Visitors
The elders of Inca all ventured to the sacred temple to meet with the shamans. They
told them of the dilemma and the shaman priests agreed that this question was worthy of
spiritual guidance. This was a question of utmost importance, for tempers between the citizens
of Inca were beginning to build. The shamans told the elders that they must bring their shrines
to the temple as well as offerings of the best jewels they could find. The elders complied with
these instructions, decorating the inside of the temple lavishly. The shamans then told the
elders that they must command that every man in the village collect wood from the forest for
seven days. They were to lay the timber around the temple to form a giant ceremonial circle.
The fire had to be large enough to call the Gods from the sky.
Then men worked day and night. They collected every piece of dried timber that they
could find. When they had collected it all they began to cut down huge trees in the forest.
They then cut the trees into smaller pieces and wrapped ropes around them to make it easier
to carry. In order to stack the logs, they would carry them up the stairs of the temple and then
lower them down. Many men collapsed from exhaustion. Some were also injured in the
process. But, when they were finished they had built a ring of timber almost as tall as the
temple itself. No one was sure if this would really work, for it had never been tried before, but
nobody questioned a shaman, and if they did they were quickly corrected.
As night crept over the city, the people became very anxious. They quickly dressed in
their nicest clothing. They brought with them to the circle all of their most precious belongings
from their homes, as well as bushels of merryone and their finest foods to impress the Gods.
They all sat down in a circle around the temple as the elders announced the lighting of the fire.
Then, the shaman priests began to sing the ancient ritual chant. They called on all of the people
to join in on the chant. As the fire grew the flames engulfed the temple. The shamans had all
but disappeared from sight, when the high priest called for silence. The ceremony had begun.
The priests began screaming to the heavens. They asked for guidance on this day for a
very important issue. They called and waited. They beat on the ceremonial drums. They
waited. The night drew on for hours. Nothing happened. Then the shamans told everyone to
each throw a handful of merryone into the fire. They all began eating, singing and dancing.
They shook maracas and tambourines. Then, all of a sudden… a bright light streaked across the
sky, followed by a huge gust of wind. It put out the fire and everyone went silent. Then the
light stopped just above the temple. It grew brighter and brighter and different colors started
flashing. They were all in shock. They couldn't move. Then they saw its true form. It was a
giant shiny ball in the sky. It was like a bird with no wings. It descended from the stars and
slowly landed atop the temple. They dropped to their knees. The shamans began to yell to the
object, but they could not be heard over the loud sound it was making. Then in an instant there
was silence and darkness. A single bright light appeared and three figures could be seen emerging from the stomach of the big shiny ball. The first two appeared dark gray and like
nothing anyone had ever seen, but the third looked like a man, but wrapped in gold.
Then one of them let out a loud scream! It started making strange sounds and seemed
very upset. Then the other creature started doing the same thing. They grabbed the golden
man and threw him to the ground in front of them. He appeared to be in pain. He began
speaking to the Incas in some sort of language they could not understand. The shamans tried
to explain that they didn't understand, but it didn't seem to help. The gray creatures got very
angry and started screaming at the shamans. They ran around the circle screaming, yelling and
making strange sounds. One stopped and began sniffing its nose. Then, it walked over to a
man and ripped the merryone off of his necklace. It began to yell at the man. So, the man
pulled a pipe from his pocket. The creature jumped back. The man pulled some merryone from
his necklace and packed it into his pipe. The creature watched this with interest. The man then
grabbed a stick from the fire and lit his pipe. He exhaled a cloud of smoke and blew it in the
creatures face. The creature quickly ripped the pipe from the man's hand and repeated the
process. Then it laughed. It signaled for the other creature and the golden man to try it. They
both did and laughed. Then one thing asked what it was…..
The Incas, for the first time that night could understand the creatures, everyone looked
very puzzled. The high priest told them it was called merry-one and that it was the bud of a
magical plant. The creatures appeared to understand and then they too looked confused. The
shaman announced that the merry-one had bridged the language gap. Everyone cheered. The
shamans then welcomed the creatures to Inca. The creatures began talking to the shamans.
They told the Incas that they were from another world. They had been sent here to take over
the land and bring the leaders back as prisoners.
This news startled the Incas and they quickly began to panic. They thought they were
going to die. Then one of the creatures told them not to worry. The creatures said that they
were pleased with the merryone and that it would impress their rulers back home. They then
told the Incas that they would not destroy them if they shared the secrets of this plant with
them. The Incas quickly agreed.
The gold man said that he had been kidnapped from his home. He told the Incas his
name was King Tut. He complimented them on their outstanding civilization. The Incas
complimented him on his beautiful head dress, which was made entirely of gold. He told them
his kingdom was called Egypt and that it was much like this place, but was surrounded by sand
not jungle. He also said it was far away, across a vast ocean. He was very fascinated by the
merryone. He asked if he too could bring some home. The Incas agreed and King Tut offered
them some of his gold bracelets as a token of appreciation. The visitors were soon on their way back to their ship. They thanked the Incas for their
hospitality and promised King Tut that they would return him to his kingdom. They walked up
the stairs of the temple and climbed into their ship. It made a loud hum and in a flash it was
gone.