Bird Myths, Pt. 6: Native American Myths (Introduction)

But first we'll learn something about the

Aboriginal Ammeriken Enclave!

 

Long ago (that is, May 20) when I posted my last installment of my Bird Myths series, I ended with the above statement.  As you may know, I've decided to work on preparing The Man Who Found Birds among the Stars for publication.  These bird myth posts were extracted from a much later part of that piece.  I intend to cut out this part, but I thought the material was too interesting to waste (I may add bits of it to the first volume of MWFB).  The character who narrates the Native American (or Aboriginal Ammeriken, as that ethnic group is called in the 28th century) myths first provides a glimpse into his own future history.  Here it is:

 

"That just leaves us with Lt. Brokenbow’s story," said Robbie.  "Have you got anything that can match all these others, Howie?”

With his infectious wide-mouthed grin, the young gravity engineer jumped up to sit on the table.  “Yes, sir, Captain!  And I thought you’d never get to me!  We’ve heard Inden stories, and Judish and Afriken and Middle East and Griek, but we haven’t heard anything from Midammerik, and I suppose that’s because all Midammerikens came from somewhere else originally so they have only borrowed traditions.  All, that is, except aboriginal Ammerikens.  And that’s what I am – I mean, a good deal of me is – I’m not sure there’s anybody left in the world with an undiluted AbAm genome.  But I do have the lineage from all four of my grandparents, which is a feat in itself.  I’ve got Osage and Hopi on my father’s side, and my mother descends from the people of the northwestern coast of this continent.  A group made up of different tribes fled their homeland at the beginning of the 24th century when the TWL Gerard ‘The Sapper’ Chance seized power in the Greater Northwest and the area seceded from the Old Ammeriken States.  Like so many people in those perilous times, they headed for the center of the continent and ended up in Okloh Prefecture.

“I was born and raised in the western part of Okloh Prefecture, on a Gov enterprise that’s dedicated to maintaining the prairie ecosystem while raising semi-domesticated bison for human consumption.  A livestock ranch, to put it in simpler terms.  But that doesn’t mean that my parents lacked education; my father was a school administrator and taught middle and upper form mathematics and my mother had studied business and accounting.  She started out as the ranch’s purchasing agent and ended up as Business Officer for the entire operation.  I spent all my summers riding horses and herding bison, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t good in school.  I liked math and science best, but my parents, and especially my mother, wanted me to learn something about my heritage, so she arranged for me to spend my third year of prep in Old Aridzone, studying in the Aboriginal Ammeriken Enclave.  I didn’t much want to go, but she insisted.  She had done that herself as an adolescent and she found the experience beneficial.

“Let me refresh your memories on the history of the AAE.  Its citizens are about 65 percent Navao, an AbAm people who lived in that area PDA on what was called a ‘reservation’ – a piece of usually worthless land where the governments of the time would stick uncooperative AbAms when they got to be a nuisance.  Actually, the foreign settlers of this part of the world stole all the land from the AbAms, but so much time has passed that that’s not relevant any longer.  The Navao had – and still have – their own language; it’s one of the few aboriginal languages to survive in spoken form, and they did a better job than most of governing themselves and preserving their heritage.

“Because they kept themselves isolated from the rest of the world and because they were used to hardship and lack of resources, they survived the water famines and the diseases and the destruction of the big dams on the Koloredo River better than the urban centers did.  When the ancient Aridzonan cities of Phenix and Toosen lost their water supplies and were abandoned, the Navao endured.  Gradually they spread out of their reservation and populated the entire northern half of Aridzone.  At the time of Unification they petitioned to be chartered as an Enclave.  They were granted the Charter on condition that they accept any individual who could prove AbAm ancestry and who wanted to join them.  That was because EarthGov didn’t want every little remnant tribe with a dozen members seeking to set up tiny Enclaves all over Northwest Quad.  And the Navao realized that such inclusiveness would in fact benefit the preservation of AbAm culture. 

 “The citizens of the Enclave are a bit xenophobic; they don’t relish publicity and they’re very self-sufficient, and since they have a peaceful ethic, the world pretty much ignores them.  But that doesn’t mean they’re backward.  Today they run not only their own Enclave – they’re also charged with administering the entire Aridzone Preserve, including the Great Koloredo Canyon.  The Navao are fanatical about caring for the land; they allow people to come in, but they regulate tourism severely.  For example, if you don’t have credentials as a field scientist, you have to obtain a special pass to visit the Canyon, and only a limited number are issued –  there is a waiting list five years long.

“The capital city of the AAE is Flagstown, just south of the Great Koloredo Canyon.  The Enclave residents have their own university there.  Actually, it’s not called a university – it’s called the Institute of Aboriginal Culture.  It provides pre-grad education for citizens of the Enclave, but otherwise it’s mostly for advanced studies in anthropology and archaeology, cultural history, native languages and art – and mythology, of course.  And they don’t study just aboriginal Ammeriken culture – they study primitive ethnic cultures around the world, like the aboriginal Ostrailiens.  They operate in concert with several of the NWQ Consortium’s Universities, exchanging Professors and providing specialized programs and a base for fieldwork, and they confer their advanced degrees through the Consortium. 

“They also have a special prep program where non-Enclave AbAms who want to learn more about their heritage can spend their Second-Form year.  That’s what I did and I found it just as rewarding as my mother had.”  Howie nodded at his attentive audience.  “So that’s the lengthy preamble to my tales!  I just wanted you all to know how I happened to have learned what I’m about to tell you, because I’m sure most of the world has forgotten."

