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 Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 9:15 am
This is a list of "traditional" stories and songs for the pride, as well as songs or stories the various members have come up with. If your lion has a song or story they've come up with, or used, please PM it to Kizingozaa and we'll add it up. Keep in mind a few minor regulations regarding this:
Songs used by the Kizingo'Zaa do have certain stipulations OOCly. >.> YES, you can use IRL songs, even "modern" music... but you do have to use some common sense and basic judgment when choosing a song. Here's some lists of Do's and Don't's.
DO:
**Read through the lyrics of the song and, if there aren't too many, make a few "corrections" in order to use it.
________________For Example:
__________________________Original: "With the moon shinin' bright as headlights on the interstate
I pulled the covers over my head and tried to catch some sleep
But thoughts of us kept keepin' me awake"
__________________________"Corrected": "With the moon shinin' bright as torches on the Savannah
I put my paw over my head and tried to catch some sleep
But thoughts of us kept keepin' me awake"
**Remember that they are NOT capable of playing instruments beyond banging on logs for drums, or possibly blowing through conch shells. Any song that relies heavily on instrumentals probably shouldn't be used.
**Write your own songs or poetry! biggrin Creativity is win!
DO NOT:
**Use songs that are simply too "human" or "modernized." Examples of this are song such as "Space Jam" or "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree."
**Use songs that are not in English; use translations. No offense to other languages--they're gorgeous, and just as good as English, but the majority of this forum is in English. Its just better form to provide something that everyone can understand. If you want to provide the lyrics in the original language, make a note at the end of the RP.
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Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 9:18 am
Traditional Songs (from IRL sources):
--All Disney/TLK songs that fit into SoA context, and all TLK songs regardless.
--"There is life" (from Bambie II) is a traditional lullaby
--"If we Hold on Together," Diana Ross. Given to the pride by Muhali, their mother and goddess of irrationality.Created Songs (from IRL sources):
--"Ocean Gypsy." Sung by Misae to Nyota.
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Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 9:20 am
 Quote:
Bitter Sweet Beginnings
Bright blue eyes watched the landscape, seeing everything and yet at the same time, seeing nothing at all as she padded the savanna. Everything had it's meaning, it's reason of life and yet as Muhali watched, she saw nothing but a 'whole'. She saw nothing beyond the blade of grass that perked her attention; she saw nothing beyond the ant that crawled before her paw tips and up that blade... she heard nothing but the wind, the moving herds, and yet she knew of the whole picture it all represented in her mind.
Her head slowly pulled to look up from the grass, her eyes looking at the horizon, a smile that showed she had nothing in particular to be happy over crawling upon her features. It was true she didn't have any particular reason for happiness, and yet the seemingly small cublet still felt the warm giddiness that indicated joy. She was happy with her surroundings; happy with the ants, happy with the herds. She was happy with the sky, and even with those creatures her eyes could not see yet her mind knew were there.
Muhali... was always irrationally happy; it was her reason of living, the way she was. She'd been born from a belief; she was ageless perhaps, but it never bothered her, because life, was a bliss, at least in her eyes.
Sitting herself down, the petite lioness closed her eyes and allowed two large wings to suddenly appear, spreading behind her, a whiteblue dot against the horizon of the savanna... she seemed to be almost calling to something, someone. For after all, Irrationality lived within every creature that crossed the land, they just either ignored her, or followed her only during determined moments of their life.
As her eyes opened, the figure allowed herself to lay against the grass, her gaze fixed upon the passing clouds; she was lonely. Despite being happy, she was somewhat lonely; oh how she craved for company, something of her own... something she'd be able to look down upon with pride, yet it was simply not in her nature to seek it out. she waited... just like she had all her life. Interesting things always passed her way and crossed her path, because life, love and everyone that welcomed such concepts were unpredictable.
That's the way it was, and Muhali would never have it any others way.
Life was hell; of this Huzunika had no doubts. The skinny, morbid seeming Lion lay out in the elements, allowing the wind to tug and jeer at his scraggly mane because to him there was no reason not to. Existing at all was purest torture, for there was nothing but darkness in the world. All around him the bugs violated the air with their grating, rasping chorus and the plants dried from the lack of recent rain. It was so hot here, during the day, that where green had been during his time as a cub there was only brittle, sick yellow. Yet, not even the coulds threatening on the distance now brought him comfort, for when the rains came the green would be blinding and the ground muddy and dank. Certainly not good weather for hunting.
