Helga- Out of Hedgelands

by Rick Johnson

  Janty and Burwell lowered Helga down to where Breister waited. She unattached herself, tugged twice, and the empty rope shot up out of the LuteWoo. Janty was tying it around her waist, and was about to follow Helga down, when a loud commotion from below caused her and Burwell to halt their activities and draw back away from the edge. Clearly WooZan had arrived, and she was not happy.

  “Is it you? The Wood Cow Woonyak, returned?” WooZan screeched. “How dare you return? How dare you drop into the LuteWoo like this? Are you mad? Hunjah!” WooZan calmed herself suddenly, and dropping her voice said in more pleasant tones, “No, I’m sorry. You startled me so badly. This has never happened before. I did not know what to say. I’m sorry I yelled at you. Hunjah!” The hairs on Helga’s neck bristled with caution. She did not trust WooZan.

  “Why have you come here?” WooZan asked. “What can this humble servant of the WooPeace do for you? You surely have come for something. You did not plan to come here, where you knew you would find me, if you did not want something from me. What can this humble servant do for you?”

  “We have come to ask you to open the WooPeace to regular visiting with outsiders—with creatures from the world above,” Breister replied.

  “You don’t know what you are asking,” WooZan said, shaking her head sadly. “The only true peace is in the WooPeace. No, you do not know what you ask. But the WooSheep know. They know that only great evil can come upon us from discontents and rebels like you. You do not know this, but I know this, and the rest of the WooSheep know it, too. Hunjah!”

  “Don’t be so sure, WooZan,” Helga replied. “We know many creatures, both in the WooPeace and in the WooSheep Bottoms above, who want the two worlds to come together, or at least open to visits from family.”

  “There are no WooSheep above,” WooZan declared. “Only the dead exist in the realm above!”

  “But are we dead?” Helga demanded. “We have come from the world above and we are flesh and blood just like you. You don’t deny that, surely?”

  “Yes, I know who you are, and why you are here,” WooZan replied with a faint, but noticeable coldness. “It matters not that you are real creatures. You have come to disturb the tranquility of the WooPeace. That is all I need to know. You do not exist. You cannot exist. Hunjah!”

  “But, WooZan,” Helga pressed on, “how can you say that something that clearly exists, does not exist? You are a wise and intelligent creature. I see the wonders of what you and all the generations of WooZans have accomplished here. We do not wish to destroy it. We just want creatures to be able to live in both worlds, if they wish.”

  “You are a fool!” WooZan replied. “The very fact of your seeming to exist in both worlds will destroy the peace of the WooSheep in both worlds. Both worlds cannot exist. The WooPeace is happy and at peace. I’m sure the WooSheep at the Bottoms have their own type of happiness and peace. So be it. I care not about that. But different happinesses cannot exist together. Such thinking will destroy both. Hunjah!” WooZan’s voice left its traces of friendliness behind and became colder.

  “WooZan,” Helga continued her appeal, “there are children separated from their parents...running in hiding to see them. There are grandparents who have never seen their grandchildren. There are creatures that have not seen old and dear friends in many years. There are creatures that have never visited the honored graves of their ancestors. Surely this cannot be the peace and happiness you speak of?”

  “The Woonyaks who leave the WooPeace have chosen these things for themselves,” WooZan declared. “We welcome all Woonyaks with open arms and the warmest hospitality we can offer.” WooZan looked at Breister. “This Wood Cow was a Woonyak. Tell her, Woonyak. Tell her how you were received here. Tell her how I pulled your nearly dead body out of the freezing water and gave you life. Tell her how you were saved and welcomed. Tell her these things. Or are you only a traitor and a rebel, who thinks only of himself and what he wants, moment to moment? Tell her how you were saved and welcomed. That will reveal the truth. Hunjah!”

  Breister was silent for a moment, pondering what WooZan had said. Then he replied, “WooZan, we have not come to disturb the WooPeace. I think you know that. When you rescued me and cared for me and welcomed me, you did so as creature to creature, as friend to friend. I recall how you gently laid my nearly lifeless body on a soft pallet here in the LuteWoo...on this very spot! I recall your pride as you showed me the WooPeace and introduced me to the Common Bowl. I respect all these things. They were done as one creature to another creature, not as WooZan to Woonyak. We have not come to destroy the creature-to-creature caring and love you showed to me, but to show it to others. Is that wrong? Do you not have brothers and sisters in the other world also?”

