We sit around the campfire, on the warm, dry grass and dirt of the prairie. The night is dark all around us. And the campfire casts a warm orange glow on all of our faces. Everyone looks like they are coloured with the dye of the filli flower. And everyone looks up at the pristine glory all around us.

All around us, there are millions of stars, magnificent against the black-blue of the night sky. They tell stories, each of them, and they are filled with spirit, filled with secrets, filled with a wonder that they instil on whoever gazes upon them. The stars belong to no-one, they have never belonged to anyone, and they will never belong to anyone. And yet they are the stalwart stewards of the nighttime, shifting in ever-true patterns and teaching us the mysteries hidden deep within our souls, within their souls, within all of our collective souls.

And, as the guardian of all guardians, as one of the two Sky Mothers, the moon casts her calming serenity and mystical brightness over the whole land, coating the grasses and shrubs with the faintest traces of silvery light. The moon is a promise for our people. A promise that we will always feel the wonder of all the lands deep within our souls. A promise that we will always see the secret spiritual energies that connect us to the people, the lands, the fire, the water, the sky.

There is something deeply tragic about this scene. But I don’t know what it is.

“So the great bear joined the bilbil bird singing their song,” grandmother Mathasa continues, gazing at all of us, gazing at the sky, gazing at all of us gazing at the sky. “The great bear told the bilbil how the first man had conducted a great disrespect against her, and that he had killed her cub in order to make a second coat, one that he didn’t need.

“The bilbil then added the story of the great bear to their song. And the whistling tune carried out into the night.

“The scuttling crab found the bilbil, and he told them of the injustice he had suffered at the hands of the first man. The first man had stepped upon his brother, for no other sin than daring to get too close to the first man.

“The bilbil sang of this story in their song as well, along with the stories of all the other animals that they had heard. And it carried out across the night.

“And so it was that one by one, all the animals came to the bilbil and told the bird of their complaints against the first man. And the bilbil sang of them.

“But the first man could not hear the bilbil’s song, for he was too far away, trekking through the wild lands, taking all he could, leaving chaos and destruction in his wake. The animals travelled long and far but they could not find the first man. They could only find the remains of the destruction he caused.

“One night, the Moon Mother saw what was going on, and saw the animals trying to track down the first man. And she saw how the animals could not have their voices heard. So the Moon Mother invited them to come to her, so that they could sing from the moon and their voice would be heard.

“All the birds carried the fish and land animals through the sky to the moon, and the fish brought their magic water with them so that they could be sustained. From there, the bilbil began singing.

“The first man heard the bilbil’s song and he understood the plight of all the animals. He saw the injustice of what he had been doing and saw all those that he harmed. And he repented, and promised that from then on he would never be greedy, and he would never take more than he absolutely needed. He promised that he would never be prideful, and think himself above the other inhabitants of the world. And he would respect all that was around him from then on.

“The Moon Mother saw his change of heart and decided that it was time for humanity to take its place in the world, for the first man was now ready to be a good father and husband, and to honour his family and the greater family of the world.

“The Moon Mother bid the first woman to rise from the ocean where she had been hiding, from where she had been watching with revulsion all that the first man had done. The Moon Mother asked the first man and the first woman if they would like to start a family together. And they said that yes, they were ready to start a family together.

“And they had children. Boy children and girl children and children who were in between and children who were both and children who were neither. And their children had children. And their children had children. And eventually, all of us were born, and we inherited this vast and unending world so that we might take care of each and every part of it, so that we might live in harmony with it.”

There is hushed cheering all around me as the story is finished. The children beg grandmother Mathasa for another one, and she obliges, for she can never turn down the sweet young ones.