 

Coming next:

The final installment of this series: Native American Bird Myths (continued)

Becoming Human: The Golem and the Jinni, by Helene Wecker

       This is the only time I can remember finding a book I wanted to read (and one I ended up loving) on one of Amazon's bestseller email notices.  The title caught my attention for two reasons: my interest in Judaism and my interest in myth and legend as displayed in literature, which is one of the subjects of this blog.  The Golem and the Jinni is a perfect fit for that subject.

       Two creatures of legend, mysticism, and magic end up in New York City at the turn of the 20th century.  That in itself is an intriguing premise. 

       The jinn (sing. jinni), according to Wikipedia, are spiritual creatures mentioned in the Qur'an who inhabit a dimension beyond the visible universe and are made of fire.  They also have a physical nature and are able to interact with people and objects.  They can be good, evil, or neutrally benevolent and so, like human beings, have free will.  Fiendish types of jinn also exist, notably the ghul (our word ghoul) and the ifrit, among others.  The ifrit is a brutish and wicked sort that has a part to play in Wecker's book.

       A golem, on the other hand, is just about the most corporeal creature that one can imagine.  It comes from Jewish legends, tales of certain Rabbis of medieval and Renaissance times who created beings out of clay and brought them to life with incantations incorporating a shem, or Name of God.  The shem was placed on the forehead of the golem or written on a slip of paper and placed in the golem's mouth.  However, only God can give true life; a golem must be forever flawed and will ultimately turn violent and destroy its creator.  The Hebrew word means simply unshaped matter; interestingly, Adam was originally a golem formed by God out of earth.  In modern Hebrew the word means dumb or helpless, or is used for a "brainless lunk."  (Wikipedia)  The golem legend turns up in numerous literary sources, including Frankenstein's monster.

 

       In Helene Wecker's book, the golem has been taken up a notch.  Rotfeld, a lonely Polish furniture maker asks an old Jewish mystic, Yehudah Schaalman, to create a female golem to be his wife. He requests that she be given qualities of curiosity and intelligence.  Then Rotfeld emigrates to New York City, taking his unawakenened wife with him in a crate.  Partway through the voyage, Rotfeld animates her, using the words written on a slip of paper; one set of words will awaken her and another will destroy her.  But then Rotfeld suffers a burst appendix and dies immediately after animating her, leaving her on her own, possessed of Rotfeld's meager possessions, including the slip of paper that carries her life and death written on it.  She ends up wandering the streets of New York City, where she is befriended by the elderly Rabbi Meyer, who recognizes what she is.  The good Rabbi decides not to destroy her, but to try to educate her to live as a human.  He names her Chava, or Life.

       Meanwhile, a tinsmith in New York City's Little Syria is repairing a copper flask and when he obliterates some of the engraved design, out pops this tall, handsome male  figure -- a jinni who has been imprisoned in the flask but can't remember how he got there.  He wears an iron cuff that keeps him bound to a human form.  The tinsmith gives him the name Ahmad and ultimately, he and Chava meet.  Fire and Earth attract each other, it seems.

 

       The plot of The Golem and the Jinni is quite complex.  There are a lot of characters, each of whom has a story.  These stories are interwoven a piece at a time, each a plotline of its own.  The author makes this work beautifully.  Somehow the reader never quite forgets what has gone before in any given plotline.  It reminds me of a Middle Eastern carpet, each little piece of story knotted into the whole until gradually the entire pattern emerges.  How will the tales of Fadwa and Ice Cream Saleh and Sophia Winston and Anna Blumberg and the Rabbi's nephew Michael all ultimately come together?  It keeps the reader champing to learn what will happen next.

       Meanwhile, the main characters are learning how to be human, a process far more difficult for the jinni than for the golem.  Before a wizard imprisoned him in the flask, the jinni had been accustomed to flying above the desert, building himself beautiful glass palaces at will, indulging his casual curiosity about human beings.  Now tied to earth, he retains his qualities of arrogant free will, unencumbered by any moral sense, any sense of right and wrong.  These instincts lie dormant inside him, however, and he emerges as a character the reader can't help liking and empathizing with in spite of some of his questionable behaviors.  Gradually, as the plot proceeds, he learns that loving and caring are a large part of what makes human beings unique and important.

       Because the golem was created to serve a master, she already knows that giving is an important quality and so she possesses a natural empathy.  She is a tall woman with immense physical strength and she learns from the Rabbi that she is likely to turn violent and destroy any threat to whatever she cares about.  But she was also created with intelligence and she recognizes that she must overcome this tendency if she wishes to continue to live.  For her to  become human, she must control her primitive instincts.  Surely that is something we all must do if we wish to call ourselves human. Since all humans possess bodies created of elemental substances and will return to those substances sooner or later, we have more in common with golems than we could ever have with an incorporeal creature made of fire.

       At one point Chava, who can read thoughts and feelings, sorrows over the sight of homeless men shivering under thin blankets on park benches.  It's obvious in the following exchange that it's Chava who is closest to attaining humanity. 

 

       "They need so much," she murmured.  "And I just walk by."

       "Yes, but what would you do?  Feed them all, take them home with you?  You aren't responsible for them."

       "Easy to say, when you can't hear them."

       "It's still true.  You're generous to a fault, Chava.  I think you'd give your own self away, if only someone wished for it."

