Lore:Ox (god)

"The People have not two parents but four, and they are as follows. The great Dragon of Time, who set the stars in their courses and appointed the guardians to watch over the world. The Mother Serpent in the curve of whose back the world rests. The Fat Mother who nourished the People when they were lost and starving. And the Ox who bears the People on his back to their final rest." —Tales of Abba Arl: The Ox's Tale

A possible depiction of the Ox (lower left and right parts of the stand)

Keptu-Horn Skull Sallet

The Ox was an important figure in the mythology of certain Nedic tribes of the Deathlands. In their tradition, the People had Four Parents: the great Dragon of Time, the Mother Serpent, the Fat Mother, and the Ox. The Ox was revered as the parent who bears the People on its back to their final rest.

The story of the Ox's devotion to a human hunter named Colvy exemplified its loyalty and importance to the ancient Nedes. The story goes that Colvy, a hunter, found a young calf whose mother had died, and brought it home to his hut. He raised the calf as his own and when it grew into a mighty ox, it remained by Colvy's side, protecting him from danger. When Colvy was bitten by snakes and died, the ox refused to leave his side, demonstrating its love and loyalty.

The ox then spoke to the other hunters and asked them to build a pyre for Colvy's body and to cook the ox's flesh on the pyre as a feast in memory of Colvy. The hunters followed the ox's words and began to herd the wild beasts, thus ending the need for the People to roam the wilderness hunting for food. Whenever a great hunter died, an ox was slaughtered and a feast was held in their honor, with the ox's bones being laid upon the pyre to carry the deceased into the afterlife.

The imagery of four distinct beings was present in Nedic ruins - dragon, oxen skull, a pair of serpents and a full face but it is unknown if they depicted the Four Parents. Some of the traditional Keptu helmets were made of oxen skulls. It is suggested that they had ancient cultural interchange with the Reachfolk clans of the Reach, who adopted parts of their cultural styles. There are no known traces of the Ox veneration in the Reachfolk culture, however.

See Also

• Mother Serpent
• Dragon of Time
• Fat Mother

Books

• Tales of Abba Arl: The Ox's Tale by Abba Arl — A children's tale surrounding the Ox, one of the four parents