Wingo

A long time ago, before there were any rivers and the only water that humans knew fell from the sky, a little boy set out on a quest to find the source of all water. Somewhere in the world, the rainwater must seep down and the child wanted to know where it hid.

He walked for days through the forest until he was completely exhausted from his search.

One evening, as the boy rested at the foot of a gigantic tree, he saw something peculiar. A long column of black ants marched past him through the moss and formed a road that lead from the depths of the forest directly to this tree.

The young boy observed them without moving a muscle because he didn't want to disturb them. The column of ants disappeared beneath the big tree's system of roots into a little hollow that looked as if it was a connection to the world below the earth's surface.

Slowly, the boy ventured towards the opening and saw that the ants were coming back up with a drop of water between their mandibles. He became very excited because he realised that he had just discovered the secret place in which all the water from the sky was stored. It was the great Wingo tree that rose high above the other trees in the forest — so high that it sometimes met with the hand of the god of thunder, who tousled it with its stony fingernails.

The boy began to dig at the foot of the great tree. After many days and nights, the tree, whose roots had been destroyed, began to lean. With a loud crash, it fell to the ground.

While the tree fell, the boy watched with bulging eyes because he knew that the world would never be the same again. Springs gushed out from the roots of the tree and the trunk that was so broad and tall became a river. The branches and leaves became lost at some point in the ever-expanding sea.

Since this time, people have known the water of the rivers, and have great respect for the Wingo trees that gave it to them — as well as for the black ants that, as a symbol of a time gone past, still carry drops of water that glisten between their mandibles.