The Song Of The Sea Hunter
The Messel Pit is a wonderful source of fossils from the Eocene. At the time it was a sea that separated Europe from Asia. Carbon dioxide would collect in its waters until at intervals it was saturated; then any disturbance would cause it to release a giant cloud of the gas which suffocated any animal in range. Some of these would then fall into the sea, where the low-oxygen environment would preserve them as they turned into stone. One of the most curious of these eocene animals is the leptictidium; an extinct creature, 60-90cm in length with a long snout like an elephant shrew. They were peculiar in being entirely bipedal, something they share with only a few species throughout history, (humans being one.)
The hazards associated with paleontology are seldom fatal and the few that are usually have to do with nearby wars. Recently however, several researchers nearly joined their specimens in ancient death from what's been called “the Messel's last burp.” A layer of porous rock began to rapidly leak ancient carbon dioxide and monoxide when an overlying impermiable clay layer was breached. Luckily, three helicopters were delivering supplies at the time. These took to the air at once; two fanned fresh air down to the researchers while they made an escape in the third.
When the choking cloud had dissipated, they returned to digging and found, among other things, one of the best preserved specimens of leptictidium ever found. Identified as L. auderiense, it was a giant of its species, nearly a metre in length. The size and density of the bones indicated that it had been extraordinarily strong. The mystery around this fossil deepened, however when several bits of iron were found around the fossil, preserved because there had been nearly no oxygen at all. At first these were taken for meteoric iron; possibly from a strike that had triggered the outgassing which had killed the specimen. Yet there was no sign of injury. Then, under the fossil, they found a large, flattened iron bar, nearly as long as its bearer...
To-Te-Aue, The Mighty One, stood taller than any other.
She could outrun the threehorn and bring down the swiftclaw alone.
Her friend, I-Ae-Yaw, the black smith, had made a sword for her,
Like the footsword of the swiftclaw.
It brought plenty to her village and protected her from the greatbird.
To-Te-Aue, the Mighty One, was clever in her hunting.
She had brought her village meat from the land and from the sky.
She had brought them large meat and small meat and river meat, too.
But she wanted to bring meat from the Belching Sea,
To be the first Hunter Of All Places and live forever in songs.
To-Te-Aue, the Mighty One, would sometimes spend a day just thinking.
She sat beside the Belching Sea and watched it, thinking.
She saw dead branches floating out from the shore.
She saw sea birds paddling their feet.
She saw the fishing spiders pulling fish from the sea with their webs.
To-Te-Aue, the Mighty One, went to her friend, I-Ae-Yaw, the black smith.
She said, “You, who make the red rock twist as if it dances,
“Find a way to make a box with three sides big enough to hold me.
“Make it float like a solid log.
“I will ride in it when I hunt for meat in the Belching Sea.”
I-Ae-Yaw, the black smith, said to To-Te-Aue,
“Beware of the Belching Sea!
“Stories tell us that, when it belches,
“Everyone near it dies!
“I do not want my best friend to be gone forever!”
To-Te-Aue, the Mighty One, laughed at I-Ae-Yaw's words.
“Our mothers' mothers' mothers told these stories!
“The Belching Sea has not belched for a long time!
“I think that it has done with belching.
“I will hunt the meat of the Belching Sea for our village.”
I-Ae-Yaw, the black smith, cooked wood into forge wood.
He forged the red rock into black iron.
He made many nails for his box.
He twisted three nails into hooks, like a fishing spider's web,
For To-Te-Aue, the Mighty One, to catch fish, as they did.
I-Ae-Yaw, the black smith, cut down a tall tree.
With his saw, he cut it into boards and trimmed their sides straight.
Then he trimmed one end of one board at an angle.
He held it on top of another board with big rocks.
Then he used the first to guide him in trimming the next.
I-Ae-Yaw, the black smith, took the boards he had made.
They were so much alike, it was as if they had been born twins.
He nailed the angle-cut ends together and made a big angle.
From this, he made a box with three sides.
But when he put it in the river, water came in and it sank.
I-Ae-Yaw, the black smith, pulled his box out of the river.
He watched where the water came out again, where the boards touched.
He gathered pitch from the bug-sap trees and sand from the beach.
He stuffed this into every crack.
And when he put his box in the river again, it floated like a leaf.
And all of this took many days.
To-Te-Aue, the Mighty One, said to the village weaver,
“You, who turn mere plant fluff into coloured threads,
“And turn threads into coloured cloth to wear,
“Make a very long thread from spider's web!
“I will use it to hunt meat in the Beching Sea!”
The village weaver said to To-Te-Aue, the Mighty One,
“Beware of the Belching Sea!
“Stories tell us that, when it belches,
“Everyone near it dies!
“I do not want our best hunter to be gone forever!”
To-Te-Aue, the Mighty One, laughed at the village weaver's words.
“Our mothers' mothers' mothers told these stories!
“The Belching Sea has not belched for a long time!
“I think that it has done with belching.
“I will hunt the meat of the Belching Sea for our village.”
The village weaver caught one spider after another.
He teased each one, making it climb down its web, while he rolled it up behind
Onto a stick that he had stripped and polished.
These, he braided into a thick thread long enough to circle the village four times.
And all of this took many days.
To-Te-Aue, the Mighty One, took her floating box to the Belching Sea.
She took wood that I-Ae-Yaw had not used and the footsword of a swiftclaw.
She carved two feet, like the feet of a fishing bird, from the wood
To make her floating box move on the Belching Sea.
And this took another day.
To-Te-Aue, the Mighty One, got up at the next dawn.
She got into her floating box and kicked the water with her wood feet.
Far from the shore of the Belching Sea, where the fish birds hunt,
She tied an iron hook to her spider silk thread.
She dropped the hook into the Belching Sea with the end of the thread tied to her hand.
Suddenly, big waves made the floating box jump strongly.
The Belching Sea turned white, as if it were plant fluff.
To-Te-Aue, the Mighty One, cried out, “The sea is belching!”
Then she fell in her box as if she were dead
And the box fell down into the plant fluff sea and was never seen again.
To-Te-Aue, the Mighty One, was married to the hunt.
She had sex with anybody she wanted, but she never had a child.
She had two sisters and a brother, but they were not like her,
And their children were not like To-Te-Aue.
But To-Te-Aue, the Mighty One, brings meat to the village today!
I-Ae-Yaw, the black smith, remembered how to make a box with three sides that floats.
The village weaver remembered how to make long, strong thread from spider web.
They taught these things to their children and their children's children and after.
Others learned to use these things to hunt fish in the river.
That is how To-Te-Aue, the Mighty One, brings meat to the village today!
That is why we stay far from the Belching Sea!
Copyright © 2013 Allan D. Burrows, all rights hereby released in full to Dennis M. Falk, Happy Birthday!
1376 Words
