Week 11 Story: Thunder

     I can hardly remember my mother. I had been taken by  the thunder gods when I was so young that most of my life had been spent with them. Life with the thunder gods wasn't too bad. I couldn't participate in many of their activities as I was mortal, and they preferred their own kind too me, but they treated me well enough. However, I always knew that as soon as I could escape, I would find my mother and return to her. I knew the ways of the gods now, and I knew how to keep her safe.
     One cool, clear day was the perfect moment for my escape. Tomorrow would be the day of sacrifice, where the thunder gods called out to those that were promised to them. Today, they reviewed the list of promised sacrifices and anticipated the start of a wonderful new year.
     I went back to where the thunder gods told me they had taken me. I could only hope that my mother didn't live too far from there. I found the river from where I had been taken and looked around for any clue of where my mother could be. There was one worn path from leading from the river, but when I followed it, it only lead to an abandoned old lodge.

By Larisa Koshkina. Public Domain

     I was about to give up when I heard in the distance a woman singing. I followed the noise and saw a woman knelt at the river bank, singing a terribly sorrowful song. Her clothes were rags and she looked beaten by life. I approached her slowly.
     "Hello?"
     She looked up quickly. She opened her mouth like she wanted to say something, but snapped it shut. She stared at my eyes, searching for something.
     "My name is Ashish. As a young child, I was taken from my mother at this river by the thunder gods. I have been waiting all this time to find her. Do you know where she might be?"
     Suddenly she was up, her arms wrapped around my neck. "I always prayed you'd come back to me."

Author's Note: When I read the story An Indian's Vow to the Thunder Gods, I found it horribly sad. While I'm usually down for sad stories, this just seemed particularly poignant. The way she lives in fear of losing her child for years, only to be there when he is struck dead. And the imagery of her trying to leave him to be sacrificed, but by this point he is too old that he goes after her, wanting his mother, it was just too much to bear. So I decided to give it a happy ending.

An Indian's Vow to the Thunder Gods: Myths and Legends of the Pacific Northwest, especially of Washington and Oregon, by Katharine Berry Judson (1910).