South American Stories

dark fantasies, fiction I wrote

monte verde chile 6

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green anacondas

There is a story about two giant snakes who fought once upon a time ago. One was a water snake and one was an earth snake. The water snake kept trying to destroy the people and the earth snake was trying to protect them from the water snake. I wonder if the fight went something like this…

Over a breakfast of turtles and small pigs the anacondas got into a fight about who was doing more for their home than the other. You know, husband and wife bickering over the chores kind of fighting. So the husband snake said to the wife snake, as men are wont to do "I’ll show you!!" and stomped off.

His wife thought nothing of it, till she heard the people start to scream. So being a curious snake, she went to look. There was her husband trying to drown the people!! "Oh my gods!!" she cried. She grabbed up the nearest people and shoved them into the tree line. But they thought she was trying to eat them, so they ran back toward her husband. So she blocked their path and hissed at them to get them to turn around. Finally they got the idea that she was trying to help them and took her hint.

The wife turned to her husband and asked him, "What the hell are you doing??"

Husband said, "You know they will destroy this earth, so I will destroy them first."

Wife said, "Nothing is written in stone, husband. Give them a chance." She soothed his ire and promised him some loving and he went back to their nest with her, quite contentedly.

Unfortunately for the people, this was a recurring conflict between the snakes. And the people were getting upset by these constant threats. So far, the wife was their champion. So they went to her and asked her to intercede. She bowed her head and said, "I can do nothing more than I have already. It’s up to the people. My husband thinks you will be the ruin of the earth and I’m beginning to worry myself, to be honest."

The elders of the local tribes met and considered what they should do. Either they could hunt and kill the anaconda couple, or they could find out their concerns and alleviate them. They wisely chose talking with the snakes and went to do so.

Of course they brought some small snacks for the couple, just to keep their mouths well occupied while the elders spoke to them.

The snakes were kind of peckish since they hadn’t eaten in a few weeks. So they dove into the small animals.

The elders told the snakes that they would be more careful about caring for the beautiful plants and be more like stewards to the animals as well. They would domesticate some of them as pets and only drink their milk or eat their eggs till they were old.

The snakes thought this was a great idea. So the husband promised that as long as the people did these things, he would no longer try to drown them. To make it clear why they were concerned, the wife told the elders that she was expecting and would deliver her brood very soon.

Ah yes!! Now the people understood why the wife was now concerned, when she had not been before. It made sense. So they went back to the people and told them the plan of action. The people agreed and threw a party in the name of the snakes.

The anacondas heard the celebrations and smiled as they planned for the impending birth. The wife was much relieved.

Monte Verde – the village that changed the way we think

They say there were 20-30 people there. Yet that small a place has disrupted the experts’ thinking in a way that has changed everything about what they thought previously. It was what they call in sports, an upset.

The village has changed the time line for the occupation of the Americas. By a few centuries. Which makes them wonder, how did these people get there if they weren’t traveling with the tribes from South-East Asia who crossed the Beringia Pass when it was ice? And who are they?

And a lot of their surprise came about because of a spear head. Such a little thing caused such a furor.

To top that off, it is one of the earliest (if not earliest) examples of civilization in the entire world. In a way too that the biggest cities that exist now cannot seem to reach. Let alone manage. Maybe it was the size… But it was an example of an egalitarian society. (Yet people keep insisting to me that only in utopia can that occur. Hmmmm) Nobody was in charge, no man or woman was of lesser importance. Like I said it could be the size… After all when you need all hands on deck, they all get treated well. They all get valued. Each person does their best thing for the good of the village. Or you die. So the stakes were high. Maybe that is the only way we can have a true meritocracy.

When everything around you is fighting to take your life, you stand back to back, arm in arm, and fight together. You don’t waste time, or energy, fighting each other. Or you die. And somehow these 20-30 people managed to get there and survive against all odds and work cooperatively to do so.

Myth or fact? Fact. Yet it seems impossible doesn’t it?

Priestess Queen of the Moon Virgins

If she walked down a street in any other village, in any other land, they would never know what she did. And it amused her when in her village, the people often veered to avoid her. She was stunningly beautiful and very shapely as a woman, yet no man or woman dared try to even flirt with her. Most women would be immoralized by that, but she saw it as a good thing. A matter of pride.

