Flowplace week - tales & legends (2)

Morning meditation

Cliffs take on many various shapes. Some are sheer, plunging directly into the sea, while others look very ragged.
Some people say those shapes come from chemical components in the rock itself, as well as from tides and shore currents. That may partially be true, but listen to this.

Once there lived on top of a cliff two tribes with different customs.

The first one cared a lot for their steep slopes, mostly because they had built sturdy houses on top of them, and they were constantly worried that parts of the cliff may fall down. In their village, all men of age were required to spend several hours everyday, "bracing" the rocks with their arms so that those wouldn't crack. Constant supervision was required, as they relayed each other, day and night.
The sea would come lick the rocks all right, and the rain and winds would ragingly torture them. But they had developped such a powerful technology that so far, they had succeeded in holding it all together, adding extra pieces of rock to protect the bottom of the cliff from erosion.

The other tribe lived a few miles away, and they were very unlike their neighbours. They believed in letting natural processes unfold, unhindered, and so had always witnessed erosion without any intervention.
Sure, some of their houses did disappear occasionally, as large sections of the cliff fell into the waves, and sometimes their owners would disappear too, but to them, that was part of life.

One reason for conflict between the two villages was that the first tribe dreaded seeing the damage done to the other part of the cliff spread to their own place. Many times had they demanded from the other tribe that they'd do something to prevent any such thing from happening, and many times had they sent some of their men to explain the proper way to handle the matter, offering their help - as they said - to avoid more deaths and lost houses.
Their emissaries had always been decently welcomed, and allowed to do their bracing ritual on the cliff itself, as well as on the large pieces of rocks that over time had become small islands at sea.
And each time, their intervention had led to disastrous results, according to the second tribe : where the well tended cliff was nothing but bare rock, their own place was full of birds, rare plants and flowers. The bracing did nothing but change the place into a desert.
So without strictly refusing any help from their mighty neighbours, they tried to keep a low profile and avoid contact as much as possible.

There came a time of high tides and powerful storms, more powerful than any of them had ever heard of. The first tribe was bracing their cliff with desperation, while the other tribe watched most of their houses hurled off the top of their cliff as large sections fell down.

It so happened that the bracing efforts failed. As the cliff fell apart, tearing the sturdy houses to pieces and throwing most of their inhabitants down to their inevitable death, the first tribe lost any hope.
Then, as suddenly as they had come, the storms went away.

Both tribes had lost most of their possessions but the second tribe had been able to seek refuge and only reported a few deaths and injuries. As the cliff seemed safe again, they eagerly claimed back their land and started to rebuild.

The survivors from the first tribe were so few, that they decided to request permission to settle in the other village, and were heartfully welcomed to set foot on two of the largest rocky islands the storms had created.
There, they would be able to brace their shores, keeping the islands intact so that those would serve as breakwaters, should another natural disaster happen : in which case they would quickly come back to shore and, thanks to a path laid out especially for them, make it to the safety of the inner land.

I was told that they still live together, in some far country...