A Goblin Valley Fable

There is a valley in the rock country of Utah filled with what once were giants. They are such a curious sight, that people will travel from distant lands to walk among them. What they do not realize is that once they walked among us. Only the old men, sad and tired, remember the stories their grandmothers used to tell, of a time when their people still sat around campfires and lived in adobe shelters.

You see, Tawiscara and Ioskeha were brothers, the grandsons of Grandmother Moon. They were as different as two brothers could be. Tawiscara was cold and hard. He was always trying to make winter longer and darker. Ioskeha was tender hearted and loved to laugh. He took great pleasure in long summer days when the grass grows tall and green. They did not get along, and were often the cause of summer snow storms and warm winter winds that melt the snow out of the valleys.

They both were creators, an ability they had inherited from their grandmother. Tawiscara, created many beautiful rock gardens where neither sun nor wind could mar their beauty. Eventually, even Tawiscara got lonely though, and so he created the rock giants to inhabit his land. He named them the Stone Coats.

Ioskeha, who became lonely often, created many wonderful things, each louder and more obnoxious than the rest. His crowning creation, though, was the great trees. He scattered them all over the earth so he would never be alone again.

The problems began when Ioskeha began scattering his trees up the great rocky mountainsides Tawiscara had painstakingly sculpted. The pesky trees insisted on sinking their roots deep into the mountain, breaking into pieces even the rocks themselves.

Eventually, the Stone Coats told Tawiscara of the problem, fearing the trees and their stronger than iron roots. Tawiscara confronted Ioskeha, but as neither brother would back down, they soon gathered their forces and prepared for battle, Tawiscara's Stone Coats against Ioskeha's mighty trees.

They fought for many hours, but neither side could prevail. You see, the trees need time to work their magic and the Stone Coats, while not fast, were faster than the trees. Both sides retreated to work out a better strategy. 

Stone Coats were swifter of foot, but their minds worked incredibly slowly, so while they talked, the trees had already implemented their plan. Digging their roots into the mountainside, the great trees loosened the sandy mountain soil. It began to slide, slowly gaining speed, and by the time the Stone Coats noticed, it was already too late. They were soon buried up to their necks in the soil. To this day, they can only yell at the trees, and the trees never put foot in the valley of the giants again.

—Liz