And it wasn’t just that she was chaste among chaste women either. Or that she was a priestess even. No, it was far more about what she did as a priestess that they found so off putting. Though their rites asked it of her, the people were dismayed that she took such pleasure in the tasks. How does a wife, a mother, chop limbs off people and torture them?

Well that may have been the answer. She was NOT a wife or a mother. She was well suited for her cruel occupation. The people just couldn’t reconcile it. Most women in the village were suited to their hard lives, but kept a sense of dainty and feminine about themselves. She was only gentle when she was teasing a new torture victim. Letting them think they would get off easy. Letting them think she might change her mind, because she liked them too much to hurt them.

Nobody outside the temple saw the details of her craft, so they wouldn’t know that about her. They saw the end product though. Where a human being died with a scream on their face. Where there were no hesitation marks in her design. And there were such vicious markings on the body they collected. They got a hint of how long it had taken to create them. A hint of how much pride she had taken in her task. And that is what bothered them.

Maybe a modern profiler could enlighten them about how a sadistic woman thinks, but she wasn’t sure they would ask. They shuddered at the thought. It was unseemly to the villagers.

She grinned.

Each victim endured horrors at her hands that made them lose their mind, before they lost their life. She played with them, like a cat plays with a mouse before eating it. She listened to their fears and griefs then used them against the victim. Only when they were in a mess did she begin the physical aspects of the torture.

Though no one in the village knew this, and no maiden under her would dare chatter, she knew that if she were anyone but the priestess, she would have been excommunicated. But as the priestess, she had to be endured. She laughed. It was her greatest victory over them. But because they considered it to be the will of the gods, she was revered for her craft, even though it repulsed them that she liked doing it. She was good at it. And that meant they didn’t have to be. That’s what it came down to. These men and women who would gladly kill an enemy who threatened their children were not cowards. These men and women who had no qualms about butchering an animal to eat were used to blood and reticulated limbs. They had no queasy stomachs.

Yet she petrified them. And that just struck her as hilarious. And somehow, they knew. That was why they avoided her.

In Her Tent

She put a feather in the doorway of her tent, as her mother told her she should when she was ready to be courted by the village men. Soon there was a circle of men by her fire. She poured each a bowl of broth first. A couple men walked away.

Next she made a plate of steamed vegetables. A couple more men walked away. She asked her mother to taste the broth and vegetables. Her mother nodded that they were fine.

So she made a plate of pig that she had buried with hot coals and leaves. She tested the knuckle and it snapped apart and the meat fell away like it was never attached. So she added a fruit sauce and some of the meat juices too. A couple more men wandered off. So she asked her father to taste the meat. He nodded also.

She served them some berries and liquor her father had taught her to make and said she was quite good at. A couple more men walked away. So she asked her father’s father to taste the berries. He nodded his approval. She knew he was hard to please. So she wondered why the men were walking away then. But there were still some left so she went on.

She showed the remaining men her rope, her net, and her bone work. She was letting them know she was capable of supporting the hunting and fishing they would do. A couple more walked away. She was quite confused. But her father nodded for her to continue, so she did.

She showed the men her fancy dress and trousers she had spent so many hours over and the blankets she had cured, tanned and dyed till even her grandmother was pleased. A few more men walked away.

She went into the tent with her mother and father and they talked about the few men left. Her mother told her their family and relationship issues she had heard thru the village grapevine. Her father discussed their skills as a warrior and a hunter. They asked her which man she would like to lay with and bear his children. She showed her mother the lad she wanted. Her mother nodded. He was a fit young man.

With her parents approval, she went to the fire and sat on the young man’s blanket. The others walked away. So she took her intended’s hand and led him to her tent. After they had lain together, the young man went to get his things and moved them into her tent.

The village had a party in their honour with much dancing and singing.

When a year of moons had gone by and there was no child coming, she set his belongings outside her tent and gave him the gift of a robe she had been working on for a month. He quietly went back to his parents’ tent and her preparations began again.

Ancient Trade Route’s Vengeful Spirits

The Silk Road and the Tea and Horses Caravan Road

trade, learning, politics and religion in the olden days and a black market in modern internet days
The modern road does include military and alternate news.

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By Land or Sea – The Old Silk Road

You may have heard of the Silk Road before but may not know much about it or it’s influence on our modern culture. It went beyond a trade route and I want to tell you about it for that reason.

