So he sat down upon the threshing machine and thought and thought and
thought and thought. Then did he rise up with much determination showing
about the edges of his countenance and move rapidly toward the North
Pole; for he loved the stars and knew them all by name. He put a great
lever against the Pole and heaved away with all his massive power and
tipped the Pole over so that it should not all the time point at the
same spot in the sky and that the sun should not always shine upon the
plains.
Thus it was he had rest one-half the year.
This so amazed the other inhabitants of the earth they were utterly
unable to comprehend it and would never have known what had produced the
change from one season to four had not Ka In got into an argument with
his brother in which he let the cat out of the bag. When he found his
brother had told what he had said to his wife he one day caught him out
in the field kindling a fire and making an offering to his deity, and
caused him to stop breathing for the remainder of his natural life.
_Second Narrative_
The second narration is even more wonderful, and it relates to this same
ancestor, who was a man of renowned achievement.
It came about in the manner following: That he was so much put out by
the stories which had got afloat through the wife of his brother he
froze the earth up solid with the icy glance of his scornful eye. And
when the people roundabout made as if to believe this was the best thing
that had happened to them for several hundred years he became so heated
with his anger and made such violent use of such warm language the fever
of his breath melted all the ice suddenly, both that upon the earth—for
the waters of the deep were under the ice and carnivals were daily being
held to his great displeasure—but in the clouds, which were solid chunks
of frozen moisture held rigidly in the sky. And so it was that the air
was full of great rain and the earth was flooded thereby, and no one
escaped but Fa Kir, who hastened to the North Pole and builded him a
house upon it at such a distance from the earth the water did not reach
him, the remains of which still exist to this day as proof of this
historical account.
_Third Narrative_
[Illustration]
Ah! But there were giants in the days of my grandfather, Fa Bel. They
towered in the air and shook the ground with their tread. And such eyes.
When love kindled in their hearts their eyes shone with such brilliancy
and power the objects of their affection would have been consumed but
for their artfulness; they instantly fell to weeping and such torrents
of water fell there were formed rivulets, so to speak, between their
lovers and themselves. This would not have been sufficient to protect
them from utter destruction had not the fiery glances changed the water
into an impenetrable mist which preserved them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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