Birthing Magic

I had carried my son for forty days, but wasn't sure how the child would arrive; would I lay an egg or birth a child as most mammals birth a fully formed version of herself? Max was my mid-wife, literally a baby catcher, he crouched beside me on the trail and received the egg. The egg filled one large brown hand. The egg slid easily from the birth canal but I felt more pressure and the urge to push again. Two eggs. I was birthing twins. Now the kahuna spoke, "How amazing was that?" Max's long wool coat was on the ground behind me, I lay back and Max handed me two silver colored eggs. I was not exactly in shock, but the feeling was uncommon; wasn't Max supposed to know these things? Not one child but two.


Max pulled a small gourd off of a woven strap across his chest. Opening the small tight lid he poured water into his hands and washed. He massaged my uterus to bring any afterbirth fully through. There was none at first, but he continued to massage my belly as I made sounds and utterances mothers have made through time. The dreams were quick and brilliant. A large nest made from forest sticks hung off the ground anchored to the top of the spare bunk bed in the corner of my cozy cottage. Large enough to support my weight and that of Raven, the nest would become our brooding place for the next moon cycle, give or take a day or night. The eggs were large and both Raven and I would need to warm them. The bed would need to be moved to the other end of the big open room up against the window that opened. "You and Raven will share the sitting privileges. There are stories to be told, songs to be sung, and memories to be memorized during the brooding time. Not only will these stories fill your children; in the telling you and Raven will learn what is missing each from your legacies. Give birth to magic, and the common magic will ..."

"The common magic will what?" I asked.

"An incomplete message is it." Max was tuned to the dream and my question. He wasn't asking.

"Isn't it just like life to be an incomplete message," I was keenly aware of what I could do and at my age able to accept that it was enough. My friend the farmer loved to say, "All you have to do now honey is wash your face."

I lay back with the mountain of understanding. Overwhelmed. Elated. Oddly clear. Max motioned for me to rest. The afterbirth needed to be buried. I knew where. "With the la'i, Uncle. We'll bury the afterbirth with them." A layer of soft moss served as a temporary basket to contain the envelopes that held the eggs within in. Max said the prayers of thanks and wrapped the afterbirth and moss in a clean length of kapa he pulled from his coat pocket. When I felt ready to stand Max took the eggs from me. Watching to see me steady on my feet, the kahuna smiled and took his wool bowler hat from his head and slipped the eggs into it.

"This will do for a temporary nest, while you gather the makings for a proper brooding place. No more than two days and nights though. Maha will have sticks and other fine material for a nest for the four of you and she's bringing help. She's waiting at your cottage." With the bowler hat and silver eggs securely in my two hands, Max was gone.

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