First Voices
—
Rain
In the region of the great lakes of the north, a little girl suddenly discovered she was alive. The amazement of this world opened her eyes and she broke out into joy.
Following the footprints of the hunters and woodsmen of the Menomini nation, she arrived at a great cabin made of logs. Ten brothers lived there, the Birds of Thunder, who offered her shelter and food.
One bad morning, as the little girl was bringing water from the spring, a hairy serpent trapped her and brought her to the deepest part of a rocky mountain. The serpents were about to devour her when the little girl began singing.
From far, far away, the Birds of Thunder heard her call. With a bolt of lightning, they attacked the rocky mountain, rescued the little prisoner, and killed the serpents.
The Birds of Thunder left the little girl in the fork of a tree.
“Here you will live,” they told her. “We will come whenever you sing.”
When the little green frog calls out from the tree, claps of thunder attend to her and rain falls over the world.
Translation ©2023. Terence Clarke. All rights reserved.
—
About Eduardo Galeano? click here. For a selection of Galeano’s books, click here.
“Terence Clarke: Recovering The Arts” columns are free of charge. Subscribe to them here. Or, if you wish, you can help us financially with a paid subscription at $5.00 per month or $50.00 per year. That, too, can be done here. It’s your call.
We will not share information about your subscription with anyone.