The RAVEN and SPIDER

Back when the trees were bigger than the trees now, and the paths were narrower and lined with the pockmarks of black foxes and white bears, Raven was a master negotiator with all things.

Raven knew all languages because he got bored so easily! He learnt snail and moved onto wolf, he learnt wolf and moved onto cloud, he learnt cloud and moved onto narwhal, and soon he knew the languages of all the trees, animals and gods that he could meet. He even knew the language of dry desert sands and the movements of seeds in the air.

And yet, there was one language he had not yet conquered. There was one language he did not know. The language of Spider, who knew all things.

Raven tried talking to Spider, but Spider merely watched Raven with her little eyes. When Raven said;

'teach me your language, little one, because I know all other languages already.'

Spider simply weaved an orb-web and sat in the middle of her creation. Raven cocked his head to one side and then sighed in different tongues. He sighed a summer breeze and a spring gale, he sighed a bear's groan and he human sighed.

Soon he was occupied sighing in all the different languages he knew. Spider watched him calmly, her web smiled at him, from all the angles.

Eventually Lesavny came along, walking the paths that only he could see, and happened upon Raven and Spider.

'Raven! What is so interesting about this tiny spider?'

'I am trying to learn her language, I'm bored.'

Lesavny laughed.

'If you eat her, you will absorb her language and her knowledge of all things into you, brother. You don't need to listen to her! You just need to eat her! She will taste nice too, I bet.'

Raven looked at Spider, who was clearly not going to say anything more, and then walked up and ate her. As he did, he tore her orb web, it broke and blew in the wind.

Raven fluffed himself up imperiously as he waited for the knowledge to fill him. He closed his eyes and started thinking of all the languages that he knew. He knew eagle, so he could trick eagle into giving him fish. He knew human, so he could trick man into thinking that he was a God. He knew tree, so he could make any tree beg him to nest and tear their branches.

But he did not know Spider.

Lesavny was laughing so hard that Raven opened his eyes.

'Stupid Raven! You'll never know all things now! Spider isn't going to teach you a language from inside your belly! You learn by listening, you old black bird, not by eating!'

But as Lesavny laughed, Raven felt something shift inside of him. It moved into his spirit, and became one with his spirit. He looked from side to side and cackled loud and long.

'Wrong! I know Spider language now! Watch me call the spiders from their eves.'

And Raven, being a master manipulator, called all the spiders from the eves of their trees, from the roots and leaves and the forest paths. They all came running towards him, even the sacred ghost spiders of Vasilia.

'I have listened to the spirit I have absorbed. For her sacrifice, I have gained wisdom. And through my wisdom, I am sad and joyful for her sacrifice.'

'Do you know all things?' Lesavny asked calmly.

Raven clacked his beak together and gave a beady eyed smile.

'I know enough to know that I will always have more to learn.'

To this day, Raven still tries to eat an awful lot of things that are not good for him, and are not food, because he cannot stop looking for knowledge and language. Sometimes he finds something special and new, and he is wiser. But Lesavny still laughs at him every time he eats something that teaches him nothing. You may see Raven poking and prodding at plastic, or mouthing a piece of bark, but do not be so quick to mock him. Raven knows that in order to find knowledge in strange places, he must be willing to try strange things!

And to this day we still believe that we absorb the spirit of everything we eat, and if we listen hard enough, and long enough, we will learn its language, and the value of all things. Everything we place in our mouths has a language if it came from the earth, and its spirit moves into our spirit. If we listen hard enough, we may learn the languages of a great deal if we are willing to turn our Urt inwards and listen.

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(Incidentally, it is also part of one of the initiatory rites for adolescents to consciously eat an orb-weaving spider. This custom continues into the life of an Oraite if they continue their training.)