Why could nothing ever be... Pleasant? Huzunika gave a massive snort, only to sneeze bodily at some scent on the wind. He mumbled to himself a little and rolled over, his back to the wind now. The open Savannah was no place for a lone lion, especially not one so bone weary and underfed as this one, but he stayed for what point was there in moving? His family didn't want him; no one wanted him! Even his prey would laugh at him, until he was reduced to slurping slugs from trees and logs to ease the cry of his stomach.
The wind bore tunnels through his mangy fur and sent the fleas running for the slightly thicker cover of his mane. For a moment, Huzunika considered tossing his head in irritation, but decided that it simply wasn't worth it. They were there, and they weren't going to go away. He heaved a heavy sigh.
When was this going to be over? His thoughts continued to spiral around that one, tiny thought. While Huzunika wouldn't kill himself, he did wish that he didn't feel the need to defend himself, either. One day, though, one day a hyena would get in a killing blow, or an elephant would flatten him. That sounded painful and Huzunika winced, but only slightly. Painful wouldn't be fun, but what WAS fun in this world? It didn't matter. All that did matter was that he wouldn't have to be here anymore.
Was there an elephant around?
Looking up, Huzunika decided that he might have to actually search for one. Though he wasn't certain it was worth it, he still pulled himself to his feet. After a few stumbles and false starts, he began to walk, then, in no particular direction. It was then that he noticed a rather brilliant point in the grass, lit by the light of the moon above. It was something he thought might be considered beautiful by other lions, but when you really looked at it, the thing was just a little too pale. It also stung his eyes, and Huzunika decided the thing was an eyesore.
Still, he plodded towards it as he didn't feel like changing his direction at this point. It wasn't until he was but a few feet away that he realized what he was actually looking at. She, it seemed, was a cub. A tiny, blue and white cub lying about alone on the Savannah... with wings. Well that was unfair!
Suddenly hit by the thought that life hadn't even bothered to grant him such a small favor as wings to make up for everything he lacked, Huzunika felt his spirits plummet even farther. Life was truly a horrible place!
Muhali's gaze was still fixed on the sky, two small paws coming up to spread her fingers against the millions of sparkly dots that littered the dark blue above her, almost as if she could grasp each and every single one of of them in her grip. It wasn't possible; even one such as she knew this much, but it didn't stop her from closing her grasp against the twinkling starts, only to spreading her fingers out again. Pausing, the petite lioness shivered somewhat as a cold chill passed against her form, but otherwise didn't move, her gaze having passed the twinkles she could see, her mind irrational by nature, imagining a world beyond the stars.
How she wished her wings could take her there. But... there were things a goddess could do, and things a goddess could not do. This would be one of the things she could not do; just being away from all these creatures, the sand, the water, the earth, the sky... would kill her. She needed them to live, just like they needed her, in one way or another; without them, she was but a mere thought.
She knew that too. She did not deny it; there was no need to, in her mind. She was whom she was, and she was such thanks to everyone that graced the earth.
Muhali's thoughts would've no doubt deranged into some other place, not even likely concerning the stars had she not caught the lion's scent as he approached. Her petite head moved accordingly against the grass, watching his figure approach her upside down as she spread her wings against the terrain. It took her a while to act, and even as he glanced down at her in disdain, her first sound to him was a soft mewl, almost as if inviting him to lay down with her and grasp the sky.
Her mind should've told her to flee. It should have told her that this was a male; and adult, 3 times larger than she was. It should've told her to take flight, and remove herself, yet it didn't.
Instead, the lioness rolled over so she was facing the male right-side-up, closing her eyes as her wings rested against her back, "Hi!" it was a chirp, delighted to see him, for some reason or another, her gaze slowly returning up to the stars, "Have you come to sit with me? I was kind of lonely," a pause as a paw reached her maw, her smile vanishing as she tapped it, "Will you be my friend? I want a friend to call my own; I'm lonely."
She had no reason for her words, yet they were say softly, almost blissfully for the male to hear, not an ounce of fear upon her features.
The creature of radience whom dared to be so different and gorgeous had seen him. Huzunika could have sworn, but it would have taken too much energy. Not to mention feeling and conviction and any number of things that really weren't necessary to life. It didn't matter.
