The Tale of Nokí

Have a happy Holy Day of Nokí! Eat! Eat!

Nokí is the Goddess of Food, of course. I'm sure She blessed these cookies that Mamurd made last year. Yum.



Without Nokí, we would be nothing. Without Nokí’s forgiveness, humanity would no longer exist.

At the dawn of mortal history, shortly after Zhíanoso, High God of Fire, created mankind, Nokí overheard the early humans mocking Her father, Voro, God of Hearth Fire. They called Him weak-willed. They called Him ineffectual. They called Him a coward. To defend Her father, Nokí immediately attacked the humans.

Wielding Her magnificent club, Nokí slaughtered the insolent mortals, one after another. Her club is so large that She was able to destroy entire cities in single blows. The defiant humans had no defense to Her strength.

At length, Nokí grew weary. Her club is heavy and She had not used it so extensively in a long time. She retired for supper and rest, vowing to kill the remaining humans in the morning, for daring to mock Her father.

It wasn’t until Nokí was asleep that any of the gods noticed Her carnage. Voro soon heard of what She had done, to defend His good name. Despite Nokí having the best of intentions -- protecting Her father's honor -- Voro was shocked at the destruction She had wreaked. While She slept, He devised a scheme to prevent Her from killing the remainder of the humans.

Using red beer brewed by Vasataté, God of the Oceans, Voro turned a nearby lake as crimson as blood. He hoped that when His daughter awoke, She would see the scarlet lake and either think that the final humans had all been killed while She rested or be overcome with guilt for having killed half of humanity.

When Nokí awoke, neither of those two occurred. True, She spied the blood-red lake, but when She went to investigate it, Nokí noticed it didn't smell right. She dipped Her finger in the red liquid and gave it a taste. Sure enough, Her suspicions were upheld. It wasn't blood, but beer -- and mighty fine beer, at that.

Nokí being Nokí, She forgot about the previous day's grievances and focused on the beer. In fact, She focused on the delicious beer until the entire lake was drained dry.

She enjoyed the lake of beer so much that Nokí quickly refilled the lake with beer and invited all the gods to join in a celebration. Along with the lake of beer, Nokí provided Her guests stew in a giant cauldron that would always remain full, four roasting boars that never reduced in size no matter how much meat one removed, and apples and pears from Her perennially ripe orchard.

All the gods came and partook of Nokí’s beneficence. Everyone enjoyed the wonderful food and drink, but one god in particular enjoyed the beer a little too much: Rékaré, God of Rock. He got drunk.

While Nokí was having a pleasant conversation with Tarénara, Goddess of Hunting, Rékaré approached the hostess. With a cackling laugh like the honk of goose, Rékaré began making suggestions of a sexual nature toward Nokí. When He actually groped Nokí during one comment, Tarénara pulled out Her bow and cocked an arrow pointed straight at Rékaré’s heart, threatening to kill Him if He touched Her friend again.

Nokí told Tarénara to calm down and told Rékaré in no uncertain terms that She did not want to have sexual relations with Him and would never want to have sexual relations with Him. Rékaré went away dejected.

Shortly thereafter, however, Rékaré’s manservant Zhokíhoníro approached Nokí and promised Her thirteen golden apples if She would go to Rékaré’s bed. Nokí turned him away, saying that She had plenty apples, golden and otherwise. Zhokíhoníro then offered Her Nuvíní's golden ring, which could reproduce six duplicate copies of itself every seven days. Nokí laughed at the servant, saying that She had no use for gold, since She could create all the food She would even need.

Growing desperate to please his master, Zhokíhoníro cast a spell upon Nokí, transforming Her into a hideous, three-headed monster. He declared that he would change Her back only if She would go to Rékaré’s bed. Nokí laughed with all three of Her new heads and transformed Herself into seven cows.

She called over Her friends and fed Them all fresh milk until They’d had Their fill, with each of Her seven udders producing an endless stream of the purest of pure cow’s milk. Once Nokí’s guests were satisfied, She transformed Herself back to Her regular, pleasing form and told Rékaré’s servant to go away.

Instead, Zhokíhoníro summoned all of his magical strength and, with a sharp finger pointed at Nokí’s face, he threatened to banish Her to a distant, frozen wasteland in a universe where Nokí would live for all eternity without love or food.

Nokí gasped. If he banished Her, there was no telling if She’d be able to return. An infinite life without food -- or love, for that matter -- would be unbearable. Much to Her own disappointment, Nokí agreed to Zhokíhoníro’s terms. She went to Rékaré’s bed.

Soon thereafter, Nokí gave birth to a daughter, Hérazha, Goddess of Wind. Hérazha would later -- later by Her own viewpoint, that is -- marry Voro and give birth to Nokí, but that’s a different story.

Nokí’s love for Her daughter made Her rethink Her actions in defending Her father’s honor. She did not have to resort to violence. She did not have to be like that cackling lout, Rékaré. Instead, She could convince people of the error of their ways by showing them Her love and forgiveness.

Taking Her immense club with Her, Nokí returned to the land of the early humans. The living humans ran in terror upon seeing Her, but Nokí ignored them. Instead, She walked to the field of the dead. One by one, corpse by corpse, Nokí crisscrossed the field, touching every dead person with the handle end of Her club. One by one, the humans came back to life.

Soon, all of humanity was once again alive. Everyone was incredibly grateful. They heaped thanks and praise upon Nokí. They promised to never say bad words about Her father ever again, since She was so nice to them. Nokí acknowledged their thanks and returned home, leaving behind one of Her perennially full boar roasts as a gift for humanity to share.

From that day forward, Nokí treated friends and enemies alike, with kind words and an offer of food, always prepared to hear their grievances and convince them of their follies. Nevertheless, Nokí still carries with Her that giver and taker of life, the symbol of all that can be, Her giant club. She never knows the day She might again need it.