Wagadu (based upon the West African Dausi tales)

a rich city lost to man –
not once but four times over –
this ancient land held promises of
riches of gold and clover.

the vanity of a foolish king
and that of his eldest son
caused the city to disappear –
this was punishment number one.

after returning again to
dazzle man’s bewildered eyes,
the city was the lost again
to greed and selfish lies.

the final time fair wagadu
was lost to us forever,
the purity of man’s love for woman
and dissention proved none too clever.

so today we weep for our loss,
our hearts growing cold.
man’s ignorant scheming dreams
have destroyed the city raining gold.

Physician of Myddfai (based upon a Celtic myth)

a humble man who lived with peace in his heart,
rhiwallon helped all the people he could.
he gave to other shelter and food;
he shared with them advice and fire wood.

in appreciation of gracious ways,
the lady of the lake wished to bestow a gift.
she gave to him herbs, healing recipes, and
skills that could give the blackest soul a lift.

down through the years’ with time’s great passage,
rhiwallon helped thousands of unfortunate ones.
and when came his time to depart to the otherworld,
his healing gift did he pass to his sons.

Norweigan Sun & Moon Myth

day and night, night and day –
it hasn’t always been this way.

night, the giant, was dark and lusty.
her hair bestarred, her complexion dusky.

when night met the giant dawn,
they quickly married and had a son.

like his father, he was fair and gay,
so they named this child day.

to divide the time into dark and light,
the gods employed day and his mother, night.

on glorious steeds with jewel-like eyes,
the duo race across the skies.

to wash the world and make everything new,
every night night’s horse produces the dew.

to guide the horses through this astral world,
are moon and sun, a boy and a girl.

Mongol Sun Myth

the sky was bright and
no clouds did appear
for the seven suns
never let them come near.

in need of respite
for this dry, hot land,
we turned to Erhi Meregen –
the absolute best bowman.

he shot down the first six,
took them out one by one –
then he eagerly took aim at number 7
to see that his task was done.

he aimed and vowed and
pulled back the string,
but the arrow was impeded
by the strangest thing.

at the exact moment
his arrow was to take flight,
a swallow flew by and
gave Erhi a fright.

now strayed from its course,
that seventh arrow did fail.
instead of the sun,
it shot the swallow’s tail.

angered, enraged, and
ready to go,
he vowed to hunt it
and left to find poor swallow.

but the swallow ws clever
and hid from him, of course.
in anger, Erhi reacted and
chopped off the front legs of his horse.

the crippled horse lay down,
and there he sat
until nature took pity and
made it a kangaroo rat.

and erhi, still outraged,
did forget his pledge not.
he cut off his thumbs, hid in a hole,
and became the marmot.

and to this day,
he never forgets what he’s done.
he comes out in morning and night,
still dreaming of shooting the sun.

Iyadola (based upon a West African myth)

once inside the father sky
and wrenched to the harsh ground,
she sits and drowns in loneliness.
desperate for companions,
she convinced her husband
they should make some children.
while fashioning their tiny bodies
from the rich clay of the congo,
she felt as if her soul was healing.
unable to cook the clay properly,
her children ranged in colours from
lily white to the blackest onyx.
sneaking into the forest one night,
after father sky had fallen asleep,
she breathed life into her beloved.
as the children laughed, played, and grew,
our dear earth mother felt whole
and never was lonely again.

Creation of the World (based upon Nordic myth)

the mighty gods –
fearsome brothers three –
were at fierce odds
with a giant quite frosty.

they declared a war
and did successfully kill
that might creature of lore
and melded his body to their will.

massive volumes of blood did pour
to form the rivers, lakes, and sea.
dragged out of his awesome door,
the giant’s body was gruesome to see.

pushing and pulling the now cold skin,
molding it like modeling clay,
the brothers pulled and pushed it in
to form lands, hills, and dry bay.

hacked from his mighty bones –
surely a task of which to brag –
their axes and swords made harmonious tones
as they formed many a mountain crag.

from the chips of bones, teeth, and toes,
they formed rocks and pebbles for the sea.
from the hair which on his head rose
the brothers fashioned a tree.

now that their foe was dead,
the brothers, never questioning why,
took the giant’s skull from his head
and used it to dome earth and form a sky.

to hold their dome
in its heavenly rest,
they positioned four gnomes
to hold it up – north, south, east and west.

to light the dark
and to cool off a friend,
they fashioned stars from a spark
and made a giant provide wind.

though there were no moon
or bright warm sun,
the brothers did not fret or swoon
for their jobs had just begun.

and what of these gods –
these brothers three?
they rest in vahalla, looking for odds.
they are odin, vili, and ve.

Creation Myth (based upon the Nordic myth)

the gods had made
a perfect earth
yet still and not
given mankind birth.

while walking along
on the warm sea seand,
odin saw two logs
and dreamt up an idea for man.

into an ancient elm
odin did breathe life.
it twisted and spilt,
revealing a wife.

and into an ash
from a primeval land,
he breathed life again and
created a husband.

his brothers then
knew what to do.
they fashioned gifts
for the bewildered two.

gently draping
clothes on the pair,
the gods watched
as began a new era.

A Brothers' Quarrel (based upon a West African Fon myth)

two mighty brothers, both awesome gods,
had a disagreement leaving them at odds.
one left the sky on a beautiful starry night
as both continued thinking he was right.

the departed brother knew many a wondrous thing,
and earthly people made him their king.
the brother in the sky, still feeling great pain,
decided a lesson would be taught and withheld the rain.

three years of drought passed with no end in sight,
leaving the good king in a perilous plight.
on wings of might, he sent an urgent plea,
and finally he and his brother did agree.

since that day, the enmity came to an end
and the brothers now call each other “friend”.

Birth of a People (based upon a West African myth)

a proud, ancient race
defeated in violent war
forced to send forth gifts.

seven virgins left
across the desert’s hot sands
to meet their husbands.

tricked by a jinni
into camping for the night,
they slept like small babes.

visited at night
by a powerful magic,
the maids did dream strange.

at lush oasis,
they lounged, relaxed, and lingered
pregnant with male babes.

as the seven boys
grew into seven brave men,
they fought and flourished.

and forth from these men
sprang clans of nomadic ones
known as tuareg.

Amateras (based upon a Japanese myth)

the greatest of goddesses of man,
she shined her light over all the land.

honest, playful, and terribly good,
she always tried to do the best she could.

then one day her brother, just for spite,
hurled a horse hide into her temple with might.

the hide – it did hit and kill
one of the maidens serving amateras’s will.

in grief at her brother’s prank she did bark,
and hid in a cave, making it dark.

to once again see her shining self,
the other gods planned to help.

they threw a party and just when
amateras came out, her light shone again.

and cast from the sky was her sibling
to ensure no repeats of this distressing thing.