It was her request, when he heard it, that really rocked through Huzunika's dark, desolate world. A friend? Oh, but people had offered him friendship before. No matter what, they all left him, so what was the point? Friendship was a meaningless word to most people; it was something that would fracture and drift with the slightest utterance of disagreement. There was no point in becoming friends with someone, especially this strange creature that flaunted her privelage with an unnatural looking innocence.
That he was driving the entire meeting out of porportion was a fact lost on Hazunika completely. Instead, he stared down at this angel of a child, legs shifting restlessly beneath him. He lifted a paw after awhile to scratch weakly at a particularly pestering flea as he considered. "Why would you want to be friends with someone like me?" He asked after a moment. Regardless, he sat down because he was too tired not to, and let his droopy, mournful gaze fall on the being of purest, irrational bliss.
His question seemed to confuse the 'child', her head tilting first to one side, and then towards the other, almost as if by doing so, she was hoping to see something she'd been missing to see about the full picture. It was soon enough obvious her objective was not accomplished however, for she blinked. confusion still seeping through her features, "Why wouldn't I?" her mind simply was not made to understand such a strange concept; to her, he was a lion like any other that roamed the savanna. A creature like any other ant, or any other grasshopper she'd seen.
He was much like her in essence, deep down, and thus his question to her was almost as if he were asking her why she should want to befriend herself. Her logic ran amuck; was there a reason she was simply not aware of?
Sitting up, the petite goddess stared at him, sniffing the air through her small nose till she couldn't help it; she smiled. He smelled of the wind and the herds. He smelled of the earth and sky; she saw nothing wrong with being his friend, she had no problem with this and thus stood on her paws, the movement swift, erratic as if not even thought over clearly, but just acted out on instinct. Moving her frame, she approached him, passing her lithe frame under his front paws, brushing her pelt against his left leg, much like a playful kitten would have, her tail latching around his right paw, "You smell like the air; you smell of freedom," a pause as she stayed between his leg, her gaze going up to face the sky, her own paw moving to point at the stars, "Why do you figure I can't grasp them? They're beyond reach... I want to touch them, but I reach my paw and can't reach."
There came a long pause to follow her words, her wings tucked against her back as her tail remain latched around him; she seemed to feel no disgust towards him, but rather curiosity. There was a perpetual innocence shrouding the goddess that made it almost impossible to think her an adult, "I think they're happy there though; they're together, with lots of friends, and when it's night, they twinkle, because they're singing together and dancing around the moon. They're just so far away and that's why we can't see them dancing, but they are; they dance and sing all day and since they're together, it makes them happy."
Slowly her head tilted backwards, her eyes gazing at him as a smile broke upon her maw, "Do you want to be my friend? I'm lonely," it was asked again, as if she'd never composed the question before to begin with.
She hugged him. That thought was almost enough to make the lion fall backward, but he held his ground. His mind reeled with the possibilities that she'd be 'infected' with his parasites--a thing that had disgusted so many ptoential friends in the past. And then.... She liked him? For nothing more than the smell of his body, which he'd been told on more than one occassion was vastly unpleasant, she liked him! The concept was almost too hard to grasp, but certainly not as hard as the strange reel in her own thoughts.
Following the reach of her paw, he looked up towards the stars. That cold void that they were hung in had never drawn his attention much, nor had the lifeless points of energy floating about so aimlessly. Hazunika had never understood why other creatures seemed so drawn to these things, and here was this lioness cub, obviously enthralled with them to.. And she was pressed up against him, warm and open. It'd been a long time since anyone had touched him.
That vast hurt inside of him, the deep despair that had eaten away at his heart and mind, began to break at that. Here was someone who didn't turn away disgusted at first sight. Surely, if she got to know the depressing person he was, something as sweet and innocent as this wouldn't want to stay. For the first time in his life, as quick and irrationally as it was happening, Hazunika found that he didn't like himself and the thought didn't make him dispair. Instead, he wondered--nay, hoped?--that perhaps he could change into something worthy of this innocent trust.
Perhaps it was in the stars; she liked them, just like every other creature did, and it was the one place in this dark, dreary world he'd never bothered to look. Raising his paw, Hazunika spread his as well, looking between the grooves to see the sparkling purple void between. It.. it was...
