myth for river oats

Once there was a body of water that was so beautiful everyone fell in love when they stumbled upon it. It was surrounded by the sage green of willow trees and adorned with cattail. Wildflowers grew up all around - like goldenrod and geranium and aster, all taking in the sweet soil that body of water nurtured. There were ducks and geese who would stop in the early spring. A heron family stayed in a tall tree by the body’s long grass hair and a beaver built its dam where the the spring fed it from the mountains far away.

Every song bird came and gave it songs because they were so in love with this body. The body of water loved everyone who visited in return. One day there was a wounded deer who came to the body of water. The deer was so hurt, it did not see the beauty of the glad where it had found itself and it fell to the earth in exhaustion and as the deer died at the shore, its soul when into the soil and blessed the water with rhythm. Deer know how to dance. Believe me.

The being who had wounded the deer followed soon after. And like every other living being there they fell in love with the body. It was not the first time a being like this saw the water. But this being had wounded a deer.

They brought tree boughs to build a house so they could look upon the lake.

It did not take long for the being who wounded the deer to tell their friends, and their friends came and their friends took cameras so they would always remember the body of water. And more and more friends came until they were pushing and taking pictures of the body. Tremendous buildings were built around the body because the beings confused their love with jealousy. The buildings reflected the water. One building was built over the water and made a fountain of it in its center. Yes all of this happened at body of water.

There was nowhere for the heron to live or the beaver. Some songbirds crashed against the buildings and died. Some learned how to live among the buildings, as did some of the plants. But none of the frogs did, and none of the coyotes could hide in the grass.

The soul of the deer soon found it could not be in the soil anymore and so it lifted up and wove itself around the legs of all of the creatures so they stood still.

As the soul of the deer wound around the people, they looked at the sky. Soon some of them started dancing in the wind. It had been over one thousand year since this being had really been moved by the wind, with this realization many of them they wept large purple tears as the fall turned to winter. Those tears became seeds that fell to the earth some of which were eaten by the song birds. It would take a long time yet for the buildings to fall. But the body of water was patient as it seeped through the concrete.