The hunters of the group would go out every morning with their hand-crafted arrows and tusk-mounted spears to catch that night's meal. At the time, there was a famine in the land and food was the most precious commodity- something every warrior was reminded of when they heard the deep cries of their children as bellies would rumble incessantly.
The most respected of the hunting group was a man called Tibaro, and he led his pack of warriors deeper than they had ever gone before into the forest. Every once in a while, they would catch a bird or a spare hare, but nothing substantial enough to feed their people.
Tibaro was in the lead, and he spotted a thicket of brush off in the distance from which smoke was rising up into the atmosphere. That's strange, there are no people for miles around here. But his curiosity led him to go inside.
Immediately upon entering his head started spinning as the thick smoke filled his lungs. After a few minutes of being paralyzed by the fumes, he heard a booming voice.
"Tibaro, you have led your people well. But this famine is strong and will not end for many more moons. I have a proposition for you," the voice offered.
"Anything to spare my people," the desperate tone showed through Tibaro's voice.
"I can make sure your people are provided for every day for the rest of their lives as long as you and your warriors agree to protect my forest every day for the rest of your lives," the booming voice got louder as it spoke.
Thinking that protecting the forest is something to which his warrior tribe was already accustomed, he agreed immediately.
"Good. Tonight at moonlight you will see the forest change in a way you have never seen," said the voice, "there will be new fruit and places for animals to come feast."
Tibaro led his group back to their home sites, going to sleep soundly knowing that when he woke up that there would be new fruits that would have appeared.
That night, however, as soon as moonlight struck, Tibaro and all of his warriors were transformed into countless varieties of trees, sprouting fruits and berries this forest had never seen. When the women and children arose the next morning they were delighted to discover this transformation!
They looked at the biggest, thickest of the new trees and discovered a thick, amber substance that leaked from around the bark. These are the tears of Tibaro as he realized he would be protecting the forest by providing it from his branches. This is where tree sap originated.
Tibaro's tears, also known as tree sap.
Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons
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Author's Note: I wrote this story based on the Tejas Legends Unit from the book When the Storm God Rides: Tejas and Other Indian Legends from the early 20th century. This particular story is not based on any one story from the unit, rather, I chose to follow the same style of all of the story. Each legend tells the story behind a different nature phenomenon, such as woodpecker's tails and the colors of certain flowers. I chose to use the same theme, but twist it to tell a story about where tree sap comes from!
Hi Avery!
ReplyDeleteAll throughout your story, one of my favorite things was the way that you described how the characters' voices sounded, and how emotions like tension or excitement described their interactions.
I also thought that you introduced Tibaro really well. By using a couple paragraphs of description, you "set the stage" to bring him into the narrative.
The only thing I might recommend that could make this story even better might just be a bit more vivid description of the surrounding environment. It may not be essential, but it would add some cool details to the story!
O this is such a sad story of blind sacrifice. I wonder why the first thing the woman and children noticed was the trees, but they did not wonder about their husbands and fathers. It is good that Tibaro got to provide for his family, but it is so sad that he could no longer be with his family. I wonder what his wife would think of this whole thing. Would she agree that he should sacrifice himself for the sake of the people in this way? Or would she rather starve to have him around? Or is there another option? Also, this voice was cryptic and didn't really give Tibaro a fair and well informed choice.
ReplyDeleteOver all I think you did a great job on this story!
Avery. I enjoyed your adaption of the Tejas Legends. I liked the imagery you used, especially at the ending. How you described the amber pouring from the tree bark was excellent. I thought the entire concept was very interesting and it kept me engaged throughout the entire story. I also liked how you used dialogue within your story. Each character had their own personality, which can be sometimes hard to express when storytelling. However, you did a good job with this! Overall, it was a great read.
ReplyDeleteAvery, I really enjoyed reading your story for the week. It was very interesting that you didn't chose just one story, but wanted to encompass the entire writing style into your one story. I think you did a great job telling your story, and thought that it was very interesting. It was really a shock on how Tibaro would actually be protecting the forrest, but he did get to feed his entire tribe, which was very good.
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