The Curse of Kuebiko

THE STORY:

Kuebiko is an ancient Japanese deity most often represented as a scarecrow.  He is said to have total knowledge of the world, but, having no legs, is unable to move.

It requires courage to chase a dream, endurance in the face of adversity...and a certain blindness to common sense.  Think too far ahead and a dream seems impossible.  Perhaps, like Kuebiko, these forerunners to Peregrine Man have total awareness of the world. But too much knowledge can paralyze, immobilize motivation - like Kuebiko, they cannot move.

Stationary, they gradually drain their surroundings of life.

Hollow, they can no longer provide the nourishment a flower requires.

Are these the dreamers who never achieved their dream, and now serve as a warning to the Peregrine Man?  That if he continues this way he will suffer the same fate as them?

Another question arises - what are these scarecrows protecting?  It cannot be any form of sustenance or material wealth, for the land they inhabit is a barren wasteland.  Is it something internal?  Those that traded the flower for the tie, the dream for security, and opted for the safety of convention aren’t simply guarding the treasure to be found in pursuing a dream.  They are guarding their egos, their hearts, the notion that the reason for their failure was environmental - nothing could survive in this inhospitable desert - rather than them.

Ultimately, a scarecrow is a hollow threat - it cannot do anything to the seeker other than scare.  Once that initial fear is mastered, the dream is there for the taking.