Week 10 Story: Tu-Tok-A-Nu'-La

I began life as a boulder. 

A rather large boulder, but a simple boulder, nonetheless. My humble beginnings are all in my past now. 

But a boulder in the great Yosemite Valley, where I watched the children of the tribe and the wild creatures pass me by season by season. I am certain, is the most beautiful place on earth, but I grew tired of my insignificance in that valley. 

One day, as I was bemoaning my place in the world, two tiny boys from the nearby tribe sat down on my smooth, shiny surface. I was warmed by the sun that day and they were clearly tired from their day in the Merced, so I happily hosted their nap. 

I cannot explain what happened next; it must be the magic of that valley. All I know is that I began to feel a change, and the next I knew, I was growing. So slowly I barely noticed at first; so slowly that I didn’t realize what was happening until it was too late.

I grew until I was too tall for these two small boys to safely escape. I worried, but they were still sleeping. In fact, they wouldn’t stop sleeping. Never have I seen two boys more exhausted, so I quietly grew as they quietly slept. 

             El Capitan. Personal photo, March 2017. 

At last someone else noticed my growth; in fact, the whole animal population of the forest. They were not as much impressed by me as they were terrified for the children. Soon I began to be assaulted by a storm of the valley’s creatures, attempting to climb my ever-growing surface to rescue my two small friends. 

The lion and the bear failed, though they threw their enormous bodies against my wall. At last, after dozens of creatures had attempted to climb my granite surface, I felt I tiny, tickling sensation. Upon reflection I realized there was a tiny measuring worm inching his way up, slowly but surely. The animals below began to cheer for him; I myself began to root for the tiny creature. When he reached the top, he awakened the boys as I could not, and brought them down to safety, to the elation of the waiting forest below.

Now the men call me by the measuring worm's name, Tu-Tok-A-Nu'-La (though you know my by my new name, El Capitan). I rather miss my companions today, as I gaze out over the entire valley from thousands of feet up, but I am no longer a boulder. I am a giant. 

Author's note: In the original story, two boys fall asleep on a boulder, and the boulder grows to be the enormous wall seen above in Yosemite Valley (now known as El Capitan but named Tu-Tok-A-Nu'-La  by the native peoples of the valley). The change happens over years and the boys sleep the entire time. At last, the animals of the valley begin to take action, and attempt to climb Tu-Tok-A-Nu'-La, but only the tiny measuring worm can do so. The wall is named Tu-Tok-A-Nu'-La for the worm, who conquered its heights and brought the boys to safety. Originally, this origin story was told from a third-person perspective, but I decided to bring it closer and have the great granite wall itself tell the story.

Bibliography: Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest by Katharine Berry Judson (1912). Web source.