 

       A final word on the book's style.  I often read the 2- or 3-star reviews in Amazon to see if I agree or disagree.  One of these stated that the prose was "elemental and pedestrian, lacking the poetics such as lyricism, imagery, metaphor and simile, that I so favor in my prose."  Strangely, I don't find that to be true at all.   The narrative style is simple and straightforward and very readable, never getting in the way of comprehension.  But it is also interwoven with wonderful metaphors and similes, like the bits of colored class embedded in one of the jinni's intricate necklaces.  Here are a few examples:

 

       "Sophia's mother was in one of her states, careening about the house like a loose parakeet."

       "The rooftops lapped each other into the distance, like an illuminated spread of playing cards."

       "He clasped the necklace around [Fadwa's] throat, his arms almost embracing her.  He smelled warm, like a stone baking in the sun."

       "The more he rode the trolleys and trains of New York, the more they seemed to form a giant, malevolent bellows, inhaling defenseless passengers from platforms and blowing them out again elsewhere."
       "Night was falling in the desert. ...  It flattened the hills and stones, so that from its mouth, ibn Malik's cave seemed an endless abcess in the earth."

      "The skies had refused to deliver on their promise of rain; the thick clouds hung low and unmoving over the city like the pale underbelly of some gigantic worm."

 

       There is another character in the book: the 1890s city of New York.  This squalid concatenation of different ethnic groups, coping with a life that didn't turn out quite as well as they had hoped, becomes a place of enchantment, a lyrical metaphor all of its own -- a world of magic and mysticism quite as enthralling as if it existed on another planet.

 

       I could write a lot more about The Golem and the Jinni and some of the deeper meanings embedded in this narrative, but I won't.  What happens as the relationship of this mismatched pair of mythical beings develops is something you will have to find out for yourselves by reading the book. It's a fascinating journey and one I wouldn't spoil for the world.

Creating Alien Races out of Lifeforms Other than Insects: Lemurs

     In my last post I discussed ways in which insects can be converted into intelligent lifeforms.  I have also created ILFs from other species, namely, lemurs, three kinds of birds (eagles, storks, and grouse), and an undefined type of monotreme (egg-laying mammals).  The methodology is similar:  take a planet where, through panspermia, creatures similar to Earthforms have developed, then take the dominant species and allow it to evolve intelligence.  Research the Earthly creature and extrapolate its behaviors -- what would these instinctive behaviors turn into if the creature developed intelligence? Which features would evolution select for and which against?

 

Today we'll discuss the lemuriforms!

 

I made this drawing as a solstice card for a friend.  Don't be too hard on it;
it was one of my earliest attempts and I've never been any good
at figure drawing.  However, I think it captures the spirit of the Te Quornaz.

 

       If you've read The Termite Queen, you know that a couple of the crewmembers are Te Quornaz, from the planet Quornam.  They resemble giant lemurs.  In fact, the Earth island Madasgascar once possessed giant lemurs, some weighing as much as 440 lbs. (Wikipedia), so lemuriforms over 6 feet tall are not out of the question.  On Quornam, prosimians spread over the entire planet, while simians (apes and monkeys) never evolved. 

       I kept a lot of lemur physical characteristics, which vary greatly among species, providing a lot to choose from.  The Te Quornaz are long-limbed with long tails; I made them resemble the ring-tailed lemur, with tails banded with a contrasting color, although I gave them a variety of color combinations as a regional difference.  I kept the long-snouted head, tufted ears, and the comb teeth, which are used for grooming.  I gave them a long middle finger with a grooming claw, combining traits of the aye-aye and the ruffed lemur, which has a short grooming claw on its feet.  I gave them fully opposable thumbs on their forelimbs (arms), which seems to be to be almost a necessary trait for technology-capable species.

       Lemurs as a whole are omnivorous, although this varies widely among species, so I made the Te Quornaz conveniently omnivorous as well.  I made them nocturnal, with big nocturnal eyes that require them to wear googles in bright sunlight, even though many terrestrial species are diurnal, especially the larger ones. Making the Te Quornaz nocturnal helps to differentiate them from humans and creates some amusing cultural conflicts in the plot.  

        Many lemurs have female dominance as a characteristic of their social system, but I didn't retain this.  Males and females are fairly equal on Quornam.  I kept some of the courting patterns, such as mutual grooming with those comb teeth, but I eliminated the "stink fights," where males rub their scent glands on their tales and wave them at each other!  The Te Quornaz have become much more "civilized" than that!  They also do wear garments but mainly for adornment (they love bright colors and pleasant textures); they have no sense of false modesty and are perfectly willing to go naked in public. 

       One of the most compelling characteristics that I adapted was their ability to leap across the ground (particularly the sifakas, who can move across the ground only by leaping sideways on their hind legs, being adapted to vertical leaping and clinging in the trees).  I turned this into an acrobatic ability to dance and leap, which is part of the courtship and mating ritual of the Te Quornaz (see latter half of Chapter 9 of The Termite Queen, v.1,)  At the same time they are very musical, not only singing words but using a descant that I derived from the haunting songs of the indri.   

       I have worked out only certain details of their culture (if I should ever write a book laid on Quornam, I would have to do more world-building), but it has some of the characteristics of ancient Rome or Renaissance Italy -- landholdings (called Aquotae) with villas scattered about a beneficent countryside, with little roadside shrines to some of the gods and a lot of agriculture, including the growing of fruit that is turned into a potent alcoholic drink called zhoka. The ancient families of landed gentry who possess these holdings make up a governing council for the nations.  There are also urban centers that fall outside this ancient system of landholding.  (This is all discussed in that same Chapter 9 cited above.) 

        I have done rudimentary work on Glin Quornaz, the language of Quornam, with a vocabulary of maybe 50 words and some jumbled syntax.  I intended the language to resemble Latin (in keeping with the ancient Roman lifestyle), with lots of cases and declensions.  This is a difficult kind of conlang to write and I never got beyond what I needed for The Termite Queen. 

