<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin:20px; margin-top:5px"><div class="quotetitle"><input class="button2 btnlite" onclick="if (this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display != '') { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = '';      this.innerText = ''; this.value = 'Hide'; } else { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = 'none'; this.innerText = ''; this.value = 'Show'; }" style="text-align:center;width:100px;margin:0px;padding:0px;" type="button" value="Show"/></div><div class="quotecontent"><div style="display: none;"><a class="postlink" href="http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/Bernstal/Anansi_by_TheDjib.jpg">[ img ]</a></div></div></div><br/>Name(s): Kweku Anansi, M?i HÃ³uwÃ¡ng, HuehuecÃ³yotl, Ti Malice, Rabbit, Loki, Raven, Eshu, Coyote, Hermes, and a whole host of others, but for now, just Roland.<br/> Age: As old as the oldest tale told</div><br/><br/><br/>The man who was a spider knew that unless the story started out properly, it could never end right. He knew this because he was in all the stories. From the very smallest of them, to the very greatest. And while there were some who would doubt and scoff, he knew better than to take such things seriously.<br/><br/>The man who was a spider took very little seriously.<br/><br/>The spider wove soft silk; the man came with a delicately warm blanket. The baby girlâ€™s parents would love her very much. This was something even the man who was a spider could easily see. But sometimes love wasnâ€™t all a child needed, and others would love her just as much. Maybe even miss her more when the time came. And what did a man who was a spider care for little things, like human bonds, or mortal empathy?<br/><br/>There were more important things at stake.<br/><br/>The man who was a spider knew more than he was ever given credit for. For instance, he knew that there were two forces at work. All the world was built on such precariously balanced forces. God, order, purity, whatever one wanted to call itâ€¦ And the Devil, chaos, destruction. Both sides had knowledge. One sought to keep that knowledge for itself. It prized the purity of ignorance so hateful to the man who was a spider. The other sideâ€¦ the other side gave it away and accepted brutal punishments for such selfless behavior.<br/><br/>It was very often hard to tell the two sides apart.<br/><br/>Was that, perhaps, the reason the man who was a spider saw only terror in the future if this baby girl stayed in a loving home, with loving parents? They would accuse him of another folly, simply playing his tricks on the poor humans. That was alright. Better if they thought him an utter fool.<br/><br/>Best if they laughed.<br/><br/><div style="margin:20px; margin-top:5px"><div class="quotetitle"><input class="button2 btnlite" onclick="if (this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display != '') { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = '';      this.innerText = ''; this.value = 'Hide'; } else { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = 'none'; this.innerText = ''; this.value = 'Show'; }" style="text-align:center;width:100px;margin:0px;padding:0px;" type="button" value="Show"/></div><div class="quotecontent"><div style="display: none;"><a class="postlink" href="http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/Bernstal/The_New_Hermes_by_Ph1sch.jpg">[ img ]</a></div></div></div><br/><br/>The man who was a spider carefully wrapped the baby girl in the warm silken embrace of his blanket. He carried her, very careful not to wake her, down to the ground and set her in his bicycleâ€™s basket. The man who had been the man who was a spider donned a winged helmet, â€œSafety first, little one. Always remember that,â€ and threw a leg over the seat.<br/><br/>Without another glance at the life he was taking her from, he pedaled and the world sped by, blindingly quick. Where would he take her? He didnâ€™t know yet, but as always, heâ€™d know the place when he saw it.<br/><br/>When he stopped, he lifted the basket from his bike and set it on the ground in front of one of The Peopleâ€™s doors. They would take care of her. The old coyote barked at an open window and the lights flicked on. He ran, stopped, barked again, and more lights came on. The door opened onto a shadow cast by the basket of a wailing baby girl.<br/><br/>From the tree line, the sly coyote watched, the wind tearing at the black feathers around his neck and at his tail. When one man pointed out the feathered coyote, it turned and fled for good.<br/><br/>--------<br/><br/><div style="margin:20px; margin-top:5px"><div class="quotetitle"><input class="button2 btnlite" onclick="if (this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display != '') { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = '';      this.innerText = ''; this.value = 'Hide'; } else { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = 'none'; this.innerText = ''; this.value = 'Show'; }" style="text-align:center;width:100px;margin:0px;padding:0px;" type="button" value="Show"/></div><div class="quotecontent"><div style="display: none;"><a class="postlink" href="http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/Bernstal/4baef62a62e3a693c9206e5e72310230-d32txh3.jpg">[ img ]</a></div></div></div><br/><br/>Today Roland had decided heâ€™d go fishing. It had been a fleeting thought that solidified into an almost nostalgic want. And he had the time to indulge himself, to engage in flighty actions that had no benefit for anyone or anything.<br/><br/>Humming to himself, with a fishing pole over one shoulder and no bait to speak of, he meandered his way down to the river boat launch. It was a fine sunny day and those who had started out earlier than he had were already coming in, with tales of fish caught and fish lost. Roland made it a special point to swap stories with each of them. Lies of spun gold came from his tongue and always left laughter and happiness afterward.<br/><br/>Only once did he cast his line into the water, and left it to sit there, hook bare, until the late afternoon sun began its rapid descent toward the horizon.