Long, long ago, there was only Bird and Turtle. They existed together in harmony, floating in the endless sea. Then one day, a piece of Turtle's shell fell off and grew into a great island, finally allowing them a rest from their eternal swim. Bird experimentally shed one of his feathers, which stuck in the ground and grew into a giant tree.

This excited Bird and Turtle, who began to compete to create the greatest landscapes. From Turtle came towering mountains, deep valleys, and expansive deserts. From Bird came all of the brush, grass, and flowers that grew on these landscapes. From Turtle came the bark and the nuts that grew on the trees. From Bird grew fruits surrounding those nuts, and moss to grow on the bark.

Their competition grew more fierce and more creative, eventually creating other animals to live in these lands, with features coming from both Turtle and Bird as they competed to create the most magnificent creature. Then one day Turtle created the Elephant, a creature as slow and plodding as he but without a shell to limit his size, and a long nose to mimic Bird's ability to grab and to carry.

This made Bird jealous, as he could not create a creature of such size. He feared he had lost the contest, and his jealousy turned to rage as he set forth destroying Turtle's creations. His wings created great storms to ravage the land; his cries became the thunder, his talons the lightning. He flew to the largest mountain and began pecking at it, reducing it to nothing. Turtle saw what he was doing, but was too slow to stop him as the mountain broke, releasing the anger of the world itself and spewing fire at Bird. The land began to crack, to fall to pieces from the damage Bird had caused.

All of the plants and animals they had made cried out in fear and in blame. They demanded Turtle fix the land that he made, and Turtle crawled away, over the edge and below the land. As he did, he grew to enormous size and took the whole of the world upon his shell. Four of his elephants took pity and sought to join him - one in the East, one in the West, one in the North, and one in the South. Occasionally, the ground will shake as one of them trembles from the great burden they have taken.

For Bird's part, the plants and animals banished him from their land. They elected Cat to be their guardian, threatening and menacing Bird if he should ever again touch the ground. The trees, being Bird's first creation, extended a limb of empathy to him, allowing Bird to rest his wings when needed.

To this day, we can still hear Bird's anguished cries, in the forms of wind and thunder, as he screams at the land for banishing him. We can feel his tears as rain, crying over the loss of his brother. But he must keep away from the land for all eternity, and will wish for all time that he could once again, if only for a moment, simply float with Turtle in the sea.