       A standard phrase of well-wishing, comparable to Good fortune to you! is Mae! zokam laziqua rival shima.  It means "May Fate sing sweet music to you!"  A literal, word-for-word translation is "To you fate sing music sweet."

       I've always enjoyed my long-tailed, furry, large-eyed aliens, and I hope you do, too!

 

Creating an Alien Race out of Insects



Macrotermes bellicosus
The basis for my conception
of Ki'shto'ba Huge-Head
(The cerci [tails] are my addition.)
Microphoto thanks to
Dr. Timothy Myles




       There has been some discussion on different groups lately about how to create aliens. In one instance this involved developing insects into intelligent beings.  That's exactly what I did in my books, so how does one set about doing such a thing?



         I tend to favor realism and so for my conception of the universe I chose to use the panspermia principle (a spreading of DNA throughout a sector of the galaxy that gave rise to similar creatures on different hospitable planets) and allow the resultant carbon-based lifeforms to run a course of parallel evolution.  On these planets, certain organisms become dominant and it makes sense that if intelligence is going to evolve, it will do so within the dominant species. 

       On the planet 2 Giotta 17a, mammals never evolved.  Insects became dominant, and a species of proto-isopteroid (termite) grew large and gradually developed intelligence.  The important thing when creating creatures of this type is to research the Earthly form and then take its behaviors and determine how these instinctive behaviors might develop and change as the creature becomes intelligent.  Which features would evolution select for and which against?

       I wanted my termites to be large enough to interact with humans, so it was necessary to account for this large size.  Insect size on Earth is pretty much restricted by the inability to circulate oxygen and by the weight of the exoskeleton.  I gave the planet a slightly higher oxygen content (I've learned you can't make this too high, or the whole planet will combust).  Then I tinkered with insects' respiratory systems -- giving them air sacs inside the spiracles something like protolungs that pump oxgyen deeper into the tissues.  I also overcame the problem of the heavy exoskeleton by making the chitin lighter but stronger, giving it a composition similar to spider silk.  I also gave my termites crosswise internal plates that brace the outer skeleton.

       Then it seemed reasonable to me that any intelligent creature who is capable of attaining a higher level of civilization would evolve something like hands.  So I gave them opposable jointed claws on their front feet.  Of course, they also retain their dextrous mandibles and palps to supplement the grasping ability of the claws.  I made them capable of running on middle and rear legs and pushing things with their front pair.  I made them tool users at the stone age level, but I also gave them the wheel.  They use this only for wheelbarrows to move small loads, although they are on the verge of finding other uses for it.  They also understand the use of levers and pulleys, but they lack fire.

       So what behaviors do they retain from their lives as social insects?  One essential holdover is the Caste structure.  If you're hatched a Warrior, that is what you inescapably remain.  The same is true for the Workers and the Alates.

       The Alates posed a problem.  On Earth an alate termite or ant is a potential reproductive, and most of them are destined for a quick death.  Thousands or millions of these winged beings fly out of the mound, only to be eaten by almost every other creature that exists.  An infinitessimal number will be successful in mating and starting new colonies.  So what role could Alates fill in my termite world?  They are too big and heavy to fly and a ground emergence of reproductives just didn't seem plausible or necessary.

       I decided to change their Caste fate.  I allowed evolution to favor those who lived longer, until Alates came to have lifespans between 20 and 30 years like all the other Shshi.   They developed particularly acute intelligence and used their astuteness to overcome their physical fragility.  Alates also have the advantage of possessing eyes, while Warriors and Workers are blind.  Furthermore, the reproductives still come from among the Alates, although not all are capable of reproducing.  I created a separate group with a hormone mix that makes them fertile.  These Alates are given special treatment, so that if the fortress's Mother or King dies (they mostly have only one breeding pair at a time, just like terrestrial termite mounds), new reproductives can be drawn from the nursery.  If the fertile Alates aren't needed, they can be sent to other fortresses; if not then with time they simply molt into normal Alates (all Alates keep their wings unless they become Mothers or Kings).  Alates are also noted for their verbal abilities; the Remembrancers (bards and historians) are always Alates.  All of these differences give the Alates a subtle edge, allowing them to dominate and control the governance of the fortresses (mounds) in spite of their physical shortcomings. 

       The Warriors and the Workers required less tinkering.  The Workers are divided into sub-Castes, partly according to size and strength, although the Builders have a specific physiological alteration:  They possess the bak'zi|, a gland on the top of the head that produces "mortar water," a substance that they mix with sand and soils (or dung in some cases) to produce mortar for masonry.  Termite dwellings on our world are mostly built of earth (or carton, i.e., chewed wood), but on the termite planet they build fortresses out of mortared stone.  All this building is done strictly by instinct, by blind Workers who have almost no knowledge of mathematics.

       Other Worker sub-Castes include the Growers (who work in the Fungus Gardens or in the orchards), the Feeders (Warriors can't feed themselves because their huge heads and mandibles prevent them from bringing their forelegs to their mouths), the Tenders (including the smallest of Workers, who care for the Mother and the King), and then the lowliest of sub-Castes, the Dung Carriers and the Charnel Workers.  And that reminds me that the Shshi practice necrophagia, as has been noted in some terrestrial termites --  termites are creation's best recyclers, so why shouldn't that extend to the dead?  Termite flesh is a great source of protein, which would be lost if not ingested!

