Hello my beautiful virtual goddesses and gods! I have been enjoying the pleasure of participating in a weekly writing group that meets online via Zoom. Each week we all bring up to two pages of writing to share with the others and receive their feedback. This story is the result of a challenge posed by one of my fellow group members when I shared my short story called The Conversation, in which the Mother and the Tinderling have a chat. The story was written in third person, and the first challenge was to revise it to first person – you’ll find that under the original post. This post takes up the second challenge, which was to rewrite it as dialogue between the Mother and the Tinderling. If you are one of my 4 blog readers and so inclined, please do leave a comment below and let me know which version you enjoyed the most – third person, first person, or dialogue 🙂

The Conversation

Revisited September 2, 2020

Gaia the Mother and the Tinderling, Elder of the Forest, meet in a field of high grasses. They discuss the ways of the world and the Mother’s many children who live upon it. 

“Your children are so many,” the Tinderling says. “They are crowding the land, poisoning the waters that nourish my trees, and cutting them down to make more space for their cities and dwellings.”

He pauses, then nods to Mother, “It is a good thing my Forests are still vast, and there are some places even the humans have not yet explored.” He chuckles, and by the time his last “aha” has reached her soul, many humans have lived their lives and passed on, and many more have been born.

Mother grins at him. “Today is a good day to send my children some messages, don’t you think? Do you suppose they will listen?” He shrugs, and ponders. While she asked him her questions in the field of high grasses, decades passed on Earth, and the humans weathered hurricanes and tsunamis, fires and pandemics.  

They sat in silence then, and gazed on her cosmic womb, the Earth. They watched the humans learning anew to respect their Mother while she spread the seeds of his forest by floods and storms. They smiled, knowing in the wake of her storms there is always new growth, the land cleansed and made fertile by the waters and fires washing over it.

“Do you think your children the humans will ever grow wise enough to live in harmony with my trees and all the creatures of the land and seas?”

“I do not know,” she answered, “you know how siblings fight. And they are all siblings, all my children – those with wings, and fins, and hooves, and feet.” 

Mother and the Tinderling looked at each other and tilted their heads, pondering. But they pondered only for a moment, because they are wise and ageless, and know that the answer does not really matter, for Mother is so fertile, there will always be children playing on the planet.

In the moment while they pondered, many of her children came into and then blinked out of their existence. “They always go in the end, some faster than others.” she said. But then she smiled and nodded when he replied, “Such is the way of life.”

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Mother Earth Fantasy Art Now Available in the Goddess Whispers Shop

Yes, yes, now it’s time for the shameless plug! If you like the featured image for this post, please check out my Goddess Whispers shop! There you will find this art on a jigsaw puzzle and a pair of flip-flops.

If you’d like to have this art on any other item, such as a coffee mug or wall art or shower curtain, just send me a message via the Goddess Whispers shop, or on Flickr – I’m happy to design anything you’d like to see it on and put it up in the store for you! 🙂