"Light is what we need."
An excerpt from an experimental serial novel published on the digital spaces, The Promise of Shaconage.
Timpoochee remembered with love sitting around the town house with the younger children listening to Yufala recite the ancient tales.
“In the old days,” he would begin. “There was no light anywhere.
“The animal people stumbled around in the darkness. Whenever one bumped into another he would say, ‘what we need in the world is light.’
“And the other would reply, ‘yes, indeed light is what we need - badly.’
“At last the animals called a meeting and gathered together as best they could in the dark. The red headed woodpecker said, ‘I have heard there are people who have light on the other side of the world.’
“‘Good, good,’ everyone said.
“‘If they have all the light they must be greedy people,’ said the fox. ‘Who would not want to share any? Maybe we should just go over there and take the light from them.’
“At once all the animals sharted to shout, ‘who shall go?’
“And they argued and argued about who was the strongest and ran the fastest and who was best able to go and steal the light.
“Finally, the possum said, ‘I can try. I have a fine big bushy tail and I can hide the light inside my fur.’
“‘Good, good,’ said all the others and the possum set out.”