       Workers are not locked into a sub-Caste, however.  If a Tender prefers to become a Feeder, it can arrange to switch jobs.  Even those possessing the mortar gland can choose another "profession" -- they could become Growers or Tenders, especially if if those sub-Castes are low in numbers.  Without the bak'zi| a Worker could still build; for example it could make wooden items like tool handles or wheelbarrows or bowls or woven curtains, or it could help to quarry, carry, and place stones or to plan structures.

       Warriors have fewer choices; their prime imperative remains to protect (and rarely to fight active wars).  Warriors can have astute minds, but they often are rather dense-witted and easy for the Alates to take advantage of.  This helps drive the plot in The Termite Queen.  Warriors are good at organizing -- they form Cohorts and phalanxes (about 15 to a phalanx) and have a military command structure.  They are conditioned to obey their commanders (another plot driver in TQ), although the best of them can override this.  They also retain the instinct to bang their heads on the walls if the fortress is threatened (maybe this helps to account for their dense-wittedness!)  This behavior alerts their fellow Warriors to prepare for battle, just as it does in Earthly termite mounds.  They also make instinctive threat postures.  These postures can be sensed by their rivals through bioelectric and pheromonal signals (remember, they are all blind).

       What about individuality?  Social insects are famous for the "hive-mind," the ability of the whole group to function as one organism.  Here I made some significant changes.  I didn't want my termites to engage in those "death circles," seen among ants -- unthinkingly following the being in front of you until everybody drops down dead.  I wanted my termites to have personalities, to be individuals capable of making their own decisions and fraught with all the flaws and virtues that thinking organisms can possess.  So each one is unique even while the Caste imperative can't be escaped.  Warriors will always be protectors and fighters, but some are smarter than others, or have a better reasoning ability, or are simply more charismatic.  A Warrior can't become a Worker or an Alate, but it can share the helping instinct or the ability to govern.  Workers will always want to help others and take care of things, whether it is  buildings or "people."  Alates will always be thinking and planning (or scheming), and they can share in the qualities of the other Castes and also in their flaws. 

       Occasionally, we get overlap.  A Worker can long to be a Warrior or an Alate, for example.  We see this in Za'dut, my trickster character.  It was hatched a Builder, but it would have given anything to have been a Warrior.  It learns to fight with weapons-not-growing-upon-the-body and takes advantage of any opportunity it can to fight alongside its Warrior companions.  At the same time, Za'dut possesses an unusually agile, Alate-like mind.  You get three-in-one with Za'dut!

       In later books of my series The Labors of Ki'shto'ba Huge-Head, we will meet an aberant male Alate who is infertile but who retains a yearning to be a King -- who remains sexually attracted to an infertile female who is equally attracted to him (this was how I was able to utilize the Orpheus myth).  We also meet intercastes (you can read about one of them in The Storm-Wing), who are genetic sports with physical characteristics of more than one Caste (Warriors with huge mandibles but also with eyes and wings, for instance).  We'll meet another of these later, a female intercaste with eyes and rudimentary wings, who makes a perfect Atalanta character.  You can see that there is great stuff to come in the series!

      So my advice to anyone who wants to create an alien race based on insects or any other social organism (mole-rats, for example) is to research the topic thoroughly, decide what characteristics are compatible with intelligence, and then start working out details of the adaptations. 

       For example, if your chosen species is bees, then you'll have to consider whether your intelligent life form can fly, what kind of structures they build, whether they have developed to grow the flowers that provide their food, what happens to the drones, who really rules the colony (is it a democracy of Workers or a monarchy ruled by the Queen?) etc. 

       If the species is ants, you'll have to take into consideration that many ants are carnivorous and ferociously warlike, although there are some species (like the leaf-cutters) that grow fungus for food.  I can imagine a world where you would have two races of formicidiforms -- one pacific, agricultural vegetarians and one a horde of bellicose Warriors rampaging across the land  and eating their enemies.  If you could come up with a plot, their interactions might make a thought-provoking novel!

 

       I'm planning to write a subsequent post on my non-insectoid aliens derived from real creatures.

Don't Miss My 99-cent Special on The Labors of Ki'shto'ba Huge-Head!

AW, SALE'S ENDED!  YOU MISSED OUT!

 

BUT THANKS SO MUCH TO ALL WHO BOUGHT COPIES

OF MY KI'SHTO'BA SAGA!

Last month I held a quite successful 99-cent sale on The Termite Queen, so this month I'm going to do the same with v.1 and v.2 of The Labors of Ki'shto'ba Huge!

Starting tomorrow, Tuesday, June 4,

and running through Monday, June 10,

 The War of the Stolen Mother and The Storm-Wing

will cost only 99 cents each

for Amazon Kindle and for Smashwords.

Those who purchased The Termite Queen will certainly want to read the further adventures of the Champion Ki'shto'ba Huge-Head and its Companion Di'fa'kro'mi the Remembrancer, so now is tthe time to stock up at a ridiculously low price!  Or you can read these books as your first dip into my works!  Don't be shy!

