Week 10 Storytelling: A Tale of the First Men and the First Death

I was the first man. Well, I was one among the first men during the beginning of the world. In that time, there was no sun and the only light we had was in our houses. You see, in the before time water could burn like oil, so we always had a light going to shelter us from the abyss beyond. I don't remember much of my childhood. I remember willow bushes and being cold. Then I recall my mother's face. She was the first warmth I had ever felt. Then I saw my father. Together they brought up my brothers and sisters. Clothing and feeding us food from the earth. Soon, more people came and grew up with us. Men became husbands and women became wives. More children were born. Soon my family grew very large.

As good as it was to have soon many relatives, I wanted a friend. Someone different from me, that had strengths and weaknesses that complimented my own. So I went out with a rope and began to hit it on the ground saying, "Hok! Hok! Hok!".

As I did, dogs formed from the snowy hills and came to me, so then my friends arrived. I played with my dogs for many days and they, too, multiplied. Soon I met my wife and had many children with her. My family grew ever larger. As the years went on, I grew older and older. I have now gone blind, and have become lame. I simply wish to die.

Two of my sisters who share my fate speak thus: "It is better to live in darkness, if we can be without death!"

"No!" I said, "For I would have my children to have light and my self be able to lie down."

As I spoke, my words became reality.

The sun began to rise above the horizon, and light streamed over the hills, melting away the snow. Everyone walked out of their homes and was stunned by the beauty.

Presently, I am standing in the light. Though I cannot see it with my eyes, my body and soul are warmed by its presence. I feel it calling me up to it. Am I to be the first to die?

My body remains laying on the warm ground as I lift myself toward the sun, the source of light and my own death. For with the sun comes time. But the darkness will soon fall on my children again, so I shall give myself as I light to them. Every night I will rise to smile on my children and keep the darkness that I knew in my life from them forever.

The souls of those who have died watching over the night sky; Source: Pixabay

Author's Note: The original story was about how the first men came to earth and grew in populations. Most of my story has similar details to the original, only mine is told as though being recounted by the first man to die. In the original, those who died went into the sky to become a star, which I hinted at near the end.

Source: Eskimo Folk-Tales by Knud Rasmussen with illustrations by native Eskimo artists (1921).