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In the time of the Ancestors, there lived a very curious young snake. When the other beasts were content to let the world be as the world was, this snakeling saw questions and looked for answers. The question that troubled him most concerned shadows, for he realized one day that he had none. It could not have been missing long, he thought, for he certainly would have noticed the lack of something so important. So he set out to look for his shadow. Perhaps it was up on the hill where he had basked yesterday. He wiggled up the hillside to look for it. There were many shadows on the flat, sun-warmed rocks where he had been. Trees cast shadows, and bushes, and even birds flying overhead. But all of those shadows belonged to someone already. The little snake's shadow as not there. Perhaps it was down in the valley, by the stream where he had hunted fish that morning. He slithered down to the stream to look for it. There were many shadows on the bottom of the cool stream, the shadows of fish and of ducks and of lilypads in a quiet cove. But all of those shadows, too, already belonged to someone. The little snake even searched among the cattails and irises very carefully, in case his shadow had washed downstream and been caught among their tall stalks, but it was not there either. At last, he realized that there was only one thing he could do. Being a snake, he could travel to the underworld, to the land of the spirits. He knew he must go there and ask the wise spirits where to find his shadow. They knew all that had ever been, so they would certainly be able to tell him where to look. The little snake prepared very carefully for his journey. He ate a plump rat. He slept for three days. He shed his skin, so as to have a shiny new skin for the journey. Then he squeezed into a deep crack on the hillside and set out for the underworld. It took him seven days to reach the world of the spirits. Seven days of travel through regions that only his kind could visit. At last, he was in the land of the spirits. Finally he would learn where to find his shadow. He came to the gathering place of the spirits, and addressed them politely. "Honored Ancestors, I have journeyed far to ask you this question. Where, O Revered Ones, might my shadow be?" One of the spirits reached out to him, and spoke in a hollow voice. "You carry what you seek within yourself," the spirit told him. This confused the young snake greatly. The only thing he had within himself was the rat he had eaten, for snakes are slow of digestion. He even tied himself in a knot to check for unexplained bulges. When he untangled his tail, another spirit spoke. "You must reach above yourself to find what you seek," this spirit said in the voice of the whispering wind. The snakeling was still confused. Reach above himself? Return to the land of the sunlight, perhaps? Thanking the spirits politely, he took his leave and began the long journey back. It took him fourteen days to reach the mortal realms once more. His new skin was scuffed and dull. His back ached from stretching and climbing and reaching. He was hungry, for it had been weeks since that one rat. And his mind ached, as well, trying to understand the meaning of the spirits' words. He basked on a sunny rock for a while, to warm himself after the chill of the underworld. Then a shadow passed over him, and he saw a woodpecker land on a tree, high up, and then pop into a hole in the trunk. Not far from the hole, a squirrel chattered insults at the world in general. A bird's egg would make a fine breakfast, and perhaps that squirrel would be careless enough to join the little snake for lunch. He had become quite adept at climbing on his journey to the spirit realms, so he began to work his way up the tree. He was only half-way to the woodpecker's hole when a bright patch of sunlight on a branch attracted him. He still felt a lingering chill in his bones; a few minutes of basking would invigorate him. So he looped his long body back and forth on the branch, soaking up the lifegiving sunlight. He was high above the forest floor, now. A deer bounded by beneath him. He stretched his head out to see where it went, for as always the little snake was curious. What he saw, though, nearly made him fall from his tree in surprise. For there below him was the shadow of the tree branch -- and reaching out from it, a long, sinuous shadow: the shadow of a little snake. There in the patch of sunlight was his very own shadow. At last the spirits' words became clear to him. He had his shadow with him all along, but because he lay flat on the ground, as snakes do, he could not see it. But when he exerted himself, and reached upwards, climbing that tree, his shadow could be seen. And so, the little snake found his shadow after all. |