 

THE WAR OF THE STOLEN MOTHER (The Labors of Ki'shto'ba Huge-Head, v.1)

 

In the 30th century, Earthers make first contact with an intelligent lifeform called the Shshi, which evolved from termites. Following that contact, the Champion of the Shshi, the Warrior Ki'shto'ba Huge-Head, and the bard of the fortress of Lo'ro'ra, Di'fa'kro'mi the Remembrancer, are moved to set off on a quest to reach the sea, the existence of which was unknown to them until the humans came. Joined by two Worker helpers, they head first for Ki'shto'ba's home fortress of To'wak, where they find that the local Tyrant, who has long feared Ki'shto'ba's power, is holding citizens of Lo'ro'ra prisoner. We learn of our Champion's hatching (it has a twin) and of a Seer's revelations that Ki'shto'ba was sired by the Sky-King and that it can be killed only under unusual circumstances. Ki'shto'ba undertakes to ransom the prisoners by agreeing to leave To'wak and perform twelve wonders before returning, thus freeing the Tyrant from the fate of being killed by its more powerful sibling. The Companions then set off again, joined by the twin A'zhu'lo and by a fifth Companion, an outcast Worker named Za'dut, who is an outrageous trickster and thief. Their journey takes them to the fortress of Thel'or'ei, which has been at war with its neighbors for nine years over possession of a river ford. Ki'shto'ba is duped into supporting Thel'or'ei, which in fact has committed an unspeakable crime against the Shshi Way of Life. When Ki'shto'ba learns of this crime, it renounces its oath and goes over to the other side. There, with the help of Za'dut the trickster, plots are devised to steal Thel'or'ei's protective talisman and to breach its impregnable walls. But with a crime so heinous and with flawed local Champions who are either craven, cunning, or willful and unpredictable, it is unlikely the outcome can be favorable ...

 

THE STORM-WING (The Labors of Ki'shto'ba Huge-Head, v.2)

 

 If you enjoy tales of high adventure and battles with strange monsters (with a theme of sibling rivalry running through the mix), you will love The Storm-Wing! At the end of v.1 (The War of the Stolen Mother), the Champion of the Shshi (termite people) Ki'shto'ba Huge-Head and its Companions set out to cross the dangerous Nu'wiv'mi Marsh on their way to visit a friend in the mountains. They soon encounter and do battle with the Marsh Guardians -- huge sauro-avians that attack from the air with beak, claw, showers of poisonous dung, and barbed feathers. Ki'shto'ba lops off the leg of the King-Bird but fails to kill him, with consequences that will prove ominous. The Quest is then diverted in a southerly direction, where a fortress being terrorized by a water monster requests Ki'shto'ba's aid. As a reward for slaying this creature, Ki'shto'ba is granted the surname of Monster Slayer. Finally the Quest heads west, where the Companions find themselves in the domain of the Marchers, a Shshi people ruled by another great Champion. After an eventful sojourn among the Marchers, whose Seer pronounces some disturbing prophecies regarding the Quest, the Companions at last turn northward into Northern Nasute country. There they find that the fortress of their friend Sa'ti'a'i'a is being invaded nightly by a monster that resembles a primitive Shi. Ki'shto'ba kills this formidable enemy, only to find it must also eliminate the monster's mother, who lives in caves under a lake and is even more fearsome ...



 

The Simurgh: Faizah's Destiny by Marva Dasef



Simurgh, Sassanian Royal Symbol
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simurgh
(Public Domain)

       I recently reviewed Faizah’s Destiny by Marva Dasef, a Middle Grade book set in a fictional Middle East.  The book follows the adventures of four village children as they undergo a process of growing up and learning about themselves.  It draws on Persian and other Middle Eastern myths for its fantasy.   A main plot element is a quest to find the Simurgh, a mythical bird central to significant Persian tales.  In Dasef's story the Simurgh is a large, deathless bird that can speak and is said to know all things and to be a "great teacher and a guardian."  It has arms in addition to wings and the author gives it moving lips at the end of its beak   It resembles a peacock in appearance and proves to be quite benign, giving each child a look into their potential futures.  It is a non-frightening, benevolent creature.
        The Simurgh was mentioned briefly in my post Bird Myths Pt. 4: Greece and the Middle East.  Today I want to investigate the lore of the Simurgh, which is a good deal more complex than the version we see in Dasef's book.  Faizah's Destiny is a book for middle-graders and so some of the more grotesque or ferocious elements of the Simurgh have been adjusted.  This is not a problem in the context of this book; one of the things that makes myth so valuable as a foundation for fiction is the ability to be adapted to an author's purpose.

        The Simurgh occurs in several different Middle Eastern cultures and literatures.  The Wikipedia article is not well documented, but as usual it makes a good starting point for investigation.  The name is Persian in origin, deriving from a Sanskrit word meaning "eagle, bird of prey."  Like the Roc or the Ziz, it is described as large enough to carry off an elephant.  It has the head of a dog, the claws of a lion, and sometimes a human face, which gives it kinship with the Griffin (body, tail, and back legs of a lion; the head and wings of an eagle; and an eagle's talons as its front feet) as one of the mythological hybrids. 
       However, if you search "Simurgh" in Google Images, you will see that most of the iconography is not of the Griffin variety but depicts this creature as a true bird.  Above is a striking example (http://atheistictemple.blogspot.com/2011/03/benefits-of-animals-medieval-persian.html  - no copyright information given that I can see.)
 
       Wikipedia cites an online reference that gives an comprehensive overview of the Simurgh:  http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/simorg.  Many myths in many cultures surround this fabulous "bird."  I'll recount just two of them.
 
