An homage to all the tales and storytellers from all the cultures that came before. On this Day of Mourning: Thanksgiving Day, many thanks for the wonder and the teachings that inspired generations.
Once ruled by two halves of the same whole. The great Lady and Lad ruled in the skies as the people frolicked below.
Created to be equals, they observed that there was a constant power struggle amongst the people. First, to define and differentiate between their male and female half, and second, to define which side should take control.
Puzzled by this conflict that they did not create, they sent a messenger down to find out what was going on.
Sparrow was sent down because she was very fast and very small and loved to talk a lot. She flew from house to house, settling in among the bushes and the trees that abounded and listened in as the people interacting with one another. What she heard astounded her.
Wherever she went, there was great talk about this creature called the “Earwig”. It was said that the earwig roamed from house to house during the night and crawled into the ears of the people to whisper and tell them what their gender should be. One would never know ones sex unless one woke up and found the earwig in either it’s male or female state. According to the people, the male state was active, had two legs, and arms out wide, the female state was submissive and had a more streamlined and curvy figure.
Sparrow had never heard of such a thing so she went to seek out Earwig to find out what was going on. Sparrow had to wait until the nighttime for Earwig was not active during the day.
When it grew dark, Sparrow saw Earwig surface and set out to find dinner for the night. Realizing how hungry she was, it took all of Sparrow’s strength not to set on Earwig and eat him then and there. Sparrow swooped down and landed in front of Earwig, giving him a grand fright.
“Wait! Do not run away. I have something to ask you,” Sparrow said.
“What business could you have with me, Sparrow? Your kind is only meant to eat creatures like me.” And Sparrow went on to describe her task. Upon hearing the story of the Earwigs from Sparrow’s beak, Earwig rolled over and laughed aloud. When once his body was in it’s “female form” in submission and fright, now his body was extended to reveal it’s “male form”.
“Well Earwig, you are then both male and female according to the humans. How can this be?”
“It is true that we flit from bed to bed in the middle of the night, but we do not set upon the human’s brains to gender them. It was all apart of the Big Earwig’s plan. You see, the humans would see us and set out to kill us immediately, so Big Earwig suggested that we make ourselves invaluable to them. If the people believed that we decided what gender they would become, when they woke during the night, they would not try to attack us and we would be able to hunt in peace.
In truth, it has worked out for us quite well and our numbers have increased significantly. As we pass a person, we whisper to them while they sleep about the tale we’d have them believe so that when they wake up, they hesitate. And some remember our words when they wake, so they have spread the tale amongst the other humans.”
“Well why do the humans believe that the male is more important than the female, is that too your doing?” Sparrow looked at Earwig accusingly.
“Well you see, when Big Earwig went to gather information about the humans, he saw how well they worked together when both halves were in balance. Not submissive but nurturing, community-oriented, a good communicator, a great planner, and thinker was the female half. Not erratic, bossy, and violent but protective, brave and independent, a doer was the male half. Together, Big Earwig could see that the humans would figure out the trick immediately, so the plan was to divide the humans and set them against one another.”
Appalled by the trick, Sparrow scooped Earwig into her beak and flew back to the Lad and Lady in the sky so that Earwig could tell them exactly what he’d told her.
“Why did you not come to us to help you. We could have made you faster, smaller and more stealthy.” Lady said.
“Well you see, we have observed the humans kill what they think is ugly and different. We like ourselves as we are and we did not want you to change us to look more “beautiful” like Panda or to act more loyal like Dog. We thought that to trick them was the only way,” Earwig cried.
“Is there not still time to teach the humans to love one another and their differences?” Lady said.
“Well, I fear that this charade has gone on far too long and far too many people have heard this tale. So what shall we do?” Lad mused.
“I think we should try to teach them to love both halves of themselves,” Lady said.
“Well, I think we should split them as that is what they are now looking for,” Lad replied. Unable to decide, Lad got a coin. “Lady, you are head since you’d have us repurpose the minds and reteach the humans, I will be tails, for I think all has gone to sh—”
“I agree,” Sparrow said under her breath. So the coin was flipped and tails was picked and the humans were then gendered.
“But Lady, I believe you are right, so I have left some humans to decide what gender they would be. Some physically are both and some mentally must decide if their physical form is representative of their mental state. I also agree that work needs to be done to educate the humans on the importance of both the male and female for if they do not learn, there will never be any peace,” Lad said.
“And I believe that, though clever, earwigs should be punished for their folly by the same kind of deceit they inflicted upon the humans,” Lady decreed. “Earwig, now humans will think that in the night, you do not gender them for they are already gendered. They will think that in the night, you crawl into their ears and eat their brains.
“What’s more, as a thanks to Sparrow, sparrows, among other creatures, will find earwigs irresistible and hunt them to stop you all from spreading your lies.”
“And so it shall be,” Lad said.
“And so it shall be,” Lady decreed.
Caia Rose 