One day Macaw was flying around on her normal patrol for any trouble occurring among the people. She half expected to find Jaguar harassing a band of hunters, but he was nowhere to be seen. Nevertheless, Macaw continued flying cautiously, over mountains, meadows, and creeks.
Finally, something caught her attention. Macaw was taken aback when she spotted a tribe in a clearing waving their arms towards the sky. Their cries reached Macaw, and this is what she heard: “We are hungry! There has been famine and disease in our land. We can’t survive much longer!”
Macaw landed on a snag, shocked, and said, “I didn’t realize this part of the land was dying. I must find some way to help these people. I’m the messenger, after all, so it’s my job to care for them.” So, she promised the tribe that relief would come very soon.
Determined to find out some way to help the tribe, Macaw flew higher to hide in another tree to think.
“There has to be some way to wash away the disease and restore water to earth to refill the rivers and lakes again.” She pondered for a moment longer but was interrupted by the tree she was perched on. It had started to move!
Yet Macaw was only surprised for a minute. Her presence often awoke the more ancient of trees so they could share their wisdom with her; she had forgotten this fact because she’d been so deep in thought.
The tree started to talk saying, “Hello, Macaw, I must have dozed off! I know what troubles you; I was listening but couldn’t react because of my dreamlike slumber. I will offer you some advice to help save us. You must ask the Sky Gods to give up some of their water and give it back to earth. This way the people can grow medicine to become well again. My, am I thirsty…” (The earth was so young at that point, that it had never needed water returned to it.)
Macaw was thankful for this idea and thanked the tree before he fell asleep out of exhaustion again. Because of its good deed she left one of her feathers on the ground to sustain the tree and his neighbors until water returned. She whispered a promise to them that she would ask the Sky Gods to return water to earth.
Macaw was going to tell this good news to the tribe when she stopped in midair and thought to herself, “Every living thing is depending on me, and I can’t waste any time. They have hope in me. I will go to the Sky Gods right now.”
After Macaw had gained some altitude, she found a stable section of cloud to rest on. There, she transformed into a human so that the huge Sky Gods could see and hear her better.
When she was ready, she continued her ascent towards the Sky Tower.
The Sky gods and goddesses, including Sun and Sunray, Moon and Moonbeam, recognized Macaw right away and welcomed her, listening to what she had to say.
Macaw was in a rush. “Please, my friends, I need your help! The people need you to be generous and keep the earth flowing with water. For the first time there has been a drought and severe disease at the same time.”
The gods and goddesses didn’t hesitate for a second, for they trusted Macaw and this news disturbed them. “We will return water to the people and animals of earth, and it will be called rain,” they replied.
The gods and goddesses went lower into the clouds. They all linked hands, making a long chain. One of them, who was positioned the closest to the mountain peaks, reached out their hand. Life water from all the Sky Gods combined flowed out of their fingers, turning into all forms of precipitation, including rain, snow, sleet, and hail.
Upon seeing this, Macaw was grateful again but started down briskly towards earth, turning back into a bird as she fell through the dark clouds. There could be a new problem if the tribes didn’t figure out how to protect themselves from the heavy rain. Luckily, there were spider monkeys nearby. Macaw commanded them to spread the news as quickly as possible and in all four directions to get to higher ground.
The excitement eventually ended, and the earth was restored again. The rain fell for many hours, in order to fill up the lakes and rivers again. The people were relieved and grateful after the rain let up and they could plant again, the trees thanked the Sky Gods. Even Jaguar postponed his tricks to let everyone refresh and relax. Now, every time there is drought and famine, the Sky Gods remember Raven’s loyalty and give rain.
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