The People continued thriving into the season of cold days. Olintak had her baby boy, Keemu, after much lengthy hard labor over a two-day span. She and Slamika were silly about the baby. Both had anticipated its arrival and were so happy that some members of the group wondered about their mind webs. The baby had red hair and deep blue eyes. He was a very happy little one and slept well at night. There was an anomaly in his birth. Keemu had six toes on each foot. His hands were normal, but he did have six toes. The sixth toe apparently was the littlest toe. It would not cause problems for the People, so the odd feet were overlooked. After all, Ghanya had two toes on each foot that were joined together with skin between them almost to the tip of the toes. He had never had any problem with them.
Domur was pregnant and she and Manak seemed to be almost as silly about their baby that would come as Olintak and Slamika were about theirs. Totamu wondered at times if there wasn’t too much leisure time, but the laughter and happiness in the group is something she would not trade for more seriousness. Totamu’s cough was a little worse but not even close to the cough that had taken Enut’s life. Enut had a wet raspy cough that gurgled. Totamu’s cough was rough and dry. She was convinced that it came from the ash. She had learned that when the cough came, she was very short of breath. If she spent much time resting, the cough would eventually go away and she could breathe better again. Having to rest in the daytime irritated her. The leaves helped her breathe better, but the effectiveness seemed to decrease as time passed. She wished she could find a cure, but had no prior knowledge of this affliction. It was not the sickness where people would eventually cough up blood or drown out of water. This was a tightness that came and went. Sometimes her breathing whistled. She wondered about it but did not consider it a serious matter, only one to be endured.
The day had progressed well. Men had gone out to check their snares along the stream. They returned with animals whose meat could be added to the cooking bag and animals that would provide special decorative additions to the garments the women made. The women had been wise. They had learned well from the strange man. The garments kept the men warm. They had fashioned hoods for the jackets that were better designs than the one the man had. The pants they wore were much better designed than the booted garments. The footwear made of strong elk skin was lined with rabbit fur and grasses to keep the men’s feet warm. The men also wrapped their feet inside the boots with skins with the hair still on. There was much teasing about how wide boots would need to be for Keemu with his extra toe. Garments were designed to last long and serve the wearer. The greatest design work was on the front and that might mean a trim of white around the opening of the hood or a special horn closure. They had already discovered that when they had a very cold spell and white rain, they could put the booted garments on over the other garments and that kept them very warm indeed.
Gruid-na had taken all the youngest children, boys and girls, to another cave where he had set up a stretcher with leather on it against the back wall. First, he had the children throw stones aiming for center of the circle he had made from blueberry juice on the stretched leather. He had also made small slingshots and had the children practice hitting the circle on the leather with stones passed from the slingshots. He would demonstrate the technique while the children watched carefully. Then he would ask hunters who had a spare moment to demonstrate. Then the children would try. Any error on form was caught and dealt with immediately so that the child didn’t learn the wrong form from the beginning. They knew that with muscle memory it was critical to get it right from the outset. Correction was for making the child’s efforts good for future hunting, not for making them feel badly. It was accepted appropriately so that no feelings got hurt. The children wanted to do well in hunting and this was the first step. When a child’s pebble finally hit the spot, it was worth a celebratory moment, but this was not overdone. They were discouraged from keeping score. Children were encouraged only to make their best effort each time to hit the mark. When they consistently hit the mark, they went to the next phase of training in another cave where a target was pulled by a line of leather in one place or swung by a rope filament in another. They had to hit moving targets. When the weather was good, boys and girls would practice outside with a four-string throw. It was made of four strings knotted at the top and had rocks tied onto the ends of the strings. This tool enabled them to snare birds in flight. To practice this, someone would throw a leather pouch into the air and attempts were made to snare it.
Sometimes before Wisdom sucked color from the land, the men would go to the hunter school caves and practice to keep their skills polished. Children eagerly went with them and lined the cave edges to watch. The activity was one that took place during the seasons of colorful leaves, cold days, and new leaves whenever hunters were free. Children would practice when no hunters were using the caves.
