At the four corners of the world stand four mills  where the four winds are made

White, Carolyn

English

SWOSU Digital Commons (Southwestern Oklahoma State University)

Volume 1 Issue 2 Article 14 7-15-1982 Zechariah Carolyn White Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.swosu.edu/mythellany Recommended Citation White, Carolyn (1982) "Zechariah," Mythellany: Vol. 1 : Iss. 2 , Article 14. Available at: https://dc.swosu.edu/mythellany/vol1/iss2/14 This Fiction is brought to you for free and open access by the Mythopoeic Society at SWOSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Mythellany by an authorized editor of SWOSU Digital Commons. An ADA compliant document is available upon request. For more information, please contact phillip.fitzsimmons@swosu.edu. Mythcon 51: A VIRTUAL “HALFLING” MYTHCON July 31 - August 1, 2021 (Saturday and Sunday) http://www.mythsoc.org/mythcon/mythcon-51.htm Mythcon 52: The Mythic, the Fantastic, and the Alien Albuquerque, New Mexico; July 29 - August 1, 2022 http://www.mythsoc.org/mythcon/mythcon-52.htm Abstract At the four corners of the world stand four mills where the four winds are made. Keywords Mythellany; Mythopoeic; Fiction; Zechariah; Carolyn White This fiction is available in Mythellany: https://dc.swosu.edu/mythellany/vol1/iss2/14 women and men. few realize that their neighboring streams and lakes record those deeds. Collecting the news from villages and cities and isolated huts the earth's central waters channel it into the four rivers which bear it in detail to the four mills. Each day the miller studied human history as it appeared in the western river and accordingly adjusted bis winds. On the eighth day, Zechariah, witnessing the delicate courtship of man and woman, spun a gentle, encouraging wind. But as history continued, the generations falling upon themselves like stones down a hillside, the miller sent correspondent winds to disperse or guide. When men picked up stones or swords he turned their wars into storms. When they sat alone on cliffs, he sent winds to refresh thought. And always the earth turned his way from west to east, confirming an order that humans them- selves through deeds sought to establish. Meanwhile the miller of the north and the miller of the south took up tasks in their respective corners. With his winds the northern miller whined to Zechariah of the frozen north, of its bleakness, of the people huddled in shacks, of the great squalls he aroused to keep the waters stirred, the inhabitants spirited. Sporadically the southern miller sent him on the hot southern wind the drowsy scents of fig and cinnamon. The western miller received their news as disinterestedly as he received that of human beings. He tested their winds, read their histories in the river and with his west winds modified the northern blasts and invigorated the southern winds which inclined to indolence. Being himself a fine technician, Zechariah sometimes doubted the others' fitness for the job. His suspicions trebled when he considered the very youngest eastern miller who made such pettish winds. Oftentimes the weak eastern winds had to be guided by those of the north and south. And when, in excited lisps and gasps, the eastern wind spoke of the dawn bursting, of the cock crow and the lark, Zechariah barely contained bis alarm, dispatching immediately a stable wind eastward to act as example and admonition. Thus as the earth grew older the western miller not only attended to human deeds, but softened the north wind, strengthened the south and curbed the fits of the eastern wind. H c_ 20 by Carolyn White At the world's western corner an ancient miller named Zechariah spun the steady winds of the west. The great wheel rumbled on its axis as the river coursed beneath it, hurrying to leave this world. Beside the river stood the miller guiding the mill- wheel with gnarled hands. The miller was not human. With his wheel and tools strapped to his back he had come to earth on the fourth day and established himself on the western corner. He was used to the work and took in stride beginnings and last judgments. When he first arrived on earth he appraised the western river and deemed it of sufficient strength. He approved of the flatland that stretched tidily about him. Upon discovering neither stone nor hillock to block his winds, he erected the mill and attached a one-room cottage wherein he put a table, an easy chair and a canister for tobacco. In the loft he stored a trumpet, some rags and polishing wax. He never used the loft but regulated his life between easy chair and mill. Being the first of four millers to arrive, Zechariah created the first winds and started the earth spinning from west to east. Pleased at how well the earth adjusted to his management, he lit a pipe and strolled about his new home. The sounds of the western corner --the river's rush, the creak of the millwheel, the wind's whirr-- suited the miller who himself hardly spoke above a mutter. While the earth was new, the miller passed the time in his easy chair. But when women· and men began inhabiting central earth, their deeds tncseaaed the miller's labor. Of course, humans never ventured to the western corner, but the miller carefully watched their doings in his own way. Though many have heard it said that the winds change with