Kayax - Wild Goose

The way I remember it, one of the younger Kayax who had a wild goose for a friend and loved to travel, decided to go on adventure to visit as many parts of the dry land as she could. She made sure she had plenty of grain for the goose and plenty of cheese for herself and off they went. She loved seeing all the colors of the seasons and decided to pick up stones that resembled the colors she saw with those changing seasons. (What is it with these Kayax and rocks???). The wild goose followed close at her heels. Honking at squirrels and coyotes and eating the occasional grasshopper. 

From the East, the Kayax gathered stones colored with gold and red ochre for the color of changing leaves in Autumn, from the North, greens and creams to represent the evergreens in the Winter snow, from the West, she picked up stones of brown and black to remind her of the fires that occasionally scorched the dry fields in Summer, and in the South she picked up layered rocks of pale white and yellow to remind her of the first flowers in Spring. All these she put in her pockets, filling them to the brim. All the while, her goose friend stayed close by, snapping at dragon flies and chasing horned toads. 

Gathering even more rocks, the Kayax took off her shoes, hung them around her neck and filled them with rocks too. The more rocks she gathered, the heavier she became. The heavier she became, the more her feet sank into the earth. Mud and clay squishing between her toes, layering and caking up on her feet. It was hard to keep track of the Goose let alone see where she was going. Finally, she made it back to the center of the Redlands, but will all the rocks in the shoes tied around her neck, her apron full, her pockets full, she didn’t see that the little goose had stopped to pull ripe blackberries growing along the edge of the river. She stepped on the goose who gave such a loud HONK that it startled the Kayax and made her spill all her load of rocky treasures. 

She was so tired from her travels and carrying all those rocks. She just left them there. That is why there is an odd assortment of colorful rocks along that section of the river near the town of Sasakwa.

(contributed by Shanda)