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their eyes, it was hard for them to be sure what they were looking at. But then they saw that ahead of them lay a vast, secret bowl, an ancient volcanic crater concealed among the mountains, ringed by the ridge on which they stood. The bottom of the bowl was hidden from them by the slope, but it seemed to be filled with a light mist. The sun had almost set and their shadows were long across the slope before they reached another edge where they could look down.
    Below them, veiled in greyness, lay a wide green basin. It was not like anything they had ever seen, so soft, so green, so misty. Even here, out on the barren slope, the air smelled of sap and growth.
    There had been nothing like this in their world. The very best of the Good Places they knew were hot and dry and filled with glaring sunlight. Young grass that was fresh and green at sunrise would be tired and dusty by noon, and the few trees were tough and twiggy, with small dusty leaves hardened to withstand such heat. They had never before seen forest. It took Suth a little while to grasp that the strange green mass that half-filled the bottom of the bowl was trees.
    Noli, standing beside him, sighed.
    â€œIt is a Good Place,” she whispered. “It is the First Good Place.”
    All five of them stood and stared. Even Ko was silent in wonder.

Oldtale
    HOW PEOPLE WERE MADE
    Black Antelope said, “It is time for us to make people. Let each give something. From these things we make people.”
    Snake gave two skins, which he had outgrown .
    Crocodile gave teeth she had shed .
    The Ant Mother gave earth from her nest .
    Moonhawk gave the shell of an egg she had hatched .
    Parrot gave the shell from one of his wife’s eggs .
    Little Bat gave some of her droppings .
    Fat Pig gave strong hairs from his hackles .
    Monkey bit the ball of his thumb and squeezed out drops of his own blood .
    â€œWhat does Weaverbird give?” said the others .
    â€œWeaver and his wives build the people, because they know how,” said Black Antelope .
    â€œAnd what do you give?” they asked him .
    â€œI give breath ,” he said .
    â€œWhat shape do we make these people?” they asked him .
    â€œLet them be long and thin to slither along the ground,” said Snake .
    â€œLet them have thick hides and great teeth, to lie in wait in water,” said Crocodile .
    â€œLet them be very many and small and quick,” said the Ant Mother .
    â€œLet them be fat,” said Fat Pig .
    â€œLet them fly through the air with wings,” said Little Bat and Moonhawk and Parrot .
    â€œLet them be like me,” said Monkey .
    â€œThese people are their own shape,” said Black Antelope .
    Then Weaver summoned his wives and together they built two people. They broke up Crocodile’s teeth to be the bones of two skeletons, and mixed Monkey’s blood with the earth from the Ant Mother’s nest to be the flesh of two bodies. These they bound around with the two skins that Snake gave. On top they put Moonhawk’s eggshell and Parrot’s to be the skulls, and filled them with Little Bat’s droppings to be the brains. Lastly they added Fat Pig’s hackles to be the hair .
    Still these people had no shape, only two round bodies with round heads on top. And they did not move or speak .
    Then Black Antelope breathed on them, and filled them with his breath, and they grew arms and legs and ears and noses, and fingers and toes formed on their hands and feet. And they woke and stood up .
    The one whose skull was a parrot shell was the man, and his name was An. The one whose skull was the shell of Moonhawk’s egg was the woman, and her name was Ammu .
    The First Ones stood and watched them, to see what they would do, but were not themselves seen, because they had made themselves invisible .
    The man and the woman looked around and saw the First Good Place. They looked at each other, and laughed, and were happy .
    â€œThese people