  WooZan laughed. “So it is worse than I thought,” she said with a cool smile. “You are not simple fools after all. You do know what you are doing. You have come to consciously re-make the WooPeace according to your own fantastic ideas. Well, you have not the right to do so!” She paused, closing her eyes as if considering what to say next.

  “The WooZans of the past have given the WooPeace centuries of undisturbed peace.” WooZan continued. “The WooPeace is still in the hands of the WooZan. I am well able to protect the peace and happiness of the WooSheep. Hunjah! I have no need of your fantastic dreams that the two worlds can ever be one. If you meddle further in the affairs of my creatures, I will have to look at you in the light of rebellion. There will be no ‘creature to creature,’ as you put it. I will act as the WooZan, and do as I must. You will stand before me as a Woonyak rebel, and be judged as you must. Hunjah!”

  Helga looked intently at WooZan. She began to see something that she had noticed before, but had not understood. WooZan was looking at the skylights as she spoke. Her eyes never looked at either Breister or Helga. It was as if they were not there and WooZan were talking to herself. This perception sent a chill down Helga’s spine. “WooZan,” she asked, “who lives in the WooPeace? Is it creatures, or some illusion of your own dreams? I see creatures that love and laugh and feel things for each other. I think you see only the ‘WooPeace’—some image you have in your mind. But, I don’t think any creatures live there.” Helga paused and looked directly at WooZan, trying to make contact eye-to-eye. WooZan still did not look at her. She kept her eyes raised past her.

  After a few moments, she spoke. “Yes, for many generations, the WooPeace has existed in happiness and peace. Those that live here, live according to the WooPeace, or they do not live here.” Now WooZan lowered her eyes and looked directly at Helga with a cold stare. “You want the two worlds of WooSheep to become one. You think this will make the creatures happy. But then there will be differences and arguments about what the WooPeace is, or should be. The WooPeace will be destroyed if such a thing comes to pass. For centuries, the WooSheep have been assured that they lived in perfect happiness and peace. That has been the doing of the WooZans. Hunjah! You wish to destroy the WooPeace...” WooZan’s voice grew soft and cold. She stepped closer to Helga and looked directly into her eyes for the first time. “And you wish to destroy the WooZans.” She said nothing more, but the cold, intense gleam in her eyes said all that Helga needed to know.

  WooZan turned away and walked toward where her boat was beached. “You wish to take away the WooPeace. That is clear,” she said. “So be it. We shall see what the Council of Inquiry has to say. I will summon them. Tomorrow they will give their verdict. If you agree to wait here until tomorrow afternoon, the Council of Inquiry will decide. Hunjah!” WooZan’s voice had an icy edge that made the coolness of the cave seem even colder.

  “The Council meets at noon,” WooZan explained. “I will return with its decision shortly after noon tomorrow. I will bring you food enough for the night and you will be my guests. Tomorrow you will hear the verdict.” WooZan mounted her boat and moved off into the darkness beyond the circle of light at the bottom of the LuteWoo.

  “Whoa, that WooZan gives me the creeps,” Helga shivered.<
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  “Yeah, and what’s this business about the Council of Inquiry?” Breister wondered.

  “I don’t know,” Helga replied, “but I didn’t like the way she said it. She’ll be back with our food soon, and then we’ll try to consult with Janty and the others. We need a plan.”

  Janty, Burwell, and Bwellina were lying hidden at the top of the LuteWoo, straining to hear what was happening below. Fortunately, sound carried well in the cave and they heard much of what was said. The instant WooZan had left, JanWoo-Corriboo was down the rope in a flash. She had barely hit the ground when she whispered urgently, “Come on, we’ve got to get you out of here. The Council of Inquiry only has two outcomes: exile or death. WooZan knows you’re too dangerous to her precious WooPeace to allow you to go free. You’ll be killed!”

  “So, the gentle, humble WooZan is not so gentle and humble, eh?” Breister observed. “Some WooPeace!” he said with a hollow laugh.

