Recent Nearby Seismic Activity
Date Time Lat Lon Depth Mag
2017/09/19 17:15:30.82 36.75300 -121.25983 11.500 1.15
I ask Olivia about the Tres Pinos, or Three Pines. According to a Mongolian myth, a gluttonous hero, Altin Shagoy, owned a magical colt, which was abducted by three thieves. After searching for and finding the colt near the thieves’ yurta, Altin confronts them. They challenge him to a fight on the steppe of Taimi Sagán Her, near the five pines. After arriving at the steppe and napping, he swings two of the brothers into the trees, knocking the trees over, leaving only the third brother. After four days wrestling the third brother, Altin finally defeats him. He uproots the remaining three pines and uses them to set all three brothers ablaze, then takes the brothers’ property, people and cattle.
Then, by contrast, she tells me of the robin at the nativity who kept the Christ child warm by fanning the modest fire with its wings. The same fanning of wings John the Baptist likely heard when, standing with the adult Christ in the river, he received the spirit as a dove descending from heaven.
She whispers to me about three lynchings that happened nearby. Patrocinio Lopez, José Castro, and Justin Arajo were each, in separate incidents spanning from 1855 to 1877, accused of attempted murder. Rather than wait for a trial, angry mobs took each of them to the outskirts of their respective towns and lynched them, hanging them from nearby trees and, perhaps, burning them. The three were murdered near Natividad, the Pájaro River and what is now San Juan Bautista, respectively.
When he wakes up, Altin’s eyes glare with fire and fear from manifesting a fading myth of destiny.
Photo:
Civil War Days Tres Pinos, California
September, 2017