Religion 1

In the beginning, nobody knew why.

But there wasn't a lot of time to wonder, either. The focus was forever on survival and what needed to be done to ensure that it continued. If the mind decided to go on vacation, wander off onto bigger questions like: "why?", a hungry tiger might choose that moment to jump out of the grass and kill that why where it asked.

Obviously though, there was some merit to this question. Otherwise religion would never have developed in the first place.

Wan asked why and got eaten by a tiger. Tuu, his sister, cried over Wan's death. He was her only brother and the best hunter around. Without him the remaining people's survival was in question. Tuu just couldn't shake her sadness. She started to wonder why it had been Wan and not her. Why she made him wait that morning of all mornings--asked him to help her sharpen her skinning knife. She knew perfectly well how to do it, she just wanted to spend some extra time with her handsome brother before he left for the hunt. If anything had gone differently, he could have been spared from the tiger's jaw. Why hadn't it?

Tuu was obviously pretty useless to her people at this time so she went inside a cave and cried and cried. Her younger sister Sree, who was widely considered to be too slow and unappealing to be of much use to anyone, stumbled upon the cave after three days. She discovered Tuu, delirious with dehydration and speaking in tongues. Sree hoisted Tuu onto her back and took her to a stream where she gave her water. Once Tuu had quenched her thirst, she began asking Sree questions. Why are we here? What are we? What is our purpose? Why do we have to die? Why is the sky blue? etc. etc.

Sree was flabbergasted. No one talked this way. Tuu must have eaten some poisonous plant or animal in that cave. Sree was distraught. First her brother Wan and now Tuu was going to be taken away from her. It didn't seem fair to have to endure such hardship. Especially when her best friend, Fawr was so strong and funny and was loved by everyone. Nothing bad ever happened to Fawr, he was like the golden hedgehog--the symbol of her people.

And he was heading towards them now. Sree saw, just at the top of the next hill, his silhouette, lit from behind with the golden glow of the setting sun. As Fawr approached, Sree lamented the impression her delusional sister would make on her best friend. She still held out some hope that he may one day choose her to share his leaf tent. Now, there would be little hope of that. She was just barely endured as she was. Why did her sister have to eat poison? Why had she even been born?

At this point, the tiger, who had long since digested Wan, jumped out from behind the bushes and quickly devoured both Tuu and Sree. Fawr saw the tiger and thought about saving his best friend Sree (who he secretly loved), but instead ran away with a squeal.