Four

In the beginning there were Four. Two men and two women. The women were fierce and blood-thirsty with constant thoughts of the next kill on their minds. The men were content to scout the surrounding countryside, looking for special plants and roots with which to work their medicines. They all led a simple life in harmony, living in rock huts, and existing on game, fruits, berries, roots and whatever else they could find. They were happy, but they wanted more. Their one big dream was to someday be more than just Four, and to sell what they had hunted and what medicines they had made to the Great Village in the Center of the Land. But the Villagers there would not buy from them because they were regarded as something less than human... not good enough for the elite Villagers tastes. And besides, they were only Four. What could Four possibly know about hunting and medicine-making that the Great Village had not already discovered for themselves? The Four were, in short, outcast and made to live at the Edge of the Forest in shame and humiliation.

So the Four lived in isolation from the Great Village in the Center of the Land, never borrowing a cup of sugar, or a harvesting tool; never bad-mouthing the Villagers, but also never sharing the secrets they had learned about the plants and wildlife in the Land. They just went about their own business; the women hunting for new game by night with a club and a heavy stone, and the men searching the trees and brush by day, turning over stones and digging up the roots they needed to make their remarkable medicines.

Soon, as the summer turned to winter and the Land began to close up its pantry for the season, the Villagers began to starve and grow ill. They were not doing a very good job of battling the effects of cold and starvation and they had no idea how adept at survival the Four had become after being banished from the Forest months ago. By now, the Four had insulated their rock huts with animal skins, cured their meats with herbs and salt and had stockpiled enough essentials to survive the cold winter without too much discomfort.

Meanwhile, in the Great Village in the Center of the Land, the Villagers were struggling through bouts of pnuemonia, anemia, food poisoning and basic starvation.

As the winter dragged on, the Villagers began making more and more trips to the Great Mound in the West Land to bury their dead, and it was becoming clear that they might not survive another cold spell. So they abandoned their Pride and begged the Gods for springtime to come early so they could begin anew and regenerate their numbers again. But the wind continued to blow cold, and the snow fell in large drifts, icing up the Land for weeks again.

The Villagers' number dwindled to twelve. Then, after making another trip to the Great Mound in the West Land, their numbers fell suddenly to only Five when a fierce blizzard swept seven of them into the mountains where they were lost forever. The Great Village in the Center of the Land had fallen from a once proud population of hundreds of citizens to a miserable scattering of Five Starving Skeletons, all in a year's time. The Five Starving Skeletons took stock of their situation, rounded up all their goods and waited out the winter, huddled together in one small shanty in the Village.

When springtime finally blessed the Great Village with its warm days and promise of Hope, the remaining Five peeped out of their shanty and saw the Four standing at the edge of the Forest looking very healthy and fit indeed. The elder Starving Skeleton hobbled forward on malnourished legs, coughing and wheezing and spoke.

"We were once Many Hundred with great spirit and great Pride. Now, through stubbornness, arrogance and ignorance we have been reduced to Five with great hindsight. You are Four, with great wisdom, knowledge and foresight. Perhaps now we can combine our talents, resolve our differences and grow in peace as Nine.

The Four looked at the Elder Villager and explained,

"Fuck You."

They immediately killed the Five, dragged their bodies to the Great Mound in the West, and took the Great Village in the Center of the Land for themselves.

THE END.