Ki’ti had spent all day practicing in her mind web the story for the night. It was one which they could finally get a fuller appreciation for the significance, now that they had experienced the cold. It was the story of Maknu-na and Rimlad. She wanted the story to be error free and was finally confident that she had it. She was very tired. She wondered whether telling the stories made Wamumur tired. Inst noticed her and she took a tender piece of dried meat to the girl. Ki’ti was touched. The kindness had been so unexpected. That might give her some energy. She took the meat gratefully with her head lowered and thanked her. She took a bite while Inst watched her. Her smile gave the answer she sought. It was very good.
Olintak had just fed Keemu. The little red-haired, blue-eyed baby with the six toes had stolen everyone’s love. He was adorable and so happy. It was almost as if he embodied the joy and hope of the People for better times. He had a laugh that seemed to start at his toes and bubble all the way up. People would stop what they were doing to listen to his laugh. If they didn’t laugh aloud, they almost always smiled.
The women announced that the evening meal was ready. The cooking activity in the cave had increased. The cold weather made everyone hungrier. Ki’ti found that she could eat easily all the food she’d been given despite the fact that she’d had the piece of dried meat already. When the clean up was finished and the infants had calmed down, it was time for the story.
They assembled in the large gathering place and quiet settled on them like the loss of color in the tops of trees in the setting of the sun, imperceptibly but not slowly.
There was no news to pronounce, so the story could begin. Ki’ti had been given a soft covering to sit on. She sat cross legged in front of the People with the fire off to one side. Her tunic bowled in front and Ahriku curled up there. Her shadow was huge on the cave wall. She began:
“Notempa was one of 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 get 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 salt 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 desperately 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. They didn’t have anything to trade but they wanted those dippers. 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, letting the People know that they were supposed to remember Wisdom’s 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 but parts of the cloud column had started to look like a tree falling back to the earth from the sky, while 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 hollow reeds and jumped into a pond to try to save themselves from the wrath of Notempa. Maknu-na and Rimlad put the reeds in their mouths. 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 get away from 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 People living beyond the dead land. They were taken in and cared for well. These People at first had thought the travelers were ghosts of the dead because they were very 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 bedding 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 who lived 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 the frozen member got too bad, they would slowly sicken and 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 freely to travelers. First, Wisdom made Notempa get 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 to remind them of Wisdom’s rule of hospitality. That was all a very long time ago.”
When Ki’ti finished, you could have heard a mouse squeak. The People had just gone through a similar event, but they had been spared and they had offered hospitality. For the first time Arkan-na and Ey, Guy-na and Alu, Lai and Inst, Ghanya and Meeka understood why the Minguat had been given such wonderful treatment from the People. This story made it very clear. They did not want to anger Wisdom who had unleashed a volcano to make it clear to the People that hospitality to strangers during their travel was not only expected but also required. They experienced a feeling of gratitude to the traders of long ago, even to the group that didn’t want to extend hospitality without recompense, to the individuals who took them in, and ultimately to Wisdom. They had lived through the last year, thanks to Wisdom’s story.
Likichi was so proud of Ki’ti. She had matured so much in the last months and no longer seemed angry and rebellious. She seemed to have accepted her role and was obedient to it. Likichi knew that it was inappropriate to tell her former daughter how proud she was of her, but she was. Totamu was also experiencing the same feelings. Ki’ti had told the story well. It was good. Totamu had to admit that her concerns over Wamumur and the hunters and Manak were unfounded.
When the People began to bed down for the night, Ki’ti went to Emaea, who held her arms open wide. No words were spoken right away, but they hugged for a long time. So much had happened in the training of Ki’ti, some of it very hard, but she was going to be, Emaea was convinced, a Wise One that even Wise Ones would respect. Emaea had watched the faces of the Others who had joined them. She had noticed that the last time they had heard the story in Cave Kwa, the Others had not seemed to understand. Most of the Others had been restless and wiggly during the telling. Not so with the ones who stayed. This year, there was no doubt that they were moved to their bellies.
