myth for whisk fern

When land was nothing more than a sleeping opossum in the south, and the oceans ran wild in twirls and streams all through this round earth there was a valiant youth. But this was a time remembered by few so the story is strange.

The valiant youth had a friend who disappeared one day. Her friend walked into the morning mist and after months of searching went by, she was not found.

When autumn turned to winter the youth dreamed one night that the light came down from the mountains and led her up a stair of the purest gold. At that time there was so little oxygen that barely anything could live at all on land. This is why the valiant youth and her community lived in the water in valleys below the waves.

So the valiant youth woke and told her community that she was going to find her friend in the sun. When she left a shadow passed behind the youth, one that moved swiftly, one that had the intention of eating soon. The way was long. On her path she met a giant creature who gave her a ride on its smooth back. She found a shell who curled away when it saw her. “I am looking for the sun.” She explained “I know it’s stringy” said the youth, I also think my friend is there.” The shell and the creature inside came with her.

After many days, following strings of light, the valiant youth began to see a shifting veil where there had only been light there was now a different glow; a great light that unraveled down to the youth. It was then the predator caught up to them. A patient one, who knows a hunt is a game of pattern and story. The predator’s had the color of stars, a collective glow like milk in the night. The shell on the youth’s shoulder slid into her hair.

“You will go no further up the golden stairs, unless they are through the labyrinth of my shining teeth. You have met the end of your road, you have found who you need to find, there is no further for you to go.” The predator said.

So the great creature ate the youth and in the stomach of the predator, all the was left of the youth was the skeleton. The creature, protected in the shell became a glue that connected all of the pieces of bone together. The newly formed skeleton fell to the bottom of the sea. When it woke it had no eyes to see. It could only feel through the soft body of the shelled creature who had saved it, and no made up the ligaments that held the bones together. And together, the two beings who had become one, crawled up, up and up until they reached an impossible barrier and passed through the skin of what we now know as water. The skeleton reached a rocky place we know as a shore. No, I would not say the whisk fern waits for her friend. She has become so old many lifetimes have passed since her wanderings. Yet she is still there, and she is always curious about what she will find next.