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So the two went out to test their new powers. They soon created many wonderful things. The Snake-man built one house, then another. But they needed more wood and rocks and room to build. So they cut down many trees. The Bird-woman built a street and a bridge. Then they built another bigger building. Then another. Then they tore down more trees. They destroyed bird nests and snake burrows. Soon they forgot all about their many relatives living in the forest and the trees. They started pushing their old animal friends out of the way.
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Adon-re had many friends among the condors and tapirs and armadillos. He felt sad for all his plant and animal friends.
So he asked the Snake-man, "why are you doing this? You don't even need all these buildings and streets. Why are you hurting our brother and sister creatures? Why are you harming all our lizard and deer and hummingbird friends?"
Indignant, Cucu-re answered, "I am brother to the snakes and animals no longer. I am a human now. I am smarter and better than any other creature in the forest."
Then Herican said, "what we do is more important than the silly serpents or birds. Anyway the earth is big. They can just go somewhere else to live."
The Acorn Man knew Cucu-re and Hurican were wrong. But what could he do?
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So the Acorn Man walked to his favorite waterfall. Then he knelt down on a golden stone and began to pray. He called to his Father Sun and Mother Earth.
"Please help me great parents. Everything has turned out wrong. My friends aren't the same kind creatures they once were. Why can't things be like they used to be?"
Through the quaking of the earth, his mother answered, "dear son, I am sorry you are unhappy. But alas, disappointment and sadness are a part of life."
Through the rumbling of clouds, his Father Sun said, "your wish to change the snake and the bird made them into very different creatures. Much can go wrong when you change the natural order of things."
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Then his parents said, "but we don't want you to suffer. We don't want our other animal children to suffer either. So we will change everything back to the way it was. We also know you are lonely. Thus we will create another creature to make you complete. We will create a woman. She will be your truest love . She will become your wife. And she will be equal to you in all things."
When the Acorn Man went home he found his friends. Firesong and Watershine were again a snake and a bird. And they were very happy to be themselves again.
Also by the house was the most beautiful creature Adon-re had ever seen. It was the Acorn Woman, his bride to be.
He called her Sophi-nu. And from that moment on, through good and bad, through rain or shine, the four lived together as one happy family.
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