Yuralria follows Ogtuk-luk nervously with her eyes and shifts uncomfortably in her seat. Oh no....he's angry. I should have....oh no.....
Her heart beats faster at sitting alone here with the Chief and warriors...but what could she do now? She'd have to forge on ahead or else look peculiar and risk their strange glances and slanderous tongues again.....
Yuralria sits thoughtful for a moment, listening to the crackle of the fire and clearing her head of her distractions before beginning her story.
"Far off, in a distant land, lives a man and his wife that share a beautiful love. The man is punished in a strange way. He lies, tethered to a table, fleshy holds around his arms and legs, keeping him still. Above him, a giant serpent coils, his mouth agape, never touching him, but dripping his venomous poison into the mouth of the man, so that he may writhe and squirm, and scream in pain.
His only saviour is his loving wife, who holds below the serpent a large pitcher. She catches the drips of poison so that they won't fall on him, holding it steady. She is bound there also, not by fleshy grips, but by the binds of her soul to her lover. She will stand there for all eternity, holding the jug, so that the poison may not fall on him.
Occasionally, she has to empty the large pitcher, and she leaves their home for a moment to do so. At this point, the venom falls on him, and he screams in horror and pain. But she always returns to help again, giving him a round red fruit to chew and stroking his forehead to calm him.
Love is a hold that binds us tighter than anything. We are not chained or tethered or kept in a cage, and yet we are, because we will always return to our loved one. Our hearts are bound to each other."
Yuralria looks about the campfire for a moment, feeling a sense of reckless abandonment. They were expecting a fable of our people. Have I told them too much? Will the Chief recognize this as my dream? Perhaps I shouldn't have.....
]