Grace's+Myth

by Grace
Long ago in the rainforest there lived a group of ancient gods that created spirits and the meaning of life and death. The gods had celebrated someone's death by creating a fire and burnt it over someone's grave. At first, the whole ceremony was to show the Underworld Gods that they weren't the only gods who controlled death. These gods called themselves “After Gods.” Unlike the Underworld Gods, they knew what an animal would look like when it stopped growing. They knew what rain would look like when it fell on the ground. They knew what the end of the world would look like.

When the After Gods grew tired and didn't know what to do next, one of them had a idea. This is what he said, “If we have no idea what we want to do next, why don't we celebrate a death for that person or animal that will be lost forever?”

The gods looked at him and said, “We already celebrated someone's death.”

The one god spoke again. “I understand that, but this time, instead of fires and burning, let's create peace with our work.” The gods all listened carefully. “Everyone look up in the sky. What do you see?” The gods looked up and saw a blue sky with white puffs in it. “There isn't a shape but one that continues over and over again. Let us make shapes representing someone. Either we create a hat that person wore or create shapes for an animal and things the animal loved. We shall put those shapes in the sky for all to see.”

The gods were thrilled at this idea. They started taking sheep wool and used a knife to cut it to make it look like a shape. Soon all of the gods got carried away, cutting and changing the shapes. They, however, didn't know how to put their creations in the sky or how to make their creations stay in the same shape. The Underworld Gods down below heard a sound coming from above. They raised up to the After Gods and asked, “What are you doing?

We were trying to make a grave for thousands of people who had just past away.”

The After Gods spoke clearly so the Underworld Gods could understand. “We are trying to create puffy things in the sky to celebrate someone's death,” The one said.

The Underworld Gods didn't understand. They looked at each other in confusion. “Are you trying to make someone's death peaceful?” The Underworld Gods asked.

“Yes, that's exactly what we are trying to do,” said the After Gods. The Underworld Gods went back into the ground and worked on the graves. Meanwhile, the After Gods continued to work on their project.

“What are we going to call these fluffy thing?” asked one of the After Gods.

“Well, we could think of a name after we create these wonderful fluffs for the dead.”

The gods realized that they could burn their creations and have the smoke lift them into the sky. They created more and more and when night time came, they burned their creations. One by one the creations floated toward the sky in relation to the deceased. There were all kinds of shapes, thousands and thousands. The gods fell asleep for they were really tired. When they woke up the next morning, they saw their creations fill the sky.

“They won't keep it from raining will they?” asked one god.

“I put water in them so it will still rain,” said another. They sat and stared for a while.

“Ooh, ah,” they said to themselves.

“I know what to call them now.”

“Lets call them clouds,” said one.

The other gods agreed to that. The gods glanced up and looked at the clouds that looked like people, clothing, animals, and almost anything you could think of. The gods were very happy that they could make death peaceful and that it can be a nice touch to the sky. The only thing they couldn't change was the fact that the wind moved the clouds, which caused their shapes to change even more. The gods, however, didn't mind that because they thought that all things need a change, and why not their new creation clouds?

If you go outside and you see a cloud that looks like something or makes you feel a certain way, that cloud was based off of someone's death. That cloud could be them or just have something to do with that person. It is the same for animals. So when a pet or relative passes away, look up at the sky and see if there is anything up there that reminds you of them.

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