Once upon a curly tail, there was a beautiful fawn maiden.
While everyone admired her looks, her real worth lay in her heart, that was bigger than she was by far. If someone needed a courageous companion, it was to her that they came. She had a very good friend, a dusky lady from a distant land, that approached her in the very heart of winter.
"Will you help me, dear fawn maiden? I seem to have lost my herd of cattle" the dusky lady asked. "The day is short, and I have a lot of veld to search."
The fawn maiden knows that for the dusky lady and her people, cattle are incredibly important. They are their wealth, and they center their lives around them. They build their doghouses in circles, surrounding the kraal where the cattle are kept, both to protect them from the outside world and to mark their significance to their way of life.
"Of course I will help you search. Two noses are always better than one!"
To find the cattle, they divided the world into four parts. The sky, tall and blue, the desert, warm and unforgiving, the veld, with flowing waves of grass, and the koppies, where the spirits dwelt.
It was the dry season, so they set off, starting their search in the plains. The tall grass there offers good grazing, even in the driest of winters. It is a favourite place for the cattle, and a familiar one too. Dusky lady often brings them here to graze. They ran hard, and covered a lot of ground, but they did not find the cattle anywhere!
They had to search elsewhere. The blue sky had no clouds behind which the cattle could be hiding. The desert shimmered with heat. The sand was so hot that their paws burned when they tried to go there.
"Surely this would burn your cattle's hooves too?" asked the fawn maiden.
The dusky lady agreed, but this left them with no other option. They would have to search the koppies. There is little by way of foothold for cattle there, and even less to graze. It is a dangerous place to go to. It is all too easy to get lost between the tall boulders that jut out of the ground, jagged and weather worn. Leopard hides there, his spotted coat making it all too easy for him to disappear completely. By far the worst, though, was the spirits. They hid in the shadows, and would gladly tease you into stepping clear off a cliff. They whispered witchcraft from behind, turning you around and around, making it impossible to ever get out.
"Why would my cattle come here?" wondered the dusky maiden out loud. More of a mystery was why the cattle left her care in the first place. She was a tenacious herder and an efficient protector. Her white, flashing teeth led them swiftly to the sweetest grass and the coolest water, and kept anything unwelcome well at bay. In return, the cattle gave blood and milk for food and dung for building floors and huts. Since her people were very clever, they used these gifts wisely, and the cattle never felt exploited.
"Careful, dusky lady! The rocks are loose here!" warned the fawn maiden. Indeed, they nearly stumbled. The dusky lady was ready to turn back, and she saw her uncertainty reflected back at her in the fawn maiden's eyes. Her keen nose had picked up their scent, though, and fawn maiden had spotted a trail, so further into the koppies they went.
It was a difficult path. Fawn maiden nearly vanished into the shadows, but the spirits could not hold on to her silken fur.
The boulders were large, and very uneven. The scent of the cattle was sometimes clear, but sometimes, they had to sniff long and hard to pick it up again.
They walked along rocky ridges, in the deep shadow, where a cold, dry wind blew. They did not give up.
They climbed over tricky rocky outcroppings which were hard on their paws. They did not give up.
They made their way up steep hills even though they were getting tired.
They made their way down steep hills, knowing that they would have to come this way again to return home.
They did not give up. They could not give up.
"My cattle is everything to me! They are my life, and the life of my people. But I am tired, fawn maiden, and I am afraid. I feel leopard's eyes on me everywhere we step" said the dusky lady. The fawn maiden suggested they rest for a time, stood over her to give her some shade. "I am no bigger than you are, my dusky lady, but together we have many teeth, and many paws. We need not fear the leopard while we are two".
Soon the dusky lady's courage had returned, and they kept going. Still the koppies tested their endurance. Finally, they crested the second tallest koppie in the whole world.
The fawn maiden was startled by the dusky lady's piercing bark.
"Finally!" she barked.
"Finally!" a bright and clear sound.
"Look, my fawn maiden, look, there on the ridge of the tallest koppie!"
The fawn maiden looked, with all her might, and finally saw them, like rocks clinging to the hillside.
They were too late, though. The cattle were being led by an immense bull, that dusky lady had never seen before, straight into the sunset. One by one they stepped off the koppie into the sky, walking along the sunbeams into the light.
"My cattle!" the dusky lady wailed.
The fawn maiden wanted to comfort her friend, but knew there was little she could do.
"Let us make camp here" she suggested. It is too dark to risk these koppies, and perhaps, in the morning, we can climb the tallest koppie ourselves and see what happened.
They curled up seperately but near each other, neither very comfortable on the hard rock.
The morning found them poorly rested, tired, and downtrodden.
"We should return to my kraal" suggested the dusky lady. "I must tell my people".
"I will come with you" said the fawn maiden. "I can confirm your tale, and tell them you did everything in your power."
Sighing, they set off. They did not go two steps before the dusky lady's keen nose picked up an unmistakable scent.
"Rain! I smell it as clearly as a veldmouse!" she said.
"That's all we need. Wet fur"
They looked up to the sky together as deep rainclouds gathered overhead. It was going to be a big storm, and it was too sudden for them to take shelter.
The water poured out of the sky like heaven's floodgates had been fully opened.
They did not get wet, though. In stead, the water changed as it hit the ground, gathering and collecting until nothing other than the missing cattle stood before them!
A small white calf, young enough that it had not yet forgotten how to speak, approached the dogs.
"We were called by the rain bull, the great spirit of the sky! He needed our strong backs to push the sun further up into the sky. If the sun does not rise higher, the water will never come from the sky. It will never rain again, and will always be winter.
He wanted to keep us, but he saw how you did not give up coming to get us. He sees that you are a good keeper, and will care for us well"
The dusky maiden was well pleased with the explanation, as her cattle would need the rain to refresh the grass in springtime.
Joyfully, they herded them home. From then on, year after year, the dusky lady and her people would, in the very heart of winter, call on the dusky lady to take her cattle into the hills, over the rocks, through the shadows and up the very tallest koppie to the rain bull. She would never give up, and the cattle would always come home.
They lived happily ever after.
