Not In History

You must write a story about a lost tribe from the perspective of the last male of the tribe. The tribe is somewhere in South America and existed 5000 years before man was thought to be in the area. Describe in some detail what has caused the downfall.

The Last Man

I told them that it was no good for our people. I told them that the ritual was flawed beyond reason. But the elders all pushed it on the new men. Boys who were influenced by the fanciful stories and tales that the elders spun with their twisted tongues.



Rite of Passage they called it. Rite to die I called it. I denied the D'Marq. When it was my time I passed on it ritualistic game. It was a game, after all. A game that takes lives.



The Olgen was built centuries ago by our father's father's grandfathers. In it they placed a thousand stinging Guiders. Each with enough poison to kill every man in the entire community. Every boy wanting to marry, at that time when the gods of wind and rain claimed, the boy would place his entire arm in the Olgen. He had to leave it there until the Ferth, the oldest and wisest man in the community, declared it was time to remove it.



Without the ritual you could not marry. You could not gather with a woman. You could not hunt with the other men. You were an outcast. That is was what I had become. But I knew better.



I had rejected the ritual after thirteen years. My father was angered with me. He removed me from the dwelling. He told my siblings to turn to the sun when in my presence, as a replacement of his son. No one in the community would sit with me. I was alone.



I spent what should have been my prime in shame. I had never had the enjoyment of worshiping with a woman. I lived in a small hut I built next to the pigs. The stench was enough to almost knock you down. But it was the place where I could retrieve scraps of flesh left from slaughterings. I learned to live on my own.



The years went by and more and more boys were dying during D'Marq. The passing of time saw new Ferth who were seeing signs from the gods that they were not happy with the crop of new men into the community. They made the boys stay longer and longer each time. As time passed more and more boys died. Men were less plentiful than before.



Then Ternq became the Ferth. I believe he sought more power than what the gods were willing to give him. He was forcing boys to stay twice as long and most of the boys going through D'Marq were perishing. He blamed it on the community. He would give long speeches on how we have failed him, and how we have failed the gods. The women who had birthed the recent boys were beaten. They were cast from the community. Then the Great Purging happened.



The last ten men of the community were out hunting. They had been out for many days as the dry season, which had also been seen as a plague, had ravaged our food stores. Many boys had died in the last months from starvation. The Ferth had said to feed them last because they are strong and would survive. I don't think he could have ever been more wrong. Starvation ripped through the community like a dragon.



I was told by the last survivor that they had pushed the great bulls to a canyon, but the beasts had turned the wrong way. They backed them into a dead end and instead of the bulls submitting, they had turned and charged the hunters like a torrent disintegrating a rock face. Only one survived the attack, but not for long. Just long enough to tell the me of the tragedy. The Ferth was distraught.



Soon I became the most popular man in the community. The Firth was very old, too old to plant the seed of life.



But now I am ill. I have been stricken by a disease that is making me cough up blood. This disease usually only takes about 30 moons before it becomes fatal. The women of the community have lost faith in the Ferth, and I am now revered as a god. I am the one who denied, but now I am now being denied life and child and for it the community will end.



I do not think I will last long. Soon I too will die, the last man. I will not know my son, my daughter will not exist. Lest you heed these warnings the same fate will befall you as well. Be not a blind subject to a practice for the benefit of the people without thought of what is right and wrong. Do not blindly sacrifice your sons, and therefore your legacy or even your existance, on the continence of one man, especially when that man is enveloped in power and praise and not in justice. Put God before man, not man before God.

Glass Slipper

Just as the prince was turning to go, Cinderella broke free from her imprisonment. In a panic, her step-mother feigned illness and fell against the servant who held the glass slipper. The slipper fell to the ground and shattered. The prince felt a twinge of recognition in Cinderella, but without the slipper, he would never be certain. Noting the disappointment in his face, Cinderella drew near so that he could plainly see her. “It is I,” she said, “Do you not recognize me?” The prince only looked at her searchingly, but did not answer. “Perhaps this will clear your doubts,” she said, as she took the other slipper from her apron pocket. His demeanor brightened as he took the shoe from her hand and knelt to slip it onto her dainty foot. As he did this, one of the step sisters pushed him. He lunged forward and reached out to steady himself. His hands hit the ground with a crushing blow and the remaining slipper broke into shards, slicing and tearing his flesh. His servants rushed to his aid and swept him away to the palace for medical care. Cinderella never beheld his face again.

By Courtney

The Predator

The days seem endless now. I watch my people dying and I realize that I am helpless to stop it. Those who don't die from the Invisible Predator fall victim to starvation. All of our hunters have finally succumbed, and there is no one left to provide food for us. No one to protect us.



I was always left behind, considered to be the weakest. Funny that I would be the last man standing. The only reason I can think of is that I was not taken out and exposed to the Predator's wrath. We still don't know where he comes from, or how his poison enters the body, but every few days another member of the tribe begins to deteriorate. It is usually the ones taking care of the dying that become sick, but we have also lost the children. The poor children.



I don't know how, but I am going to beat this Predator. I have never been much use with the weapons that the tribe create, but they are of no use against an enemy that you can't see anyway. What I need is to find out how he is killing us. Then maybe I can fight back. I have studied the bodies of our dead for years. Being the weakest, my only use was disposing of the bodies of the strong. I spent much of that time examining mortal wounds that the hunters suffered. I have spent countless days dissecting the bodies of the old who died for no apparent reason. After all of that study, I have gained a pretty deep knowledge of the body.