It was pretty. How could such lifeless things be that pretty?
"I think they're happy there though; they're together, with lots of friends, and when it's night, they twinkle, because they're singing together and dancing around the moon. They're just so far away and that's why we can't see them dancing, but they are; they dance and sing all day and since they're together, it makes them happy."
Hazunika's eyes widened at the cubs words, and his gaze was drawn abruptly down towards her. Gazing at her in wonder, she asked her question of him again. "I.... I want to be your friend." He replied, his voice low and soft and childish. Tears pricked at his eyes, and he gazed back up. He could feel it, a strange sort of still and tingle spreading through his body as he watched the heavens once more. What was this? Where the stars alive, as she said? Was that why they were so beautiful when everything else was dreary? No...
Everything wasn't dreary. The warm blue cub pressed to his side wasn't dreary... she was like the stars, he could tell, full of that life an innocence. As innocent and peaceful as the feeling within him now. In a strange way that Hazunika couldn't begin to describe this feeling was wonderful, no matter how foreign. How had he lived without this feeling?
He didn't want to, anymore. "I want to be your friend," He repeated, more strongly. "I'm lonely too." The tears still pricked at his eyes, and he didn't bother to blink them away. Instead, he let them flow down over his cheeks and into his mangy fur. He'd never said it aloud before.
Her gaze finally turned away from him and up towards the stars, her paw closing in a motion to grasp at them again, however, this time unlike her first few tries, she smiled, "I caught one; look, see? It tinkles," and this said she raised her finger up towards his face; a single tear had ran down his cheek, falling onto her paw by some sort of coincidental magic, or perhaps not as coincidental as it was necessary.
Whatever the cause, the single tear remain upon the lioness' outstretched finger, tinkling much like the starts themselves under the pale moonlight, "And you caught some too, just like I did," the single phrase though innocent seemed to imply that they weren't all that different from each other, something she'd believed from the start. Same essence, same paws, same eyes, same tails.
It was all a matter of perspective deep down.
Smiling both to herself and to him, she removed herself from the little cave she'd formed between his feet, her wings flapping once, twice so she came nose to nose with the male, her paw coming up to brush away his tears, which tickled down her pelt, shimmering like the first forgotten tear, "See? It's not lonely either, it came with it's friends, and when we're not looking, it'll go back up there, and when the sun comes out and hides them, they'll sing and dance about us, because I think that it is their nature," flapping her wings again, she settled herself steadily over his shoulder, grasping onto him like a child, a soft pur rumbling within her chest.
Loneliness was just a way to obtain friendship; it was part of the road that one had to travel to gain company. That's what Muhali thought.
"Since you're my friend, that means I'm no longer lonely; it also means you're not lonely anymore, doesn't it?" again the simple phrase seemed to hold more meaning than it might've seemed to a first glance. Especially significant was the fact the goddess was expecting an answer from him, for it was within his conviction that her words would prove useful, "It's good to have a friend, but one isn't enough; I want to be like the stars, where they sing and dance together all day around the moon, and the sun watches them and is happy for them. That's why he hides them in the day... to let them have peace. It's only during the night that they share their songs with us; it's only then that they urge us to follow suit."
Suddenly falling silent, the cub lay her head upon his shoulder, her wings once more resting against her back, her tail latched around his belly for further support. Either she was unaware of the parasites or she simply did not care; probably the later, for as one climbed her paw and flew off, she smiled.
It was like an ant.
She liked ants. She was sure they too sung and danced in their homes, much like the stars.
The tears glowed like diamonds on her fur, and it took him a moment to realize that they came from him. He hadn't know that anything so beautiful as that could come from him! Or, perhpas, it wasn't him that made it beautiful, but the fact that he was no longer alone. The fact that he had a friend made the tears, those happy tears, wonderful. They had first been born of sadness, unshed and wrapped around his heart like a cloud, only to be lifted away when true friendship was offered.
Something clicked in his mind, or perhaps it snapped, and as she laid upon his back what she said began to seep into him. It filled him with an even greater tingle, a sort of fuzzy, inner feeling. What was this strange power she was filling him with? He was certain it was her; what else could it be?
