“That would be a new one, to me,” he slithered in, all charm, “as the way I heard it . . .” and he waited until he was sure their attention was settled.
Once, when the earth was young, for it too ages as we, there was eternal dark. The world itself was no different from living within a cave and because of this the Motherfather had not yet created us, her children, for we could not have survived the infancy of this world. Instead, there were—wilder than we know them today—a variety of pets and familiars that roamed the great world.
This darker world was ruled by predators and this was most notably true of the lynx with its dark pelt and cold eyes. It was unrivaled and could not be killed. It fretted the wildlife and it relished their fear. Except for the rugged whale shark which could elude the lynx with unrivaled dives into the deepest of waters.
In their fear, the wildlife sought out the rugged whale shark and pleaded with it to end the lynx's terrible reign. It, however, had no need of the lynx to be killed for it was as untouchable as the great cat.
“Are you?” the crane asked, from its wading spot amongst the reeds. “You cannot trek into the far off lands like the great lynx can. And neither of you can fly into the sky such as I. Would you win a fair fight against the land terror that these creatures fear?”
“I need not prove myself to you, a great coward who takes turns hiding in the sky,” the whale shark shot back, clearly agitated by such an accusation. “The great lynx will never take me on, for it knows it cannot win.”
“And if we could ensure it would take you on? If we could make the cat accept such a challenge?”
“I would and will win any such challenge from the great lynx,” it commanded and then it was gone.
Trembling, the wildlife turned to the crane, “why do you make our only hope so angry?”
“If we defeat the great lynx, who will terrorize you next but the great whale shark? You cannot be rid of one without the other. And we stand no chance against the terrible cat without light. We need a fire salamander to threaten the cat with; to bring a new balance to our home where we can see and it must wait until the light fades to hunt. We need a cycle of light to thrive, my friends.”
And so it was that the wildlife began their hunt.
It was the spider who caught the salamander in her web, and with much help from a benevolent fat fish—who could hold it within its great belly—brought it to the great whale shark. Its beady eyes glittered and its toothier smile, made the wildlife tremble at remembrance of the crane's words.
The great lynx roared, “You cannot defeat me with a salamander or without!”
It leapt forward to take what the wildlife had caught but the whale shark was closer and took the fire salamander within its great wide mouth. The crane and its sister took to the sky, one taking the killer whale within its short claws while the other took the lynx. Together they rose and rose until both struggled furiously. And then they threw them both to the heavens.
The whale shark desperate began to swim through the wide air and the fire salamander within shone more and more brightly the higher it ascended. Behind it the great lynx thundered on. And it so happened that the two fell exactly halfway apart no matter which way they tried to run.
There are those who say that the whale shark chases the lynx to takes its place as the apex predator; others say that the lynx chases the whale shark to disavow it of the fire salamander. Both are wrong and both are right. For they chase each other endless and we thrive in their absence.
Sylph chuckled at their faces, “but that is only the story I heard. What, young ones, have you heard of the sun? Or of the moon?”