A Tribe of Ancients

A friend, Bill Garner fashioned a whimsical tribe of ancients last year. Full of wild energy and unpredictable forms, they inspired me to write the following little story.

How the Westerlings came to be

The Ancients tell us that of all his wondrous store, the treasure most highly prized by the powerful Norse god, Thor, was a crystal which held all the tales ever told and ever to be told by the people of the earth.

One day Loki, Thor’s flame-haired, trickster brother, stole the crystal from its place of honour. Thor saw him sneaking away with the crystal in his arms. Angered beyond control, Thor raised Mjööllnir, his mighty hammer and hurled it at his thieving brother. Loki, ever nimble, used the Lore crystal to shield himself from the blow. Loki escaped unharmed but the crystal was shattered into dust. So forceful was Thor’s strike, that the sparkling grains were blasted across the northern oceans and fell upon the plains and forests in the heart of the New World.

The nomads of the plains and woodlands saw the shining veil of dust float to earth and were entranced. They named the gleaming drifts ‘the snow that does not melt’. Drawn by the mystical power of crystal remnants, each placed a generous sprinkling of the powder into the sacred medicine bags which hung about their necks. Loki laughed with delight when he saw this.

While the nomads slept, he enchanted the crystal remains. Through his spell, each grain of sparkling dust drew a little soul-strength from the sleepers. It took on aspects of their love, hate, serenity, anger, wisdom and ignorance. These tiny souls then drew upon the objects in the medicine bags to give themselves form. When the moon began to fade, they crept from the bags and silently began their journeys throughout the western lands. In this way the Westerlings came into being.