the deeds of At the four corners of the world stand four mills where the four winds are made. No trees grow there to impede the starting winds, and the mills alone rise above the wide, flat right-angles of land. From the earth's center the waters gather into four rivers which ultimately hurtle, blue and wild, over these corners. But before they fall in cataracts off the earth the rivers rush under the mills, turning the wheels which send forth the four winds. -z 1White: <i>Zechariah</i>Published by SWOSU Digital Commons, 198221 Mythellany 1982 river revealed a hanged man dangling from a tree, silver coins falling from his pocket, as a black horse, sleek and stately as a judge, appeared before the mill. At a nod of its magnificent head, the miller nodded likewise in acknowledgment of his duty and left the winds to their own devices. He made no haste, but like a man grown confident with habit entered his cottage and climbed to the loft and there picked up the long-neglected trumpet and rags and wax. He blew the dust from it, tucked it under his arm, and after glancing out the window to see the black horse solemnly moving south, descended the stair. He set the trumpet on his knee and polished it until it shone like the river in sunlight. Then he laid it aside for the expected angel and went back to the mill. The gray winds were now blowing wildly; the unattended millwheel rumbled round and round with terrific speed. As Zechariah secured the wheel and the winds, a haggard bay dragged itself over the horizon, as if seeking nothing but a suitable place to die. In truth, death had already eased himself into those protruding bones. "It's time," said the miller and loosed his hold on the wheel. The river froze; the wind stopped; everything stood deathly still. Zechariah returned to his cottage without noticing the bay disappear. Nothing to do until the angel gets here. thought Zechariah as he settled into the armchair and filled his pipe for a final smoke. Leisurely he inhaled and exhaled; the tobacco burned and became ash; but the angel did not appear. Most irregular, thought the miller. He shrugged. It was no longer his affair. After smoking a second and a third pipe, he grew impatient with the delay and stepped outside to exam- ine the river ft>r news. A gentle breeze touched his face, Could I have forgotten to lock the gears, won- dered the miller, incredulous at his own carelessness. But not a wind stirred from his mill. He licked bis finger to test the wind's direction. "That fool of an eastern miller," be muttered, his face turning a mottled red and white, "He would want to give himself airs after all of us bavestopped. 11 Zechariah returned to bis chair, lit another pipe and forgot to smoke it. "If only I could use the wheel, " be growled, "I'd teach that eastern miller his place. 11 During the flood and the razing of the two sinful cities he guided the wheel. Although he disliked the irregularity, he briefly stopped the earth that day when the sun stood still, but respun it quickly after and continued to do so even as the stars shifted position and the earth grew hot and cold in turns. The west winds swept across the desert as tribes migrated to claim homes and as kings recrossed it, following a later miracle. Through all cosmic and human changes the miller maintained his steady influence over the earth, On day, several thousand years after the beginning, Zechariah saw in the river a man, crowned with thorns, hanging upon a cross. From his nailed hands and feet fell three droplets of blood that bubbled in the river and in circles spread. The river turned pink then red until it thickened with blood. So it's come already, thought the miller, bracing his feet as if expectant of some upset. At that moment the earth beneath him convulsed, a stone in the millhouse cracked. Accordingly, the miller hastened the winds, making them likewise red and violent, so that the inhabitants of the west felt uneasy under the stress. As the day waned, Zechariah saw within the river the dead opening their graves and walking among the living. The waters grew black at their resurrection and the miller spun black winds that obscured the sun and tied the clouds in heavy bundles. Across the flatland of the western corner into the central earth raced the winds in reply to human deeds. Against the stormy sky of the western corner stood a white horse. No rider bowed its back; its proud bearing seemed to say that it ruled all earthly things and that this was its hour, this its storm. They waste no time, approved Zechariah as he watched the noble charger gallop towards the north. With the sun the next morning came a red horse from the east. It reared up in front of the mill, striking the air with its iron hoofs. Its red eyes shone vengeance; it shook its head and neighed loudly as in contempt of peace. In the river, people wailed and beat their breasts. When Zechariah looked up, the red horse, glistening with sweat, was charging northward. The black winds had turned pearl gray and the ,~ A~\ I 2Mythellany, Vol. 1, Iss. 2 [1982], Art. 14https://dc.swosu.edu/mythellany/vol1/iss2/14I suspect she wears a necklace of baby teeth and a wisdom tooth ring to formal fairy balls, but on her nightly cruises a simple brooch will do. She eyes the pretty treasures with a hand-carved jeweler's