Momma Grizzly #5
Entry 5 of 39
Continuing the memoir of Kelly Clegg. - Parce
The front face of the Grünwald Museum had been done up to look like a log cabin. Inside, I was treated to a dark room with a high ceiling. Plastic tree branches reached down from above, and fog from a dry ice machine crawled across the floor.
Hand-cut branches of cedar, with the bark still on, formed railings separating the public from the displays around the perimeter of the room. I glanced at the animals, dramatically lit and impressively posed. They were too large to be stuffed bodies of real creatures. They must have been detailed models. Each creature stood over a plaque bearing its name and a short line about its place in the lore.
A group of about thirty elementary school-aged children sat cross-legged on the floor, the fog coming up to their waists. A few parents looked at the exhibits or leaned on the railings while they scrolled on their phones.
Pastor Gordon appeared at my side, wearing a collared shirt and a wooden cross around his neck. He was beaming as he leaned in to whisper. “Perfect timing. He’s just about to start with his group.”
This time, I returned his smile in full. He radiated with joy, as he always did when his son Garrett came to town. A gifted storyteller, Garrett would spend the day regaling everyone willing to listen to Grünwald’s founding myth. Parents brought their kids in groups, and the story would be told every hour on the hour as long as anyone showed up to hear it. I could stick around and listen once before returning to my journalistic duties.
Pastor Gordon looked at his watch. “Alright, children. Let’s have some quiet, please. You don’t want to miss the story, do you?”
The chatter in the room stopped. All but one of the adults around the edges of the room headed outside to wait. One man stayed where he was, facing the displays. Without another word, Gordon and I stood back near the door.
All eyes in the room were on Garrett as he walked with a slight limp around to the display furthest from the exit. His boots made a heavy thump on the carpeted floor. He wore a ball cap pulled low, hiding his whole face except for the black stubble on his chin. No hair grew in a few places on his face and a burn scar ran down his neck. His left arm was knotted with muscles and tattoos from shoulder to wrist. He kept his body turned so the kids wouldn’t see that his right arm ended with a prosthetic hook.
A bar stool with a water bottle on it stood at the far end of the exhibits. He took a long pull from the bottle, set it on the floor, and sat on the stool. He cleared his throat, put his elbow on his knee, and rested his chin on his hand.
“As long as humans have been around, they’ve moved from place to place,” he said. The low rasp of his voice gave away the scarring in his throat. “We can live anywhere because we can adapt to any environment. But a long time ago, there was a place humans didn’t dare to set foot. And that was right here, in the Texas Hill Country.”
He paused. None of the kids made a sound.
“Even during the Ice Age, when the world turned cold and everything fled this way from the north. All kinds of animals you’d never see in Texas today used to live here. Bears, crocodiles, moose. There were even wild horses here once. But people were afraid to come into this area. Back then, almost all of it was covered in one big forest. It was in the grip of a curse, they said. If you wandered too far at night, the forest would swallow you up and you’d never be seen again. The curse, they said, was laid by the terrible Eld King that ruled this land.”
Garrett took another drink and then gestured over his shoulder with the water bottle. “Two monsters roamed the woods and made sure no one dared to challenge the Eld King. This guy right here was one of them. Anvilback. He was so tough, nothing could get through his hide. Not the teeth of other animals, not the spears of hunters.”
Behind him was a badger, perched on a log, hunched low and snarling. Its sagging skin was striped with light and dark grey. Black lips curled over yellow fangs. Curved white claws sank into the bark.
Garrett stood up and walked to the next exhibit. “The other servant of the Eld King was Drag-Belly. He drew the name out, long and low. “The crocodile. If you could even call him that. If you ask me, he was probably a dinosaur that didn’t die when he was supposed to.”
A plastic block, molded to look like the surface of water, parted around a scaly, olive-green head. The jaws were wide open, displaying a set of jagged teeth and a plunging hole of a throat.
“And he was always hungry,” Garrett rumbled. “Always.” A shiver traveled through the group of children. The storyteller let his words hang in the air for a minute.
“But it wasn’t all bad. There was one part of the forest that wasn’t cursed. A guardian lived there. She was so ferocious and so strong, even the Eld King’s two servants didn’t set foot on her territory. Anyone know who that is?”
Children pointed at the exhibit closest to me and Gordon. “Over there!” they shouted. “Momma Kodi!”
“That’s right. And where did she live?”
A few hands went up.
Garrett smiled. “You can just shout it out. I’m not your teacher.”
“She lived here,” one little girl said.
Garrett nodded. “Very good. Right here in the Green Ravine.” He walked around until he was in front of the model of the legendary grizzly bear. She stood fully upright, imposing but not aggressive. The black glass eyes seemed to ask something of me.
“In this valley, where the bear lived, the curse didn’t have any power. Anvilback and Drag-Belly knew they couldn’t drive her out. They wanted to give that land to the Eld King, so he could own the whole forest, but they weren’t strong enough to fight this bear.” Garrett raised his head to look at the kids. “The mothers in the villages down south told the children to head into the valley if they got lost in the forest, and stay there until dawn. The bear would protect them in the night. Those villagers were the ones to name her Momma Kodi, because she was the guardian of the children.”