On a beautiful, clear, very cold day, Manak, Ghanya, Lamul, Grypchon-na, and Kai dressed warmly and hiked to the cave of the snakes. They each carried water, a spear, knives, and also they brought two small torches and a portable cinder. They climbed to the top so they could look down into the cave. The five men lay on the snow looking for snakes.
Grypchon-na scanned the scene and asked, “Where are they?” They’d heard about the snake cave from the young men and were interested to see the same sight.
“There were so many that you couldn’t see the floor in some places!” Ghanya insisted, slightly defensive.
“I’m going down there to look around,” Lamul stated with a tone of consternation. He was clearly confused.
“I’ll go with you,” Manak offered. The two retreated down the hill to the cave opening.
At the cave opening, they used the cinder to light the small torches. Lamul led the two inside. The other men watched from above. No snakes were found in the first cave but the musky smell of snake was very strong. Lamul made his way to the opening toward the back and found another room and then another. The two young men looked knowingly at each other as the odor of snake all but overwhelmed them. Inside the next room, they found the snakes all intertwined and seemingly asleep. Quickly, they retraced their steps to the cave entrance.
Looking up at the smoke hole, Manak shouted, “You must come down here to see this.”
Grypchon-na, Kai, and Ghanya made it to the cave entrance as quickly as they could. Lamul led them quietly to the room of the snakes. Kai was gagging at the odor as he peered into the room.
“What in the name of Wisdom is this?” Grypchon-na inquired of no one.
“Wouldn’t you like to set fire to the lot of them?” Ghanya asked.
“No!” Manak rejoined a little too fast. “We’d have Wisdom attacking us! I’d rather deal with snakes than Wisdom!”
“I don’t understand,” Ghanya said. “You killed the single snake that invaded the cave where we live.”
“For our self defense, it is permitted. For food, it is permitted. But Wisdom does not permit us to annihilate groups of defenseless animals simply because we fear them. Wisdom made us superior to them, Ghanya, but Wisdom also made the snakes. It is our assignment to care for living things, not exterminate them,” Grypchon-na tried to explain.
“More of your stories?” Ghanya asked.
“Yes,” Grypchon-na added without further elaboration. “I’m ready to get out of here. What we have learned is that in very cold weather, snakes sleep like bears. Where we l
ived before running from Baambas, these same snakes did not sleep because they didn’t need to protect themselves from the cold.”
“And,” Kai said smiling outside the cave, “they definitely stink when you put a lot of them together!”
All the men laughed a little too loud and a little too long, for the smell was terrible. Manak and Lamul carefully extinguished the torches. They were reusable so they carried them home.
On the way back, Grypchon-na said, “We must avoid this place in the season of new leaves and warn others to do the same.” They named the hill Serpent Hill and they would warn all to avoid it in the seasons of new leaves and colorful leaves.
The season of cold days passed uneventfully. Thanks to the clothing inspired by the man with the green bag, the People had not suffered from the cold. Actually, they had thrived. The season of new leaves had turned into an early season of warm nights. When Wisdom returned color to the land, Ki’ti got up, rolled up her sleeping mat and cover, and went outside where she sat in the daylight on the rock walk. The sun on her skin felt wonderful. She was watching Ahriku frolicking with the other dogs across the stream. After romping and playing near a deadfall tree, Ahriku rose up and dived down with his forelegs. His snout was busy under the limbed part of the tree until he arose with his prize, a vole. The others came to the deadfall to see what they might find. Either there were no more or the voles had been alerted to danger. Ahriku ate a part of the vole and then left the other part for whichever dog would get it. He returned to Ki’ti’s side after stopping at the stream to drink. The two sat side by side motionless looking out in the same direction. Ahriku took his cues from Ki’ti.
The men were rousing and getting some food before they departed for a hunting trip. There were two groups of hunters and they chose to go off in different directions. They all agreed to return before sunset. There was a lot of noise coming from the main cave even though the People spoke softly when they were in the cave. The business of numbers of people rising and putting away sleeping mats and eating was a happy noise, Ki’ti thought. She got up and went inside to get something to eat.
Ki'ti's Story, 75,000 BC Page 21