity and my godhood?"

Spirits of the World: You can never again be pure.............

I hear the whispered voices as it fades away covered by the background noise of the winter winds, it has taking me months to gain an audience with these beings only to hear what i could not bear. the curtains of reality fall back into place the multiple swirling colors fade away and i see before me snowflakes blown by the harsh wind, I stare at the winter weather and see it the distance obscured by the snow a figure moving forward. As it approaches i see what it is one of the villagers has come to me during this storm covered in her winter wolf and bear furs.

i see who it is, the young woman who had found me, Hummingbird. She has tracked through the weather to see me since she had saved me she refuses to leave me alone. She looks up through the snow and sees me, she smiles and waves as she calls out to me.

Hummingbird: Hey! why are you sitting like that in front of the door?!

As soon as she speaks i puke the mushroom tea and the peyotl mushed button.

Hummingbird: are you okay?!

She runs to my aid feeling some responsibility to me. i dont know why she owes me nothing, it is I who still most repay her kindness.
I wipe my mouth as she comes over me and helps me stand walking me back inside and closing the door and tarp.

Hummingbird: do you want to die, sitting out there in this weather?
whats the point of me saving you from the desert if you're just gonna try to kill yourself by freezing?

I look at her as she pats off the snow off my blanket and looks around to build a fire for heat.

"I was looking for answers?"

Hummingbird: and you couldnt do that here near a fire?

I wanted to see the the snow.

Hummingbird: well now you saw it.

why are you here?

Hummingbird: i came to bring you food, you have not been to the village in days.
i was worried about you.

She removes the pack full of food from her back as she lays it down on the table.

you shouldnt have come, it is too dangerous, you could have been hurt.

Hummingbird: hello? have you forgotten that i crossed a desert for you and i wasnt the one bit by a snake and dying.
i think i can handle walking a couple of miles in the snow.

i do not argue with her as i watch her show me what she has brought as she removes it from the leather pack as she pulls out: squash, deer meat and even honey comb.

Hummingbird: i will make you something to eat.

I am not hungry.

Hummingbird: well, i am.
afterall, i just marched through a bunch of snow.

I ignore her as i lie down in the corner wrapped in fur blankets and watch her prepare a meal.

Hummingbird: "the elders would like to see you again, they wish to hear more stories from your village and your people."

"I have no people. they abandoned me."

Hummingbird: "maybe, but they would like to know more of where you come from.
i told them that i would bring you back tomorrow morning."

"i dont feel like telling stories. "

Chapter 4

Hummingbird: they would find it an insult afterall to them you are a wise man."

"If i am than why do they have me live so far away.."

Hummingbird: "b/c they fear and respect you."

she answers with her mouth full of food.

"and you?"

Hummingbird: "i respect you but, i do not fear you.
i have not seen you do anything for me to fear."

[Khaos King]

I wake the following morning with Hummingbird's hair upon my face as i uncover the fur blanket, i see her still sleeping fully dressed. I stand and watch her roll over inside the blankets covering herself back up.... i put on my winter furs having taken the custom clothing of these people leaving behind my gold bracers and shin guards in the corner of the lodge. I have resigned myself to my fate, i cannot become a god and regain my position, it was all wishful thinking to believe i could and foolish mortal hope to take the dreams as omens.

I step out and see the winter storm has passed and the sun does shine as it begins to melt the winter snow, Spring does approach. I step out as i breath the chilly winter air and my breath can be seen as i exhale, i begin to walk only to be stopped by Hummingbird who places her hand on my shoulder.

"Where are you going?"

i answer her as i turn to look at her.

"To the river to collect some water for washing and drinking."

"I'll come with you, Snake Crow. Than we can both go to the village and see the elders.

She puts on her furs while i collect my clay jars and gourds before she follows after me to the frozen river the river having turned into a small stream due to the winter climate, i fill my gourds and clay jars. Hummingbird smiling nudges me while giggling.

Come leaves those behind Snake Crow we can collect them later, lets go to the village.
They will be making breakfast with food to spare if we get there early..

she grips my arm as she pulls me away i'm only able to take with me one of my gourds as she drags me away from the clay jars. As we walk through the snow she continues to ask me questions, questions she would not have asked me a couple of months ago as she has grown too familiar with me.

So you never told me if you were married. Did you have children, you are older than you look, you always seem tired but still strong why is that?

No, i was never married. My "children" are grown and have no need of me.
i guess it has to do with me not wasting my energy asking so many questions or running around like a deer.

"oops, i spoke too soon."

What?

" it looks as if you have gray on your " beard," you have a streak, here."

she runs her finger on the right side of my cheek to indicate the location.

