Gurgarok and the Mountain (rough draft)

This is a myth story of how Delicate Arch (Arches National Park in Moab, Utah) was formed. Delicate Arch is a magnificent vertical arch of red sandstone on the edge of a cliff overlooking a little valley and a range of snowcapped mountains in the distance.

There once was a young giant named Gurgarok. Gurgarok was a giant of the mountain country, where the Great Ones built many majestic mountains to beautify sunsets and provide color and meaning to the land and to give shade to the many animals at the end of the long day.

One day, when Gurgarok felt like he had grown strong enough to build a mountain of his own, he decided to build the most majestic of all the mountains. He wanted to build it on the crimson cliffs that looked out over the valley to the towering snow peaked mountains of the Great Ones. He wanted to build it so that others could see him for his strength. But there was only one problem. Giants did not know how to make mountains. Many giants had tried to make mountains before but they all fell apart when they built them too high. No giant had ever built a mountain higher than himself, and the great ones lived in the clouds, so the giants could never build them as high as theirs—not even the strongest of the giants.

This was a big problem for Gurgarok. He wanted to build the greatest of all the mountains. How could he build the greatest of all the mountains if he could not build a mountain bigger than himself? He finally realized that if he was going to build a great mountain, he needed to learn from one of the Great Ones. And if he was going to build the greatest of all the mountains, he needed to learn from the Chief of the Great Ones. So Gurgarok climbed the highest mountain to meet the Chief of the Great Ones. It took him many, many days, and along the way when he stopped to rest many times and saw the beautiful sunset, and he saw the river flow from the mountain down to the valley to provide meaning to the land, and he saw many animals who were cooled by the shadow of the mountain after the long day. When he saw these things he felt warm inside his chest, like when his mother hugged him by the fire as a little giant. Finally at the top of the mountain, he met the Chief of the Great Ones. Then Gurgarok knelt down and said,

“O, thou most powerful Great One! I come from the mountain country which thou seest below thee day and night, and I come to learn from thee how I can make a mountain of my own!” The Great One looked down from the peak of the highest mountain and smiled. The Great One was a very benevolent mountain maker, who loved to help and teach others how to know what he knew, for he could see farther than anyone else from his wonderful mountain.

“My little giant!” the Great One said, still smiling. “What is your name?” Gurgarok was afraid the Great One would cast a spell upon him if he told him his name, but the Great One was smiling, so he said,

“I am Gurgarok, a humble young giant!”

“Little Gurgarok,” said the Great One. “I am Zodo, and I would love to teach you how to make a mountain! But you must promise me one thing if I am going to teach you.”

“Of course,” Gurgarok said. “I’ll heed any of thy wishes, Great Zodo.”

“You must promise me that you will not build the great mountain for your own gain. You must only build the mountain to beautify sunsets and give color and meaning to the land and to give shade to the many tired animals at the end of the long day. Can you promise this?” Gurgarok hesitated here, because when he started he wanted to build the most majestic mountain of all the mountains so others could see him for his strength. But when he climbed the highest of all the mountains to get to Zodo, he stopped to rest many times and saw the beautiful sunset, and he saw the river flow from the mountain down to the valley to provide meaning to the land, and he saw many animals who were cooled by the shadow of the mountain after the long day. When he saw these things he felt warm inside his chest, like when his mother hugged him by the fire as a little giant. So he decided to say,

