The Grove Tribe Epic

The Grove Tribe Epic is a written work published by CreeperColder (from an in-game perspective, written by a scholar who had visited the Grove Tribe). This article presents its text in an unaltered way. Readers should remember that this is an in-character text and therefore does not meet the same objectivity standards as the rest of this wiki. The Grove Tribe Epic is a special installment of the Tribal Fables book series.

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''It should be noted that the below is a translation from the original Grove Tribe language, and a rather liberal one at that, as is often the case with poetry. One should remember that the native songs and folklore of the tribe subscribe to different poetric rules from what the ordinary Overworld Common speaker would be used to, and the verses below have been bent to the model more befitting of the general tongue - for example, assonantic and alliterative rhymes have been replace by more familiar row-final rhymes.''

''On another note, the proper nouns found in this story have been translated as well, as they all carry clear mythological meaning for someone who speaks the tribe’s language. However, I will provide the original proper names of the characters in a list below, as some sources cite them the way they are in the tribe’s language:''

''The four siblings Winds, Water, Earth and Fire were called Fufun, Eyeħra, Harahrá and Rúrú in the original. Those names are just proper noun derivations from the words fun, eħra, hrá and rú, which basically mean what they have been translated to Overworld common as. It should be also noted that there has been some controversy around the mythological character of Harahrá, as some linguists and folklorists have posited, based on both comparative and historical evidence, a proto-form of the word hrá as *həra, in an effort to promote the idea of an original common Overworldian deity *harahəra. However, most linguists currently reject this idea as lacking enough evidence to support it.''

''The “Netherworld” and “End” are presented as translations of the words Nárra and Šušurru. They are used in today’s Grove Tribe language to refer to the Nether and End and all the creatures that inhabit those places, but taken literally, the would mean something like “the Lowness” and “the Darkness”. Similarily, the names Rúniwúferencecemu and Šušũnayanyar have been translated as “Withered” and “Ended Wyrm” for the Wither and End Dragon, although one could literally interpret them as “the three old flaming heads” and “the darkest predator”.''

“Village-folk” and “Spiritkin” are translations of the terms nagé and héhé, which the Tribe uses to refer to Villagers and their ancestors/friendly spirits, respectively.

When sand yet was stone,

and jagged cliff-rows

still peaked the elder plain.

Was mellow twilight,

and clouds spun pure white

lakes fed from purest rain.

Were people uncleft,

in arts they were deft,

and shied away no shrike

Then chiefs there were four,

who come had before

Siblings, of blood alike

 

For high was their might,

so fair their pale sight

ruled they in lands of yore

 

In death no-one lay

free birth was from pain

joy and harvest galore

 

First sibling was Winds,

their silken smooth wings

carried them with the gale

After came Waters,

knowledge’s daughters

far and wide did they sail

 

Downwards the Earth,

which hearty with girth

ruled the placid of folk

And proud was the Fire,

who crafts many sired

fighters under its yoke

 

Amidst floating isles,

and wind-ridden skies

people back then did soar

 

Through deepest of trenches

the river that quenches

their thirst for unknown lore

 

Then herbs they sowed,

no beast from them cowed

they were friends to the land

 

Arcane spells they wove,

steel-sworded, they clove

strong was their arm and quick hand

For four friends there ruled,

and all folk were schooled

in yonder happy days

Then back in those times

Tribe was nigh to tribe

And open were all the ways

But, alas, change would soon befall

For lone and gloomy grew the halls

Of Flame, of Fire, the proud one,

to whose realm few had kindred gone

 

His realm was last of all great holds,

and low in lie, but for the bold

deep beneath the fire mountain,

sprung dark then as from a fountain

The seed of envy, firmly root

Then took his mind and smeared with soot

And closed were gates of Netherworld

And Withered king in blackness purled

Then spirit that was trapped beyond

could never return to homepond

and thus came to the old land death

timid became the lively breath

On darkened souls the hunger gnawed

Wouldn’t suffice what they were lawed

They came under night, stole the live

Survive for folk became to strive

Then afeared grew the lofty realm

That amidst heaven, moon in helm

They flew high up, from world were gone

Around their hearts, a grim web spun

High from the sun, in ever black

Their joy was want, and glee was lack

They shrunk and came to bitter End,

as woe upon their souls did rend

 

Betwixt the pillars, tall, forlorn

the Winds then bled from malice, scorn

and lone, they flew through endless void

as Ended Wyrm, whose home destroyed

 

Then pacts were struck, and spells were cast

For Earth and Seas there still held fast

Then magic walls on wood and coast,

were laid to halt the demon host

 

And siblings two, there who remained

With all the wisdom, knowledge gained

Struck the worlds from each apart

Lament they did and cried their heart

 

Then world was struck with greatest doom

To die was fear, for cut was loom,

and birthed the young were by torment,

for down the heavens no gifts sent

And sadness took the noblest fold,

they backed to deep, and ways of old

wandered, bereft, without no goal

Spiritkin had lost which fate stole

 

The simple ones, who worked and tolled,

the cursed in their minds gained more hold,

their words grew dull, their senses waned

and “Village-folk” they were then named

 

But one last tribe, still fought and bled,

their lands were bathed in flame and red

they yet recalled what promised was

that Steve would come, and bring new laws