myth for red oat grass

Not many know that fire has a brother with three faces. One face weeps while the other might laugh, and still the third can be calm as May. The faces always express different emotions. This can be confusing for anyone who speaks to him. But there was a time when he was, in his soul unified in one emotion, and that was jealousy. He was jealous of his brother who, it seemed to him was free! He was free to create: to summon the smallest, meekest seeds and make them mighty trees, he could play in the light of the trees in sunlight and then he was free to destroy those very trees, and destroy all he saw with them. And what made fire’s brother seethe, was that all of life would treat him like he was special. They would weep and cry, but sometimes they would dance and sing to him and give him gifts. They would praise him. So fire’s brother with three faces was jealous.

So he decided to do something about it. On a day in the middle of August, the brother became a field of grass and lay in a clearing. And there his brother came walking with pride, like the golden god he was. He had changed himself into a flaming lion and he was going to go to the village across the clearing and burn their village up along with a good portion of the forest around the area. But when fire came to the field, the grasses told him to go in all different directions so fire became confused and lost. He grew so tired that his flames died down and he began to smolder. By the time he made it to the village he was a small kitten whose coat was singed and grey who curled into a ball and fell asleep in ashes.

The brother with three faces saw how his brother was not so strong as he thought. He saw that his brother, too had weaknesses, that he was not so strong and that he could work with his brother rather than holding jealousy against him. Relieved, the people and animals crowned the grass with a red crown. The grass taught them about the intricacies of their desires, and taught them about the three faces that they recognized within themselves too. So red oat grass is always used in three ways: food, medicine, and fiber, and wherever there is red oat grass it will whisper to the flames, telling them where to go.