Tuksook's Story, 35,000 BC

by Bonnye Matthews

  “I think he’s going to make a slip loop around a sea creature’s tail!” Hai announced to Hawk and Vole. He leaned back over the boat’s edge. “Oh, there seems to be a problem!” he exclaimed.

  Togomoo’s head popped up in the water. “Hawk, help me. I’m trying to put the slip loop over the animal’s flukes. They’re just too wide apart for me to do it alone without alerting the animal.”

  Hawk eased himself over the side of the boat. He had a good idea what Togomoo had in mind and was excited to be part of the capture. He took his part of the slip loop and swam deep down with Togomoo to the sea creature that was grazing on large vertically growing strips of seaweed known as kelp. Carefully they stretched out the slip loop to encircle the flukes. At a nod from Togomoo, they slipped the loop over the tail and Togomoo pulled the loop tighter by swimming with it. Hawk immediately helped him. The sea creature reacted, but it was slow and lacked any knowledge of what to do, let alone show any instinctive fight.

  The sea creature was huge and shaped a bit like a giant seal with an upper lip that looked like a very short elephant trunk at one end and whale flukes at the other. The animal was dark, almost black and stood out visually in the water. Apparently, its primary food was seaweed, based on the unnaturally large accumulation of pieces of kelp that high tide left on the shore. Togomoo had noticed that where a pile of kelp lay on the shore, these sea creatures were likely feeding offshore. From their very limited experience with it, the animal was slow to move and showed no fear of them.

  As soon as Vole saw the creature was secured, he hooked the part of the rope that was attached to the animal to the tie down inside the boat, using only a part of the entire rope, so the unused part of the rope was neatly coiled on the bottom of the boat. As long as the loop to the sea creature’s tail held, the animal was secured. If it swam hard or fought to escape, it would take the boat with it. He wondered why Togomoo decided to capture this animal. It could be dangerous. Pulling it ashore would be very difficult.

  Togomoo and Hawk swam as fast as possible to the boat, urging Hai and Vole to row even before they climbed aboard. They reached the boat very cold. Both grabbed an oar and began vigorously rowing to help warm up.

  After warming up a little, Togomoo said, “That thing has to be six man-lengths long!”

  “Agreed,” Hawk said, his teeth still chattering and his body shivering.

  Togomoo shouted out, “That’s a tough hide! Did you feel it?”

  “Enough to know it’ll be hard to butcher.”

  Hai and Vole listened to every word. They both felt honored to be part of this boat travel to capture the strange beast.

  The sea creature was not pleased to be pulled backwards through the water. Others of its kind heard its plaintive cries, but they did not try to help. Nothing prepared them for the taking of one of their members. In time the animal would quiet. The men rowed up the river wondering at this new food source, hoping that for the effort the animal would feed them well and have a good taste. It added a distinct heaviness to their rowing.

  Two days later Vole called out, “We’re home!” Though the riverbank looked little different from when they landed there to begin life in the new land, it stood out to these hunters as if it were brightly marked.

  People began to leave the meadow and file down the path to see what the men had brought from the sea. There was obviously nothing in the boat. A few hunters noticed the rope hanging off the back of the boat. The rope wasn’t moving. Those who noticed the rope wondered why it was in the water.

  Hawk handed the coiled rope that was inside the boat to Unmo and Kew. “Please tie this up to a strong tree,” he said.

  The older men carried the rope to a hefty evergreen and tied the rope, looping it twice around the girth of the tree. They tied it in knots that would be difficult later to untie.

  Unmo, ever curious, waded out into the water and then swam to see what was attached to the end of the rope. When he surfaced, he shouted, “What is that?”

  Togomoo laughed. “That’s a sea creature that should provide a lot of food and they are easy to capture. They don’t see us as predators, and they don’t fight. We’re going to need to have as many men and strong boys as possible to haul it to land.” Togomoo dived down with his knife to kill the animal. Since he was underwater, he thanked the animal in his mind web for giving its life so that the People could live. He found killing it difficult, not because the animal fought, but because the hide was as tough as hard wood and as thick as cottonwood bark. He had to slice open its neck where the flesh was softer.