He reversed direction and walked back to the middle of the displays. “There was another creature who came into Momma Kodi’s territory. His name was Stagger. He said he was lost and lonely, and the bear allowed him to stay.” He motioned with his head at the exhibit behind him. A tall elk with towering antlers gazed down at the group.
“Stagger would come and go, but each time he stayed longer. He said he wanted to share Momma Kodi’s land and keep her safe from the monsters forever. He was persistent, but he was not cruel or vicious, so she always let him stay on her land longer than she wanted him to.”
Garrett moved to the fifth and last of the exhibits. This figure was a slender predator with traits of a wolf, coyote, and fox. He had large, pointed ears, piercing yellow-green eyes, and a coat with bright copper flashes on his sides and tail.
“None of them knew that someone else was coming down from the north, chased away by the ice just like the people were. This was Brennen, the red wolf, the fastest and the cleverest of all. He was looking for a new home, but all he found was this cursed forest. Like the others, he set his eye on the one part of the woods that was green and healthy. Of course, that put him at odds with the bear, didn’t it?”
Little heads nodded vigorously. My cheeks flushed and I fidgeted with one of the buttons on my coat. Garrett’s enthusiasm for this story was contagious.
“Brennen came into the valley one day when Stagger wasn’t there. Momma Kodi wasn’t about to have any more strangers coming into her territory. They fought. And what a battle it was. Her size and strength against his speed. They shook the earth. Trees fell for miles around. In the end, Brennen was too fast. He wore out Momma Kodi and she was helpless. He could have beaten her and taken all this land for himself. But at the last moment, he realized that this valley was beautiful because she cared for it and protected it. He chose not to take her land or her life. Instead, he decided to find the source of the curse and break it. That way, there would be enough territory for them both.”
Garrett took another drink and then tapped the water bottle against his leg. “Brennen had the courage to go into the cursed parts of the forest at night. Of course, the servants of the Eld King found him. First, he was attacked by Anvilback, the badger. His teeth and claws couldn’t pierce the badger’s skin. But they could break his bones. After Brennen bit one of Anvilback’s legs, the badger gave up and ran away. Or hobbled away, I guess. That left Brennen free to go deeper into the cursed woods. Meanwhile, Stagger came back to Momma Kodi’s valley. He said he had heard of the wicked wolf and he wanted to protect her and her valley.”
“The wolf’s not wicked!” a child protested.
“Exactly,” said Garrett. “And by then, Momma Kodi knew it. Brennen had respected her claim to this land. Stagger wanted it for himself. This time, she told him he had to leave. But he didn’t. He said he was afraid of the wolf. Momma Kodi began to grow angry with Stagger.”
He paused again. “Brennen was still searching through the forest. He found a disgusting bog. And something was waiting in there with big jaws and sharp teeth to snap him up.”
“The crocodile!” the kids called out.
“That’s right,” said Garrett. “Drag-Belly. But Brennen was too quick for him. The crocodile’s teeth hit the rocks instead. One of Drag-Belly’s teeth fell out. Brennen picked up the tooth and kept it with him for a trophy. Drag-Belly swam away in pain. But Anvilback had followed Brennen here, and he tried to attack him from behind. Brennen caught the badger and held his head under the muddy water until the coward Anvilback told him the truth about the curse.”
“What was it?” a kid blurted out.
Garrett grinned. “Back in the valley, Momma Kodi gave Stagger one last chance to leave. He said he would not until that frightful wolf was gone. But then Brennen came to them. He had learned the truth: the source of the curse, the Eld King of the forest, was Stagger. He couldn’t take Momma Kodi’s land by force, so he was trying to win it by trickery instead and cover the whole forest in his curse. Eld Stagger was furious. He called the curse into Momma Kodi’s valley and then he attacked Brennen himself. Brennen was the fastest, but Stagger was very fast too. And Stagger was much bigger and stronger. On top of that, Stagger had dark powers that the curse of the forest had given him. He could disappear into the fog. He could make the shadows grab hold of Brennen and slow him down. In the end, Brennen was defeated. Eld Stagger was about to kill him. But what happened then?”
Nobody took a guess.
“I’ll give you a hint. Someone saved him. Someone whose life he had spared.”
A girl piped up from the back. “Momma Kodi?”
“That’s right. Momma Kodi had seen for herself how evil Stagger really was. She stepped in at the last second and stopped him from killing Brennen. This time, the two fought him together. And they mortally wounded him. He and his curse retreated out of the valley. Brennen took that crocodile tooth and—”
Garrett swung his prosthetic hook into the wooden railing with a loud thwack that made the kids jump. Then he pulled slowly, filling the room with a low ripping sound and leaving a deep scratch in the bark.
