Chapter 77
One day, Otter broke into my musing by drawing me to the porch to point out a black, lowering cloud to the south across the river. The roiling monster dragged a thick, dirty tail that sucked up dirt and brush and grasses, leaving a rusty basal cloud of debris and dust. Evil in its purest physical form!
“Tornado!” I muttered.
“Iyaleft the water,” Otter said quietly. “And Wakinyanwent after him. They fight awful battles, and it is humans and animals who pay.”
Iya, I knew, was a giant, the son of Inyan,the First Being, and Unk,the Mother of Contention. The Thunder-Being, Wakinyan, who brought rains and cleansed the earth, was the mate of Inyanand jealous of this illicit offspring. Unable to touch the giant so long as he remained in water, she sought to destroy him whenever he came ashore. But inevitably, Iya escaped the vengeful supernatural and fled back into the depths. That is why tornadoes follow rivers…or so go the Yanube myths.