The Little People went far underground a long time ago. They had become distressed, watching the Earth suffer the abuse of humans. They slipped down into the caverns, below the surface and lived without much joy. They missed the sunlight and the growing things, the animals and the wind.

After some time, the humans stopped believing in the Little People. They stopped feeling connected to all aspects of nature and created false narratives to try to keep themselves happy. The few who were able to see what was really happening all around them knew they were dying, and they were sad.

The humans continued to use up the resources of the planet without regard. They fought amongst themselves over religion, politics, and money. They destroyed all the things of beauty and cultivated hatred. War became a way of life. At first the deterioration progressed slowly and many seemed unaware of the evil that was spreading but after some time the descent into madness became very steep and the humans slipped and slid into a dark abyss from which there was no escape. When all the powers of the Earth came to possess the ultimate weapon to destroy themselves, that is what happened. Human life was snuffed out.

A very long time passed and after the darkness started to lift and the animals and plants started to return to the Earth, the Little People crept up from the depths and began to live on the surface again. Though they normally had lived very long lives, some of them had succumbed to the sickness and poison that had seeped down into crevices of the earth. Very few children were born to them at first and some of them were mutated and disfigured. But the Little People were happy to be the gardeners of the Earth again. They had kept their memories alive in their stories and traditions and those past times of human violence and destruction lingered in their consciousness. They watched carefully for the return of the human race.