“He cut into the ground from one end of the valley to another, and a huge wave of water washed through there. That was how the Green Ravine River was made. That tooth became a big stone that still stands right where Brennen left it. Did any of you see the Fangstone while you were playing in the riverbed?”
“I did!”
“Me too. But it’s too big to be a crocodile tooth!”
Garrett laughed. “They say Eld Stagger died on the far side of the river, where his bones became a twisted cedar tree. Brennen told Anvilback and Drag-Belly that the river was the boundary, and there would be no further problems as long as nobody crossed over it. Then, Brennen took the title of Firehide, the new King of the Green Ravine. He patrolled all of the Texas Hill Country, driving the curse back whenever he found it, so that all that remains of that old curse is on the other side of the bridge, right where 138 runs through. To this day, people in this town will tell you not to be on the far side of that bridge after dark. Now, there was one last thing that King Firehide did before he left the valley to guard the whole forest. Anyone know what he did?”
The children stirred, but no one spoke up.
“The new King took a Queen. After he cut the river into the valley and set the boundaries, he found Momma Kodi and married her.”
“How does a wolf marry a bear?”
Garrett shrugged. “How does a crocodile tooth become a stone? How does an elk have control over shadows? They don’t follow the same rules we do. He was the King of the Forest, and they wanted to get married, so they did.” He walked back over to the bar stool and sat down. “So where are they all now? Well, like I said, King Firehide is patrolling all the woods in the Hill Country, keeping us safe from outside threats. If you listen carefully in the middle of the night, you can hear him sounding off, letting his wife, the town, and any would-be invaders know that he’s not far away. Like this.”
Garrett took a deep breath, tilted his head back, and let out a howl that reverberated through the room. It made my skin crawl, even though I had heard him do this routine before. He’d spent years perfecting this howl. It sounded real.
He paused long enough to let the kids focus their attention back on him. “Stagger is gone. The twisted red cedar tree across the river grows from the spot where he fell, marking the one place where the curse still survives. Anvilback and Drag-Belly are hiding, hoping King Firehide never finds them. And Momma Kodi is right here. The place where she and the wolf fought, here in the valley, well, it was safe for settlers to move in once the curse was driven away. They took all those trees that fell down and cut them into the first houses of the new town of Grünwald. Momma Kodi still lives right outside town, watching over us all. As long as we believe in her, and keep our faith in God, she’ll be strong enough to protect this town and keep Stagger’s curse from ever coming back.”
A very young girl at the front raised her hand. “Why doesn’t Momma Kodi come see me?”
“Good question,” said Garrett. “She’s got a lot going on. Like I said, the forest across the river is the only place that is still cursed. The servants of Stagger are trying to return, and people can still be swallowed up by the forest if they get lost. Momma Kodi stays in the woods so you can find her if you need help.” He took a deep breath. “Any more questions?”
“What if the monsters do come back?” a boy asked.
“Momma Kodi will fight them. But they have no reason to cross the river now. They are even more scared to do that than they used to be. They know Momma Kodi has a secret weapon. Her special roar that shakes the ground. If she does that, King Firehide will drop what he’s doing and come right to her side. And he’ll be very angry that he had to leave the borders of the Hill Country unguarded. The monsters know this, and they know they can never be sure how far away the King is at any time. So it’s better for them to just leave us alone.”
He waited, and no one else spoke up. He stood. “Well, I guess that’s it. Thanks for listening, kids.”
“Wait, you didn’t tell us about the Axeman,” said a girl.
Garrett’s face went blank for a second. He pulled his hat back down. “I don’t like to talk about the Axeman. That stuff doesn’t belong in the museum. It’s a ghost story.”
“Can we hear it anyway?”
“No. Not today.”
Now other kids were joining in: “My mom says the Axeman will get me if I’m mean to my sister.”
“I heard he’ll cut you to pieces if you go into the forest by yourself at night.”
“That’s stupid. My brother did it and he’s fine.”
“My mom used to sing me the song.”
“Oh, I love the song.”
“Axeman, Axeman, hone your blade. Make the girls and boys afraid.”
“Sheriff got a gun, went bang-bang-bang. If they find the Axeman, he is sure to hang.”
The kids were getting unruly. Garrett went quiet and his hand squeezed the railing behind him. Time to step in.
His father was quicker than I was. “That’s enough, children.” Gordon’s sermon voice cut right through the clamor. “Seems you all know more about it than he does. Let’s get out of here so the next group can come in.”
Garrett stood in silence while his father rounded up the kids. Gordon herded them all outside to rejoin their parents. The two of us were alone in the museum for now. He watched me as I approached him.
“Need to put a sign up right there on the door,” he grumbled. “No Axeman stories.”
I leaned against the railing next to him. “It was going pretty good until then, I thought.”
“Yeah. Oh well. I’ll get a do-over. Or three.” He put his arm around me as I slid closer to him. “How are you, Kelly?”
“Oh, you know.” I pushed up his hat and kissed him on the lips. “Missing you as usual, honey.”