Line From His Heart

Trickster appears as Raven in the Northwest.

Syehum's version of Raven story:

back when only animals lived here
there were no lines
the rivers flowed where they chose to flow
and the fish swam and spawned

and the bears slept in winter
and the weasels and otters and foxes
lived where the villages are now

and Raven lived there too.

(But you know this --
for you are blessed with the knowledge
of the Raven.)

Spirit came down from Tahomah
on a raft one day

a raft of spinning leaves

to visit Raven.  He said,

Hey Raven

What do you think of a new kind of animal
one that walks on two legs instead of four

and Raven said yeah so what I walk on two

Spirit said no what if they don't fly

What's so special about em then?

Hmm let's see what if they could talk

Veh sez Raven you and I talk all the time

and Spirit says I know, but when we talk
we know that what I talk comes to life
as easy as this

he snapped his fingers
and a butterfly flew out

But what if these new kind of animals
had a way to talk
that came to life
but they couldn't see it?

You're kidding me.  What's up with you, spirit,
restless?  Can't sleep so you're dreaming up new ways
to mess with what we got here?

No Really, Raven, look how simple this all is.
I dream up a valley, poof there it is.
I dream up a family of mice, poof there they are.
The mice get to be too many, I gotta dream up a way
to deal with em so they don't eat all the fruit.
So I dream up hawks to feed on the mice.

It's all nice and balanced.  But...

Busy busy busy, I like making stuff
but it gets kind of boring.

Yeah, spirit, I got it, you made this all
and it's nice n stuff

but you got somethin movin in your mind

Yeah
What if I could bring an animal in
that could do that too, what would it look like?

Raven looked at Spirit.
You're kidding.  You wanna give an animal
the power to do what you do?

Spirit said
Well I give all of you a little of my magic already
but what if I gave this one a little more

Raven said
You're askin for it.  There'll be no end of trouble.

But Spirit persisted.  This has been growing in me for a good while.
I want to see what can happen if the magic to build up and tear down,
lives in one of you.

Too much, said Raven.  You gotta draw the line somewhere.  Else they'll be all over
and mess this all up.

A twinkle of delight escaped from Spirit's eye.

Yeah. 

A line. 

So, Raven, you're the one to be the keeper of the lines
for the new animal.

Raven was astonished.  And a little irritated.
What do you mean, keeper of the lines.

I will give the new animal the power to draw lines.  So picture this:
Where they draw lines, new structures will come up.

I don't get it.   You make mountains without drawing lines first.

Yeah, lines, don't you see? If they think the only way to make things
is to draw lines first
they won't go making mountains and moving them around.

At least very fast.

So what does that have to do with me, said Raven.

You're the balance, said spirit.  I want you to mess with the lines they draw.
Just to keep it interesting.
Just to keep them from thinking they're god.

Oh. 

Hmm.

So the new animals came in
on two feet
and we called em
people.
Although they called themselves various other names
and began drawing lines

and houses and roads sprung up where the lines were drawn,
just as spirit said

and Raven saw that the lines they drew
were not real
but only lived in the spirit side.

This is real trouble, said Raven.

So he sat on a post
and watched
to look at what kinds of lines there were.

There were lines in the pictures of the land
that lived in the minds

and Raven saw that when they drew those lines
the lines soon became real on the land

as roads
and houses
and bridges
and fences
and telephone and power lines

And  raven saw that there were other kinds of lines
like the lines connecting two hearts
or the lines drawn between them

and he found that when his shadow fell across one of these lines
of any kind

it moved
just a little

especially if it didn't yet have a structure.

hmm.

this could be fun after all

so he watched
a guy would draw a line from his heart to a woman's heart

and where those lines were drawn, the structures that emerged
were children.

and when raven would redraw it to another woman's
more lines would come up, fence lines between the first two.

See, Raven, says Spirit
Wherever you move the lines they draw
they will be in the right place,

even though they are confused by it.

This keeps them in balance
so they do not move too fast
in their creating the universe...
So the world they create will be a work of great beauty.

Raven smiled.

Yeah, I think this'll be fun.