The lioness made sense, though. "I'm not lonely anymore," he replied, realizing it was true. "Perhaps.. perhaps it was good to be lonely, because if i wasn't lonely..." He wouldn't have been here, and he wouldn't have met this lioness and gotten this strange feeling. What was this feeling? He wasn't sure, but Hazunika was almost certain it had something to do with the stars. He looked back up at them again, thinking about her words about them.
Yes, he could see it now, that dance they did. It was subtle, but it was there. A movement lower along the horizon caught his eye, and Hazunika lowered his gaze to the tree line. The trees were dancing too, in the distance. Three of them, clustered together swaying to the music of the night. Music?
Hazunika blinked a few times in surprise. He had never heard it before, this music, and yet it was there. Suddenly that chirping and buzzing he'd hated so much formed into an orchestra of life. The grass around them hummed with it, and sparkled with life in the moonlight, swaying to the rythmn of the stars. His breath caught in his throat and he could feel that happy buzz inside growing stronger. "It all dances."
That blissful smile which had remain upon her maw suddenly changed; it was a subtle change, almost impossible to detect, but had anyone bothered to look into Muhali's eyes, they'd have seen a definite tinkle which had previously not been there. The smile was no longer irrational, and no longer was the cloud of fuzzy bliss hanging about her form; her features had softened, the smile was real this time, and the goddess was truly and rationally happy, without need for her own own domain to support it.
She didn't talk, almost as if not wishing to disrupt this new found music of his, however, she did add her purring to the orchestra of nightly sounds, raising it up just a notch, audible for him to not only feel, but hear.
It was only a long time later that she finally talked, taking a moment when the performers were taking a small break, the wind having died down and the first few rays of sunlight filtering through the darkness, almost like an omen of what went on within the male's head, "Everything sings and dances," she whispered, her head never raising from his shoulder, his ear within reach of her voice, "One just has to pause, and listen, and look; usually no one does, but those that know how to, because they're too busy running in this circle that never ends. They run and run and they never pause, but they never get anywhere either," her wings spread slightly, barely noticeable, but the movement was there, almost a premonition, "Only those that pause and look... and then listen ever get anywhere, because the moment they stop, they notice they're somewhere and there's no need to run anymore."
Slowly, she removed her head from his shoulder, her gaze floating up to the sky, "I never run; I always walk. It lets me listen and see, and smell and feel," the same truthful smile was there still as her wings flapped, raising her up into the air before she lowered down to come face to face with him, "And now I'll walk, knowing that you too are looking and seeing, hearing and listening," there came another pause, never awkward, almost necessary as she brought her nose to his and licked his maw and cheeks, cleaning him, ridding him of the trails of tears, "You'll always be my friend, and your children, your grandchildren, will reflect this... and they too will be my friends," the smile turned blissful again at the words, almost as if the goddess had just seen the future in her mind. Even if she hadn't, that's what minds were for anyhow; for seeing.
For seeing that what you wanted to see and could not.
The last of that night was blissful and strange to Hazunika. Though the winged lioness didn't say another word, her purring said more than any speech could have. The wind and bugs and purr and birds and everything in the night blended into an amazing harmony unlike anything he had ever heard before. All at once, the dreary grey of the world faded away and when that first light of dawn broke over the world, it was as if it were once more the first sunrise the world had ever seen. For Hazunika, it was the first, and it would be forever washed upon the backs of his eyelids and seared like a song into his soul.
Only a few hours before, he had been a desloate, scraggly creature without a hope in the world... and though those hours were short in comparison to the year or more he'd spent in despair, it seemed he could barely remember that time now. Surely, whatever he had been died the moment the little lioness had touched him for the first time, and been reborn with her promise of friendship.
Her whisper grazed his ear, confirming what had occured to him during this blessed night. The circle was important, yes, and it was important to understand, but it wasn't everything. Was this what had been wrong, all this time? He had never felt right living life as others did, always striving for some strange, unspoken goal, living each day always for the next and never stopping to savor the day itself. There was, more deeply, that purpetual fear as well, that cold chilling threat of the death everyone knew would come for them one day. They ran and fought and struggled against it, no matter that it was inevitable... a fact that he had faced long ago, and ...
...wallowed in, rather than savored the life he had now.