  Sutorlo ran fast up to the meadow to call for help. Men and boys came quickly in response. Even Ottu, who found the path up and down difficult, followed the ones who hurried. He was as curious as they were. By the time Ottu reached the anchored boat, the sounds of “Pull . . . Pull . . . Pull . . .” had become a cadence like a heartbeat as more and more joined to pull.

  Women and girls who were not tending to things they couldn’t stop gathered at the top of the meadow to see what the men and boys were pulling up. Item couldn’t resist, so she walked down the path to see what this creature was. She expected another huge, ugly sturgeon until she saw the dark outline in the water of something with little shape. She wondered whether it was a whale.

  When the animal was beached, the men tried to lift it as high as they possibly could, pulling the rope over a tree limb, hoping to bleed it that way. It was too heavy. All were amazed at the look of the animal.

  They began to butcher the creature. Cutting into the hide was almost impossible. It took a very long time to make one cut from the neck to the tail. The skin would be slit and then cut back at the fat, rolling the skin to reach the meat. They didn’t try to quarter it.

  Fortunately, Taman and Mongo’s meat smoking house and the outside sun drying poles were completed and Taman started a fire to ready the smoker for some of the new meat. He used alder wood for the savor. As men below cut meat from the beast, they sent it to the women and older boys in the meadow to prepare it for smoking or drying. Togomoo asked that roasts be cooked for that evening’s meal, so they’d know how the meat tasted. Some of the boys carried fat up to the meadow for the women to render into oil. There was a lot of external fat, though the meat was relatively lean. Other boys transported meat. The People worked rapidly and in harmony as a single being in the task of making the catch useful to them in the future. They tried to use every part of it, since that was Wisdom’s way, but they couldn’t find any use for the skin, so for now it would be hauled to the center of the river and allowed to rush away with the waters. They deemed everything else useful—even the beast’s white bristles, that were in the place of teeth, made it into the sewing kits of some of the women. They would eventually find a use for the skin.

  Renwen stopped working at the spit, wiping the sweat from her brow. She looked over the busy meadow and thought of the hive of bees that used to live near their home in the old land. The People were busy like the bees, she thought. Sometimes Renwen still felt pangs of homesickness, but this new land was life giving, she reasoned, while the old land had become life taking. Most of the People she loved were in this new land, though she still mourned for the loss of a few friends and her sister who remained behind. At sixty-eight, Renwen felt old. Her body wasn’t as flexible as it used to be; her reasoning wasn’t as sharp; her vision and hearing weren’t as clear; and some of her teeth had worn down to nubs, while others had been pulled out. Renwen was in no real pain. Still, she was in love with her husband, Kew, had a wonderful family, and fully appreciated each new day of life. She smiled to see the People so purposed.

  Kew had called Taq, Momeh, Remui, and Coo to cut up the meat for drying. He’d shown them how to do it. This was the perfect time for them to show what they’d learned. Eilie, Ing, Mela, and Elfa were called to cut small rope, thread it through the slit the hunters made in one end of the strips, and tie the strips to the bamboo poles to dry. They cut the meat on rocks at the catch poo
l, so they were careful to wash the meat to remove grit and any dirt in the waterfall before hanging it.

  Vole ran up the path with two small roasts and went straight to Renwen. “There’s more coming,” he said as he turned and ran back down the hill.

  Renwen speared the roasts and put them on the spit. To her, the meat looked more like meat from a land animal than something from the sea. She was eager to know how it tasted.

  Item went to the spit to examine the meat. She looked at Renwen. “That doesn’t look like fish at all!”

  “I’m eager to know how it’ll taste,” Renwen said. “And I agree. What kind of meat is this?”

  “Strangest looking fish I ever saw!” Item replied.

  “I don’t think it’s fish,” Renwen muttered.

