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awanderingbardTitle: The Legend of Dreamess and Builder
Rating: G
Spoilers/Warnings: None
Word Count: 1449
Summary: Dreamess and Builder create the world.
Disclaimer: Work is all from my own imagination. Any resemblance to other characters or situations is coincidental.
Notes: I wrote this in Grade 10 History class. One of the assignments was to make a new creation myth. I tried to include many elements of classic creation myths, but do my own thing with them. I suddenly remembered this existed last night as I was falling asleep, and how pleased I was with it at the time. I couldn't find it in my files, but for interest's sake, I typed in a few words and apparently I uploaded it to fictionpress, like ten years ago, and have no memory of it. I didn't even know I had a fictionpress account.
Oh well, I am pleased to have it back. Enjoy!
Before Now there was Then, when naught existed but the stars and black space. The stars played games to pass the time and they went running here and there, without course. Then, two of them collided and exploded into a blaze of sparkling dust. From this dust came She, a young woman with hair as white as snow and eyes of silver. She wore a dress of starlight and her necklace held pieces of all the important stars. The other stars gathered around her, making a seat to carry her so she would not fall into the Below, where no stars had travelled. She was lonely and frightened on her own, for she could not speak the language of the stars. She began to cry and each tear contained a mermaid or merman. The tears gathered in the Below and soon a great ocean was formed with all the mer-people living and playing in it. When She tried to speak with them, however, they could not hear her through the water and they could not survive out of the ocean, so she could not pick them up to talk to them. Many ages passed, for time was unmeasured Then, and seemed not as long. She dreamed of all sorts of marvellous Things, but could not create them. She was still alone.
The stars lost interest in her, though they left her a seat so she would be safe, and they went about their games once more. Two young, careless stars again collided and from their remains came He, tall with fiery red hair and eyes of purest blue. He was resourceful, and built himself a chariot from the stars and rode it across the sky. He saw the Dreamess in her seat and circled around to visit her.
“Hello, beautiful creature,” He greeted her, kindly.
Dreamess looked up to the handsome young man and was so overjoyed to see him, she began to weep. This distressed him greatly, to see such a lovely thing cry, and he fashioned a cloth of stardust to dry her tears.
“Oh! You know how to make Things!” Dreamess cried, with great excitement. “I have such Things I have thought, but they exist only in my mind.”
“I will build them for you,” Builder promised, gallantly. “Then you may stop crying.”
So Dreamess explained all her thoughts of a land for the mer-people to live on with trees and plants and animals. Builder flew all over in his chariot and gathered dusts from the stars. He built a hammer and requested a sparkling green jewel from her necklace. He hammered the jewel flat and cut it into pieces, setting them afloat upon the oceans of tears. From the jewels grew grass and trees and flowers. He fashioned all sorts of animals, who multiplied and spread over the new lands. He built Frog, who could talk with both the mer-people underwater and Dreamess and Builder in the sky.
When all was ready, the mer-people were invited to come on the land by Dreamess and Builder. They tried to, but could not move freely out of the water and had trouble breathing. So Builder took their tails and gills from them, instead giving them legs and lungs. The tails he carved into fish and set back into the waters.
The mer-people, now just maids and men, were happy on the lands and began to explore.
“They all look the same,” Dreamess complained to Builder. “I cannot tell them apart.”
So Builder lifted each one to the Above and together he and Dreamess worked to change the people's appearance. They painted some of their skins dark brown, some lighter shades and some with ivories and roans and creams. They chose the most beautiful colours of the world for their eyes, greens of the trees, browns of the great bears' fur, blues of the waters and greys of the stones. Some were given hair like Builder, red and wild, some brown. Some golden as the sands of the beaches or black as ash. Dreamess was happy and put them all back down again. Soon, following the example of the animals, they began to band together into tribes and spread out to inhabit different parts of the world.
By now, Builder and Dreamess had fallen in love and Dreamess suggested giving their people the opportunity to do the same with their own chosen men or women. So the People were given Love.
With that emotion came endless amounts of others, some good, many bad. Hate, pride, anger, jealously grew alongside happiness, security, passion and confidence. People began to wonder why some of them looked one way and others another.
Each tribe declared themselves the best, preferred by their creators. Fights broke out about who was the fairest among the maids and most handsome among the men.
“Oh, we have made a terrible mistake,” Dreamess lamented, sadly. “I did not think this Thing through carefully enough. Perhaps we should take it back and return them to before.”
“I think the choice should be theirs,” Builder suggested.