“O yes, great Zodo, I will build this mountain to beautify the sunsets and give meaning to the landscape and give shade to all the animals at the end of the long day.” Zodo grinned and clapped. He was very excited to help Gurgarok build a mountain.
"Then we shall begin at once, if you are ready!" He said. Gurgarok was pleased that Zodo was so quick to be willing to teach him!
"I am ready, as soon as we can begin!" He said, bowing to the Great One. "What must I do to build a great mountain?"
"The great secret to building mountains," Zodo began, "is that you must go to the lowest valley, below all the great mountains and all the soaring birds and all the tall trees. You must go among the lowest of all the creatures of the land, and there you must gather the rocks and the sand that you are to build your mountain with. Only with the humblest of all materials can you build a mountain strong enough to hold against the wind and the rain, because it has been the lowest of all for so very very long. It will be difficult to carry each armful of sand and rocks out of the valley all the way to the place you want to build your mountain, but no mountain was ever easy to build."
Gurgarok was intrigued. He had never thought that he had to get the sand and the rocks at the lowest part of the valley. He and all the other giants thought you had to have great boulders and heavy stones in order to build a mountain. But he trusted Zodo, the Great One, and said "Very well, I shall go to the low valley and build a mountain with the lowest of all the sands and rocks."
"Remember," Zodo called as Gurgarok was climbing down the mountain and out of earshot. "You must only build your mountain for others, you can never build it for yourself! If you do, you will never finish your mountain!"
So Gurgarok went to the lowest valley and gathered sand and rocks from among the slugs and the crickets and the little ants. He enjoyed their company when he was there. The slugs smiled and listened to his stories and the crickets played him songs and the little ants all worked together to gather sand for him to carry up out of the valley. Every day he would return to the low valley, where he felt warm and happy with his new friends, and every day he would bring the sand and the rocks out of the valley to build his mountain.
One day when Gugarok's mountain was a tall as Gurgarok himself, YikYik, the evil crow, watched him and was very unhappy. He knew that if Gurgarok built the mountain with the sands and the rocks from the lowest valley, then all the giants would start building their own mountains with the sands and the rocks from the lowest valley. Then YikYik would not be able to go and torment the slugs and the crickets and the little ants with threats that he would eat them and take them from their friends and families. YikYik loved to torment the slugs and the crickets and the little ants, and he had not been able to torment them for days with Gurgarok spending so much time there. He hated to see them smile and sing songs and help one another. When he tormented them they would be scared and they would frown and they would not sing their songs and they instead of helping each other they would only help themselves. YikYik wanted to stop Gurgarok from completing his mountain, so he went to confront Gurgarok in front of his mountain.
"Oh, little giant!" YikYik taunted. "What a pathetic little mound you're making!" Gurgarok was confused. He was very happy with the little beginnings of his mountain. He had almost forgotten that he wanted it to be the highest mountain in all the land because he loved spending time with the slugs and the crickets and the little ants so much.
"What do you mean?" Said Gurgarok. "I am building a great mountain, but it must start off as a little mound. Don't worry, Mr. Crow. This will be a great mountain to beautify the sunsets and give meaning to the landscape and give you shade after the long day."
"I don't want your shade!" YikYik jeered. "Besides, you'll never make a real mountain! Look, it's just as big as the other ones are before they come crashing down. What makes you think your mountain will be any different?"
"Zodo the Great One taught me how to build a mountain!" Gurgarok said. He was very sad that YikYik was being so rude to him. "He taught me that if I use the sand and the rocks from the lowest valley, the sand and the rocks are strong enough to stand up through the wind and the rain!"
"He lies to you!" YikYik said, but YikYik was the real liar. YikYik was the only creature in all the land that lied, but sometimes he would convince others to lie when it helped YikYik make their lives worse. But he never came close to convincing the Great Ones to lie. "Zodo wants to laugh at you from his high mountain as you join the other giants who have tried and failed to build mountains!"
Gurgarok was very upset when YikYik said that. "I'm better than all the other giants!" He said. When he said that he started to forget about the slugs and the crickets and the little ants and he started to remember the other giants and how he wanted to build the greatest of all the mountains to show them his strength. "I'll show all the other giants that I had the strength to climb the high mountain and learn from Zodo!" Then Gurgarok swung his fist at YikYik the evil crow, but YikYik was very fast and flew just out of the way. Instead of hitting YikYik, Gurgarok missed and hit his mountain, making a great hole in the middle of it. When Gurgarok hit his mountain he lost his balance and fell through the hole down the cliff on the other side, as YikYik laughed.