Deep beyond the Wilds, nestled atop the crook of the furthest mountain, grows the lush forest of Hatuga. It is a trove of the most eye-popping hues of verdant greens, a beautiful, brilliant sea of flowers and broadleaf evergreen trees. Many animals fed on these bounties, and other animals fed on them: the Puma and the Mountain Goat, the Wolf and the Ram, the Bear and the Bison, the Owl and the Rabbit. It was the constant passing cycle of life, making its turns atop the mountain in the secluded forest of Hatuga.
In the center of this cycle, at once both over and under the hills, flowed two waterfalls.
The first was a roaring rapid, confident in her abundance of water and surest of the proper path to wind across. She was broad, powerful, and delicious, blessed with healthy stores of iron and calcium that she pocketed on her way through Hatuga. She was happy to be of use to the plants and animals, soaking the ferns with injections of groundwater and lapping against the feet of predators and prey alike that came for a cool sip. Her surface was a fascinating crystalloid blue, clear to the very bottom. Hatuga was her charge, and she kept very good care of it.
The same could not be said for her twin brother.
He was a small trickle, a hardly noticeable stream. While she was a deafening pound on the rocks, he was an unsteady, unsure plip, plip. The insects appreciated his work, as did the various weeds and moss that grew near enough to drink, but his purpose was an altogether useless one; his sister did the same as he, but one hundred fold. Even the ground squirrels would laugh at him for his lack of a purpose. But still he would pour along at the expenditure of his own pride and strength, growing smaller and smaller every day. What kind of a pathetic waterfall was he?
One day his sister grew tired of seeing him go about his duties in dejected silence.
“Brother Fall, why do you mumble to yourself so?” She bubbled jovially, to cheer him up, “It is a bright day, the birds are chirping, and the land is vast. For what reason could there possibly be to grumble for?”
The smaller brook sighed, for he was growing weary of his apparent lack of purpose.
“Sister Fall, it is not that I see our home and tired of it. No, it is that I see my own reflection in the sky and am ashamed. What can I do that you cannot do better? What purpose do I have if Hatuga can get along without me? I wish Mother Nature would explain to me exactly what I ought to do, to truly find my purpose.”
“Oh, is that all, Brother Fall? I can lend a hand, or at least try! For you know I am a sister who gives help when anyone asks for it, especially when no one asks for it! I’d say that you are in need of help, and I am in need to give. So, come, follow me!”
Sister Fall was determined to find her brother a purpose; she could not stand to see someone so dejected in paradise. They wound their way through Hatuga until she happened upon an opportunity to help Brother Fall, which was discovered deep in a small grove of slightly submerged conifers.
“Brother Fall, see what I have found! I make mistakes, too, for I have flooded these grounds in my hurry. I haven’t the delicacy to open back up and receive the water burdening these poor trees. But perhaps you could stretch wide your mouth and drain these grounds of my mess? Doesn’t that sound like an excellent purpose?”
Brother Fall saw the land and was intimidated. It was vast, and every corner was tree-deep in water. But he intended to find his purpose and not disappoint his sister, so he opened up wide and sucked in the water. The water level lowered, and the trees began to cheer for him as they could breathe below again. Brother Fall felt accomplished. However, carrying the load downstream proved more difficult than simply lifting it. The water spilled out onto trees along his own banks, washing away the soil and causing the smaller ones to collapse. The air was filled with angry shouts from the foliage, and he was immediately ashamed at his failure.
Sister Fall refused to give up – she refused to let him give up, too. They wound their way through Hatuga until she happened upon another opportunity to help Brother Fall. This opportunity was lighted underground, in a dark, damp cave.
“Brother Fall, see what I have found! All this untapped water, hidden from those who need it, floating silently without a life to care for in the world. I cannot reach this water without flooding the caverns…is it possible for you to bring this abundance aboveground, to Hatuga? Doesn’t that sound like an excellent purpose?”
