A burly man sat alone by the fire in front of his
log cabin in the mountains. Condensation
had frozen to his long beard and his long white hair hung low on the snow on
which he sat. He wore leather pants and
jacket with a red flannel long-sleeved button-up underneath. His black gloves held his tobacco pipe and
lighter as he took a puff and let it go into the cool crisp air. The night was cold but warmer than it had
been in the last few days, so Dan was thankful to be outside in the
weather. While still thirty-five
degrees, it was twenty degrees warmer than the day they arrived for their
standard every other weekend trip.
“Dad?” Came a voice from behind. A young man of eight years old came out to
meet him. He was wearing matching blue
flannel pajama shirt and pants covering a thermal underwear and shirt. He was wearing his father’s spare boots to
walk in the snow and had wrapped himself in a fleece blanket.
“Hey, biscuit,” he removed his coat and laid on the
ground next to him and extended an arm, motioning for his son to sit, “it’s
late, son. What are you doing up?”
“You didn’t tell the story tonight.”
Dan smiled, “Well you were sleepin', boy. I didn’t want to wake you.”
“I missed it,” Biscuit snuggled up to his father,
“will you tell it? You’re story of yin and
yang?”
“Well, it’s not the same as the true story of the
yin and yang but it’s a good one,” the father unrolled a thick, waterproofed
sleeping back with a built in pillow that he covered with his rolled up coat. The boy got in and laid his head on the
makeshift pillow, “close your eyes and I’ll tell it.” Biscuit obeyed. Dan began to stroke his hair, “A long, long
time ago, at the dawn of time, there were two tribes. What should those tribe names be tonight?”
“Can they be silly?”
“Sure,” he gave a chuckle.
“Um…How about the spunkies…and the dubies.”
Dan raised an eyebrow and looked down at his son
who was giggling to himself. He puffed
on his pipe, “spunkies and dubies it is.” He ruffled Biscuit's hair. “long ago, at the beginning of time, there
were two tribes on earth. Both tribes worked for the good of the other, both
sharing goods that they gathered or hunted during the day and night. One tribe, the spunkies, was large, almost
one hundred people. Great warriors, men of the tribe, came up from them and
protected both tribes from predators during the day, while the other tribe was
sleeping, by taking the form of a lion in the sun. They were very needed because many larger and
more dangerous animals prowled during the day.”
“What’s more dangerous than a lion, dad?”
“I don't know.
Perhaps they had different animals back then. What could we call these animals?”
“oooo. How bout the destroyers?” Biscuit liked foreboding names.
“You got it,” Dad said with a wink, “The destroyers
roamed during the day and would attack the cattle and the people of the tribe
if not kept in check by the lions. The
sun gave these lions strength above lions so they could vanquish threats by
fighting together. They were only awake
during the day and the hunters of the village would hunt for food for both
tribes all day.
The other tribe was called the Dubies and it had a
little less people than the Spunkies, maybe about eighty people. The Dubies slept all day and we’re only awake
at night. They could see in the dark,
which helped them gather berries, leaves, firewood and wood for weapons. Other things too. They gathered for both tribes. But the destroyers never slept so they also needed
protectors. So at night, in the light of
the moon, great warrior women rose up to defend the tribes. In the moonlight, they would change into
large wolves given extra strength from the moons rays.” He rubbed his son’s
hair from his eyes to see that they were only slightly open.
“Now,” he continued, “There was a celestial being,
kind of a God, that was responsible for the rise and fall of the sun and the
moon. Every day, he would use much of
his strength to move both into the places they needed to be. As time went on, the flowers and trees grew
and brought forth foliage. Animals to
hunt thrived and multiplied. Now, this being….what
should we call him?”
“Um…hank,” Biscuit said in a sleepy voice.
“Ok, then…Hank also had to make sure the animals
and plants were taken care of, and control the wind and the rain which was hard
for him to do when he had to adjust the sun and moon all day and all
night. Hank decided to pick one warrior
from each tribe to take on this task. A
woman, named...” he looked down to see his son's eyes closed and he was
breathing a little heavier,”…let’s call her Yin. Yin was chosen from the Dubies to control the
positon of the moon. This was a very
high honor and she was lauded by the tribes.
“Then, a man, Yang, a warrior from the Spunkies was
chosen to control the sun. Yin and Yang
were the fiercest warriors of the tribe. However, they were also in love. They had been seeing each other for years. They had just told the tribes that they were
getting married. Their bond gave them
the extra power to change to their animal form both day and night, allowing
them to protect the tribe at all times – together. Their relationship strengthened the tribes
and they were completely opposite of each other. Yin liked the cool of the night. She like the water and water animals. She was calm and very patient with her tribe
and the rest of the warriors and was wise beyond her years. Yang was impulsive – the greatest warrior
because he was the most fierce. He liked
the heat of the sun and the feel of the land beneath his feet. He loved to hunt animals but loved land
animals of all kinds. They completed
each other. They could finish each other’s sentences, they would cook food for
the other even if they hated it themselves and their personalities balanced
each other out.
Hank appeared in front of the tribes to speak to
them “Tribes, I need two of you to help with the sun and moon. I choose Yin and Yang. I choose them because their love and strength
are enough to hold the sun and moon in place.”
“They didn’t like that, did they dad?” Biscuit
wiped drool from his chin.
“They sure didn’t.
Because Hank told them that the two chosen could never see each other
again for if they returned to each other’s arms, they would destroy all creation
– only on the eclipse. Their love was
strong enough to hold the sun and moon, but too strong to be together after
their bodies were changed to be like Hank. Since they were opposites, they would keep the
balance perfectly.
Now, this
news devastated Yin and Yang. They
couldn’t bear to think that they couldn’t see each other anymore. However, Hank told them that if they didn’t
do this, creation would be in danger too.
And they knew they had to do what he said to save the world.
The couple parted and took their place in the sky,
never to talk to each other again but always to look…” he kissed his now
sleeping son on his head, “…and love from afar.” He laid next to him in the
snow And placed the boys blanket over both of them, completely covering their
bodies. “…and pray for an eclipse. Thus
is the story of yin and yang.”
Dan pulled his wallet from his pants pocket and
removed a picture. An image of a
beautiful woman with auburn hair and hazel eyes. The flash from the camera that took it
reflected off of her black, thin-framed glasses. She wore her normal, genuine smile. He smiled back and kissed the picture; and
closed his eyes.
(c) Raja Emery Tombs
