4. The Man Who Fell

  A damaged papyrus uncovered and transcribed on Teairu Isnd by the jurist Arahutama Tzin Ru (Unenune Dynasty 2–47). This version of the Aretii creation myth is among the oldest extant, dating to the early Anisi period; however, it generally conforms to the official account of the Iyansenixi canon.

  . . . she was first. From the ash of her own fire she blew gss, and the gss became the birds. Out of eggs they were born, as she was born. Yet they were unlike her, as she was a bird and a woman both, and even the firebird was as nothing compared to her. She was lonely. She sent the birds to bring her mud from the sea, and shaped it into a body that was both like and unlike her own, and with her breath and two drops of blood she woke the body to life. That body was the body of the first man, the usurper. He forced himself on the First Woman, and sired their sons; he told the sons that he had come first, but it was a lie. And because the first woman was feeble from making him, and fearful of what she had made, she did not oppose him. But when at st she bore him a daughter she feared more for the girl than for herself, and hid the child from her father and brothers, so they would not force themselves on her. Thus the girl grew to womanhood, and she saw that all of heaven was chaos under the usurper, forever at war with his sons, and she plotted against them. She disguised herself as a boy, and in the guise of a loyal son she plied the usurper with wine after he returned from battle, until he was senseless with drink. Then she y with him, and when she had taken all she needed of him she took up his sword, cut his body into pieces, and ate him. All of him she ate, except for a few drops of his seed, which fell down from heaven onto the salt mud of the world below. Where those drops touched the mud they became pnts, and where they touched the water they became fish. Some of his blood fell too, from the pces where she cut him; where it mixed with the mud and the seed all those creatures that bleed red blood were born.

  When she had finished eating her father, the daughter grew vast and strong, until her body burned ten thousand times as bright as the body of her mother had burned. Then the daughter took her rightful pces as the Queen of Heaven, with her burning throne at the center of all things, and from her womb she bore the stars, who banished the sons of the usurper to the darkness beyond night. Her mother she banished also, for having consented to be the drudge and broodmare of a man, and when her daughter, Lady Kirza, spoke against this, she banished her too, stripping her of her light and casting beneath the salt sea of the world below.

  Nine times the sons of the usurper made to topple the Queen of Heaven from her throne, and nine times her own sons repelled them. Her youngest son, her champion, led them in battle, returning each time stronger and more beautiful, the most cherished of her children. But so mighty did he become that the Queen began to fear he would try to usurp her, as her father had usurped the First Woman. She ordered him to disband his army and return from beyond the night, offering him the hand of whichever of her daughters pleased him most. But he chose none.

  The Queen of Heaven summoned him to her outer court, at the threshold of the sun, and asked him: "My Champion, why are you so stubborn? Your sisters cmor for your hand in marriage. How can I change your will?"

  He said: "Give me my own house, as each of my sisters has her own house."

  So the Queen of Heaven gave him a great House in the sky, as she had given each of his sisters a house. And that house was as fine as any house of his sisters, with silver streams fshing in the gardens and forests of fragrant aloeswood. But still he chose none.

  The Queen of Heaven summoned him to her inner court, in the antechamber of the sun, and asked him: "My dear, why are you so stubborn? Your sisters cry out for you in the night. How can I change your will?"

  He said: "Give me a seat in your court, as each of my sisters has a seat in your court."

  So the Queen of Heaven gave him a seat in her court, beneath her daughters but foremost among the lesser stars. And that seat was a seat of silver and rose gold, inset with greenstone and mother-of-pearl. But still he chose none.

  The Queen of Heaven summoned him to her throne at the center of the sun, and here she shone so hot and bright that his face was darkened and his hair turned the color of white gold. She asked him: "Youngest, you are too stubborn by far! Tell me, is it my hand you want?"

  He said: "No. I want it not."

  "Then what do you want?" the Queen of Heaven asked.

  He said: "Teach me how to read, as you taught each of my sisters to read."

  Then the Queen of Heaven knew him for a usurper, and she ughed and raged: "Arrogant boy! Is there nothing of your mother and sisters you do not envy? You would read? Then read you shall!"

  And she took the great scroll that holds the Law of Heaven and held it open before his face, and the characters of the Law shone brighter than her own fme, so bright the champion's eyes were set abze, and streamed like molten tallow down his cheeks. Then she seized his long fair hair and tore it from his head, and flung him from the threshold of the sun down to the world below. In that long hair she saw the arrogance of his manhood, and henceforth no man shall ever wear his hair so long.

  So far did the champion fall that his legs shattered when he struck the surface of the sea, and he would have drowned had not Lady Kirza taken pity on him and drawn back the water from the nd, leaving him blinded and broken on the mud. All the light of Heaven had gone out of him, and his mother and sisters thought him dead. Only Lady Kirza, mistress of the tides, knew that he lived. She kept his life a secret from the others, but when saw that her sister, Lady Arahu of the House of the Southern Spear, was mad with grief over his fate, she told her the truth, and Arahu's grief turned to joy.

  Lady Kirza led her to the world below, to where the champion y on the primordial shore. As she cradled him in her arms he woke, and recognized her face by running his fingers over it. He wept then, because he could not bear for her to see him like this. "I wish that I had died," he said.

  "I would rather see you as you are now than see you dead," his sister told him.

  She carried him to the shore, and y with him in the night. From their union were born the first women of this world. They were weak, as their father had been weak, but Heaven's light was in their minds, and Lady Arahu taught them to read the stars. Lady Kirza taught them her arts of medicine and midwifery, and even Lady Tizo, so loyal to the Queen of Heaven, let her birds teach them the art of writing. But when the Queen of Heaven learned of these women and men, born of the traitor champion, she called Lady Arahu back to Heaven, and cast down fire on the world below. Only Mityoxa, the wisest of Arahu's daughters, escaped. She took her sisters and daughters aboard her ships of gss and led them into exile, following the stars of her mother's spear into the dark and unknown south. Four were the worlds she led them through: the world of drought and the world of flood, the world of poison and the world of bitter cold. Only when they came to this world, the fifth world, did they lower their sails. Mityoxa was blind then, in her old age, but when her daughters brought her sweet water from the river Ake she knew that they were safe, and died at peace. Even the Queen of Heaven was moved then, and raised her to the stars. Henceforth she shines like no other, twice as bright for her courage but twice as brief for her father's betrayal, and the women and men of this world call her the Star of the Sea, and her mother, Lady Arahu, they call the Great Mother. But as for the champion, Arahu's consort—he died long before this world, his ashes scattered on the nameless sea. He was not assumed into Heaven, and his name is not remembered.

  Nine were the gss ships of Mityoxa and her household, those ships that crossed the Sea of Salt and the Sea of Stars to reach the fifth world. With her the power that made those ships and led them to this nd was lost. This will be the st world, the world that will receive Heaven's Judgement. On that day Heaven will raise the Enlightened to their rightful pce among the stars, and the world below shall drown in salt and shit.