There are some conflicts as to where and when the route was and even the maps disagree depending on the source. So this is the variance and I’ll let you decide which you believe.
Most agree that the Silk Road was begun by the Chinese for two reasons.
They were getting a lot of bandits/robbers who interfered with their silk traders.
They had trouble getting goods across the Gobi desert safely. The proof of this is the mummified bodies found there, in varying degrees of decomposition. The theory is that the bodies that survived the best died during cold temperatures. Horse travel was even unsafe so they imported camels from Africa to make the trip plausible and this did in fact succeed.

Most agree that the Silk Road was begun @ 1000-2000 BC and lasted till the early 20th Century. It began by land and when boats were safer travel there were sea routes thru the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. The stories of Marco Polo and Christopher Columbus looking for spices becomes relevant here.

Most agree that the Silk Road traveled from where Turkey is now to China thru the steppes of the Middle East and Asia. That it connected old cities and towns, some of which are still major centers of learning, politics and religion. Some are now ruins and some have become necropolises.

Where it varies is that some extend the route:
A) Some say it went into the Mediterranean Sea and into Europe and the UK
1) some say it began in mainland Greece
2) some say it began in Italy, in Valentia or Rome
3) some say it went as far as Britain and France though

B ) Some say it went further beyond China and Java
1) some say it went to Japan and Australia and the small islands
2) some say it actually made it to Central and South America.
If you consider the myths told (prior to Columbus’ travels) of white warriors, priests and traders among people who had no previous contact with Europeans, it makes sense, doesn’t it?

Whatever you believe, the route connected some places that are still renowned for higher learning and advanced technology and similar archaeology and agricultural knowledge. Stuff they may not have gotten if the route didn’t reach as far as the extensions would make it. Stuff that was eerily similar if they had no previous contact. Or gods. demons and/or aliens were helping humanity out? If you consider the beliefs of the time, maybe even the ancestors were sticking around in spirit form to help out? That would have been really valid if you consider Chinese beliefs.

So what do you think?

A Silk Road Story – Zhi ren (Golden boy and jade girl)

The myth -When someone dies, the mourners burn a boy and girl paper doll as offerings to the dead. A dead person becomes their "Master" and the dolls do their bidding. They are meant for some evil purpose. To cause harm to some living person.

The story – After the funeral, the dolls met their new master and bowed before the angry spirit, asking what she might wish of them. She paused and said, "I want to terrorize the woman who made my childhood such a misery. My father’s second wife. I want you to make her worry about her sanity. I want you to berate her. I want her to feel unsafe, scared, and sad like I was made to feel at her hands. That is your purpose. "

The dolls were put into a box and gifted to the step mother in a package that was spelled so she could not refuse it or refuse to open it. When she did, she was enraptured by them and put them on her dresser, in her bedroom. There the dolls often took part in her dreams. Sometimes in quite fun ways and sometimes in scary or sad ways. The stepmother became quite distressed. She was however bound to the dolls, so she never even considered getting rid of them.

The dolls never gave the stepmother affection or love,just hard emotions and work. They berated her and humiliated her in her dreams. It became harder and harder for her to sleep. She lost weight and found it harder to concentrate during the days. She broke down crying and couldn’t explain why she was distressed. People were beginning to wonder if she had lost her mind. Her family had discussions about what to do behind her back.

The angry spirit laughed, because this is what the stepmother had put her thru.

The boy doll was compelled to seduce the stepmother in her dreams. He put her thru sexual activities that she had never been part of and teased her until she woke to wet sheets and had no way of stopping herself from masturbating. But she felt sick and often cried after these sessions.

The girl doll was compelled to beat the stepmother and she woke, confused and scared by the unexplained bruises on her body.

The angry spirit was pleased and called the dolls off the stepmother finally. She had done everything shy of take the stepmother’s life.

On the last night, the angry spirit appeared to the stepmother in her dreams and said to her clearly, "Now you have felt what I did at your hands. You refused me all a parent should give a child and worst of all didn’t protect me as a parent should have. You have felt what I did in your home." And she left the stepmother, taking the dolls with her.

The stepmother went to the temple and explained her experience to the monk who saw supplicants that day. He thoughtfully looked at this person he had been so mistaken about for so long. He asked her to leave the temple as it was a holy place. Someone as unclean as her needed to right herself before she could pray there again.

The stepmother walked sadly home as the temple had long been an important part of her life. All she knew was this had been a dream, but the dream had cost her all she valued. Just because she told the monk about it.

