Act 74: Perhaps a woman... / by Stephen Hart

ShaconageAct74PerhapsAWoman - Edited.jpg

“Grabbing a piece of the sun, the buzzard set it on his head and started for home,” Yufala continued.

“But the sun was so hot it burned off all his head feathers and that is why the buzzard’s head is bald today.

“Now, the people were in despair," Yufala explained.

“‘What shall we do? What shall we do?’,” they cried. “‘Our brothers have tried hard; they have done their best, everything a man can do. What else shall we do to have light?’

“‘They have done the best a man can do,’ said a little voice from the grass. ‘Perhaps this is something a woman can do better than a man.’

‘Who are you?’ everyone asked. ‘Who is that speaking in a tiny voice and hidden in the grass?

‘I am your grandmother spider,’” she replied. “‘Perhaps I was put in the world to bring you light. Who knows? At least I can try and if I’m burned up it will still not be as if you lost one of your great warriors.’

“Grandmother spider felt around her in the darkness until she found some damp clay. She rolled it in her hands and molded a little clay bowl.

“She started eastward, carrying her bowl and spinning a thread behind her so she could find her way back.

“When grandmother spider came to the place of the sun people she completed escaped their notice because she was so quiet and so tiny.

“She reached out gently, took a bit of the sun and placed it in her clay bowl.

“She then followed back along the thread she’d spun and with the sun’s light growing and spreading before her she traveled back from the east to the west.

“And if you’ll notice the spider’s web is, even today, shaped like the sun and the spider will always spin her web in the morning, very early, before the sun is fully up.”

Return here and scroll to see all installments.