Myth of the Spider and the Fire

(( I’d been thinking of trying to come up up with some myths that fit troll lore in wow. I kinda adapted from a couple of 'Spider goddess' stories I found and came up with this ))

Shivering slightly in the cool night air, Chabat finished writing in her diary for the night. With no moon or stars visible, the fire was her only source of light. Huddling closer to its warmth, a memory suddenly surfaced…

Sen’jin village was still under construction and the fretful whelps, still coming to terms with the recent upheavals, huddled miserably by the fire.

An old female joined them and seeking to soothe their fears, told them the story of how fire was brought to the world…

*

Long ago, the Peoples of the world lived in darkness. There were the troll people, the insect people, the animal people, the reptile people and the bird people.

Life was cold and hard for there was no sun, nor moon, nor stars and the People complained until a great meeting was held.

It was decreed that one of each of the People would set out to try and find a solution to the problem.

Much time passed and one by one the searchers returned, all of them empty handed.

All expect Spider who everybody thought must have been stepped upon in the dark, as she was so small.

But Spider was not squashed. Spider had crawled to the highest place she could find and spun two silver strands, one connecting east to west, the other north to south. This connected the four corners of the earth, with Spider as the centre.

From here, she travelled the world safely until in the east she saw a light. The light was high in the sky so loosing a silken thread Spider let the air, warmed by the distant light, carry her upwards into the sky.

Soon, Spider saw the great fire burning before her and thought how she could return it to the earth so the Peoples could see and warm themselves.

Slowly, Spider wove a great net, which she cast about the great fire. As she pulled it behind her, small flames leapt free to litter the sky and these became the stars.

When Spider returned to the web she had made, she tied the fire to the centre and made to leave so she might let the people know of her success. A voice spoke to Spider asking why she had tied the fire to this place.

Spider replied ‘the People need light and heat that they might grow.’ The spirit of the fire looked down at the world and saw the chaos of the dark and took pity on the people.

‘Spider, if you take me closer to the People, they will burn. My light is too bright. I will give you a portion of the flame to take back to the People and you shall teach them to use it.’

Spider agreed and the spirit of the fire balanced a small flame upon her back to take to the People.

When she returned to the meeting place, many of the people mocked Spider for she was very small and the flame she brought was tiny.

‘That will never be enough to light world’ cried the birds and the reptiles and they left the meeting place and never learned the secret.

The insects and the trolls and the animals were more patient. They waited for Spider to explain what had happened.

Spider was puzzled for she knew the Spirit of the fire had agreed to light the world and the fire on her back had lit her way back perfectly well. So, holding to her promise, she taught those of the people that remained how to use the fire.

After a time, the People wanted to see the great fire for themselves despite Spider’s warning so she reluctantly took then back to where she had tethered the great fire.

The people began to suffer in the heat and soon they cried and wailed that Spider had brought doom upon them.

Spider ran to the great fire ‘I am sorry’ she said. ‘They are burning as you warned me they would.’

‘You must release me Spider’ replied the fire spirit.

‘But the world will be dark again.’ Spider cried

‘No Spider, I will drift above you, my light and warmth will travel round the world and behind me the small spots of fire will light the sky. The People must use the portion you took back wisely so they will never be in true darkness again.’

And so Spider cut loose the great fire and the people learned to use the gift she had brought them wisely and there was order, for a time…

*

((note: in this adaptation, the trolls would one day branch into Night elves and Modern trolls (just to wind up any n-elf players reading ), the animals would become Tauren, Humans, Furbolgs etc., and the insects became the Quir’ahji and Nerubians. All these races were able to form civilisations (yes some were more advanced than others) and I believe that requires the intentional use of fire (it’s listed as the 1st of the great advances in human civilisation . Hope you all like it ))

Loved it

good news everyone! (heh, love to use futurama ref.s)

Alaster (as his troll Loko) has agreed to tell this story at the fire festival.

That's great!
I wonder if the Spider in this myth is the very same as the goddess Shadra (whose avatar we have the chance to fight in the Hinterlands, her high priestess in Zul'Gurub, and is the protector Loa of Ryleen and Deyyania)?