A Personal View of Pralori Life: What My Mother Told Me

A selection from the Manirian portion of the library. 

A Personal View of Pralori Life:
What My Mother Told Me. 

Who are you?

I am Corla Splits-The-Herd. A little calf like you would listen to me and follow me to stay safe and protected, even if I wasn't your mother, but I am.

Who are we? 

We are the Westernmost Mother Herd. We move freely through the lands that lie on the edge of the Tarinwood and the New Fens. We are of the Pralori people, who are the greatest of all the peoples of the world.

What makes us great? 

We are the children of Pralor, the Great Elk who comes again and again to guide the herds of the world whenever they run astray. We remember what everyone else has forgotten. Unlike the Scratch People around us, we know how to respect our Grandmother the Earth, and unlike the Tree People of the Tarinwood, we know that all plants are important, not just trees. Many people resent us for our greatness.

Sometimes we give them reason to! Back in the days of the great dark, it was called upon us to herd not just ourselves but also the pig people, the blue people, and the four-way people. The times were harsh and we could not afford to be gentle, but in the end we had to make it up to them, which we did with grace and dignity.

Where do we live?

We live wherever we please! I spent several years in the cities of the east, when I was in a Bachelor Herd. But those men and women who are Mothers, and our little calves like you, live here in Pralorela, between the lands Scratch People call Ralios, Wenelia, the New Fens, and Tarinwood.

Pralorela is the best land, because we make it so. We keep the forest light and open, with plenty of brush and cover for our cousins to graze upon, and we have plenty of open clearings, and there are also deep knots as well. All the things we need to live are here, and there is so much left over that we can trade for the luxuries of the Scratch People.

How do we live?

We live on what Grandmother sees fit to give us. Elderberries, serviceberries, strawberries, blueberries, black and red raspberries, huckleberries, thimbleberries, red mulberries- you've been picking these for several years now. And you help gather walnuts, chestnuts, pecans, hickory nuts, acorns too. When you are a little older I will teach you what kinds of mushroom are safe to gather as well, and we'll go bean-picking.

We hunt, too. All the animals of the forest are hunted at one time or another- squirrels, possums, boars, deer, foxes, wolves, bobcats. We even hunt a few birds. But we never, ever, eat the flesh of our cousins, though they share their milk with us. We are not cannibals.

What is important in my life? 

Right now, you are a little calf, still some way from being grown. The only things that are important in your life are staying with the herd, helping out, and watching the people around you. You will grow, and the dreams of adulthood will come upon you, and then you will have to pass into adulthood. This is not easy, but you are Pralori and my child.

When you become an adult, you will go into the Overworld, as naked as when you were born, and you will have to prove to the ones who've gone before that you know how to live, survive, and thrive. When they recognize that you are one of us, one of Pralor's children, then you will be an adult. It is possible that you will learn right away whether you are a man or a woman when you go into the Overworld, but most of us must choose- I did. It is also possible that you will choose neither, and in that case you will be marked when you return and will become an Antler Person or a Serpent Beast.

And then you will choose, every year at the Rut in Earth Season, whether you wish to go with the Bachelor Herds or stay with the Mother Herd, and that will determine what your life is like for that year.

Who rules us?

No one rules us. When there is a question about what to do, the elders gather together and work it out. If there is a problem between people, it usually can be solved by letting them fight it out. In the past, people have tried to rule us, but they are gone and we are here.

That being said, you must always respect Antler People and Serpent Beasts, no matter how strangely they behave. If they tell you to do something, listen.

What makes a person great? 

The Elk is strong. The Elk is brave. The Elk is caring. If you can be strong, and brave, and caring, then you will be great indeed.

What is evil?

The herd is good. The opposite of the herd would be evil. But I have never seen any such thing. Even Scratch People, Tree People, the strange Rock People I met once far to the east, the Night People, the Sea People of the oceans, all People live together in some fashion. Even when they seem to be rejecting the idea of the herd, acting in such a way as if they were the only real thing in the world, they have still had some herding instincts. So perhaps evil is something that comes from outside of this world and cannot long live here.

There are many things that are foolish, of course, and some people even among the great Pralori think that foolishness is evil, but I know better and I know you will know better.

What is my lot in life?

Never mar the flesh of our Grandmother. Never forget that you are Pralori, and that you need to remind the other people of the world what we are, because they keep forgetting. Show that you are strong, and brave, and caring.

What are the differences between the genders?

Clothing, mostly. Bu there are more animals that only men can hunt, and there are more plants that only women can gather. Some people are both and do not have to worry about this, some people are neither and cannot hunt or gather any of them. There are some images that men cannot paint, and there are some garments that women cannot sew either. There are some things that have to do with sex, but you're too young for that, and from the look on your face I see you agree.

Long ago, we discovered gender, and we had no end of problems from it, and some people began to act like the Scratch People do now, where they act as if men and women are separate peoples altogether sometimes! Pralor had to come and herd us back together, telling us, “This is a little thing, mark it in a little way.” And so we do. It is good advice and it keeps us content while other people live in worry.

How do we deal with others? 

You are part of the herd, and you can trust everyone here, and if anyone behaves in an untrustworthy way, then they are thrown out of the herd.

The people of the Bachelor Herds that follow us around are trustworthy too, even though they frighten you sometimes. The people of the other Pralori herds are more or less trustworthy, even though they might behave in strange ways sometimes.

There are other real people like us to the north, and to the south as well, and some real people live in disguise to the west and east and north. And there are the pumas that sometimes pass through, they are real people as well, even though they live alone, and so we must trust them, too.

But most people around us are foolish, and we must treat them appropriately.

Who are our enemies? 

We have no real enemies right now. It is only when great alliances of the Scratch People gather together that they think that they can enslave and oppress Pralori, and even try to cut us off from Pralor. We must be vigilant to make sure that this does not happen again!

Who do we worship? 

There are great spirits like the World Serpent, Grandmother Earth, Father of Breath, and so on, who made the world as a whole and keep it running. It is only for Serpent Beasts to speak to them.

We follow Pralor, the Great Elk, who has come as Pralora, Pralor, Pralorin, and many other names. Pralor is our first ancestor and all of us are descended from them.

There are many creatures that helped Pralor, and they taught us their ways when they lived among us, and so many of us belong to their societies and follow their rules to use their secrets. Sometimes they, or Pralor, will send us one of their descendants to be our companion.

There are also many other spirits that come from the Overworld into this one, but it is Antler People who are needed to talk with them and learn what they need. The Antlered One was the first Antler Person, and they are important and we honor them when the world is remade every year too.

What else is there to do around here? 

Life is good here. There is much to do. Swim, climb trees, race each other, play with the toys your aunties and uncles made for you, wrestle, go fishing, play hide-and-go-seek and tag and the other games of childhood. Here in the herd is the best place for a child to be.

And when the Earth Season progresses onward a bit, the herds will gather for our cousins to have their annual Rut, and around then is when we feast and share out the luxuries we have gathered throughout the year and share stories and people cross over between being Mothers and being Bachelors, and sometimes people become Antler People, or stop being an Antler Person- I saw the former happen the year after you were born.

Dark Season and Storm Season are mild, but rainy, and we will spend the days inside as much as we can, and play the quiet games of the indoors. And then the year will end and the new year will begin and it will be time to enjoy the outside again.