       The Simurgh is associated with the Tree of Life, which is said to stand in the middle of the primal sea.  The Simurgh nests in this tree, which produces the seeds of all plants.  When the Simurgh takes flight, it causes the branches to shake and the seeds to fall. They are then distributed all over the world by wind and rain or by other birds, producing all the plants that we know.  The Simurgh is generally associated with rain, although one source says that sometimes the weight of the bird breaks the branches of the Tree, causing it to wither, thus associating it with the burning sun. 
       The Simurgh can also have an alter-ego, a dark counterpart (quoting from the Encyclopaedia Iranica article cited above): "the exact opposite of those of the Sēnmurw: When Kamak appeared he spread his wings over the whole world, all the rain fell on his wings and back into the sea, drought struck the earth, men died, springs, rivers and wells dried up. Kamak devoured men and animals as a bird pecks grain. Karšāsp showers arrows on him day and night like rain till he succumbs. In killing men Kamak is the opposite of Camrōš, who pecks up the enemies of Iran like grain (Bundahišn 24.24)." ("Chamrosh" is yet another name for the Simurgh, or for a companion bird that sits beneath the Tree of Life and helps to scatter its seeds: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamrosh ) 
 
      In Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, the national epic of the Persian world, Zal son of Saam was an albino and considered the spawn of the devil. He was abandoned on a mountain top, then, prompted by God, a Simurgh rescued him, raised him, and educated him (example of the epic element of an abandoned infant raised by a wild creature). When Zal returned to the world of men, the Simurgh gave him one of her feathers, which he was to burn if he ever needed assistance. Later, when it appeared Zal's wife would die in labor, he used the feather to summon the Simurgh, who taught him how to do a Caesurean section and so save the child. This child grew up to be Rostam, the great Persian hero, who in a later part of the epic was to be aided by the Simurgh again. 
       This benevolent version had its dark counterpart.  Also quoting the Encyclopaedia Iranica article: "The Simorḡ, protector of Zāl and Rostam, has an evil counterpart called by the same name. She lives on a mountain and looks like a mountain or a black cloud; she can carry off crocodiles, panthers and elephants. She has two young ones as big as herself. This Simorḡ is one of the adversaries Esfandiār kills in the course of his seven exploits on the way to the castle of Arjāsp. To overcome the huge monster Esfandiār constructs a large chariot spiked all over with swords which cut the bird to pieces (IV, p. 509f.). It is not impossible that both birds are originally identical and the Simorḡ is ambivalent. Her benevolent behavior towards Zāl was due to God’s intervention, and went against her nature as a raptor. In the contemptuous description of Zāl’s origin it is said that the Simorḡ spared the child because she could not stomach him (IV, p. 612)."
 
       Fascinating stuff, isn't it?

       I also want to add quotations from the Encyclopaedia Iranica article that deal with the relationship of the Simurgh to the other giant mythical birds of the region (some of which are benevolent and some malevolent).  I have indicated in bold interesting points that tie this post to some of my other discussions and demonstrate the universality of the Big Bird concept:
       "The Simorḡ’s equivalent in Arabic sources is the ʿAnqāʾ. The ambivalent nature of this bird is attested in the Hadith: the bird was created by God with all perfections, but became a plague, and a prophet put an end to the havoc it wrought by exterminating the species (Pellat, p. 509). In the Sumerian Lugalbanda Epic the mythical bird Anzu is a benevolent being. The hero frees the young of the bird, which in return blesses him. In the Sumerian Lugal-e and the Akkadian Anzu Epic the bird represents demonic powers and is vanquished by the god Ninurta. In the Akkadian Etana Epic the hero is carried by the eagle to the heaven of Anu. The correspondence of these motifs with the Simorḡ stories in the Šāhnāma and the Kurdish folktales is obvious, showing that they are of common Near Eastern heritage (Aro, p. 25ff.). In an illustration of a manuscript of the Thousand and One Nights the Simorḡ is identified with the monstrous bird Roḵ (cf. Casartellli, p. 82f.).
       "The Sēnmurw has many traits in common with the Indian Garuḍa, the steed of the god Viṣṇu (cf. Reuben, pp. 489ff., 495, 506f., 510, 515, 517). It is of particular interest that the comparison was made already in Sasanian times. In the first book of the Sanskrit Pañcatantra (the cognate of Kalila and Dimna) is a story of the birds of the shore who complain to their king Garuḍa. In Sogdian, synmrγ is used to translate garuḍa (see Utz, p. 14); and in the old Syriac translation of the Middle Persian original of Kalila and Dimna, Garuḍa is rendered by Simorḡ (cf. de Blois). Fauth (p. 125ff.) has argued that all the mythical giant birds—such as Simorḡ, Phoenix, Garuḍa, the Tibetan Khyuṅ, and also the Melek Ṭāʾus of the Yezidis—are offshoots of an archaic, primordial bird that created the world. Thus Simorḡ as God in Persian mysticism would, curiously, represent a return to the original meaning."

       I really find it more than a little cool to regard the Creator God as a giant bird!  And I can see enough material in the many Simurgh myths to inspire any number of great fantasy stories!

 

Bird Myths, Pt. 5: Sinbad and the Rukh

       In The Man Who Found Birds among the Stars (see the Prologue and first ten chapters here), I made Capt. Robbin Nikalishin a birder. What better qualification for the man who will head up the mission that encountered the first intelligent lifeform known to humanity -- and who happened to be big birds? During the mission out, there was a lot of boring downtime and one way the crew entertained itself was by telling bird myths, each crewmember telling tales from his or her own culture. Now, this section will be cut or drastically emended if I ever get that monster ready for publication, but I did too much research and had too much fun writing it to let it all disappear, so what better place to display it than on a blog devoted to myth in literature?

 

       The following passage continued Prf. Linna Katsopolos's narration.  She had just asked the crew, "Have any of you people ever heard of Sinbad?"  Some knew the tales, but many had not.  (Parenthetically, I saw a trailer last evening on the SyFy channel advertising an upcoming series called "Sinbad," so this post turns out to be quite pertinent!)

