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How it Began

Thank you young man, that cools my throat right well. This is the one about the boy who stole the ice from the moon. Remember? He took a fairy wife, and she bore him so many children they outnumbered the stars. Or wait! They were the stars, I mean they are the stars, but he didn't steal the ice from the moon, he stole the eyes from the sun. And it was his eldest son killed him; his blood became our blood. That's why you probably don't remember him, he had to die for humanity to come into the world. And his youngest son, or maybe it was the seventh one, he married the last mermaid. The one who left the sea, but she went back. And he could hold his breath for a terribly long time, because he had cut out the air bladder of the great fish, the one Earth was balanced on. Of course the fish is dead now. The Hungry Multitude were fed with its flesh, and its bones became the mountains. Earth now flies alone through space, accompanied only by the moon. But I was talking about the seventh son. The seventh son could breathe under water as long as you please, but he drowned in the end. The Sea King, the one who had wanted to wed the mermaid, he sent one of his daughters to seduce the mermaid's husband and steal his air bladder. It worked too, men are so predictable. By this time earth was covered in people; they were becoming a nuisance. A bad end to the blood of he who stole eyes from the sun. When the dead god's children looked down and saw what mankind had done to the Earth, they wept. So many tears fell that there was a great flood. You have probably heard of that at least. Fella said the creator of the universe told him to build a big ship so the animals wouldn't drown, but it was one of the mermaid's daughters. You would think she'd hold a grudge against humans, but she remembered how the Prince's daughter had helped the mermaid soak her feet, and brought her water. So that's how it happened. Most of it anyway.