  “Oh, it’s gentle and peaceful, all right,” Janty said, speaking rapidly with excitement. “If the Council of Inquiry decides someone should die, they are simply blindfolded and conducted deep, deep into the uncharted, deepest parts of the cave system and left there. No one hears from those poor souls ever again. That’s exactly what she’s got in mind for you! We’ve got to get you out of here. This was not a good idea!”

  “No, Janty, not so fast,” Helga replied in a determined voice. “Let me think. We have until tomorrow at least. I have my flicker-pole for protection. If they try to take us, I’ll bring every bird within 20 miles in on her head. No, we’ll be O.K. We are not going to simply run away. That is probably what she most wants to happen. Either we change our minds and join the WooPeace, or we flee—that’s what she hopes. But she did not count on how determined a Wood Cow can be.”

  Helga now directed Janty with a low whisper: “Go back up and lie low. Let WooZan bring us our food. I don’t think she will leave a guard. She wants us to think she’s friendly. And she hopes we will flee and leave her little fiefdom alone. I think she’ll play it straight with us tonight. But she will surely come back tomorrow with the means to—shall we say, make us stay a long time?” The friends looked at one another grimly, and then Janty gave two tugs on the rope. Burwell and Bwellina pulled her back up out of the LuteWoo.

  After a few more minutes, Breister and Helga heard the soft sound of a boat paddling across the water. WooZan landed shortly and began unloading a hearty picnic of WooSheep delicacies. She was clearly putting out the best the WooPeace had to offer for the campers in the LuteWoo: Salamander Strips with Hot Sauce, Dried Frog Legs and Whizzle Dip, Moss Chips, and Cold Bat Milk Soup.

  “I hope you will be happy and comfortable here tonight, my friends,” WooZan said in a friendly tone. “I have brought you a delightful picnic and some soft pallets for your comfort. I hope you will ponder the bounties and wonders of the WooPeace,” she continued. “You deserve to reflect deeply on why you have come. Perhaps you have come to stay a while? Many who have come have stayed forever. You may change your mind. Hunjah!” She bowed and then paddled off into the darkness.

  Helga and Breister waited until all sounds of the boat had died away. Then Helga whispered up towards her friends, “O.K. Let Janty back down.”

  In a few moments, Janty was at the bottom of the rope. “Whoa, Janty,” Helga said, impressed. “I’ve never seen anyone climb a rope that fast before! You’re a very good climber!” Helga praised her with a smile. She was getting the seeds of an idea.

  Janty looked at Helga expectantly, awaiting instructions, pulsing with energy. Helga smiled. “Sit down for a moment, Janty,” she invited. “You will need every bit of energy you can muster soon. I need a few minutes to think and develop an idea I am having.”

  Janty crouched down on her haunches, bouncing softly on the balls of her feet, gazing up through the LuteWoo. “You know why this is called the ‘Mountain That Moves But Stands Still?’ she asked Breister, who was sitting nearby, also looking up through the skylight.

  “No,” Breister replied, “but I’d sure like to know. I thought it was because this is an old volcano and the ground used to tremble from that.”

  “Yes...and no,” Janty replied. “The ancient stories tell of the times when the ground trembled here. But the references to the ‘Mountain That Moves But Stands Still’ only begin to turn up in the history of our people when the first WooSheep discovered the LuteWoo. They noticed how sitting down here, you see the stars, sun, and moon pass by overhead as if you are moving, but you are not. They were amazed how it felt like movement, but was not. That is where the name came from.”

  Breister nodded. “Yes, I know that feeling,” he agreed. “Isn’t it interesting how being buried deep in solid rock can feel like you are moving. It’s a powerful illusion. The WooSheep see this place as a prison.”

  “Well,” Helga interrupted. “I think I’ve figured out a way to free them from that prison! Here’s an idea.”

  Helga quickly shared her idea, and after a few minutes’ consultation she was able to give a final summary of the plan.

