Tuksook's Story, 35,000 BC

by Bonnye Matthews

  Tuksook and Gumui were slower to respond than some of the People. They had no specified function in the sea aurochs arrival, so they dressed, took some smoked aurochs sticks, and walked down to the boat. Apparently, the men had brought back two of the beasts. Gumui waded out into the water to see for himself what the creatures looked like. He was dumbfounded. Item’s description of a full grass berry bag with flukes was very good, he considered. Tuksook wanted to protect her new tunic, so she didn’t go out in the water. She walked back up the path and looked into the water from above. She could see two large dark blobs in the water. Suddenly she remembered that she was supposed to be reciting stories to her father, and she began to seek him. She found him inside the house, apparently looking for something.

  “Oh, you’re here. Good. I was looking for a furred skin to sit on while we go through the stories.”

  “Do you plan to do that inside the house or outside?” she asked.

  “I’m a little stiff, so I thought the sun would be good. I know a good place.”

  “I’ll wait for you outside, then,” Tuksook replied.

  “You’d better find something soft to sit on to protect your new tunic,” he said. “We’ll be sitting on a rock.”

  Tuksook went to her old sleeping place and picked up the furred sleeping skin. Midgenemo came out and the two walked up the hill to the rock where once she had warmed her belly. They found comfortable places to sit, laid out their soft skins, and sat.

  Midgenemo wasted no time. “Tell the story of Maknu-na and Rimlad.”

  Tuksook began, “Notempa was the greatest of the great ones that Wisdom called on the land. He had long white hair and a fierce face. Clouds would gather at his head and be slowed up there making ovals in the sky. People loved to look at Notempa. The People had been visited by two Others who called themselves traders. They brought exquisitely beautiful purple, shiny shells from the salty water. The shells were large and made wonderful dippers or food holders. They had an edge with holes so that the dippers could be tied for travel. Some of the People wanted dippers, but the traders told them they had to trade something for the dippers. Some of the People thought they should just be given the dippers for their hospitality. The People knew that hospitality was required by Wisdom. Strangers were to be taken in and cared for well, so not to anger Wisdom. Strangers didn’t have to recompense for hospitality. While the disputes over the trading occurred, Notempa fumed. Smoke arose from his head, and the smoke smelled like bad bird eggs. Many times Notempa fumed, smoke rising from his head, letting the People know that they were supposed to remember Wisdom’s way of hospitality.”

  “While the People argued with the Others, Maknu-na and Rimlad went hunting. They didn’t like the excessive squabbling over the dippers. They ranged far to the north, farther than they normally went. They could see Notempa in the great distance. One day they saw that the smoke had become a great column. It rose high into the clouds. Notempa shook the land and made a great noise that they could hear even where they were. They could see the cloud still rising. Parts of the cloud column had started to look like a tree falling back to earth from the sky. Other clouds were racing down the face of Notempa and coming right at them. The falling smoke cloud came toward Maknu-na and Rimlad at great speed. They were terrified. They could feel the warmth of the cloud coming at them. They could hear it. They grabbed reeds and jumped into a pond to try to save themselves from the wrath of Notempa. They submerged themselves in the pond and only the reeds kept them breathing, which was not very easy. Both expected to die.”

  “After a long time, the air seemed to clear and they raised themselves from the pond. The whole landscape was the same color. An ugly gray. It was hot and smelled awful. They looked at Notempa. Notempa had been so angry that he had blown his own head off. No more white hair, just an empty place cut off at the neck.”

  “Rimlad and Maknu-na looked at each other. They knew that their group of People was gone. They could not have survived the horrible downrushing hot cloud they’d seen. While still in great fear, they realized Wisdom had spared them specifically. And they wondered why. They walked as far north as they could to avoid the terrible fury of Notempa. The air hurt their breathing passages. The caustic gray gritty material burned their feet and legs and arms. They desperately pushed on. When one would tire, the other would urge him on. They feared Notempa, and they didn’t want to die. They found animals covered in the gray material, dead, and they ate raw meat from those animals.”

  “On the third day, they found a group of the People living beyond the dead land. They were taken in and well cared for. The People at first had thought the travelers were ghosts of the dead because they were pale colored from head to toe, until they washed up and were given clean clothing and food and what they wanted most, water. They had bad coughs which finally went away. The People gave them good sleeping skins and let them sleep. Maknu-na and Rimlad were treated differently from the way their People had treated the traders of the Others. They were ashamed when they thought of their People and the travelers with the dippers.”

  “They were asked to live with these People who took them in and accepted the generous invitation. The air didn’t clear from the explosion for a long time. There were many years of very cold weather. The People had to make clothing for cold weather. Sometimes people would have a toe or finger turn black and fall off when it was very cold. If it became too bad, they would die. One man cut off his black finger and took a white hot stick from the fire and touched the sore place with it. His hand healed very well.”

