“‘Listen!’ Said the Tipi-Bird” The Saras people live on the planet Jahana. They have a myth about a Tipi bird. The Tipi bird is particularly curious, and can talk. One night she sees the Great Shaper carrying many creatures, and asks him what he is doing. He tells her he has decided to destroy human civilization every 300 years. He points to a star, Eenah, and tells the tipi that every 300 years it will glow brighter, indicating the end of human civilization again. He tells her if she tells anyone, he will bring revenge on her kind. Desperate to tell someone, she tells a sleeping old woman, Rema. Still, the great shaper punishes her, preventing tipi from speaking any word but “listen.” When Rema hears that, she remembers what the tipi bird had said, and is able to save the humans. “Haiho’s Knife” This is a myth of the Sonalhi people, on planet Kutch. Long ago, people live in the sky. They have dormant creatures attached to their bodies on their heads and genitals. Eventually, the people get tired of the sky, and come down to the sea. Once there, the creatures detach from their bodies, and they come to the land. One day, a woman, Amaila, comes out of the ocean with one of the old creatures on her face. While it makes her look strange, she says it is harmless, and called the Medusa. The people accept this, except a hunter named Haiho, who decides to keep an eye on Amaila. He goes to his hut to sharpen his knife, and when he comes back to where the people were, he finds that his son had gone to Amaila’s hut. He rushes to get there, and finds Amaila dead, the Medusa attaching itself to his son. Haiho has the villagers help him use his knife, serrated specifically for removing the Medusa, to cut the Medusa off of his son. They burn the creature, and burn Amaila’s body. After that, it is forbidden to swim in the waters. One day, another woman falls from the sky with the Medusa on her body. Haiho cuts it off, but it begins growing back out of her skin. He then kills the woman and burns her body. “The Marriage of Tree and Stone” This is a myth of the Angudka tribe, on the planet Omasa. Long ago the trees and stones can move and talk. They often have children with each other, who are then quicker and more agile than pure trees and stone. Angud is a half-tree and stone child, but having been dropped, is slower than the other mixed children. He spends time with trees and stones, who protect him, and playshis whistle for them. The other mixed creatures mock him and his whistle, and tell trees and stones to stay still and silent. Angud stays behind with them, but when they stop moving, he grows lonely. Eventually, Angud’s children are born, and he teaches them to love the stones and the trees. His grandchildren brings him a whistle, which he plays once, then dies. His descendants continue to love the stone and trees, unlike the descendants of the ungrateful mixed creatures, who take advantage of them. The trees and stones remember the betrayal, and though they cannot move, crack and break under the destruction of the ungrateful children.