Life
is Precious
A
Yahgahn Fable
Some time ago, there was a family of
Guiimin Trelli living in the deepest parts of the jungles. Like most people,
they had good lives despite their unforgiving environment; they told stories,
worked, and played.
One day, two best friends were playing
out farther than they normally went, looking for Findok fruit.
“Jiinii! Come see!”
“What is it, Kiinis?” asked Jiinii.
“I think I found some Findok fruit!”
“Really?”
“Yes, it’s right over this
waaaaayyy!!!” Kiinis was screaming, sudden fear in her voice.
“Kiinis? KIINIS? WHAT’S WRONG?” Jiinii
ran to find out what was happening. She saw that her friend was being grabbed
and pulled by a Pit Plant, a predatory plant that fed on large animals. Kiinis
was so far in the plant’s clutches that to try to rescue her would be almost
like suicide, for it would be very difficult to survive. Paralyzed with fear,
Jiinii turned her eyes away from the sight of her friend being eaten. But
finally, with teary eyes, she realized that if she just let her friend die,
she’d feel rotten about it for the rest of her life. The others would
understand and say, ‘At least one of you got away.’ But Jiinii couldn’t
just stand there. The family would be devastated if they both died, but Jiinii
steeled herself and ran after her friend.
She started pulling at the plant and pulling Kiinis, trying to pull her out. Then she beat the plant harder than she had ever hit anything in her life before, blows so hard that they would have knocked out a Duenicallo. But the plant kept pulling Kiinis in; and Kiinis was beginning to weaken from trying to pull away from the Pit Plant. Finally, Jiinii grabbed a sharp rock and started slashing at the Pit Plant. She dealt a mighty blow to the largest and thickest vine holding onto Kiinis, and the plant let go, the pain having finally gotten to it. The plant shrieked, a horrid sound, and grabbed Jiinii by the leg, then by the arm. Soon, Jiinii could not move, except for forward, and it was with great sadness that she noticed that Kiinis had been recaptured as well.
Finally, not wanting to go out easily,
Jiinii bit down hard on the Pit Plant. This got a screech out of it, so she
began to bite chunks out of the vines that were grabbing her. The Pit Plant was
in such pain that it gave up on Jiinii, and continued to pull in the weak
Kiinis. Jiinii, though exhausted herself, ran over to Kiinis and began to bite
chunks out of the vines holding her friend. Finally, the Pit Plant gave up
altogether and retreated. As Jiinii dragged Kiinis back to safety, she
mercilessly threw sharp rocks at the Pit Plant, obtaining horrible screeches
from it.
Jiinii had saved her friend not because she expected a reward, but because she knew it was the right thing to do, even if she would die too. Thus, the moral of this story is that true heroism is when one expects no reward. It is not fearlessness, for it is when you face your fear and don’t let it bother you, in exchange for something you know is right.