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kuangningOnce, in the dreaming time, when the Earth which bore us was young, and man not yet an infant race upon it, there dwelled in the forests and fastnesses of the world a golden people, strong of mind and tender of heart...
Into their hands was given the care and nurture of all the living things upon the Earth, and in the skies, and in the waters, that none should take hurt, but be comforted, and none should perish unmourned and unseen. Guardians and stewards they were of the small things, finding joy in the wonders of the world that had never borne them ... for no stone of the land was older than they, and no star shone in the night skies whose first light they had not seen.
They were not gods, though some might have called them so; they neither aged nor grew ill, and did not know death, save that, when one grew heartsore and weary of his work, he might call another to him, to finish what he had begun. Then, of his own accord, he might release his spirit to the skies, from whence they had come. And this is the name they gave themselves: Ni'Cushla, which, being translated, means Children Who Ride the Winds Between Worlds.
Such a one was Arcoliye'a, she whom we revere. She it was who took into her hands the Firstmother, and, finding none near her to be her mate, searched the world over until she found the Firstfather, and thus preserved the newborn race of man. Such a one, too, was Timbrenath, of whom the races of the north remember that he found the new pair within his desmenes, shivering and near to death, and taught them the ways and uses of fire. Such a people were they, taking nothing, giving all, and the Earth itself mourns their absence now, and still.
It is of that absence that I tell you today: hear and grieve, O you children of men, for this is the tale of the passing of the golden age, and with it, the hope of the world.
Into their hands was given the care and nurture of all the living things upon the Earth, and in the skies, and in the waters, that none should take hurt, but be comforted, and none should perish unmourned and unseen. Guardians and stewards they were of the small things, finding joy in the wonders of the world that had never borne them ... for no stone of the land was older than they, and no star shone in the night skies whose first light they had not seen.
They were not gods, though some might have called them so; they neither aged nor grew ill, and did not know death, save that, when one grew heartsore and weary of his work, he might call another to him, to finish what he had begun. Then, of his own accord, he might release his spirit to the skies, from whence they had come. And this is the name they gave themselves: Ni'Cushla, which, being translated, means Children Who Ride the Winds Between Worlds.
Such a one was Arcoliye'a, she whom we revere. She it was who took into her hands the Firstmother, and, finding none near her to be her mate, searched the world over until she found the Firstfather, and thus preserved the newborn race of man. Such a one, too, was Timbrenath, of whom the races of the north remember that he found the new pair within his desmenes, shivering and near to death, and taught them the ways and uses of fire. Such a people were they, taking nothing, giving all, and the Earth itself mourns their absence now, and still.
It is of that absence that I tell you today: hear and grieve, O you children of men, for this is the tale of the passing of the golden age, and with it, the hope of the world.
