I really must go back home, mom’s home, to sit by the window and look at the dance of birds. So many different birds taking their turn pecking at the feeder hanging over la rivière Yamaska. What astonished me was the cardinal who is twice the size of the other birds not gaining control over these birds. I guess in the feathered world, size does not matter but cunning prowess and speed does. Why who would have thought that “foxiness” reigns (grins) among birds?
Rival cardinal,
hummingbird wins the contest
dancing on the feeder
There are many myths about the how Big Bear and Little Bear who were apparently hoisted in the sky forever to be together. I like this Greek myth. Callisto, a follower of Artemis, virgin huntress and goddess of the crescent moon. Zeus, king of gods, fell in love with her; he disguised himself as Artemis (Diana) to gain her confidence. Having tricked her, she gave birth to his son, Arcas.
Hera, Zeus wife and queen of the gods, discovered the affair and was known to be very jealous and vindictive. It is said that she is the goddess of marriages and protects women. She turned Callisto into a bear. Sixteen years later this bear came upon her son and stood on her hind legs to greet him. Arcas was about to kill the bear and Zeus interfered to save his love and turned Arcas into a small bear. Grabbing both bears by their tails, Zeus hurled them into the safety of the sky to roam forever, together in the sky. Hera enraged that her attempt had failed, appealed to Oceanus that the two might never meet his waters, hence explaining their circumpolar positions.
There are more myths that contradict this such as Arcas became king of Arcadia, but being a mom, I like the idea of mother and son together forever. So here is my haiku with the photo of the grizzly in mind.
The Time Glass prompt today at Carpe Diem Valley Stream, is to use the haiku composed by your host AND the photo of a waterfall. It was tempting to complete this into a tan renga but he did mention a “solo” renga or a tanka. I could not help but notice the waterfall was a photo in Maui, Hawaii. When I saw the last line of our host, “the silence” I thought of birds singing being masked by the sounds of gurgling streams OR the roar of the waterfalls.
I wanted to include birds from Hawaii and liked the sounds of the honeycreepers such as ‘l’iwi , hearing several examples on Youtube. I wanted to add the name of a tree that these birds inhabit and fell upon the Ohia lehua tree. Well, that brought me to a legend and Carpe Diem is keen on legends and stories.
Legend explains the birth of the Ohia tree and its flower, the Lehua blossom. The legend is tied to the volcano goddess, Pele. This story explains that if you pluck this flower, it will rain on the same day (for a tragic reason).
The legend says that one day Pele met a handsome warrior named Ohia and she asked him to marry her. Ohia, had already pledged his love to Lehua. Pele was furious so she turned Ohia into a twisted tree. The gods took pity on Lehua and decided it was an injustice to have Ohia and Lehua separated. So, they turned Lehua into a flower on the Ohia tree so that the two lovers would be forever joined together. So remember, Hawaiian folklore says that if you pluck this flower you are separating the lovers, and that day it will rain.
What a beautiful legend…so romantic too! Now to complete this prompt:
Tournesol dans un Jardin 
