Kaieteur Falls, Guyana, by Sunil Thaor, on Google Maps
Huge, the tree Makonaima made that night; every kind of fruit it bore.
Evil, the son who chopped it down.
Great, the gush of water that issued from that stump.
Immeasurable, the work of Makonaima to gather up the animals, to place them high in the trees and deep into caves.
High and low, the places he gave to the saved when that land dried.
Sacrifices, they made to Markonaima, creator and saviour, when they needed aid.
And so regards Kaieteur Falls, they do say…
Chief Kai, when his tribe were by the Caribs threatened
In a canoe, did sacrifice himself to its roaring waters.
105 words, written for What Pegman Saw: Guyana, South America
This has the earmark of legend. Masterfully done.
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I thank you. Another myth immortalised!
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Legendary, as Violet says. Lovely rhythmic quality too, just right for something that might have been passed orally from generation to generation. I’m intrigued – is this based in any way on an existing legend?
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Oh yes, but the creation myth and Chief Kai story are recorded… though I have somewhat reworded them.
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Very well if I may say
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You may indeed say. You know I float up to my eyeballs in myths. 🙂
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Ha! Sounds interesting but uncomfortable
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Not at all uncomfortable. Though sometimes soporific. 🙂
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Happy dozing 🙂
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Yea.
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I keep staring at the picture, it’s amazing. I keep rereading the legend. I want to say intoxicating. Combined with the classical music I have playing…. it is.
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Jen, you’re getting carried away, and I’d say it’s the music rather than my writing 🙂
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Could be. Also the mood the snow is creating. Its so light and peaceful. I still like your story. Combined it had a effect on me.
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Classical music, snow, and my story. Okay. 🙂
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😊 Yep
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🙂
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I like the voice you’ve chosen for this story. As Lynn says, it’s a story-teller’s voice, reciting words that have been handed down through many generations.
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It could be influenced by Anglo-Saxon poetry, though not consciously. 🙂
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Fresh take on the prompt. The rhetorical device you’ve employed really takes it to the next level!
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I’m flattered and honoured; I just do as I do 🙂 I thank you
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This was fabulous, Crispina!
You do mythical legends so very well.
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It’s my thing. As long as I can find source material, I can tease out the essentials and weave them again.
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You do it well.
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I thank you. And why aren’t you sound asleep. Must be the early hours for you, since it’s 7:15 am here.
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Stayed up chatting with a friend. We are ridiculous at times…
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Yea, I’ve done that in my time. So easily done when in good company. And you’re talking, and time passes, and you don’t notice, and you’re all buoyed up, and you ain’t gonna sleep anyway. Been there.
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And our conversations are always fun. We do it quite often.
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Envy seeps out of me. Back in the day… alas…
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Those days are not necessarily over…
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My friends drifted away during my long years of illness. So I’m back on my feet… but I go nowhere to meet anyone, at least no one I hit it off with to that extent.
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Hmmm… you’ll have to make an effort to meet new ones or reconnect…
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No I won’t. I happen to like the life I have now. Late nights weren’t good for me. Truly. Destructive. And if destructive then, they’d be worse now.
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There ya go. Don’t be envying then 😉
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No, it was a call back, not you I was envying but former times, and those former times made me ill. It’s a bit like the reformed smoker who has a sudden craving for a cigarette. Might want; not gonna do.
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Gotcha.
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I mean, that’s one way to use a waterfall, methinks.
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Apparently, it’s the origin of its name…
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I enjoy the spiritual nature of native people. They appreciate and respect God’s creation.
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Mmm, I was impressed when I read their myths. But then we have to ask who recorded those myths? For the most part, it was Christian missionaries. One wonders how much influence those missionaries had on the telling and the recording. Sad to think it, but it might be so.
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Your make some valid points. Someone had to record these myths so much can be lost in the process.
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Time… long time ago… I read Sir James Frazer and was amazed how all these cultures around the world shared at least the same motifs to their myths. And then I researched the man. Yea, sure that shared their myths. Cos the great James Frazer wrote to the many missionaries around the world asking for them to record the native myths. And lo! Almost all came back with features shared with the Biblical Flood. Note, this does refer to his book, THe Great Flood.
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I appreciated learning some new information.
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