  As the noon turned to evening, the roasts were causing anyone in the meadow who could smell them to salivate. Renwen had cut off a sliver and tasted it as soon as the outside of the roast had cooked. She could hardly wait to eat. Finally, Renwen hit the rocks together, calling all to the evening meal. By then all the work was finished and the People had showered. They were eager to taste the new meat. There were many greens and some tubers to eat along with the meat. For any who didn’t like the new meat, there was some leftover sturgeon and camel. Renwen expected the leftovers would remain leftovers.

  As soon as the People began to taste the new meat, there were exclamations. “This is better’n aurochs!” “I could eat much of this!” “Good meat!” “I want more!”

  Because of the comparison to aurochs, the sea creature acquired the name of sea aurochs. At council, the People agreed that the amount of meat from the sea aurochs well compensated for the four-day-four-man boat travel. Hunters who also swam well and liked boats were eager to try to capture another. With a number of travels to the sea, the People could be well prepared to endure the cold time in this place using the meat they could dry or smoke. Meat for which they genuinely hungered.

  In another part of the Eagle’s Grasp, Tuksook and Gumui prepared to stop for the night. Gumui set up the lean-to and Tuksook started a hearth fire. He took the remaining meat from the last camel, cut it into bite-sized pieces, and skewered them on sticks they could each hold over the fire.

  Gumui brought a skin and put it on the ground near the fire. They sat and began to cook the meat. The sky overhead was filled with stars and clear of clouds. Silently each pondered the fact that their exploration was concluding. The abandon with which they’d been themselves and not part of the group would end.

  “Gumui, I’ve had more delight on this trek than at any time in my life.”

  “I, too, Tuksook. It’s been wonderful to learn this land and to learn you.” They laughed. They had definitely learned each other.

  “Gumui, I’d like to spend some time with Wisdom before we return. Will you watch over me in the morning?”

  “Of course,” he replied.

  “The moon is trying to peek out from that mountainside,” she said quietly. She was pointing. An owl flew across the sky.

  “Big owl,” Gumui observed. “By the time we eat, the moon should be partly out.”

  “I love this new land,” she said, “almost as much as I love you.”

  “I feel the same. I’m so glad we migrated. And you can thank your father for that. He saw that it was important for us to move. Imagine how it would be if we were still in the parched old land. Our children will have a wonderful place compared to the old land.”

  “Our children. You don’t think I’m already pregnant, do you?” she asked.

  “There’s no way to know except let time pass. Would that make you happy?”

  “Any time I can have your child, I’ll be happy.”

  Gumui smiled. He’d never felt as she caused him to feel. She had grown so much on this trek, he thought. Of course, he reasoned, he had also grown.

  Tuksook leaned against a tree, picking her teeth with a twig. My father was responsible for our migration, she mused. I wonder whether Wisdom told him we had to move. Is that how Wisdom has us assure the People’s safety? She realized her father didn’t credit Wisdom with the idea of the migration. She was curious how Wisdom used Wise Ones in ways other than just telling the stories.

  Gumui smoothed out the aurochs skin under the shelter of the lean-to and gathered their covering for the night. He slid the backpacks under the protection of the lean-to. There was no expectation of rain, just dewfall.

  Just as Tuksook was about to drift off to sleep, Gumui said, “There’s a question I have that I am thinking you can answer?”

  Fully awake and a little irritated, Tuksook murmured, “What’s that?”

  “It’s probably too ridiculous to ask. I feel crazy even mentioning it.”

  “Don’t tell me you kept me from sliding to sleep with a question you want me to answer but won’t ask.” She propped herself up on a stiff arm.

  “Well, you’ll think I’ve lost the way in my mind web.”

  “Just ask the question, so we can have some sleep!”

  “I’ll ask it this way—Is Wisdom male or female?”

  “What?” Tuksook began to giggle. “You’re right! That’s a crazy question. What made you ask that?”

  “While you and the women and children were gone, Ottu became so angered at your father, he swore by Wisdom’s testicles.”

  “Ottu did what?” she asked, dealing with an idea far beyond her sphere of imagination.

