BY ITSUISH KAWAEI
That’s right, this is a story I’m sharing only with you. I’ll tell you if you promise not to tell anyone. It’s an ancient story from long, long ago, even before the gods came into being. It was a time when seeds of mythology, as fine as a cloud of dust, were still everywhere, floating freely, frolicking about. A cosmic egg, a sign of life, was being raised by a large moth;an enormous white moth.
That moth wrapped the cosmic egg in its thick wings and patiently nurtured it for countless years. One morning, sensing that its end was near, the moth lay down. When it was on the brink of death, a girl with the face of a lion appeared and started slowly strumming a lyre. Taking the melody as a sign, the moth gathered the last of its strength and spread its wings, which were more heavily wet than usual.
As it spread its wings, the dying moth released a seductive, elegant scent into the air. At the same time as this scent, each sign of life took flight and began their journey. What a wonderful moment that was. Tears like red wine dripped from six breasts on the moth’s forewings, and a spring of red nectar formed where the tears fell. The elegant scent emanating from the moth’s corpse blended with the sweet scent of the nectar and spread all around. One of the signs of life became a pill bug and appeared, lured by the indescribable scent. No, it might be more accurate to say returned.
The pill bug peered into the world beyond the spring as if it were the most natural thing to do. The lion-faced girl said, “The place is a womb of emptiness in the form of nectar. If you look into the abyss of emptiness, your heart will also turn black like darkness. From there, troublesome myths like history, religion, and economy will be born and selfishly flow everywhere.” However, the red nectar was too sweet and enticing for the pill bug to heed her warning.
It was convinced that by drinking the nectar, it could give off the same sweet scent, shine, and become an extraordinarily large being. The pill bug borrowed the strength of its friend the caterpillar and continuously scooped out nectar for three days and three nights. The nectar that was drawn became an extremely large river that flowed every which way. It branched into countless different rivers (a part of which, as you know, became the Milky Way), grew everywhere like capillaries and before long, began to pulse.
Every time they pulsed, the world was covered in the moth’s iridescent powder. Then one day, it struck the caterpillar as ridiculous that the pill bug continued to dig for nectar so earnestly and pushed it into the spring. Perhaps it had been possessed by an evil spirit. The caterpillar put a lid made of lead on the spring and trapped the pill bug inside. What a predicament. The pill bug curled itself up and tumbled into a pitch-black world. It was trembling with fear, but it somehow crawled up, crying and screaming, trying to get out of the spring, but the lead lid was so heavy it wouldn’t budge.
A scorpion appeared and encouraged the pill bug to dig even deeper into the spring instead of opening the lid. The pill bug continued to dig as it was told, then surprisingly, there stretched before it a blue sky that seemed to suck it in. An alpaca with countless legs like a centipede was walking briskly across the sky. It wasn’t walking aimlessly and randomly. It was following the veins of tears running down the breasts of the moth, etched endlessly into the heavens. The steady rhythm of the alpaca’s gait seemed reliable, so the pill bug decided to follow the alpaca for the time being.
Then, it came across the girl with the face of a lion trying to create angels by playing the lyre. The newly-made angels were very anxious and trembled. The lion-faced girl seemed to be shouting, “I created you, now listen to the tune of this lyre and follow me!” Apparently, her grand plan was to raise angels on her private property, a ranch with many fences, and from there carefully build up history. The pill bug was surprised by the lion-faced girl’s attitude and tone of voice, which were completely different from what it knew of her. It curled up and decided to observe this exchange for the time being.
There were angels who didn’t believe the lion-faced girl at all, but a few, not knowing whether she was being truthful or not, were at a loss. In the midst of this, one angel, looking anxious, said to the lion-faced girl, “If you’re truly the creator, make a person and show us.” “That’s an easy request,” she replied, and the lion-faced girl formed the body of a human being instantly. However, they had no souls.
Their souls had been left out. Unable to just stand by and watch, the pill bug finally said to the angels, “Instead of following the tune of the lyre played by the lion-faced girl, breathe in time with the rhythm of the shine of the iridescent powder.” Hearing the calm advice made the angels suddenly come to their senses.
The lion-faced girl became red with anger, and the heat of that caused the lion to peel off of her face. She’d been thought of as the girl with the face of a lion, but she was actually a duck. The duck, as if nothing had happened, set off in search of the spring of red nectar. Dazed, the angels stood frozen. The pill bug pulled them along and collected the remains of the powder that hadn’t fully dried and decided to scatter them around the world.
The powder sparkled every time it was sprinkled and made a dry, clattering sound. It became the seeds of myths that lived on and pulsated throughout the ages. When the minstrels who received those seeds told the myths, the seeds gave birth to even more myths and spread all across the world.
This was long before the sun and the moon were born. Yes, it’s a story from extraordinarily ancient times. That’s right, now that you know the secret of the creation of the world, in time, you will probably spread powder too. It’s proof that the tears dripping from the moth’s breasts have begun beating within you.
Written on the occasion of Clara Spilliart’s solo exhibition “Clara Sekirara”
The Ethiopian Herald September 15/2022
