My Myth--"The Dancers"

For our 4th Journey in Place exploration with Janisse Ray, we were asked to write a myth about something we encountered in our place. Last week I came across this huge oak tree with three trunks. Somehow, in the years that I have been walking these trails, I had never noticed it before. I guess it was waiting for  the right time to reveal its story. Here's my myth--"The Dancers":

Long ago, when humans were very new and just learning, and the earth and its living things were already old, people still understood the language of nature. The people lived in harmony with the earth and its creatures. They shared food and warmth and knowledge. When the people were cold the weaver birds taught them to form fiber into clothing and baskets to hold their food. When the people were hungry the birds and other forest animals showed them where to find seeds and roots to eat. The wasps taught them to build clay pots to cook and carry water. The ants taught them to farm so they could grow their own food. Humans and the other living things shared news of coming storms and dry seasons, when to expect the fruits and migrations and the changing tides. And every month under the light of the full moon, they danced together, sharing their gratitude and friendship. 

Over the years, as they learned more, the humans became enamored with their own skills and tools, and in time they forgot how to listen to the earth. No longer could they hear the signs of the changing seasons and weather. The people became separate from the other living things. They thought they no longer needed to share with the earth and they built vast cities where they once danced together in the moonlight. All that is, but three women, who chose to keep to the old ways. They lived lightly on the earth, and joined the forest creatures to dance on a hilltop every month, loving and thanking their earthly companions. And when the women finally became too old to dance any longer, they grew roots from the soles of their feet and their arms reached for the stars and the moon and they became three trunks of a tall oak tree, growing leaves and acorns to shelter and feed the forest, and dancing together through time.