View source for The Struggle of Tseli pez Tsawos

{{LitEntry
|Title=The Struggle of Tseli pez Tsawos
|Image=Literature-placeholder.jpg
|Type=Poetry
|Origin=Mugroba
|Race=Wick
|Legality=Legal
|Accessibility=Common
|Description=“Ag Esatiqa Egúk”, or “The Struggle of Tseli pez Tsawos”, is a lengthy oral poem, believed to date back to the early eighth century in its original form. While originally sung in Deep Tek, it is now most frequently heard either in Tek or a blend of Tek and Mugrobi, depending on the identity of the minstrel. While one is most likely to hear it among the desert tribes of Mugroba, it’s also passed down – albeit somewhat rarely – among Falling Stone performers, accompanied by an elaborate and quite frightening dance. Esatiqa egúk is a phrase in both Mugrobi and Tek that connotes a malicious creature which either takes the form of or (in some stories) takes over the body of a loved one. 

The egúk is always intentionally cruel and often unstable, and always the spirit of a dead person, usually known (often intimately) by the victim of the egúk’s cruelty. There is usually mention of the úvaqiqa ipili, or “painful dream”, a state of the soul being caught and tormented between lives. The poem follows an old story about a desert tribe’s struggle with an egúk. 

===An Excerpt Of Ag Esatiqa Egúk=== 
<span style="font-style:italic">“The honorable and wise Durg, the great water-wise man <br />Called Tsawos, for he was born under the comet, had a wife <br />Called Epeqaqa, who bore him many sons, and was wise <br />In the ways of keeping peace and of nurturing. It was she, <br />Epeqaqa, who bore Tseli pez Tsawos, the cleverest and toughest.”</span>
|Notes=The poem expounds upon Tseli’s prowess at many things, in particular his physical acuity and skill with a bow. While he is one of the most skilled fighters in the tribe – only his father surpasses him – the poem emphasizes his loving, gentle nature and his willingness to solve disputes. He has many friends and nearly no enemies. 

During “the cruelest of dry seasons”, in the prime of his youth, Tseli falls ill with a terrible fever and begins raving; he “shouts bitter curses, spits cruel tongues at his honored father”, whom he blames irrationally for the tribe’s poor season and recent deaths. Eventually, Tseli dies; his death coincides, the poem mentions several times, with the onset of a particularly plentiful season. There are many births. 

Before long, a man in the tribe—unnamed—falls ill with a remarkably similar fever, but recovers. However, he “walks in a painful dream” and behaves unlike himself, with “tear-stained cheeks and mad eyes”. Eventually, seemingly for no reason, he attacks Tsawos – who kills him in self-defense. The poem is at this point repetitive. This event occurs numerous times, with numerous members of the tribe falling ill, behaving strangely, and then attacking the Durg. 

The pattern is broken when “the feverish familiar stranger” targets Epeqaqa instead, slaying her in front of Tsawos; then the egúk announces that he is Tseli pez Tsawos, “wearing all of [his] tribesmen’s faces”. Tsawos then asks him why he has committed this heinous act. Tseli responds that he is “caught in a painful dream which demands blood”. 

The poem usually ends with Tseli killing his father; in some versions, this allows him to “die” properly, but in most, his spirit flees to the desert, where it supposedly wanders still. Variations of the story are told to children, especially in Mugroba, to frighten them into taking safety precautions and not wandering too far from their parents’ communities.
}}