Page 1 of 1

Story Time with Trickster

Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 4:38 pm
by oakleafwolf
Image
Trickster of the Boreal Rainforest looked about her at the sunset-golden forest. It was winter, which in this area was expressed with pretty little swirlings of snow that ghosted down from the clouds above. The snow gathered in drifts of light powder that puffed up and snowed down again if she flew near to the ground. It was really rather pretty, and altogether unlike the months of continuous drizzle that were involved with winter in her home.

Frolicking about like a foal before her first shed, Trickster dived and wove among the naked, twiggy trees. She was enjoying herself so much that she didn't see the small song gathered around the hot spring in the clearing until she almost collided with one of the smaller mares who was trying to guide that year's babies back to the group. Snapping her wings open, she traded speed for drag and skidded (as much as one can skid in air) to a halt just shy of doing damage.

"Hallooo!" she cooed at the little ones, grinning up at the mare with them, and then the other members of the song.

"Payrdon me for dyropping in so suddenly, I hadn't expected to find anyone here! ...Although, seeing as it is getting on to nightfall, would you mind teyrribly if I stayed the night with you?"

The Samanayrs looked a bit baffled but, being pleasant folk, agreed that Trickster could stay with them overnight. Just as everyone was settling in, one of the foals got into an argument with the other, resulting in an ear-biting and the entire song being roused. The long-suffering mares had just about decided whose turn it would be to settle them down when Trickster landed between the little ones, lightly nudging them apart and settling between them.

"You know..." Trickster began, amiably, "Theyre weyren't always hot spyrings ayround for cold travelers and little foals to gatheyr ayround at night. Now, I may not be a stoyryteller yet, but I happen to know that you two are awfully lucky to be able to stay wayrm here by the spyrings while you fight."

Trickster nodded knowingly and tried to look wise (which really involved fluffing her feathers and cocking her head, looking more comical than wise) while the foals settled down, looking entranced and content to sit as long as they had entertainment.

"Well then!" started Trickster, "There are many legends about this, but this is the one I will tell you tonight: How the First Hotspring was Made."

Re: Story Time with Trickster

Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 4:39 pm
by oakleafwolf
A long, long time ago before oquiesas barked and before there were seasons, there was always winter everywhere. It was cold. The land was constantly covered in snow, and the first Samanayrs would huddle together, shivvering miserably and wishing desperately that someone would find a way to get warm.

They tried wearing snow, but the snow was cold and would melt upon them and make them even colder. They tried sitting inside piles of tree branches, but the branches were prickly and they were just cold and uncomfortable. They even tried digging burrows into rocks, but the rocks were hard and would just hurt the hooves of the Samanayrs that tried.
Image
There was one Samanayr in all the world who wasn't cold, though. Anger of the Raging Volcano lived inside a vast caldera. He was massive, far larger than even the largest Enkeyn today, and his scaly skin was impervious to the lava that surged up through the cracks of the hardened lava he slept on. He was covered in ignis, had wicked horns, and a terrible temper. No one was allowed near his home. No one.
Image
Fortunately, in those days there was a wonderful, smart, and handsome spirit that watched over the first Samanayrs named Guile. There were other spirits of course, and elementals, but Guile was the craftiest of them and the only one that had a plan to help the first Samanayrs.

The first step was to find the fastest Sa'grisayr in the world. It had to be a Sa'grisayr and not a Lamanayr because back then Sa'grisayrs had fine long beaks. Guile needed someone with a very long beak for his plan to work and he was not a little bit jealous of their beaks anyway, so he convinced the fastest Sa'grisayr to follow his plan and settled back with glee to watch his clever plan in action.
Image
You see, Guile's plan was for the Sa'grisayr to sneak up on Anger while he was sleeping and pluck a fiery feather from the giant beast's wing. Then, the Sa'grisayr would keep the feather at the far end of his beak so the feather wouldn't burn him as he flew back to Guile and the waiting Samanayrs.

The Sa'grisayr practiced the flight from Anger's volcano to the place where the Samanayrs lived several times until he was sure he could fly fast enough to get away from Anger. When everything was finally ready, Guile told the Sa'grisayr to fly to the volcano just after the sun was at it's highest point. Anger would be resting after having his noon meal, and the Sa'grisayr could pluck the feather in safety.

Carefully, carefully, the Sa'grisayr drifted down from the rim of the caldera. It was almost to hot for him, and he was about to turn back when he noticed one of Anger's feathers was most of the way out already. Anger had been too sleepy to preen and the feather was ripe for the taking, so the Sa'grisayr pulled it out and made to fly swiftly away.

With the feather in his beak, the Sa'grisayr was just starting to feel elated when an inarticulate roar shook the air around him and Anger boiled up out of the volcano, giving chase to the little Sa'grisayr.
Image
Anger was terrifying and the Sa'grisayr didn't have a lot of options, he tried to fly up into clouds, make loop-de-loops, and all manner of evasive maneuvers, but Anger kept coming and the flight was beginning to take too long. As the feather burned in the Sa'grisayr's beak, it slowly began to burn into the beak itself, making it shorter and shorter. If the Sa'grisayr took too much longer, he wouldn't have a beak left to hold the feather with!

Just as the Sa'grisayr was about to give up hope, he spotted two mountain crags that were very close together. Tucking his wings in and closing his eyes, WHOOSH! he went right through the crack and Anger slammed into the side of the mountains, yelping and getting very bruised. Free of the terrible pursuit, the Sa'grisayr was still not safe, because the feather clutched so tightly in his beak had just about burned through the whole thing.

At the last moment before the Sa'grisayr had to drop the feather, Guile swooped in and grabbed the feather from him. To this day Sa'grisayrs have short, hooked beaks because of the sacrifice of carrying the feather.
Image
Guile, stealing the glory, flew the very short distance left to the home of the Samanayrs. Knowing that Anger might one day look for his missing feather, Guile knew exactly what to do; he hid the feather in a small lake where the Samanayrs drank and played.

Immediately, the water got very warm and steam started to rise from it. The heat moved into the land and melted the snow, creating the first summer and all the Samanayrs were happy.
Image

Re: Story Time with Trickster

Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 4:42 pm
by Seren
I hope it's okay to comment on here- Oak this is amazing! I love the old-myth feel to it, its perfectly done and very true to legends, I can even see archetypes throughout the story!

(Excuse me geeking out, I've taken a course on World Mythology, and love anything of the sort)

I also love your artwork, it's sweet and well done, and your style definitely compliments the Samanayr style. :D

And Trickster, you are quite the born storyteller!

Re: Story Time with Trickster

Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 4:51 pm
by oakleafwolf
Yeah, it's okay to comment now. I plan to do a couple of these at least, and it's open to comments in between story threads. I just wanted a way to separate 'Story Time' from my art thread.

Glad you liked it!

Re: Story Time with Trickster

Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 6:32 pm
by Seren
Reminds me of a myth I once read... *taps forehead and scurries off to find World Mythology textbook*

I love Trickster. She's the perfect representation of the raven archetype, as well as just plain adorable, with an epic design.

I can't wait to see more!