  “For years along with the cold weather they also had beautiful sunsets. The colors of brilliant orange and red and purple and yellow were like none they’d ever seen. However, the cold didn’t last forever and the sunsets were only there briefly. They learned of Wisdom’s wrath when People failed to offer hospitality to travelers. First, Wisdom made Notempa become very hot and explosive and then he would cause the world to turn icy cold. Never again would the People fail to offer hospitality freely to those who were traveling by. After a long time passed, People said that Notempa’s head was growing back. Wisdom would not forget the People. And Maknu-na and Rimlad realized they’d been spared so their story would become a story for the People, a story that would remind them of Wisdom’s way of hospitality. That was all a very long time ago.”

  “You did that well, Tuksook. Now, tell the story of creation.”

  “In the beginning, Wisdom made the world. He made it by speaking. His words created. He spoke the water and the land into existence, the night and day, the plants that grow in the dirt, and the animals that live on the dirt, and those that live in the water and in the air. Then he went to the navel of the earth. There he found good red soil and started to form it into a shape with his hands. He made it to look a little like himself. Then he inhaled the good air and breathed it into the mouth of the man he created. The man came to life. Then he took some clay left from the man and he made woman. He inhaled and breathed life into her. Wisdom created a feast. He killed an aurochs, skinned it, made clothing for the man and woman from the aurochs, and then roasted the aurochs for the feast. The man and the woman watched carefully and quietly to see how he killed the aurochs, how he skinned it, how he made clothing from its skin, and how he roasted it. They paid good attention and they were able to survive by doing what they had seen done.”

  “The People were special and Wisdom announced that the man was to treat the land and the water and the animals and the woman the way he wanted to be treated—good. And the same was true of the woman. And it went well for a long time. But Wisdom hadn’t made the People of stone. He had made them of dirt, knowing that they shouldn’t have lives that would go on too long, for they might become prideful and forget Wisdom. That is good, because People should not be without Wisdom. They would die.”

  “That is why the People return to Wisdom when they die. They are placed in the earth and Wisdom knows. When Wisdom hears of a death of the People, Wisdom waits
until the grave is filled back. He waits until it is dark. Then he causes the earth to pull on the spirit of the dead to draw that person’s spirit back through the dirt of the earth. Wisdom draws that spirit to the navel from which all People came, the navel of the earth where the red clay for making the first man was. The spirits of the dead depart for the navel of Wisdom. That is where they reside for all time. All People’s bodies return to the dirt. But their spirit, that essence of the person made by the One Who Made Us, is pulled back to Wisdom in the place where first man was made, and Wisdom keeps all those he chooses with him there. Safe and loved. There they live forever. There is a cycle Wisdom made, a cycle from the navel to the navel. He keeps the spirits of those whom he chooses and he destroys those whom he hates. Wisdom hates those who hate him, those who ignore him, those who would be hurtful to him or the land or water or to those living things Wisdom made including People.”

  “You have done well Tuksook.”

  “Thank you, Father. I have a question.”

  “Speak.”

  “How does Wisdom tell you things that you have to tell the People? How did you know we had to migrate?”

  Midgenemo moved around a little to be more comfortable. He said, “You have to listen. Often, Wisdom’s voice is very quiet. You talk to Wisdom so you know his voice. On the subject of migration, I was walking alongside a creek bed that was almost dry. It had been a wide river. I heard the voice of Wisdom say, ‘It is time to migrate east. Take the People and go.’”

  “Did you just tell everyone then that they had to move?”

  “At council that night, I said, ‘It is time to migrate east. We must do this now.’”

  “And they just followed, even though you didn’t mention that Wisdom told you to migrate?”

  “After the People follow you for a long time, they just know that what you say comes from Wisdom.”

  “How do they know that?”

  “Well, where else would they think it came from?”

  “If someone didn’t want to move, they might think it came from you, not Wisdom.”

  “The People are smarter than that. Oh, I begin to see where your questions arise. You’re thinking about Pito. I was wrong on that, Tuksook. Rimut told me his story so often, I believed Pito was just a whiner. I didn’t know she was ill. I erred by listening to Rimut instead of asking Wisdom’s counsel. I almost lost Wisdom’s willingness to talk to me over that. I was just wrong, Tuksook. The People are much more aware now that I can err. It may be that your question is a good one. I should, perhaps, begin to state flatly when something I say came from Wisdom. I will reason that through my mind web. Now, Tuksook, let’s hear the story about Moraka-na and Pekutla-na.”

  Tuksook stretched out on her soft caribou skin on the rock. She lay facing up to the sky. She began, “Long ago far south from here, Moraka-na and Pekutla-na were planning to cut down a tree to place over a river so they could reach the other side by walking over a tree trunk.”

  “Father, far south of us is ocean. Shouldn’t that story start with “Long ago in the south in our old land . . .?”

  Midgenemo thought. “Tuksook,” he said after a while, “Through all time we have sworn not to change the words of the stories, so they remain as true as the day they were created. Part of becoming Wise One is vowing never to change the words of the stories. I have reasoned this way. Restart the story and this time, add to the beginning, “This is a story from our old land.”

  “Thank you, Father.”

  “Start again.”