Brother Fall saw the land and was intimidated. It was vast, and every corner seemed jagged and unfamiliar. But he intended to find his purpose and not disappoint his sister, so he began to collect water from the cave. However, when he looked up, his temperature dropped twenty degrees under the glare of hundreds of irritated, glowing eyes. With furious squeaking, they plunged down at him and skimmed across his water with furry wings. Shivering, Brother Fall retreated within himself, only to find hundreds of whiskered pink fish swimming about his depths. They were oddly comforting, until one approached him with a raspy voice.
“Sir, could you raise your temperature a few degrees? It has grown surprisingly frigid.”
The fish had no eyes.
Roaring in fear, Brother Fall rushed out of the cave and back to his sister. The fish and bats jeered and laughed at him all the way, and he was later ashamed of his cowardice.
Sister Fall refused to give up, and refused to let him give up, too. They wound their way through Hatuga until she happened upon another opportunity to help Brother Fall, which was discovered in a very dry, remote area near the face of a thirsty cliff.
“Brother Fall, see what I have found! How the animals and vegetation pine for nourishing mouthfuls of water. You must give it to them! For, surely, if I were to stampede across the land, I would cause a mudslide and ruin hundreds of homes. So, please, Brother Fall, help those who exist in this barren place! Doesn’t that sound like an excellent purpose?”
Brother Fall saw the land and was intimidated. It was vast, and every corner seemed scalding to the touch. But he intended to find his purpose and not disappoint his sister, so he started on his trek across the small desert.
Brother Fall made good progress, and his sister felt pride in her work. As he was reaching the end of the seemingly short journey, something started to cloud his vision. Looking down, he realized with a nauseous feeling that it was steam.
His body was evaporating.
The dirt and sand had looked hot, but never did he imagine that he would wither away trying to conquer it. His sister now saw the danger. She pleaded for him to return, sorry for asking him to do something he couldn’t. But Brother Fall refused to give up, even if everyone stopped believing in him. The edge of the cliff was upon him: if he reached it, Sister Fall would be able to replenish his shallow bed. He ignored her calling and pressed onwards, no matter how the heat bore down on him, no matter how weak and heavy he felt despite how much lighter he was actually becoming. The edge was in sight – he was so close. Brother Fall reached out to send the last drop of himself over the cliff.
But there was no drop left to send. Yet, Brother Fall was no longer ashamed. Brother Fall was gone.
Distraught, Sister Fall’s waters receded as she cried silently to herself. She was sorry for trying to make Brother Fall something he couldn’t be, sorry for pushing him beyond his own limits, sorry that Mother Nature had chosen to bless her over him, though she made them equal. She wished that Brother Fall could have at least found his purpose, disappearing with happiness in his heart.
In a place both near to and far from the forest of Hatuga, Mother Nature heard Sister Fall’s lament – it brought a smile to her face. Little did Sister Fall know, but Brother Fall was not gone. Just because water may evaporate, does not mean it ceases to be; it simply becomes something else. Mother Nature took Brother Fall’s vapor, which had been gathering slowly, but surely, in the air from his hard work, and formed him into a good-sized raincloud.
When Sister Fall looked up to see Brother Fall, now Brother Raincloud, beaming down at her, she rejoiced. He was a marvelous raincloud, gray and gloomy looking, but filled with life on the inside. This life he poured down across all of Hatuga, thanks to Sister Fall’s relentless encouragement, and she passed it down to those who now relied on both of them. This is the constant passing cycle of life, making its turns atop the mountain in the secluded forest of Hatuga.
Mother Nature was pleased at the sight of her domain in its teeming glory, with Brother Raincloud and Sister Fall at the center of it all. She laughed to herself:
“Everything has a purpose, dear ones. Just because it is difficult to attain does not mean it is not there, so long as you keep an open mind. You never know if the path you seek is the one you will excel on or find happiness at the end of, after all. For the land is vast and every corner is concealing a new opportunity; you only need find the heart to reach out and grasp them for your own.”
Morning's Early Dark 