Before men made the seas their own, a young hunter and a wise old shaman lived on the island with their tribe, living off the fruit that fell to the ground of it's own accord and the flesh of landbeasts and seabeasts.
The shaman was the oldest person anybody knew, and was wise in the ways of the earth and of men.
One day, the hunter came to the shaman's hearth to ask him a question.
"Oh wise one" the hunter said, "Today I was hunting, and followed my prey into a cave deep in the forest to the east of the camp and found strange paintings of great beasts I have never seen before, twice as tall as a man with great tusks. What could these images mean?"
The shaman stoked his cooking fire with a stick and stroked his long white beard.
"Young hunter, there are many things you have never seen before. The earth was not born the same day as you! But I will tell you what it is you have seen, for I have been to that cave as well and I know the beasts of which you speak.
"Before our tribe, when the gods walked among men, there was no sea and men walked where they pleased. Do you remember the great fish that washed up on the shore when you were a child, young hunter?"
"I remember, shaman. It was the size of a mountain! we ate its meat until I was sick of it, and then used its bones to build the chief's hut."
"In those days, great beasts walked the earth the size of that fish- that is what you saw in those paintings."
"I can hardly believe what you say, shaman. The land here would hardly support one beast that size, let alone the herds in the paintings. What did they eat? and how did men live along side such a creature without being trampled to death?"
"In those days, the land was as cold as winter through all the seasons, and gods and great beasts walked the earth like the ones you saw in the cave, called mammoths. Men hunted the beasts for food, and many men died fighting against such creatures.
"There was a young hunter, much like yourself, who was a hunter. One day, he decided that if he could fight a mammoth and win, then the gods would pose no match for his skill.
Now, it is true that his young man was the fastest and the strongest of all the hunters in his tribe. He was a skilled hunter, and had killed the beast with a single thrust of his spear, piercing it's heart. So he went to the leaders of his tribe and told them he was going to prove himself by fighting the gods.
The leaders of his tribe were apprehensive about this idea. 'Young hunter,' they said, 'what good will it be to fight the gods? You are as strong as a beast, and as fast as the birds in the sky. Surely there is nothing more the gods can give to you.'
But the hunter was not swayed. 'You send me out into the wilderness to hunt the mammoths, and when I bring them back, you give half the meat to the gods in thanks. I am the one who found the beast, I am the one who killed it, and my brothers and I brought it back to the tribe. What did the gods do to deserve the meat? I will fight them and win, so you will stop wasting the meat I bring to the tribe.'
The leaders of the tribe, seeing they could not dissuade him, let the hunter leave. No one in the tribe could have stopped him.
So the hunter left the tribe, and went to the mountains where the gods lived.
When he arrived at the mountains, the young hunter was greeted by the god of the foxes. This god was twice as tall as the hunter, and twice as fast.
'What are you doing here, in the land of the gods, little human?' The god of the foxes asked.
'I am here to prove my worth. Every kill I make, I must give half of the meat to the gods to thank them. But what did the gods do to provide the meat? I found the beast, I killed it, and my brothers and I brought it back to the tribe and prepared it. The gods don't help at all!'
The fox god laughed at the hunter. But the hunter brandished his spear, and charged at him.
The fox god was quick, but the hunter had greater endurance. After a while, the fox became tired from darting about and dodging the hunters attacks, and became slow. And so the hunter was able to subdue him. The hunter laughed at the fox god, and using his handaxe, cut off one great claw of the god to take with him as proof of his victory. The claw was razor sharp, so he fixed it to his spear and passed into the land of the gods.
The next god he met was the god of the boars, who had legs like trees, and great tusks like spears.
'What are you doing here, little human?' the great boar said.
'Every day, half the meat I bring back to my tribe is given to the gods, but you do nothing to help with the hunt, or bringing the meat back to the tribe, or preparing it to eat. I am here to fight you, so I my tribe does not have to sacrifice to you any longer.' And he brandished his spear and charged at the god of the boars.
Now, the great boar was large and powerful, but a great and powerful boar is not much different from a mammoth, and the hunter knew very well how to kill a mammoth. He was much faster than the boar, and dodged the swinging of his great tusks easily, before thrusting his spear into its heart. So the hunter laughed at the god of the boars, and used his handaxe to pry one of the tusks out of the boars mouth. It was much sturdier than his wooden spear shaft, and so he took the claw of the fox, and lashed it to the tusk with sinew and secured it with pitch, and continued deeper into the land of the gods.
After a while, the hunter came to the god of the mammoths, and for the first time on his journey, he began to doubt himself. The god of the mammoths was thrice the size of the boar god, with great curved tusks the size of trees, and a thick hide that no mortal spear could pierce.
"Little human," The great mammoth said, "How is it you have come to be in the heart of the land of the gods, carrying a spear made from the tusk of my brother the boar, and the claw of my brother the fox?"
The hunter, having come all this way, felt his only option was to continue on his goal. After all, he was the strongest and fastest, and had bested two gods already! Surely a third would be no match for him. "Oh great mammoth, every day, I go out hunting for my tribe, and when my brothers and I return, the leaders of our tribe take half the meat, and sacrifice it to the gods. But what have you done to deserve it? I go out and find the beasts, I kill the beast, my brothers and I bring it back to the tribe, and we prepare it to eat. What have the gods done in all of that? I have already bested the god of the foxes and the god of the boars, and I will defeat you, so our bellies can be full of the meat I bring back to the tribe." And the young hunter brandished his spear and charged at the great mammoth.
No mortal spear could pierce the hide of the god, but the hunter's spear was fashioned from the claw and the tusk of the fox god and the boar god. So he thrust his spear towards the great mammoth's heart.
Unfortunately for the hunter, his spear missed its mark, and stuck in the breastbone of the great beast. And though he pulled and pulled, the hunter could not retrieve his spear to try again.
The great mammoth roared in anger, lowered its tusks, and flung the hunter all the way down the mountain and back to his tribe. But he was not satisfied, and charged down the mountain. The hunter, bruised though he was, grabbed his brother's spear and ran to meet the great mammoth.
"You puny little human! You dare try to defeat me with a wooden spear?" The god roared. but the hunter stood his ground, and thrust his spear up towards the mammoth's heart again. But the spear bounced off the tough hide, and he succeeded only in angering the mammoth more.
The great mammoth shook the hunter off of him, and with his front leg, dug a great trench around the tribe's settlement. Then he roared, lowered his tusks, and pushed them away from the land of the gods into the sea."
The shaman smiled at the young man before him. "And that, young man, is why there are no mammoths on our land, and why the gods no longer walk among us."
The young hunter regarded the shaman in shock. "Shaman, how do you know all this?" he asked. "And what happened to the great winter?"
The shaman winked at the young man. "Those are stories for another time," he said. "But you would do well to remember, I was not always an old man."