The angry spirit was well satisfied by the dolls’ handiwork.

A Silk Road Story – Yuan gui

The myth – Depressed and restless spirits approach the living for help to redress their grievances and look for clues to provide justice for them.

The story – He was lying in the tent, half dozing and half awake. Waiting for something, anything to show him this trip was worthwhile. It was one of a hundred his father had sent him on and he was bored. Slowly he became aware of the smell of jasmine and sandalwood. Ohh he did love those scents, so he took a deep breath.

He heard whispering, but knew there was no one within 50 miles. So he kept breathing deeply and relaxing. On the edge of sleep, he heard a woman’s voice step out of the crowd of whispers. She seemed disturbed by something. She kept talking about the dune he was resting on. Something was buried there. Huh. Interesting as it was, he had no intention of getting up to investigate. So finally she left him alone.

The next few nights, the same sequence of events took place. To the point of him thinking about her during his day’s activities. Wondering if she was real or just a product of his imagination. Probably the latter.

Finally he saw a marker the whispers had mentioned and he went over. He playfully dug around it. After all, he had time to kill. So what harm would digging in the sand do? Well, nothing but annoy his father if he came upon him or couldn’t account for his time adequately. Hmm. So he kept digging, smiling as he did it.

Suddenly he felt something… My gods, was that? Could it be? No!! Was that a hand?? It sure felt like it. Fighting revulsion, he kept digging because curiousity won out. And he found out it was indeed a hand. Dry and brittle to the point where he would have thought it would evaporate in his fingers, but it didn’t. He carefully removed the rings from the hand and packed them into his belongings. And set for home.

When he arrived, he showed he rings to a few friends. One friend turned white as he looked closely at them and listened carefully to the story, especially the location of where they had been found.

The friend went to the spot and began digging deeper around the spot. Slowly he uncovered the body of his missing sister. And he knew his brother in law had lied to the family about her running away with another man. His family hadn’t really believed that anyway. He put the remains in the cart and took the body home to his parents. She would be avenged now. And her children would know she had not willingly abandoned them as their father had screamed often at them. He had the proof they needed.

A Silk Road Story – Nu gui

The myth – she was wronged, and/or sexually abused. So she killed herself. Her family buried her in a red dress so she could take vengeance. She returned as a spirit to suck the yang out of men and perhaps even kill them. Especially him.

The story – He had heard of the girl today. For a while he had forgotten about her, then today he heard she had killed herself… Silly chit. All he had done was taken her virginity. She didn’t have to get so emotional about it all. He hadn’t meant for her to die, but that was on her. Or so he thought, till he fell asleep.

He remembered the night he despoiled her. Scene by scene flashed thru his mind and he was getting aroused by the emotions he saw on both their faces. In his sleep, his hand went to his penis and he began stroking himself. Just as it got good and he could feel his juices rising, he was surprised by her face in a way he had never seen her face or any other’s for that matter. Larger than life, angrier than any woman had ever shown to him. And his juices tried to return to his sack. He liked seeing them afraid.

The spirit was right in his face… then she kissed him. Well, he thought it was a kiss anyway. Then something rose between them, like a string? Was that his spirit?? No. He was still alive, but damn he was getting really really tired!! So tired. Hey wasn’t he still sleeping? He tried to wake himself up, but the spirit had him and was not letting go.He was paralyzed!! He started to shudder like he was really cold. Was he dying?? It sure felt like he thought it would. Pain, fear, paralysis then death, right?

He felt himself slipping away, till suddenly she stopped. Oh thank the gods. And she left him laughing. He woke up in a start. Shaking. Then he calmed down and breathed a sigh of relief. It was just a dream he thought.

Till every time he went to have sex with a woman,he found that he couldn’t get an erection. Had the dream jinxed him?? He went to a monk known for his healing capabilities and heard an even worse tale from the man. His yang was gone?? The spirit had left him without, as revenge for his taking her innocence!! And there was no way to get it back. Till the day he died, he would have no yang.

He became more and more morose… until he got angry. Angrier than he had ever been in his life. And as he screamed he saw the spirit’s face for a second. She laughed.

He found her younger sister and caught her alone. But just as her sister was starting to panic, the spirit returned. She rose between them and lifted him high into the air. Then he dropped, like a free fall from a high rise. And just as he was about to hit the ground, his heart stopped beating. She had killed him to save her sister from her own fate.