"I guess, i have started to grow old. why do you come to me so often, are there no other men you would rather be with?"

"bah, there are no men in the village they are overgrown children and the old men spend much of their time sleeping or in the sweat lodge telling stories."

"And what would you rather be doing?"

she looks away bashfully before answering..

"I rather be here with you."

I look at her and smile yet deep down i am sadden for i cannot return her affection, i wrap my arm around her shoulder as we continue to head to the village through the snow.. As we arrive we see the village already alive with laughter of children playing, the town women cooking, the steam rising from the sweat lodge, the young warriors walk past us glaring at us with contempt as they walk away to hunt for deer or fish.... As we approach the Lodge where the town elders wait, i remove my furs and hand them to Hummingbird as she places them aside within a wooden chest which is heated by the proximity to the lodge keeping the furs warm.

As i enter i feel Hummingbirds eyes burning itself into my back as she stares at what she perceives to be a Thunderbird tattoo outline on my bare back. the men invite me in to sit among them and talk. I have grown tired of their questions but out of gratitude and politeness, i continue to answer them.

Elders: tell us Snake Crow what other stories to you have from your people?

Already they understand my tongue and i theirs... i watch them smoke their peace pipes as they pass it around the circle, Hummingbird enters and sits beside me as the men annoyingly stare at her.

Elders: you cannot be here, child go and leave us men.

I stand up as she prepares to leave and i look at the men as i prepare to bid them farewell.

If she cannot stay than i leave you men for it was her who brought me to you and it is she will take me with her.

Hummingbird smugly stares at her elders as she leans on my arm..

The old men signal us to sit and stay as i take my seat and prepare to tell them a story i feel my right arm being caressed by Hummingbird who traces my Snake wrapped tattoo on my left arm with her finger tip.

Once a long time ago when the Great Spirit had created the world and all the things in it. his eldest of his children that were neither spirit nor man watched over all the animals as well as man, woman and child. This Lesser Great Spirits noticed these small curious creature who toiled each day carrying plants, seeds to their underground home, it was the ant.

Elder: what was the Lesser Great Spirit's name?

He had no name that man would know or could speak, it was before such things had no importance for the Great Spirit knew who his children were.
But, this Lesser Great Spirit was in charge of the storm, thunder and rain, when man saw him fly through the sky they would see a great bird for that is what they wanted to see.

Elder: ah, it was a Thunderbird.. powerful totem similar to some of our legends.......

and so this "Thunderbird" came down and made himself small like that ant and followed them to see where he was going and asking it how did it know how to do what it did. The ant responded that it was their food, it is what it eats and that they store it for winter. The ant turned and gave a kernel to the spirit, The Spirit had never tasted food before but having taken the form of an ant it could eat and taste it and so he did. He found the taste very appealing that it filled him with joy and happiness, he saw that it was good and so he thanked the ant before taking his full form and leaving the ant mount.

As he traveled the surface of the earth he notice the human's who had already learned to see him in his "Thunderbird" form and he was sadden for what he saw. These 1st people still lived in caves in fear of many things, the lightning and thunder, the animals in the forest. They scrounged for their food and so the spirit decided to come and help them, he remembered the ant and its corn and how it could feed these people if they only new how.

He turned himself into a great whirl wind and lifted the seeds from the corn fields scattering them across the land to the four corners before flying to the sky becoming thunder and lighting as he rained down across the land. For many days it did rain the humans afraid stayed in their caves waiting for the storm to be over and when the cloud did part as the sun shined across the land, like a small miracle the kernel did grow from the ground as did many other flowering plants. The ground had become lush with vegetation green as the eye could see man and animal came to the land to enjoy its bounty.


But the Thunderbird spirit was not yet done, he knew that the men and women of the land would need to be taught how to farm this plant and how it could be eaten. So he came down from the sky and gave himself a human form and came to these people to live among them and to teach them what could be made from corn and many other things. The people learned music, poetry, agriculture, math... He lived among them for many years working the fields alongside them with his own hands to grow corn till they had a plentiful bounty and could support it indefinitely.

So happy was he with the people that he gave them two more gifts that he had discovered in his travels the bean and squash and he helped them with those as well.. till one day he had done all he could do for them for the Great Spirit had asked him to return from the world of man and so the Thunder spirit looked at the people and smiled. The people thanked him for what he had done for them and waved him good bye, many curious why the stranger had never aged but grateful that he had lived among them..

The Great Lesser Spirit walked to an empty corn field and spread his arms as he turn back to a creature of light and wind flew into the heavens to join the Great Spirit leaving behind his footsteps the only sign that he had walked the earth as a man.