The weight on his back lifted, and slowly Hazunika looked up as she decended in front of him once more. Their noses touched, her tongue washing his maw like a mother would her newborn cub, and Hazunika couldn't help but feel that same sort of connection with her. She was his friend, yes; his friend, and mother, and sister and father...
Somehow, the thought of her leaving didn't upset him as the dissapearance of his past friends had. He understood now, that everyone must leave and live and listen and learn... but that would not stop them from being friends. Yet, he couldn't help but ask, "What if I must ask you something? Will I ever see you again?"
Still nose to nose, the female shifted, her head taking that peculiar tilt that indicated both confusion and precognition at the same time, "If you sing, I'll listen; you can always ask me whatever you want... all you need to do is listen back for the answers," This said, Muhali slowly pulled her nose away from his and looked up at the sky, her wings spreading further as she propelled herself upwards. There were still many things to see, and many others to listen to, yet this one would remain a part of her, as she remain a part of him.
It was only before vanishing that she turned back to him and smiled for him to see, "I'm sorry I broke you," she whispered softly, "But you were cracked," there was no sadness there, just understanding of some sort, "It was necessary in order to remake you... and add a piece of myself there for you to feel," turning back towards the sky, she flew up and vanished into a cloud, probably leaving the lion to phantom if she'd truly been there at all to begin with.
He watched her leave, but there wasn't any pain. The warm, fuzzy feeling inside didn't leave, and he didn't mind, for he knew now what it was. That warmth was his mother; the strange lioness whos name he didn't know, and didn't need to know. Without it, he still knew her and her lesson and knew that even without evidence, she had existed.
The sun rose and he listened to everything wake, and witnessed the dance of the herds and predetors. He listened, that day, to the songs of life, and the songs of death; the songs of happiness and sorrow. When night came once more, and the moon hung full and blossoming in the sky, Hazunika returned his gaze once more to the stars. They danced and sang, reflections of the day before, and he wondered if they were each earths of their own, dancing with the joy of their own Circle of Life. It was during this that he heard another song, a whisper brought to him by the wind, telling him what he needed to do.
He would build a family of stars; a family that would sing and dance for the life all about them. ... A family to be friends for his Mother, and for him... for with them, they would never again be lonely. Wether they be of his own blood, or for others who, like him, would in time step away from the frantic circle and pause, and look, and listen, it did not matter for they would be together.
~~++~~++~~++~~
In time, Hazunika found a lioness who understood the dances of those about her. She listened to the storys he had watched, and taught him the dances she had witnessed. Together, then, they lived under the song of time until four were born to them. It was then that Hazunika remembered something his mother had long since whispered, a part of her speech he hadn't understood or noted until then--these four had features he had never heard of upon a lion's body: eyes and stripes of purest blue. Remembering the blue marked fur the tiny lioness had possessed, Hazunika knew that this was the mark of his mother, the sign of his rebirth. Others, too, accepted this as proof of his story, and soon their family became strong. Before his eyes, his children grew, and loved and birthed, and with them their stories and dances became many.
He did not see her, but he knew, somehow, that his Mother was proud.
And then came the day he knew he would die. It was blissful night, clear and bright, and the stars danced more strongly than he had ever seen. Taking his leave of his family's song, Hazuniku climbed to the top of a nearby hill, to sit and watch the moon in silence.
A touch at his side heralded his mate's presence, and Nefari curled against him with her head upon her paws. They said nothing even then, for nothing needed to be said, and when she closed her eyes and her breath stilled he was not sad for they had known it would happen.
Slowly, Hazunika lowered himself down to curl around his mate's still warm corpse. He slipped his chin over the curve of her neck, and watched the grass about them as he waited for the last song he would ever witness. A sigh heaved through his body, slow and calm, for he could feel it now, creeping through his paws. It was gentle, and soothing; not scary at all.
But there was one last thing left to be done; one last step to his dance before the last note died.
"Mother?"
Time and time again the petite goddess had watch their dances in the night, soaring above them, or merely by closing her eyes; even when she was far away, she knew they dances under the stars. Those same stars she was padding under, and she'd smile truthfully and allow the happiness to lull her into sleep.
Never did the male call for her; not truly. He did talk to her, truth, and he whispered her name, even though he knew it not, but never once did he call for her, and it was this knowledge that allowed Muhali to step away from them and seek other places. She knew they'd call if ever there was a need for them, for they'd been brought up with the knowledge to seek help from others only when needed.
