Storytelling - March Year 2

Pirarucu hated cemeteries, but he wanted to see what was going on with this feast thing. He'd followed the trail of the black jaguar here, and was markedly uncomfortably running so far across land, so far away from water. Not to mention all the bones, all the ghosts! His fur prickled as he tiptoed over the earth with his back arched tall.

Yet all his fear melted away when he saw her. Pirarucu's eyes nearly popped out of his head at the beauty of the little river otter. He slipped in close to Korivan, whispering, "Where have you been hiding her?"

He sat down to listen to Korivan's tale, his eyes on the water goddess the whole time. So, she liked stories, did she? Pirarucu had a good one!

He puffed out his chest when Korivan finished, eager to tell his own.

"There once was a great otter," he began, winking not unsubtly. "The biggest of all otters! He was proud of his girth, proof of his strength! He pulled down trees to make homes for his family, and drowned anacondas that sought to strangle his pups.

"But the one thing he couldn't do," Pirarucu said, "was fish.

"He was much too fat, you see. Even the slowest piranha, heavy with corpse, was too fast for him! His wife, a slender belle, said to him, 'If you don't catch a fish soon, I'm jumping rivers!'

"This, for Big Otter, was a horrifying thought. And so he swam the length of his river, looking for a fish, any kind of fish."

"All he could catch, however, was a fish already dead.

"'Rotten with worms!' his wife cried. 'Would you have us rot, too?'

"Big Otter looked harder. He pulled up a rock and caught a crayfish.

"'So small, too hard!' she said. 'It will break our pups' teeth, and starve them as they eat!'

"Big Otter left their home in shame. He spent the night on the river, praying for a fish to jump into his mouth. That gave him an idea.

"'Jaguar, jaguar!' he called, barking the alarm. 'Caimans, too! Oh, the anaconda sings to me!'

"'Where, where?' the fish of the river cried, swimming in panic.

"'Here, there, everywhere!' Big Otter said. He splashed all about the river and made terrifying noise, making it seem the river had suddenly become filled with fishers.

'But look!' Big Otter sang, and he buried himself in the mud, opening his mouth wide. 'I've found a safe hole!'

"And all the fish of the river swam down his throat, filling his belly tight. He carried them home, and though he was too big to fit inside, none of his family would ever go hungry again."

Pirarucu grinned as his story came to an end, eyes twinkling with pride and looking to the fellow otter for her reaction.

The quiet woman moved through the lands, humming softly to herself. Oh how she loved stories. They always let you see more about the creatures around you as well as the world around everyone. As she mad it there, she saw a panther and a otter speaking together. It also seemed that the Goddess had stuck around too. Nodding her head in greeting to everyone, she would speak up softly. "Well, if you don't mind, I have a story to share as well. Once upon a time, there was small pup that belonged to a small little pack and she was the daughter of the Alphas, the leaders of the pack. But one night, a very bad enemy pack attacked in the middle of the night. The poor little pup did what she could but being as small as she was, couldn't help anyone and ran as far away as she could. However, once she got older, she finally went back for revenge on the bad Alpha that took her pack away from her. After she did that, she learned how to heal, memorizing almost every herb so that one day, she could heal as many creatures as possible. But even as a healer, there's always that love of fighting in her." As she finished, she would nod her head towards the Goddess before settling down herself, hoping more would show to tell their own stories.

The man had been doing what he did best, sleeping. That is, until the call of the Gods woke him. With a groan, he stood up, grumbling softly under his breath. Oh how he hated to be woke up. Though, before he went back to sleep, he heard the words that he loved more then sleeping. Story. Slowly making his way, the man would find the creatures that were telling stories. This was a perfect way to get back to sleep! Of course, he wasn't going to tell a story. That was too much work and effort on his part. Laying down, the man would quickly be lulled back to sleep with the stories of these creatures.