The Shy One

A Yahgahn Fable

Once there was a “Too-tall” Trelli named Sahn-Bahnis (Meaning, “of the Big People”) who always watched the other children play, but froze up when asked to join them. No matter how hard she tried, she always had a hard time socializing with people she didn’t know.

It happened that one day she saw another Trelli who also seemed to be shy like her. Knowing how bad she felt when she was all alone, Sahn-Bahnis slowly, quietly, and seemingly without destination went to sit next to the other, and played quietly with a rock and a piece of wood.

For a long while, the other watched her play, looking away when Sahn-Bahnis would look up at her. Eventually, though, the other child cautiously began to join in the game with her doll made of sticks and dead leaves.

The two played together for hours, and kept coming back every day after that. One day, while they were resting from playing, Sahn-Bahnis finally decided to try talking with her—just to talk. (They made their toys talk while they played, but neither knew anything else about each other.)

“Well… I figured that since we’ve been playing together so long, we could talk?” asked Sahn-Bahnis.

“Okay. Sounds good to me.”

“Okay… what’s your name?”

“What’s yours?”

“My name is Sahn-Bahnis. It means ‘of the Big People.’ ”

The other nodded. “My name is Kuinar, which means ‘Elegant One.’ ”

“Very beautiful name.”

“Thank you. Yours too.”

After several weeks, these two playmates became fast friends. And even though they both still were a little shy, they had overcome their shyness enough because of this friendship that they ran around like normal Trelli children, climbed trees, and swung on vines. They then became friends with the other Trelli children. These two playmates continued to be best friends right up to their death. They are most likely still friends.

The End