The Lek

The Lek

Story by Ken Strickland

The slow waters of the river gather into a pool.They've worked hard for the previous five miles and deserve this respite before they begin the race downhill. A race which culminates into a kinetic marvel that lives its dynamic life under the bridge. It has the required shape - a large standing wave preceding the fluff of the accommodating hole. Surrounding this hole which cradles the dancing male while he displays his talents and superior genetic traits, is an audience of rivals as well as potential mates. A large river left and smaller river right eddy serve as the backstage for those yet to perform. These havens of slower water provide a place where the others can stretch, psyche up, observe the current performer, and preen their colorful plumage. Although colorful plumage is certainly important, it's easily obtained by all. It's the dance that's most important.

Rare photo of the Resplendent River Dancer
Image by Charles Foster

Suddenly a Resplendent River Dancer darts into the hole, spinning and gyrating in such a fashion that his brilliantly colored plumage and watercraft mix the colors of the rainbow into a visual feast! Complexly linked moves - carts and splits - are put forth for the rival to contemplate and duplicate, if he can. As he exits the hole, a peripheral glance toward the Tan Rock Sprite perched high above the river on a slab of metasiltstone reveals a quick nod of approval, he is sure. But the river quickly covers the wet tracks of his perceived success as another male drops into the hole and begins his dance. A brilliantly red Cock of the Rock this time. He flat spins, then carts endlessly as the air grows thin. The admirers are hyperventilating. He exits the hole in a spectacular whirling double helix. His superior genes are on display for all to see! The Golden Tasseled Eddy Flower blushes when he looks her way, he is sure.

When the river allows, they assemble here each day from late morning until late afternoon beginning in March and continuing into early November. The fanfare of the season is usually in October when various migrating individuals and subspecies from the more isolated regions of Paddlonia gather to display their finest plumage and test their mettle and genetic superiority with the best of the Resplendent River Dancers. Each year this ritual is repeated, for the yearling of the previous year often becomes the current Alpha, and the previous year's Alpha is sooner or later relegated to the threshold of the Dominion of the Grayhairs.

He sits and waits patiently in the backstage of the eddy, the veins in his sinewy arms pulsing in anticipation. He then flows into the Lek Hole! He's noticeably slower in the placement of his strokes and not nearly as flexible as the current Alpha. Too, his moves are less complex, but he manages a Zen - like front surf on the top wave before dropping into the fluff of the hole. There he manages one linked move, followed by the scrap of another before being expelled by the indifferent river. No one notices the gray ringlets of mane protruding from beneath his helmet, and his once dazzling plumage has been painted over by the Relentless Artisans: Sun, Water, and Time. His dance, though unspectacular, is at least respectable and therefore accepted by the gallery. But he is here for the love of the game only for his procreation conundrum was solved many years before and his double helix is already whirling into the future. However, even he was once on center stage engaged in Lekking behavior. It was just a different arena and performance, and many years prior.

The stars that were once a Dipper, now spill across the night sky. The Great Belted Hunter, with arms once raised high, now beckons to the Red Bull far beneath him. A different sun races through the day sky, giving life to the Colossal Green Beings that border the wide ribbon of the kinetic mass that was, in times long gone by, called a river. And this restless and timeless river still obeys the maxim of gravity. A large green swell of compounded elements defines the rock beneath and precedes the downy manifestation of air united with water. The resulting phenomenon accommodates an entity that is dependent upon both, and it is here also that this creature of the morrow performs his compulsive dance. A dance from time immemorial and a dance that can't be denied. The unending dance of creation.

The elaborate rites described by Ken Strickland may remind Eastern boaters of the displays of the Ocoee River's Hell Hole Trolls.

This document was last updated on Sunday, July 12, 1998