"Grandpa."
"Yes, Sweet Flower."
"How did the world begin?"
"Sweet Flower, that is a very interesting question. It is a story that our ancestors first toold ,and that has been passed along, down the generations. It is my job to tell you, Sweet Flower, but you must promise one thing."
"What would that be?"
"Sweet Flower, you must promise me that you will keep this story alive, and pass it on to your children, and your children's children. This story is the most important of all."
Sweet Flower, nearly an adult, but yet a mere thirteen, nodded eagerly. Despite her age, she still enjoyed a story and she knew that any story of her Grandfather's was a good one.
"Then I shall begin.
"The world began mary millions of harvests ago, before any of anyone's ancestors walked the earth. It was a dull place, no grass, no flowers, no trees, but it was happy, for fairies ruled the land, laughing and dancing, and it stayed like that for many moons, many content moons. But like all things, it was not to last. An unknown sickness swept heartlessly over the land, leaving the now lifeless fairies lying buried under the bare soil."
"Oh Grandpa!"
"Yes, I know Sweet Flower, but it was for the best, I suppose.
"The world lost it's happiness with it's fairies, but the gods saw the earth, and thought it could be good, and made it a resing place. Nevertheless, a majority of the gods felt they did not fit in with the world, and were better off in the place where they started, and moved back. Only a handful stayed."
"Grandpa, the world was empty, was it not. What did the gods eat?" asked Sweet Flower's youngest brother, who had crept up at the slightest sign of a story.
"Well, um, my boy, they, ah, the gods, I mean, well they . . ." he looked at Sweet Flower for help. "They . . ."
"They didn't have to eat. They're gods, remember!" Sweet Flower quickly answered.
"Ah, yes. They didn't have to eat." Grandpa sent a thankful glance at his granddaughter.
"Carry on, grandpa."
"The next part of the story is the main part, the quickest to say, but the part thay took the longest, several hundred moons, so by the time it had finished, the first gods were long gone."
"I thought gods never died."
"I'm coming to that part.