Humans were once silent and shadowless. Those who walked in the light and produced darkness with their body were shunned for they had broken the sacred silence that kept the dark at bay; once a shadow is released, it can never be rescinded. There was one who had spoken, brave or stupid enough to want to see what would happen if he did so; he was driven mad by his dark passenger on the ground, following his every step and eventually, following him off a cliff. However, silence did not guarantee people a shadowless existence – there were those who said too much with their body, and though they noticed their mistake, there are traces of darkness that follow them everywhere.
Into this world, a child was birthed and abandoned, for her parents were poor and could not afford to feed her. Left in a forest, the child screamed and screamed until a passing bear found her. Though humans were silent, this was a time when animals could speak, for they did not fear the shadows and knew what the dark passenger represented. The bear raised the child as her own, and the child, growing up amongst the animals of the forest, learned to speak. As she grew older, she began to explore beyond the forest and one day came upon a village. Despite the animals’ warnings, she grew curious and decided to enter the village. The villagers, upon seeing her full-bodied shadow, captured what they thought was a madwoman and locked her up.
For three days she was held with little food or water; the girl tried to get the villagers to listen to her, to hear her explain that the dark follower was not fearsome at all. None stayed to listen so instead, she decided to tell her story. She spoke to no one in particular at first, but she was not deterred. She started with the story of her birth and abandonment, then she spoke of her Mother Bear and her Father Deer. She recounted the hilarious ventures of her Cousin Squirrel and his quest for a nut, and her Brother Rabbit, who constantly, but lovingly, complained about the sixteen mouths he had to feed. As she told these stories, more and more of the villagers gathered around her. They were wary of her shadow, but soon realized that it did them no harm, and they were far too fascinated by her stories to leave.
Suddenly a child stood up and though he did not speak – silence had muted spoken language for too long in the village – he mimed. He shared the story of his first time swimming that day, the anxiety he felt as he stared into the water’s bottomless depths, the fear as he jumped squeezing his eyes shut, and the relief as he broke through the surface of the water for air. Despite seeing the child’s shadow grow, the villagers all listened intently. Soon a pair of newly-weds stepped forward and together they danced, each step a show of their joy in their new life together – a story of love. More and more villagers stepped forward to tell their stories, and more and more shadows appeared. Some, seeing the many shadows, fell back into their usual misgivings and tried to take it all back, but the shadows could not be retracted. Others realized that their dark silhouettes were not evil nor were they to be feared. Shadows are the embodiment of stories – everyone has a story. Some tales are taller than others, and some tales, like the shadow of the wind, can never be told. Sometimes they blend with the stories around them, just as shadows blend with the surrounding darkness, but they are always there. We are all followed by the stories we tell, “for once a story is told, it cannot be called back. Once told, it is loose in world.”
Source: http://www.tlc-systems.com/dsc01698_lzn.jpg
Author’s note:
I had written another story before this, a story about a tyrant who kept his slaves isolated from the world so that they would not know freedom existed elsewhere, but then a wandering traveler sneaks into the tyrant’s land and shares the stories of other places where people are free. These stories of liberty spread amongst the slaves who then revolt against their oppressive ruler and gain their freedom. That was the story I was going to post. A friend of mine changed my mind when he spoke of shadows and how, like stories, everyone has one. What immediately came to mind was Plato’s Cave, another story of realizing that one cannot go back after experiencing something (the allegory has little to do with my story though). I knew I wanted to include anthropomorphism in this new story (one of my favourite literary devices), but beyond that I didn’t really have a plan when I began writing. I was a little apprehensive as I wrote this – I wasn’t quite sure how it would turn out, or if it would make sense at all.
Telling this story was a different matter – I’m a horrible storyteller. My terrible memory makes it difficult for me to keep the sequence of events in order. I found myself constantly trying to give clarification for previous points or backtracking to fill in a plot hole. I told the story twice – once without the story in front of me and once with. Some people enjoyed the story and others thought the moral didn’t fit.
I don’t think this is my best story, but it was one I felt compelled to tell.
Works Cited
Epley, Nicholas, Adam Waytz, and John T. Cacioppo. “On Seeing Human: A Three-Factor Theory of Anthropomorphism.” Psychological Review 114.4 (2007): 864–886. University of Chicago. Web. 1 June 2014.
Plato, and Thomas Sheehan. “The Allegory of the Cave.” Republic. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 June 2014. <http://classicalastrologer.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/plato-allegory-of-the-cave.pdf>.
that was a great story.
Thanks, Cory!
I loved how you added many elements to your story but the moral stayed the same. And I had a very similar experience writing my post. I was typing away at my first paragraph before I decided to go with something entirely different.
“Shadows are the embodiment of stories – everyone has a story. Some tales are taller than others, and some tales, like the shadow of the wind, can never be told. Sometimes they blend with the stories around them, just as shadows blend with the surrounding darkness, but they are always there.”
I thought this was a pretty interesting analogy. First thing that came to my mind was the idea of being “overshadowed”. Perhaps, stories work in a similar way (some will take the attention off others) ?
🙂