The Legend of the Seeker

A long time ago, when this continent was part of a bigger earth mass, and the climate was warm as it is now, there lived a magic man in Gondwana land. His name was Tywain and he had three daughters, whom he loved dearly and a wife who cared for them all.

On a sunny day in May Tywain set out with his daughters in search of fine clay and perhaps a tree kangaroo for food. His wife collected roots and lizards, nuts and berries, but when it came to larger prey or special clay for ceremonies it was he who brought it to the camp. But he was getting older and had no sons, so his daughters often helped him with the hunt.

Aware of beasts of power in his area he left his daughters on top of a cliff while he clambered down the rock wall to fetch white clay from the creek bed below. He was careful not to wake the monster. His daughters were sitting down and singing sweetly when a large centipede crawled over the youngest girl’s foot. She let out a piercing high pitched shriek that nearly burst the other girl’s ear drums. They in turn yelled and leaped about. Their screams echoed down the canyon and woke the beast.

It came growling out of its cave and immediately saw the girls above making all that noise. Waking from a long sleep it was hungry and the girls looked succulent. Tywain saw how it approached his daughters and pale with fear pointed his magic wand, murmured an incantation and his daughters turned into pretty red and orange stone pillars. Tywain quickly climbed down to the creek bed but the beast, deprived of his prey was now following him! Tywain jumped and ran and got away by hiding on a ledge. Night fell and the beast retired to its cave. Soon it was snoring loudly, probably dreaming of succulent young humans…..

In the morning light Tywain saw that he was alone and collected the clay he had come for. Then he slowly and carefully made his way back up the cliff without ever disturbing a rock or pebble. He was extremely focussed on his every move and emerged above the cliff with his dilly bag full of clay without waking the monster.

His daughters stood stiff like sentinels, dark against the morning light. Tywain grappled for his magic wand but, his heart nearly stopped, he could not find it! He dug deep into his dilly bag, he checked his twine belt, he must have lost it when he jumped and ran from the beast the night before!

A great fear and panic beset him, because without his magic wand he was just an ordinary mortal and his pretty daughters would never come to live again! His wife would leave him, or spear him to death if she knew what he’d done! So he painted himself with the white clay and climbed back down the cliff, looking in every nook and cranny to find his wand.

He is still climbing the walls of that cliff now. The beast would not contemplate attacking him, because of the clay he was covered in but also because he was terribly thin.