  “So,” she said quickly, “Janty is going door-to-door in the Bottoms. She is going to contact every WooSheep household she can and tell them to gather at the ‘Mountain That Moves But Stands Still.’ She’ll explain to them that she has proven that there are no Venom Bats and that the way is open to visit friends and family in the WooPeace. Not everyone will believe her. Many will think she is crazy or they will still be too scared to come.” Helga paused and smiled at her friends. “But, I believe that many will come. There are many creatures who have long thought this whole WooSheep situation was nuts.” She grinned at Janty. “I may have been the first to say it out loud, but I’m sure many WooSheep have thought that for a long time. Many will come. Tell them to be here tomorrow morning at sunrise,” Helga concluded.

  JanWoo-Corriboo drew a deep breath. “And while I am inviting the WooSheep at the Bottoms to come, Burwell and Bwellina will be gathering every scrap of wood and driftwood they can find and piling it near the opening to the LuteWoo,” she continued. “When I get back, I will help move the wood and other supplies up and down the rope as quickly as possible.” She looked at Helga and Breister with a look of fond appreciation and hope.

  “And we will do what Wood Cows do best!” Breister said, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Helga. “We will make the world’s sturdiest ladder! We’ll make a way for every creature that wants to come meet WooZan to do so!” Breister chuckled. “WooZan will see just how many creatures want to visit friends and relatives in the WooPeace.”

  Helga smiled, and thought silently to herself, “We hope.”

  Throughout the day, Janty scurried around the Bottoms inviting the WooSheep to visit the WooPeace, while Burwell and Bwellina carried load after load of tree branches and driftwood to the entrance to the LuteWoo.

  As darkness descended, Janty returned. She was tired but encouraged. “I think many of the WooSheep will come,” she said excitedly. “Some were doubtful and a few even shut their doors in my face before I finished telling them what was happening. But I could see joy and hope in the faces of many. At least we’d better have that ladder ready!”

  The quivering, natural energy that Helga had noticed in JanWoo-Corriboo from the first time she had seen her was put to good effect throughout the night. Despite running all over the Bottoms delivering invitations, Janty was called upon to make countless trips up and down the ladder delivering materials to Breister and Helga. She worked tirelessly, as did the rest of her determined friends. As they worked through the night, almost without consciousness, a simple song began to rise, first as a tune hummed by Janty, then turning to words sung over and over through the night:

  A family is

  a circle of friends.

  Unbroken,

  let the circle be.

  Using every talent and skill of the Wood Cow traditions, Breister and Helga listened for the qualities of the wood being brought to them. They were gre
atly encouraged. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard such a chorus of willing woods,” Helga commented joyfully. “It’s as if the entire pile of wood that Burwell and Bwellina has gathered is saying, “Choose me! Use me! I want to be a part of this ladder!”

  “Yes,” Breister replied, as he tied stout knots to lash the ladder securely together. “Some of the wood we have is not very pretty and would be discarded by most carpenters. But if the wood is willing, it is the strongest of all, no matter what it looks like.” Wishing to avoid damage to the LuteWoo, and leave no debris behind, Breister and Helga used only rough wood and lashings in their construction. All manner of sizes and shapes were tied together in an amazingly strong, yet very unusual, structure.

  The remarkable Wood Cow skills were revealed in a most improbable ladder that grew in length and strength throughout the night. Working in almost complete darkness, Helga stopped repeatedly to play some notes on the pronghorn flute to help her and Breister ‘see’ their surroundings well enough to carry on their work. She wished that she had been a better student when Miss Note was trying to teach her to play so many years ago. “If only I had paid better attention,” Helga thought ruefully. “But, at least I memorized the ‘sounding notes’—so I can use the flute tonight to help us see!” She silently promised herself that, if she ever got the chance to take flute lessons again, she would be more attentive. “If Edna Note could see me now, what would she think!” Helga chuckled.

  “I begin to see the ways of the Wood Cows,” JanWoo-Corriboo reflected as she went up and down the rope. “Listening with respect is everything. They listen to the wood. They listen to the rocks. And then these humble materials arise to help them! It’s amazing! Who would have believed it! The actual carpentry work they do all depends on listening well. If they did not have these ways, this project could not be done. Most creatures would look at what they were doing here tonight and say it was impossible. Yet, they are doing it!” And as she climbed and reflected, the song grew louder and louder in her heart.