glass. and like a lucky seven she rolls teeth into her bag. She flips a silver quarter as fair and legal tender and flies her cache away on fairy wings of crepe. by Diane Webster THE TOOTH FAIRY east and west. then stopped. The miller sweated. Like millgears his muscles were locked, his eyes popped with the effort. He who had governed worlds and their winds would not make this day an exception. The laws might be tampered with, but Zechariah the miller would hold his own. At that instant the earth again convulsed, sending tremors from the historic center to all the four corners. Suddenly the darkness was broken by a light shooting up from the earth's center. The light like the sun at midnight bore within it the man crowned with thorns whose crucifixion had been pictured in the river three days before. A mighty force threw apart the winds. The wheel lurched back, knocking Zechariah to the ground. As the miller lay unconscious beside his mill the earth for a long time conducted itself without him. When at last he awoke a light west wind was touching his cheek and he felt the earth moving in its usual slow way beneath him. "What was all the commotion about then?" grumbled the miller, rubbing his sore head, "They shouldn't tamper with the signs. " He stood up and with an admonishing glance put the world and the heavens in order. "I thought it was a little too soon, " he muttered, but attempting to recover his usual humor, shrugged and reviewed the damage done the mill. When all was tidied and in the river he saw human beings again squabbling in the streets and market places, he smiled. The dead had gone home, the four winds returned to their place. I guess I showed him, thought the miller, as he set the wheel for a gentle wind. Zechariah swept the broken plaster from his house, put new glass in the windows and laid the trumpet carefully back in the loft. Then he settled comfortably into his chair and lit a pipe. "Running out of tobacco," he muttered, "can't have too many days like that. " But though the miller pretended to resume his habits, something had happened. No cloud obstructed the blue of the sky as the earth turned steadily from west to east. Yet Zechariah looking at the sun through his finely polished window wondered at the irregularity and felt uneasy in the new daylight. • 22 He jumped up and paced around the table. Again the earth tremored violently; the windows shattered; within a moment his orderly cottage was in shambles. "Where is that angel anyway?" he cried out loud, sticking his head out the door to look. The wind from the east briskly slapped his face. "He never should have been picked for the job, " muttered the miller, "I told them so. He doesn't know the first thing about last judgments. Never could curb himself. and if he doesn't stop puffing his wind, the world will turn backwards from east to west." The pipe dropped from his lips; the thought nailed him to the ground. "So that's it, " he cried aloud, his rusty voice thrown back at him on the east wind, "the fool thinks to trick me and turn the world as he pleases. " Zechariah hurried to the wheel, unlocked the gears, but on reflection relocked them. "Where is that angel?" he shouted upwards, "be should have been here hours ago. Fifteen minutes more I'll give him and if he doesn't show by then. why, oh, I'll fix that fool of an eastern miller." Eighteen minutes passed. Twenty. A half hour. The wind blew gustily from the east. "That settles it, " he cried. "Ettlesit, ettlesit, " echoed the wind hurrying over the river and off the western corner of the world. Hastily Zechariah engaged the gears, kicking the wheel to encourage the stalled river beneath it. The reluctant river splattered a few drops but refused to flow. Unused to disobedience, Zechariah glowered at the river and struck at it with the wheel. The river recoiled, gathered its strength and with a lunge attacked. Zechariah gripped the wheel as the wave burst over him. As it receded, he seized the moment to spin the wheel against the river, making the old wheel grumble in complaint. A pettish little wind puffed off of his wheel and was dashed aside by the gusty wind from the east. Zechariah leaned against the wheel with all his might, for he who had turned worlds, older and far unwieldier than this. would be damned if he could not discipline a river and control a wind. But each western wind, once so powerful, had now to yield to the east. "Play games with me, will he?" growled the miller into the wind. Ag~ he heaved his weight onto the wheel. the sweat coursing down his cheeks. The west wind spluttered. It coughed, and striking back at the east, knocked aside for a moment the errant wind. The eastern wind rallied; but the western, regaining its old confidence, advanced. The eastern wind pommeled its brother. The western retaliated. About each other they danced, one striking, then the other, until like two boxers in a clinch they locked fast. During the battle of the winds, the earth swayed 3White: <i>Zechariah</i>Published by SWOSU Digital Commons, 1982

\u3ci\u3eZechariah\u3c/i\u3e

https://dc.swosu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1053&amp;context=mythellany

\u3ci\u3eZechariah\u3c/i\u3e

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

SWOSU Digital Commons (Southwestern Oklahoma State University)