Storytelling for Week 5: What Makes the Thunder and Lightning

What Makes the Thunder and Lightning

U Pyrthat cradled his great drum in with the gentleness of a mother holding a child, the thick fingers of his four arms blurring as they struck the instrument’s tightly stretched animal skin. Although his hands seemed to strike the drum only lightly, the sound that came out was deep and resonant. The booms of the drum added an energizing baseline that supported the cheerful trills of flutes and bombastic crash of cymbals. The thunder giant sat in the center of the clearing that he had chosen as the location for the great festival he had organized, his large form intimidating and yet majestic in the light of the full moon. Around him were animals of every kind, every creature from the snail to the squirrel to the tiger. They had all come to U Pythat’s party to eat, talk, and dance.

The dancers were many, and all of them whirled and flipped with vigor and grace to the steady beat of the drums and the metallic clash of cymbals. The dancers all carried weapons of some kind, lending a distinctly martial flavor to their dances. Moonlight flashed across blurring iron as the dancers’ weapons were spun and thrown into the air like batons before being caught again by deft paws. The spectacle of cavorting beasts was one that any man would surely be astounded to witness, although no men were there at the party, fur U Pyrthat had intended this festival to be one reserved for the animals alone.

Although all of the dancers were skilled, none could compare to the lynx U Kui when it came to elegance and fluidity of movement. Neither could any of their weapons compare to the jeweled sword that he had brought with him. The curved blade glowed with a constant and dazzling illumination, as if having captured the light of the moon itself and trapped it inside the steel. As U Kui twirled it rhythmically  around his lithe frame, the sword seemed to leave a trail of faint light in the wake of its movements that hung in the air momentarily before slowly fading away. The effect was such that it seemed liked the lynx was painting the very air around him in streaks of transient silver light.

All of the animals at the party were mesmerized by U Kui’s skill and the beauty of his sword. U Pyrthat’s amber eyes gazed upon the lynx’s sword with abject envy. When there was a brief pause in the music, the thunder giant walked over to the resting U Kui and pointed to the lynx’s sword.

“U Kui, let me borrow that sword for a while,” U Pythat said. “I wish to dance with it as well.”

U Kui’s sharp eyes narrowed as they gazed up at the giant, his pointed ears folding down slightly. “This is my sword, U Pythat. I will not allow another to dance with it.”

Other animals overheard the lynx’s rude refusal and glared at him in anger.

“Do not be so selfish, U Kui!” one of the animals remonstrated.

“U Pythat is our host!” another animal said. “Were it not for him, you would not have been able to come here and dance!”

U Kui found himself wilting beneath the scowls of his fellow animals and their words of chastisement. With a low grumble, the lynx reluctantly gave his sword to U Pythat. The giant eagerly accepted the blade and walked back to the center of the clearing.

When the music started back up, U Kui, still sore over being forced to lend his sword out, did not dance. Instead he watched as U Pythat took up his drum again in one pair of hands while holding the lynx’s sword in a third hand. When the music started up again, the thunder giant managed the impressive task of simultaneously striking his drum, twirling U Kui’s blade, and dancing. Now it was the thunder giant who had everyone’s attention. His powerful legs pounded against the ground in rhythm with his drumbeats, which now boomed so loudly that the ground itself began to shake.

U Kui watched anxiously as U Pythat pirouetted about with a grace that belied his great size. The thunder giant slashed the lynx’s sword every which way, leaving streaks of light all around his person. U Kui had to admit that U Pythat was even more adept than he himself was at dancing. The prideful lynx growled a barely audible complaint and wondered when the giant would stop dancing and give him back his sword.

Suddenly U Pythat leaped high into the air even as he continued to whirl U Kui’s sword and beat his own drum. U Kui shot back up to his paws and ran to the place where the giant had been dancing just before, an angry roar tearing from his throat. He could do nothing but watch helplessly as U Pythat disappeared into the purple clouds above. Although none of the animals could see the giant’s body any longer, they could still make out the bright streaks of light produced by U Kui’s sword flashing inside the clouds. They could also still hear the loud booms of the thunder giant’s great drum.

This is how thunder and lightning came into existence. This is also why U Kui never wanders far from his home, for it is there where he is building a large mound that he hopes will one day allow him to reach the sky, where he can reclaim the blade that was stolen from him.

Author's Note: This story is basically a slightly more detailed version of the tale "What Makes the Lightning" from the Khasi folktales unit. The story as I've told it pretty much goes the exact same way as the original story. I was kind of pressed for time this Wednesday, so I couldn't think of any clever way to retell it. I basically just focused on telling the story in a way that focused on filling in some of the descriptive details that the original tale didn't give. 

U Kui looking kind of mad. Who can blame him? (Wikipedia Commons)
Photo taken by Tony Hisgett (2013)

Bibliography Information

Title: Folk-tales of the Khasis

Author: K.U. Rafy

Year Published: 1920

Source: Un-textbook