  “This is a story from our old land. Long ago far south from here, Moraka-na and Pekutla-na were planning to cut down a tree to place over a river so they could reach the other side by walking over a tree trunk. A large tree grew by the riverbank and they chose that one. They had their hand axes and knew it would take much effort to cut that one down. Other People came to help chop. They used a variety of tools to cut down the tree.”

  “They had learned how to chop the tree down to make it fall in the direction they wanted. They made the wedge and continued on making it larger, for the tree was very thick. If they were successful, the tree would fall across the river from bank to bank. For days the People worked to chop the tree down. From time to time, men would put their hands high on the tree and push in the desired direction of the fall. It continued to hold.”

  “Moraka-na waked up one morning and said that he thought the tree would fall that day. He urged all those who watched the chopping to stay out of the way. He even said they should stay far enough away that, if it fell in a different direction, they should be safe.”

  The People trusted the hunters that were chopping away at the tree, making the wedge larger and larger. Suddenly, the tree made an explosive sound and fell away from the river opposite to where they expected it to fall. It twisted on its fall and frightened the People terribly. A man named Amatlen-na was trapped under the tree where he died. The tree was so thick the man was never seen again. The People could not understand what happened.”

  “Finally two men from the Mol came by and they showed the People what happened that awful day. The men showed the People that they had chopped down a left-handed tree. If you put your hand on a tree, with your thumbs up, the bark makes little lines that go either like the fingers on a right hand or the fingers on a left hand. Left-handed trees don’t fall like right-handed trees—they are unpredictable. They went to the river and showed the People how the bark went to the left up the tree, not to the right.”

  “The People decided to test the Mol’s tree knowledge. They found another large tree downstream from the left-handed tree that fell the wrong way. This was a right-handed tree. They spent days cutting down the large right-handed tree. Again, the People came to help the cutters and to watch. All were careful to stay out of the way of the fall, whichever way it might fall. This time when one of the People pushed the trunk of the large tree, it fell exactly the way it was supposed to fall—from one side of the river to the other.”

  “From that time, when People plan to cut down a tree, they will check to be sure that they are cutting down a right-handed tree.”

  “Tuksook, there has been no hesitation. You know the stories. Your telling has been error free.”

  “Thank you, Father.”

  “We will stop now and return at high sun.”

  She reached out a hand to help him stand on his feet.

  In the meadow below, Gumui walked over to the place where Lurch, Gilo, and Sutorlo were building the dog house. They hadn’t constructed the walls like the bent tree house. Instead they had cut blocks of turf from the lower area near the river and stacked the blocks atop one another. Grass would grow out from the sides. The walls were far thicker, and, Gumui considered, the dogs were probably going to be a lot warmer and their house possibly more stable than the bent tree house. He would talk to some of the men about doing the same on the outside of the bent tree house. There was enough time before the cold time, and they all thought they were farther north than where they used to live, so they could expect it to be much colder. Gumui also thought it could turn cold sooner in this land.

  Gumui saw Tuksook coming down the hill with the Wise One. He ran to greet her, hugging her around the waist and swinging her in a great circle.

  Tuksook was startled. “Gumui,” she said, laughing. “What has become of you?”

  “Tuksook!” he replied.

  “She did well, Gumui. She knows the stories,” Midgenemo interjected.

  “Good for you,” he said with a grin to Tuksook. “I thought she would, Wise One,” he said to Midgenemo.

  “Come with us,” Tuksook invited. “We’re going for some water.”

  The three of them went to the food preparation place.

  Later, Gumui thought about the night’s council. He’d already spent a few nights talking of the habits of the animals he observed. This night Gumui planned to share the wet forest. He knew that the strangeness of the place would cause a few hunters to find reason
to go there. It was something to see. He would also talk about what he saw at the dog’s house that he’d like to add to the bent tree house to make it warmer and stronger.

  The Wise One and Tuksook returned to their rock and the storytelling began. The People were busily preparing the products given by the sea aurochs. Earlier, Hamaklob and Togomoo had dispatched the animals after thanking them for giving their lives for the People. The meadow was alive with meat preservation activity.

  Lupo began to hit the rocks together and the People put down their tasks. They washed quickly at the waterfall for bathing and hurried to the food preparation place. The savor of the sea aurochs was drawing them to hunger that just moments ago they didn’t have.

  The older People were always served first, so others waited patiently, bowls in hand.

  “Did the rest of the storytelling go as well as this morning?” Gumui asked Tuksook.

  “I am so ashamed. I made an error in a story. I left out a word. That’ll never happen in that story again, I assure you.”

  “Don’t be so hard on yourself, Tuksook. That’s what this practice is designed to do.”

  “I know, but it’s embarrassing.”

  “You’re not perfect, remember?”

  “Oh, I remember, and if I didn’t, this will definitely bring it to the front of my mind web!”

  “Here we are! Oh, that smells so good!” Gumui said with feeling.

  They took their bowls and went to the meadow’s edge where they liked to eat with their backs against certain trees. They didn’t talk.

  The council that night was filled with many things. When it came to Gumui, the Wise One said, “Now, Gumui, you said last night you’d tell us about the wet forest. Please.”