A Legend of the Flowers

Listen Ad Free https://www.solgoodmedia.com - Listen to hundreds of audiobooks, thousands of short stories, and ambient sounds all ad free!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Long long ago, the Great Biami left the earth and
went to dwell in the far away land of Rest,
which was beyond the tops of the Ubi Ubi mountain.
The earth became a dull and desolate place after he
left it, for all the flowers that brightened the plains
and hillsides ceased to bloom, and since there were no blossoms,

(00:23):
the bees could no longer make honey for the earth children.
In all the land, there were but three trees where
the bees lived in work, and no one ever touched
these sacred trees because they belonged to Biami. The children
cried for honey, and the mothers took little bark baskets

(00:45):
into the woods to search for the sweet food. But
they returned with empty baskets and said, there is no
honey except on the sacred trees. We will never touch
biamis honey. This obedience lees the Great Spirit very much,
and he said, I'll send the earth children of food

(01:05):
as sweet as the honey for which they hunger. It
shall flow from the Bilville and Gulabat trees. Soon were
seeing white sugary specks on the shining leaves of these trees.
And then came the clear manna, which ran along the
branches and down the trunks and hardened into sugar. The

(01:26):
children were delighted with the sweet food, and all the
people were thankful for Fiami's gift. But they were not satisfied,
for they still wished to see the plains and hillsides
covered with blossoms. So deeply did they long for the
beautiful flowers which had left the earth that the wise
men finally said, we will travel to the land of Bayamin,

(01:49):
and asked him to brighten the earth again with flowers.
They kept the plan and purpose of their journey a
secret from the tribes, and sped away to the northeast.
On and on they journeyed until they came to the
foot of the great Ube Mountain, whose summit was lost
in the clouds of the sky. They walked along the

(02:11):
base of its rocky sides, wondering how they could scale
the steep ascent, when suddenly they spied a foothold cut
in a rock, and then they noticed another step, and
still another. Looking carefully upward, they saw a pathway of
steps cut as far as they could see up the
mountain side, up the ladder of stone. They determined to climb.

(02:35):
On and on they went, and when the first day's
ascent was ended, the top of the mountains still seemed
high above them. They noticed two that they were climbing
a spiral path which wound round and round the mountain.
Not until the end of the fourth day's climb did
they reach the summit of this mighty mountain. And from

(02:58):
a basin in the marble there bubbled forth a spring
of clear sweet water, which the wise men drank eagerly.
Their hard journey had almost exhausted them, but the cooling
drought filled them again with new life. At a little
distance from the spring, they saw a circle of piled
up stones. They walked to the center of it, and

(03:20):
a voice spoke to them. They came from a fairy
messenger of the great Spirit. Why have the wise men
of the earth ventured so near to the dwelling of Biami,
asked the spirit voice, And the men answered, since the
Great Beami left the earth, no flowers have bloomed there.
We have come to ask for the gift of flowers,

(03:41):
because the earth is very dreary without their gay colors.
Then the fairy messenger's voice said, attendant spirits of the mountain,
lift the wise men into the abode of Beami, where
faithless flowers never ceased to bloom. Of these blossoms, wise men,
you may gather as many as you can hold in

(04:02):
your hands. After you have gathered the flowers, the attendant
spirits will lift you back into the magic circle on
the summit of ugi Ubi. From this place you must
return as quickly as possible to your tribes. As the
voice stopped speaking, the men were lifted up through an
opening in the sky and set down in a land

(04:24):
of wondrous beauty. Everywhere brilliant flowers were blooming, and they
were masked together in lines of exquisite colors, which looked
like hundreds of rainbows lying on the grass. The wise
men were overcome by the marvelous side, and they wept
tears of joy. Remembering what they had come for. They

(04:45):
stooped down and gathered quickly as many blossoms as they
could hold. The spirits then lifted them down again into
the magic circle on the top of ugi Ubi. There
they heard again the voice of the very messenger, who said,
your people, when you take them these flowers, that never
again shall the earth be bare and dreary. All through

(05:06):
the seasons. Certain blossoms shall be brought by the different winds,
but the east wind shall bring them in abundance to
the trees and shrubs. Among the grasses, un plains, and hillsides,
flowers shall bloom as thick as hairs on an opossum skin.
When the sweet breath wind does not blow first to

(05:30):
bring the showers and then the flowers, the bees can
make only enough honey for themselves. During this time, manna
shall again drop from the trees, and it shall take
the place of honey, until the east wind once more
blows the rain down the mountains and opens the blossoms
for the bees. Then there will be honey enough for all.

(05:54):
Now make haste and take this promise and the fatless flowers,
which are a sign of it to your people. The
boys ceased, and the wise men, carrying their fateless blossoms,
began the journey back to their people. Down the stone
ladder cut by the spirits of the mountain, they went
across the plains, over the moors, back to the camp

(06:17):
of the tribes, where people flocked around them, gazing with
wide eyed wonder at the blossoms. The air was filled
with a delicious fragrance, and the flowers were as fresh
as when they were plucked in the land of Byami.
When the people had gazed for some time at the
beautiful flowers and had heard the promise sent to them

(06:37):
by Byami, the wise men scattered the precious gift far
and wide. Some of the lovely blossoms fell on the
tree tops, some on the plains and hillsides. And ever
since that far off day, the earth has been blessed
with the gift of flowers. End of a legend of

(06:58):
the Flowers