So He and She sent a messenger in the form of Dove, who was liked by all tribes. The leaders of the tribes agreed to gather in the centre of the world, where the People had built a massive city. Each leader consulted his or her own tribe before setting out on the long journey. A large stone was cut, and each leader carved his or her symbol into it, a promise that no harm would come to anyone else while they were within the walls of the city.
The leaders met for a very long time, during which many meals were served. Finally, Dove returned to Dreamess and Builder.
“The People have decided,” he announced, nobly. “While they dislike many of the Things Love has brought, they do not outweigh the good Things. They will keep Emotion and try to stop fighting amongst themselves in exchange.”
That is why, Now, there is Love and Hate in the world. Because above else, Love is worth much more than losing everything.
With this development, Dreamess and Builder decided to rest. It was very tiring to Think and Build all the time. So they lay down on a blanket of stars and slept for a long time. They were woken again by the sound of many voices crying in terror. It was the People. The light that Dreamess and Builder produced when they were awake had gone out while they were asleep and all had come to darkness on the world below.
“This will not work,” Dreamess thought. “We cannot sleep at the same time and leave the people without our light. But we cannot stay awake forever, either.”
“We will have to sleep each in turn,” Builder agreed. “Then some of our light will always be there.”
So, first Dreamess went to sleep, carried around in Builder's arms while he looked after the world below, helping the People build and work. When she awoke, Builder taught her how to ride in his chariot and he went to sleep, while Dreamess supervised. Dreamess did not produce as much light as Builder, but enough to see by in the Below. The People slept during her time and dreamed. The People called the times when Dreamess was asleep 'day' and the times when Builder slept 'night'. They counted them and thus time began to be measured. There was a little time in each day and night when the two were awake together and spoke, but that time grew less and less. Eventually, when one woke up, the other fell asleep and they did not speak.
Below, the People, gifted with Learning by Builder, began to invent things on their own and created writing and reading and languages to better communicate. Curiosity caused them to invent reasons to explain their existence. Much of what was known was lost before scribes began to take them down and the story of Dreamess and Builder was forgotten. Instead, new stories by each tribe were created to fulfill the need. They grew less and less dependent on Dreamess and Builder, but the creators did not mind, because that is why such Things were given to the People in the first place. Thus Now began. It is much this way at this time, with day and night. The lovers chase each other across the sky, without ever seeing each other. Except every several years, when the two are awake together. We call these Eclipses, but it is really Dreamess and Builder, consulting each other and deciding on what future Things they will Dream and Build.
Rating: G
Spoilers/Warnings: None
Word Count: 1449
Summary: Dreamess and Builder create the world.
Disclaimer: Work is all from my own imagination. Any resemblance to other characters or situations is coincidental.
Notes: I wrote this in Grade 10 History class. One of the assignments was to make a new creation myth. I tried to include many elements of classic creation myths, but do my own thing with them. I suddenly remembered this existed last night as I was falling asleep, and how pleased I was with it at the time. I couldn't find it in my files, but for interest's sake, I typed in a few words and apparently I uploaded it to fictionpress, like ten years ago, and have no memory of it. I didn't even know I had a fictionpress account.
Oh well, I am pleased to have it back. Enjoy!
Before Now there was Then, when naught existed but the stars and black space. The stars played games to pass the time and they went running here and there, without course. Then, two of them collided and exploded into a blaze of sparkling dust. From this dust came She, a young woman with hair as white as snow and eyes of silver. She wore a dress of starlight and her necklace held pieces of all the important stars. The other stars gathered around her, making a seat to carry her so she would not fall into the Below, where no stars had travelled. She was lonely and frightened on her own, for she could not speak the language of the stars. She began to cry and each tear contained a mermaid or merman. The tears gathered in the Below and soon a great ocean was formed with all the mer-people living and playing in it. When She tried to speak with them, however, they could not hear her through the water and they could not survive out of the ocean, so she could not pick them up to talk to them. Many ages passed, for time was unmeasured Then, and seemed not as long. She dreamed of all sorts of marvellous Things, but could not create them. She was still alone.
The stars lost interest in her, though they left her a seat so she would be safe, and they went about their games once more. Two young, careless stars again collided and from their remains came He, tall with fiery red hair and eyes of purest blue. He was resourceful, and built himself a chariot from the stars and rode it across the sky. He saw the Dreamess in her seat and circled around to visit her.
“Hello, beautiful creature,” He greeted her, kindly.
Dreamess looked up to the handsome young man and was so overjoyed to see him, she began to weep. This distressed him greatly, to see such a lovely thing cry, and he fashioned a cloth of stardust to dry her tears.
“Oh! You know how to make Things!” Dreamess cried, with great excitement. “I have such Things I have thought, but they exist only in my mind.”
