The Land of Painted Caves (Earth's Children 6)

Her life force near gone, the Mother was spent,

To pass on Life’s Spirit had been Her intent.

She caused all of Her children to create life anew,

And Woman was blessed to bring forth life, too.

But Woman was lonely. She was the only.

The Mother remembered Her own loneliness,

The love of Her friend and his hovering caress.

With the last spark remaining, Her labor began,

To share life with Woman, She created First Man.

Again She was giving. One more was living.

To Woman and Man the Mother gave birth,

And then for their home, She gave them the Earth,

The water, the land, and all Her creation.

To use them with care was their obligation.

It was their home to use, But not to abuse.

For the Children of Earth the Mother provided,

The Gifts to survive, and then She decided

To give them the Gift of Pleasure and sharing,

That honors the Mother with the joy of their pairing.

The Gifts are well earned, When honor’s returned.

The Mother was pleased with the pair She created,

She taught them to love and to care when they mated.

She made them desire to join with each other,

The Gift of their Pleasures came from the Mother.

Before She was through, Her children loved too.

Earth’s Children were blessed. The Mother could rest.

The silence was profound when they finished. Each person standing there felt the power of the Mother and the Mother’s Song, more than they ever had. They looked at the paintings again and were more conscious of the animals that seemed to be emerging from the cracks and shadows of the cave, as though the Mother was creating them, giving birth to them, bringing them from the Other World, the spirit world, the Mother’s Great Underworld.

Then they heard a sound that sent a chill through them, the mewling of a lion cub. It changed to the sounds a young lion made when it called for its mother, then to the first attempts of a young male lion trying to roar, and finally the huffing and grunting that led up to a fullblown roar of a male lion claiming his own.

“How does she do that?” the Watcher asked. “It sounds like a lion going through stages of growth. How does she know that?”

“She raised a lion, took care of him when he was growing up, and taught him to hunt with her,” Jondalar said, “and roared with him.”