But now the bodies are different. The insides are no longer colorful and beautiful. No, now everything is dark and shriveled. The Predator seems to be killing us by rotting our bodies. I have never seen anything like this. One of the tribe dogs began to show the signs of the Predator two days ago. I was going to put him down to examine him, but when I took him out in the wilderness where I work, I noticed the dog eating a bush that I had never noticed before. I have never seen the tribe dogs eat plants before. For some reason I decided to watch him for a while to figure out why he was acting this way. Amazingly he didn't die. This death that takes us in a matter of days seemed to be stopped in that dog. I decided that if the animals could beat the Predator, then so could we.



I went out and gathered the plant's leaves and took them to the caretakers. They didn't want to listen to me. But I would show them. I sat with the dying. That is where the Predator always seems to strike. I sat there for days. Finally I began to feel it. The Predator had come. I never saw him, I didn't even feel him until the coughing started. Now was the time. As the last man in my tribe, I would stop the Predator and save my people. I ate the leaves. After a short time, I was convinced that I was right. All of the pain stopped. I felt great. The others saw what was happening too. They all ate the leaves that I had gathered. We were celebrating an end to the Predator's reign.



Suddenly I began to feel very odd. My vision became blurred, and I began to see two of everything. I turned to go to my wigwam when I saw it. The dog lie dead at the edge of the forest. Scavengers that had began to tear down its body lay dead all around it. As I turned back to my people, my legs folded under me. I lost the use of my limbs. I could see that the others were the same. As my vision grew dim, the horrible truth flooded my mind. I was never meant to save my people. In beating the Predator, I poisoned my own tribe. We were doomed to the same fate either way. I had become the Predator. My pride killed my people.

Rapunzel

From the original Grimm's tale found here:

she let the hair down. The king's son ascended, but instead of finding
his dearest Rapunzel, he found the enchantress, who gazed at him with wicked and
venomous looks. "Aha," she cried mockingly,"you would fetch your dearest, but
the beautiful bird sits no longer singing in the nest. The cat has got it,
and will scratchout your eyes as well. Rapunzel is lost to you. You
will never seeher again." The king's son was beside himself with pain, and
in his despair he leapt down from the tower. He escaped with his life,but
the thorns into which he fell pierced his eyes.

Alternate Ending:

But then a nymph fluttered by the his ear and whispered this message: "The forest weeps for you, my Lord. Please follow my song and I shall lead you to refuge and recovery. But your heart must be pure!"

The king's son followed the enchanting song of the nymph though it was not audible to most. The loss of his sight had caused his other senses to become more potent. The nymph led on for days through the woods trying desperately to keep the young boy from harm.

Three days later, parched and starving, the young boy arrived at the desired destination of the nymph. The nymph no longer sang, but again encroached the boy's ear.

"Now that you have paid the price, you have lost your sight. You must rely on your other senses to find your true path, or let the path find you, " the nymph spoke.

"But what am I to do next? These riddles vex me! I beg of you, please lead me further!"

But the nymph was gone, vanished from the boy. The boy's heart sank. He had lost everything and now following this nymph had led him to an unknown place. The boy pittied himself and considered himself as good as deceased.

That evening the boy awoke , drowsey from a slumber, to a familure scent. The smell curled around him, wrapping him in a feeling of home. As the scent permiated his nostriles he came to his senses.

Rapunzel was walking down the path, gathering fruits and berries for her dinner.

The boy opened his mouth, dry and cracked, and tried to call to her. In his head it rolled out, "Rapunzel! Rapunzel!" But in reality nothing more than a whisper left his lips.

Rapunzel heard something in the brush. She paused slowly peering around for she had been chased out of the wood by a wolf a few nights before. Completely stopped and silent she heard it again! She carefully stepped forward and saw a wrech of a man lying in the brush. The sight gave her a start as the horrible man reached to her with a filthy hand. When she moved back with a jolt she noticed that the man's eyes did not exactly follow her. He must be blind, she thought. Carefully she approached him.

"Are you hurt?" She asked.

His lips moved, but he could not speak.

"Can I help you?" again she queried. Still nothing.

She picked him up by the arm and helped him upright. His eyes had been impailed and dried blood had pooled about his eye sockets.

She took him back to her encampment and sat him by the fire. She checked on her two sons and found them to be awake. Rapunzel then made a brisk tea of berries and leaves she had gathered.

She gave him a cup of the warm brew and he inbibed. He apparently had not had liquid in quite some time. Then he spoke! Almost in a whisper at first, but words non the less!

"Rapunzel," he managed. "Rapunzel, it is me." Sending chills down the spine of the girl.

"What is this?" she asked. "How do you know my name?"

"It is I, the boy who called to you, to let down your beautiful hair. I have been tricked by the enchantress and she has plucked out my eyes that if I ever found you I could not gaze upon you."

Rapunzel had recalled a nymph that led her and her two sons to the encampment and that he taught her how to use the forest for both food and for healing. She gathered several leaves and made a paste. She applied this paste to the young boy's damanaged eyes for several days. Once removed the boy could see again, and the family did indeed live happily ever after.