“I will build them for you,” Builder promised, gallantly. “Then you may stop crying.”
So Dreamess explained all her thoughts of a land for the mer-people to live on with trees and plants and animals. Builder flew all over in his chariot and gathered dusts from the stars. He built a hammer and requested a sparkling green jewel from her necklace. He hammered the jewel flat and cut it into pieces, setting them afloat upon the oceans of tears. From the jewels grew grass and trees and flowers. He fashioned all sorts of animals, who multiplied and spread over the new lands. He built Frog, who could talk with both the mer-people underwater and Dreamess and Builder in the sky.
When all was ready, the mer-people were invited to come on the land by Dreamess and Builder. They tried to, but could not move freely out of the water and had trouble breathing. So Builder took their tails and gills from them, instead giving them legs and lungs. The tails he carved into fish and set back into the waters.
The mer-people, now just maids and men, were happy on the lands and began to explore.
“They all look the same,” Dreamess complained to Builder. “I cannot tell them apart.”
So Builder lifted each one to the Above and together he and Dreamess worked to change the people's appearance. They painted some of their skins dark brown, some lighter shades and some with ivories and roans and creams. They chose the most beautiful colours of the world for their eyes, greens of the trees, browns of the great bears' fur, blues of the waters and greys of the stones. Some were given hair like Builder, red and wild, some brown. Some golden as the sands of the beaches or black as ash. Dreamess was happy and put them all back down again. Soon, following the example of the animals, they began to band together into tribes and spread out to inhabit different parts of the world.
By now, Builder and Dreamess had fallen in love and Dreamess suggested giving their people the opportunity to do the same with their own chosen men or women. So the People were given Love.
With that emotion came endless amounts of others, some good, many bad. Hate, pride, anger, jealously grew alongside happiness, security, passion and confidence. People began to wonder why some of them looked one way and others another.
Each tribe declared themselves the best, preferred by their creators. Fights broke out about who was the fairest among the maids and most handsome among the men.
“Oh, we have made a terrible mistake,” Dreamess lamented, sadly. “I did not think this Thing through carefully enough. Perhaps we should take it back and return them to before.”
“I think the choice should be theirs,” Builder suggested.
So He and She sent a messenger in the form of Dove, who was liked by all tribes. The leaders of the tribes agreed to gather in the centre of the world, where the People had built a massive city. Each leader consulted his or her own tribe before setting out on the long journey. A large stone was cut, and each leader carved his or her symbol into it, a promise that no harm would come to anyone else while they were within the walls of the city.
The leaders met for a very long time, during which many meals were served. Finally, Dove returned to Dreamess and Builder.
“The People have decided,” he announced, nobly. “While they dislike many of the Things Love has brought, they do not outweigh the good Things. They will keep Emotion and try to stop fighting amongst themselves in exchange.”
That is why, Now, there is Love and Hate in the world. Because above else, Love is worth much more than losing everything.
With this development, Dreamess and Builder decided to rest. It was very tiring to Think and Build all the time. So they lay down on a blanket of stars and slept for a long time. They were woken again by the sound of many voices crying in terror. It was the People. The light that Dreamess and Builder produced when they were awake had gone out while they were asleep and all had come to darkness on the world below.
“This will not work,” Dreamess thought. “We cannot sleep at the same time and leave the people without our light. But we cannot stay awake forever, either.”
“We will have to sleep each in turn,” Builder agreed. “Then some of our light will always be there.”
So, first Dreamess went to sleep, carried around in Builder's arms while he looked after the world below, helping the People build and work. When she awoke, Builder taught her how to ride in his chariot and he went to sleep, while Dreamess supervised. Dreamess did not produce as much light as Builder, but enough to see by in the Below. The People slept during her time and dreamed. The People called the times when Dreamess was asleep 'day' and the times when Builder slept 'night'. They counted them and thus time began to be measured. There was a little time in each day and night when the two were awake together and spoke, but that time grew less and less. Eventually, when one woke up, the other fell asleep and they did not speak.
Below, the People, gifted with Learning by Builder, began to invent things on their own and created writing and reading and languages to better communicate. Curiosity caused them to invent reasons to explain their existence. Much of what was known was lost before scribes began to take them down and the story of Dreamess and Builder was forgotten. Instead, new stories by each tribe were created to fulfill the need. They grew less and less dependent on Dreamess and Builder, but the creators did not mind, because that is why such Things were given to the People in the first place. Thus Now began. It is much this way at this time, with day and night. The lovers chase each other across the sky, without ever seeing each other. Except every several years, when the two are awake together. We call these Eclipses, but it is really Dreamess and Builder, consulting each other and deciding on what future Things they will Dream and Build.
