Space Strikes 2

This story will be continued as I find the inspiration to do so.

In early space travel, there were just people flying through space. Old friends would be found, new friends made, fun was had by all. Those situations were rare now, but they weren't extinct. Yesterday, Sarah's brother, Gregor, tried to steal from her and managed to get thrown in jail. She decided to let him sit for a few days. Sarah meandered around the markets for the day, sampling exotic fruits, and eventually found herself in a story-circle. Her and Gregor had always loved to sit with their mother and listen to tales from the old scavengers and space-pirates.

"Good men and women of the skies! Might I join your circle? I have some stories that you may enjoy." Sarah silenced the laughter as she strolled up.

"You'z dat sistah, ain't ya!You's und ya brovah is dat bouny hunnah pair! Ol' Mama Snakeskin erd 'o ya two. She dun known ya mama too." Sarah smiled at the toothless woman. She remembered Old Mama Snakeskin fondly. The woman was covered from head to foot in tattoos of anything the mind could come up with. A chemical reaction when she went out in space hardened her skin like that of a snake. Sarah walked over and sat by the woman.

"Hello again Mama Snakeskin. May I sit and join your circle?" She nodded, taking Sarah's hands into her own. The men looked uncomfortable in Sarah's presence, seeing as most were pirates or outlaws.

"I assure you, there is no need to worry about me. I'm off duty while my moronic brother and I are on this planet." The men nodded and slowly went back to storytelling.

"'Ave y'all ever heard the story of the First Fliers?" men shook their heads, so the story continued "Well, it goes like this. Once, when we was all stuck on that rock we called Earth, there was this guy and his son. Now, the son was just a little tyke, but he was sure interested in what his papa was whippin' up for 'em. The daddy, he was tryin' to make them both pairs of wings! With feathers and everythin'! See, they was trying tah get away from their ruler and they didn't have cars or nothin' yet. The daddy finally finished and told his boy, 'Now son, you gotta follow me or else you might die and daddy wont be able to save ya. You don't got too high up or the sun'll fry up them wings, but you can't get too low or the water'll get yer feathers wet. You got that? You're a big boy now so you gotta do wha I tell ya.', but the daddy knew his little son might not make it. Sure enough, they started out and the boy was doin' fine, till he got distracted by a bug er somethin', then he fell into the water and drowned! The daddy knew he couldn't look back or he would fall too but he knew his boy wasn't there anymore. That's why it took humans so long to try and get back up in the sky!" The man folded his arms, clearly pleased with his story.

"Yeah? I got a better story for y'all! Make your hearts all warm and soft like after hearing a sad story. Used to be that Gods would walk amongst humans, just to see who would be nice and to make sure everyone was behaving real nice. Well, two Gods were walking through this huge village, asking for some food and a place to sit. Everyone in town turned them away! Except the little old couple at the very end. They took in the Gods, fed them as best they could and gave them wine and a place to rest even though the two had nothin for themselves! The Gods were very pleased by this and told the two to follow them when they left and that they would be rewarded. The couple did and when they looked back at their town, it was gone! Their shabby little hut had turned into a great temple! The Gods granted the two each a wish. One wished to be able to watch over the temple as a priest and the other wished to die along with his partner so they wouldn't ever have to be a part. The Gods agreed and the two lived happily ever after!"

Sarah brushed away a small tear trying to escape. More stories were told and Sarah did her best to remember them all so she could write them down in her journal when she got back to her ship.

"There once was an angry fellow who went and chopped down a fancy tree in a fancy forest," started one man.

"Grove.", called out another. This man was clearly a little more educated and knew the story about to be told.

"Bless you. Anyway, he chopped down that tree and it turned into a beautiful glowing woman! The Goddess lady she was friends with got angry and called on her sister's cousin's friend or whatever. Anyway, she called on this other Goddess to go and make the man always be hungry! It worked and eventually the man ate through all of his money and even tried to sell his own daughter! Well, somethin happened to her and she got to turn into different things to trick people into giving her dad money. Eventually, when he couldn't do that no more, he ate himself all up! Crazy!" everyone chuckled.

Old Mama Snakeskin stood as did the man beside her. He was supposed to be her translator, as she spoke her native tongue.

"There once was a man who could turn into many animals. He fell in love with another man's wife and went to fight for her love. The shifter man fought hard, using all of his animal forms to aid him, but in the end, he only ended up losing a horn. Another man, not a shifter, also went through a great tragedy for a woman. The same man who defeated the shifter, struck the new man with a poisoned arrow as he tried to steal his bride. The strong man, Hercules, had gone home, thinking of how to save his lady. His wife sent him the poisoned shirt to show him she was still alive. Hercules put on the shirt, not knowing it was poisoned. Eventually, the poison seemed into his body and though he cried to his Gods to save him, the poison ate his flesh like a ravenous fire." Mama Snakeskin and the boy sat down.

Finally, Sarah stood and the crowd fell silent.

"Last story friends, then I must depart. There once was a daughter who loved her father as more than a father. She wanted him to embrace her and love her as he did her mother. One night, when the mother was to be away for a week, the nurse caught the daughter trying to hang herself. When the nurse asked why she was doing this the daughter told her nurse about her incestuous love of her father. The nurse knew the mother would be gone and so talked the father into seeing the young beautiful girl. The father had no idea it was his daughter until he decided to see who this new love was. When he discovered he kicked her from the house. The daughter, wandering and ready to die, ended up turing into a tree. The baby that was growing inside of her still was born and became a favorite of the Gods and Goddesses. One day, however, when he was older and out hunting, he tried to take down a boar much too large for him. He ended up being killed but also being allowed to join his Gods and Goddesses."

The men clapped, Sarah said her good-byes, then went on her marry way.

Author's note:

So this story is based off of the first half of the Ovid's Metamorphosis III as well as one of my other stories. Basically, there are a bunch of Gods and Goddesses sitting around telling stories. The stories usually have patters between them and they are all mostly about something to do with humanity.

Bibliography:

Story source: Ovid's Metamorphosis III translated to English by Tony Kline (2000)