Long days passed, slowly turning into weeks, these slowly melting away into months, and these into years, and still the petite goddess knew her children danced under the stars, accompanying them. However, it was around this time that she sat one day and listened. She'd paused her walking to listen, and see, and hear and smell and touch, and his faint voice reached her heart. It was a mere word, a call, her name, and she knew his time would come soon.
She was not saddened by this.
The circle worked that way; her time to pad it was longer than his was, but one day she'd pass her title down to another, and she too would rest, and she'd dance high above within that immense blue, singing with the stars. Till that time were to come however, she'd walk along and listen and hear; it was for this motive that the goddess spread her wings and fly towards the region that tugged at her heart.
She knew he was there.
It was already nighttime when she arrived, landing softly upon the grass as she moved; not far away the song of the lions singing lulled her into smiling, her purring audible whilst she neared the hill.
He spoke her name then, and she mewled in returned, stepping careful towards him and his mate, "I heard your song," it was all what she said before she lay down, resembling much a cub that was laying down by bother her parents, her blue striped pelt contrasting quite vividly against their, "There are times I no longer look at the stars dance, and instead come hear, and watch you and your children dance," she smiled against his pelt, but continued nonetheless, "And I listen to your songs, and watch you, dancing around that fire only I can see, and I know the stars are proud, and so am I," a pause as she raised bright blue eyes to him and licked his maw, "I am not lonely anymore; are you?"
Her talking dissipated, but her eyes shone with another word; a clear thank you tinkled deep in them as a single star found it's way down her cheek. She was sure it'd return back to it's friends later, that it'd come to take a closer look of them, so loudly were their souls singing.
That single star reflected in Hazunika's eyes, shining a faint, illusionary blue in their golden depths. That she had come completed his dance, and the song's last note was buzzing in his ear. A smile lit upon his maw, encompassing in that single, simple gesture the years of delight and joy he had lived in since that night so long ago. On a hilltop, not unlike this one, he mused, where he had met his Mother and birthed her grandchild.
In his ears his children sang, her grandchildren, and they would be the last thing he heard as his eyes dulled and glazed and the star slipped back to the heavens.
Yet, though he was gone, the wind came and brought the distant song closer. In its rythmn and rhyme and swell, his answer breezed about the three, true in death as it had ever been in live. "I am never lonely, for in life you are never alone."
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Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 9:26 am
Below is a traditional story told to children as a part of their "lessons."
"The baboons did not want to be eaten, but they did want to eat the mangoes. The largest of the Baboons had a plan, but it was the smallest of their lot whom went to the tree first.
"'Who's that coming to take my mangoes?' The leopardess asked from her branch.
"'Tis only I, the tiniest Baboon of my tribe coming to make myself fat,' replied the Baboon in his weakest voice.
"'Now I'm going to make myself fat on you!' Replied the Leopardess.
"'Oh no! Do not eat me!' said the Baboon, 'I am too small for a huntress like you, and stringy besides. Wait until the second Baboon comes, he's much larger and softer than I.'
"'Very well,' said the leopardess, 'You may eat the mangoes while I wait.'
"The first baboon rushed up to the mango tree and pulled off a handful of mangoes, then ran back into the forest. A few moments later the second Baboon approached. He was a medium sized Baboon, though he had little fat on him. 'Who's that coming to take my mangoes,' Asked the Leopardess once more.
"'Tis only I, the average sized Baboon of my tribe. I wish to make myself fat on these fruit.' replied the second Baboon.
"'Instead, I'm going to gobble you up!' Replied the leopardess.
"'Oh no! Do not eat me!' Said the second Baboon, 'I'm average in size, that's true, but if you wait just a little longer you can feast on my brother--he's huge and coming up after me!'
"After a moment's consideration, the Leopardess nodded. 'Alright,' Said she, 'But I won't be giving him up. Come and take your mangoes.'
"The second Baboon rushed up to the tree. He grabbed another handful of the fruit and then rushed back into the jungle. Alone the leopardess waited her expected feast, watching the edge of the jungle for the appearance of the third baboon. In the forest beyond, the three baboons shared of the fruit the first two had taken, laughing at tricking the leopardess with her own greed.
"And so," Hadithi concluded, "That is why one should never play with their food."
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