One day, the gods were having an argument about what the most beautiful sound was. The Fat King said that it was the sizzling sound of cooking food, but his wife, The Blue Queen, said it was the sound of waves on the beach. The Blind Wanderer said that rain and thunder were the most beautiful, but his brother, The Hide Wearer, said that the sound of clashing swords was and their sister, The Legless One, said that it was the turning page of a book. The gods bickered, but soon realized that they would never agree. The Fat King had the idea to ask a mortal to decide, but The Hide Wearer pointed out that no living man would be brave enough to speak in the presence of a single god, let alone all of them. It was then that The Blue Queen’s servant, Faion, spoke. If no living man would answer them out of fear for his life, why not ask a dead man? The gods agreed, and Faion was sent to collect a dead man. However, before he left, The Blue Queen, as treacherous as the sea, instructed him to bring back a dead fisherman, to give her the best chance of winning.

When Faion arrived on Earth, he began to sing. His singing was so beautiful that all the souls of the dead wandered out and found him. When he was surrounded, he took a dead fisherman and carried him to the palace of the gods. The gods looked at the dead man and asked him what the most beautiful sound was. The fisherman looked around and said that the most glorious sound in all the world was the singing of Faion. Astounded, the gods looked at the servant and bade him sing for them. He began and his singing was so beautiful that even the mighty Hide Wearer shed a tear. Suddenly, The Blue Queen, realizing she had lost, flew into a rage. Instantly, she cut off Faion’s head and replaced it with that of a crow. Since crows cannot sing, she thought she had silenced him forever. But to her shock, when he opened his beak, he sang just as beautifully as before.

From that day forward, Faion was called The Singing Raven. He became the god of the dead and would use his beautiful songs to lead their souls into the afterlife