  “He swore by Wisdom’s testicles.”

  From somewhere deep inside, Tuksook began to giggle and then laugh and laugh. The incongruity of Ottu making such a statement, the idea itself, and Gumui’s question were more than she could contain, so out it came in laughter. Gumui wasn’t laughing, which made her laugh harder.

  “When he swore, I couldn’t help but wonder,” he said over her laughter, “whether Wisdom had testicles.”

  At that Tuksook laughed harder. She rolled up into a sphere shape, trying to keep the muscles in her back from reacting to the laughter by tightening. “Well, are you going to answer me?”

  Among her peals of laughter, she said, “Well, Wisdom has no breasts like women.” And then she laughed all the harder, thinking of Wisdom in the room wearing that beautiful, long white leather tunic with breasts. She, too, wondered whether Wisdom had testicles as Ottu suggested in his swearing. “But then,” she laughed, “I’ve never noticed male parts either. The representation of himself that he shows me is clothed in a long leather tunic, Gumui.” Her laughter began to calm.

  When her laughter subsided, she said, “Gumui, Wisdom is spirit. I don’t think spirits join. I don’t know whether Wisdom is male or female or has characteristics of both or neither. Wisdom is Wisdom. And, I’m not going to ask Wisdom that question. I will tell you that I think of Wisdom as male, but that is the thinking of a person who, days ago, was a child. When the People refer to Wisdom, they refer to him, as if he were male. But we have to remember he’s spirit.”

  Gumui thought over her words. “So maybe Wisdom shows a male form to People to communicate to them in ways they can understand?”

  “That’s what I think; but I doubt there’s a single human who knows. Now, I’m wide awake, so I suppose you’ll have to lull me to sleep, my husband,” she said smiling.

  The night was short.

  When the sun rose, they were in shadow but the increased light overhead waked them. They ate and then Tuksook went to the far end of the lean-to to cover herself so that she could have some time with Wisdom.

  Tuksook drifted to that spirit place where she could meet with Wisdom. She arrived at the white cave room and started to climb the two steps.

  “Stand before me, Tuksook,” Wisdom said.

  She walked on the blue cave ground and positioned herself out from Wisdom’s feet, centered between them. She stood there with her hands at her sides looking on the face that Wisdom showed her.

  “I approve your answer about whether I am male or female. For you to know better than
to ask is wise. It is another thing when someone opens your mind web to strange imaginings, that you not pursue them. Imagining me with breasts or testicles is unworthy use of your time.”

  “I understand,” Tuksook said thoroughly shamed. “Will you forgive me?”

  “Yes.”

  Tuksook lowered her head.

  “Tuksook, today we talk about what changes you must make now. You are returning home to submit your learning to become Wise One to your father. That’s where we start. Let me show you how your lack of respect is outside my way. I chose you and I chose your father as Wise One. You’re not there yet. He is. Did he deserve to have me choose him?”

  “No, I have learned that.”

  “You are correct. I chose him because I did. That’s all you need know. Now, the very fact that I chose him should have led you to respect him, simply because I chose him. Remember I do not choose those who deserve to be chosen. If I did, I would find no one deserving. I have to work through People. You must respect him from this moment forward, because I tell you you must.”

  “I understand,” Tuksook replied.

  “You must learn the stories well enough that they come to you immediately when there is a similar situation. You must learn them to work through events for which the stories have no parallel but show how the People stood up to earth’s severe changes. In your life you will be seen as a leader. You must be prepared to lead. Do you understand?”

  “In part, Wisdom.”

  “Tuksook, you are learning.”

  Tuksook lowered her head.

  “You must continue to lose your self-centeredness and grow your humility. Never forget the source of your knowledge and wisdom.”

  “I understand.”

  “There will be times when others are so impressed with you that they will praise you. Recognize that praise is not yours alone.”

  “Wisdom, I do understand.”

  “I expect you to demonstrate respect for your father, so that others recognize that you respect your father. I do not mean to overdo it. I mean the normal respect you had for him before he erred.”