 



The Rukh
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Roc8954.jpg
(Public domain in the USA)



 

None of those who knew the tales objected to hearing them again and so Linna launched into her narrative.  “Back in the days of ancient Arbia, there was a young man named Sinbad, who was a merchant by trade and lived in the fabulous city of Bagda.  Bagda was actually a real city that existed for millennia, until it was wiped off the map during the 24th century depredations.  Sinbad is one of those resourceful trickster characters who are so common in folktales; he was always going on trade voyages to distant lands and getting into trouble.  So, during his second voyage it happened the ship put in at a deserted island for a while and Sinbad fell asleep under a palm tree.  When he woke up, there he was, alone!  The ship had sailed off without him!  He fell into despair, for he had no food or other provisions and he felt he would surely die there.

“Presently, however, he began to explore his surroundings and he climbed a tree to get a better look.  And off in the distance he saw a great white dome.  Heartened by what he thought was a human habitation, he made his way toward it, only to be disappointed and perplexed.  It turned out to be a full fifty paces in diameter but completely smooth and lacking any evidence of windows or doors.

“At that moment the sky went dark, even though it was a cloudless day.  Looking up, Sinbad was horrified to see an enormous bird flying down toward him, big enough to block the sun with its wings … yes, sounds familiar, doesn’t it?  Suddenly Sinbad remembered tales he had heard of the rukh and how it kills elephants to feed its young, and it dawned on him that this white dome was actually a rukh’s egg!  And indeed the giant bird settled down upon the dome-egg and began to brood it.  It had not even noticed Sinbad, who must have appeared to it as insignificant as an ant to an eagle.

“Presently night came on and the rukh went to sleep.  Sinbad got an idea, so he took off his turban – that long piece of cloth that people from that part of the world sometimes wind around their heads – and used it to tie himself to the leg of the rukh … right, Avi, just like the hero did in your tale!  In the morning the bird rose up and flew away.  It carried Sinbad to the top of a pinnacle, where he untied himself and dropped off.  The bird then seized a giant snake as prey and flew away.  Shades of Garuda!

“Sinbad immediately began to look around and he discovered that he was boxed in by impassable mountains.  He began to wish he had stayed on the island, where at least a ship might have come by.  A deep valley spread out below him and, when he descended to it, he found the ground paved with diamonds!  And then all of a sudden the skinned carcass of a sheep fell to the ground near him from the heights above, and he recollected a story he had heard – how in the Mountains of the Diamonds, the jewels are inaccessible, and so the people throw down the flesh of slaughtered animals, to which some of the diamonds adhere.  Then they wait for vultures to come and seize the carrion in their talons and carry it back to the heights above, where the people drive off the birds and collect the gems.”

Robbie interrupted.  “Now, no good natural historian came up with this tale, because unlike eagles vultures have very weak feet and couldn’t possibly pick up something as large as a sheep carcass.  They would simply have eaten it on the spot.”

“Now, Robbie,” scolded Linna, “don’t lose the spirit and go all scientific on us!”

“Sorry,” said Robbie cheerfully.  “I’ll just regard the bird as some imaginary raptor!  Please do go on, Professor.”

Linna cleared her throat.  “So Sinbad filled his pockets with diamonds and then bound himself beneath one of the carcasses, and sure enough a … yes, I’m going to say ‘vulture’! … came along and carried the meat and the man up to the top of the cliff!  There, people were waiting to harvest the gems and you can imagine how astonished they were to see a man crawl out from under the carrion!  Of course, Sinbad went on to sell the diamonds and become rich, whereupon he returned to Bagda and lived a comfortable life.

“That wasn’t the last of his voyages, however, or of his encounters with the rukh.  During his fifth voyage, his ship stopped at a different island.  While the crew disembarked to draw water and explore, Sinbad remained on board.  Presently, someone ran to him in great excitement, calling him to come and see what they had found.  ‘We thought it was a dome, but it seems to be an egg!  The men are breaking it even now!  We can have a feast!’ 

The merchants break the egg.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sinbad_the_Sailor_(5th_Voyage).jpg
(Public domain)



“Well, Sinbad knew exactly what they had found and he knew they were making a disastrous mistake.  He rushed out, but he was too late.  The fluid had already poured out, revealing a immature rukh, which the men were about to butcher.  And at that moment the sun was once again darkened as the parent circled above them.  Naturally, it was highly incensed at the destruction of its egg.  It shrieked to call its mate, and soon there were two giant birds bearing down upon the hapless sailors.

“The men rushed madly for the ship and put off from the island while the infuriated birds pursued them.  But then the rukhs disappeared and the ship, beating rapidly out into the open ocean, appeared to be safe.  But not so – the birds had only gone away to pick up big boulders in their claws.  The male rukh’s stone missed the dodging ship, but the female’s stone landed on the stern and broke the rudder, and the ship sank to the depths of the sea.

“However, like all the Sinbad tales, this one has a happy ending – our hero was able to swim to land, and ultimately he garnered even more riches for himself and returned home to live contentedly until his next adventure.  And so comes the end of my narration …   Don’t you all make those disappointed noises – our purpose is to tell bird tales, and there are no more birds in Sinbad’s story.  If we complete every tale no matter what, we’ll be here for the whole thousand and one nights!”

“All right, Professor, I’ll concede that!” said Robbie.  “So – now we know all about the rukh, and it seems to be a lot like Lt. Oman’s Ziz bird.  That just leaves us with Lt. Brokenbow’s story.  Have you got anything that can match all these others, Howie?”

 

Coming next:

Native American Bird Myths 

 

But first we'll learn something about the

Aboriginal Ammeriken Enclave