What Man Used to Be

               Just as the first rays cleared the arch of the mountain range, touching upon the thick body of Man spread on the forest floor, his eyes flared open. He rose as he always rose, with a jump to his feet and, with his arms spread wide, he bellowed a roar to send all the birds from their nests screaming down to Africa.

               A moment later, Man was gone, bounding through the thicket, tackling at trees and sending them atimber. Head-sized stones were sent airborne as Man skipped from hilltop to hilltop and rerouted rivers and streams with a single kick.

               Man chased after packs of wolves and outran stags and wild horses. He only paused in his relentless charge whenever an audacious grizzly would stand in his way, and then only long enough to pull it apart over his head and bathe in its gore.

               Next, Man dove into the ocean and stayed submerged for four days and three nights until he found the greatest beast on Earth, the whale. And pulling it by the tail with one arm and stroking with the other, he beached it.

               Man had conquered land and sea. Now he turned his sights to the sky. He tore off sheets of deer hide and grabbed the ends of it with his fingers and toes until he had two lengths stretched on either side of his body. Climbing the tallest evergreen, Man threw himself off of it and batted and batted his new wings until he soared high. He flew with the pigeons, the doves, and the crows, but did not touch them. It was the exalted eagle that eluded him. Man strained his shoulder blades and hips until even the hummingbird shrunk from shame, beat by Man. At last, the moment Man found himself coasting above the eagle, he released the flaming remnants of his makeshift wings and dropped on the eagle, snapping it in two in his beak.

               Man’s fall would have lasted ages had he not pulled in his limbs and dived for the ground head-first. With his landing he burrowed a canyon into the earth. He didn’t waste a moment in the depths. Man scaled the rock walls, and where they were smooth, he punched in handholds to hoist his body up. Back on the surface, Man stretched, and though he had eaten plenty of times, he hungered. He thirsted. His entire body burned and itched, and it was torture.

               Turning about, scratching all over, Man found relief at the sight of one like him. It was Woman standing bashfully some distance away looking back at him. Man made his way over to her, and eyeing her from head to foot, he sighed deeply. He relaxed and took her in his arms, and she embraced him back, and his strength disappeared as if it had never been, for Woman was his weakness.