Grypchon-na looked around. He nodded towards Lai-na.
Lai-na said, “The cave where the evil man was could be repurposed. Before we can give it a new name, we should have an idea of what use to put it.” He looked back at Grypchon-na.
Grypchon-na noticed Manak-na looking at him. He nodded toward Manak-na.
Manak-na began, “When we returned from the boat trip, we stopped at a place Ralm showed us. Ahna needed garments to fit her for our trek to find you. There was a large room at their living area on the hillside by the sea. It was made from bamboo and was so tightly constructed that no rain could enter. Inside were places where they kept garments, backpacks, season-of-cold-days boots and season-of-warm-nights foot coverings, sleeping skins, all manner of things. They made them in advance of need. They stored them in that building as we store meat. Since we plan to live here, I suggest we use at least part of that cave to store things we can make in advance of need, so that when a need arises, we can go there to meet the need.”
This novel idea caught everyone unprepared. They took the time to run it through their mind webs.
Lamul-na looked at Grypchon-na. Grypchon-na nodded.
“I approve and, if we choose to do that, we could call it the storage cave.” He looked back at Grypchon-na.
Grypchon-na looked around. He nodded to Ermol-na.
Ermol-na said, “I also approve. And storage cave seems a good name. I also like the name observation place. I would ask whether there are disapprovals.” He looked back at Grypchon-na.
Grypchon-na asked whether there were disapprovals. All the adults looked down, showing no disapprovals. “Now,” Grypchon-na said, “we have an observation place and a storage cave.” He did a palm strike. The People did palm strikes all around. Ki’ti lay on her sleeping skins smiling.
Grypchon-na looked around. The People had lowered their heads, showing that the issues had been covered for that evening.
“That is the end of the council. We will take a few minutes and then Ahna will tell a story.”
When the People reassembled, Ahna began:
“This is one of our oldest stories—the story of Chopinuka-na and Miroan. They were young and had just joined. It was the time after the eruption of Poquatelka, a great volcano far to the south where it is always warm. The People left just before the eruption, and they had recently returned to find that their homes had been spared ashfall. Chopinuka-na and Miroan had taken many trips to the river before the eruption. It was a special place to them. It was there that they first realized they loved each other. It was the place where they decided to join.”
“One day Chopinuka-na asked Miroan to walk with him to the river to their special place. She was happy to walk with him. They left on a beautiful, clear, warm day, thinking to swim in the water. When they reached the river they were surprised. The trees on either side of the river showed where the water had rushed down from the volcano. Dirt showed the level of the water as it raced down the hills. Only the upper third of the trees was above the dirty water line. They were shocked at the silt along the river bank. Things were different now. Their beautiful river appeared to have been drowned in silt.” Their once sparkling river was covered with silt, peeking through only in spots to show running river water below. Tree trunks lay sideways in the river bed. The bright colors they remembered were turned to a grayish clay color.
“Hand in hand Chopinuka-na and Miroan walked along the river bank on the soft silt listening to the water race by hurrying to its destiny. They were astonished at the smoothness of the silt. They had never seen the river run so fast. Suddenly, Miroan’s right leg, the one closest to the river was thigh deep in water that was running fast under the silt. She made a sound that Chopinuka-na heard. He pulled her hard to free her, and they headed directly for land, continuing to hold each other’s hand. Away from the river bank they stretched out on the land, and Chopinuka-na asked her about her experience.”
“She told him she had walked on solid land until suddenly it liquefied instantly under her right foot. It became wetter than any quicksand they’d ever known. She explained how her leg was caught in rushing water under the silt, rushing fast enough to pull her leg sharply backwards. She assured him that if he hadn’t pulled her out, she’d be gone. She told him that it was clear to her that volcanoes could make quicksand alongside rivers that drained land following an eruption. It clearly frightened her. No longer would they walk along rivers that had served to let water flow from volcanic events. They returned home to warn the People.”
Yomuk realized he was hearing another story that contained a life critical lesson. He carefully placed it in a spot to be remembered in his mind web. He reflected that he had not seen any volcanic peaks nearby, but then he reasoned that he might see some in the future. Whatever the case, he needed to know the information the story contained, not just eliminate it for lack of immediate relevance.
The gathering dispersed for sleep. Ahna stopped by to see Ki’ti.
“I approve, my Ahna. Thank you. While I rest, you must be prepared to tell the stories at night. You will do that?”
“Of course, Wise One.” Ahna was happy to do whatever she could do for this kind woman.
“Ahna, what did I tell you to call me?” Ki’ti asked.
“I’m sorry, Mother.”
“That’s better, my Dear One. Now, sleep.”
“I will,” Ahna replied while unrolling her sleeping skins.
“That was a great story, Ahna,” Elemaea said as she unrolled her sleeping skins.
“Thank you, my Sister,” Ahna replied.
Elemaea walked on her knees to Ahna and hugged her. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
Ahna smiled. “I’m so glad to be here.”
“Settle down, you two,” Untuk-na said quietly.
The girls complied.
The darkness suddenly erupted into light and a loud noise, followed by a jolt and explosion. Hunters leapt from their sleeping skins and raced to the home cave opening. Down in the small valley, they could see fire from a hole in the earth. Manak-na, Kai-na, Slamika-na and Lamk-na were all dressing as fast as possible, taking torches, and descending to see what had happened below. A noise above them caused caution. A streak from the sky brought another crash, much smaller, to the valley floor. Things were falling from the sky!
The hunters reached the largest hole in the ground—some three feet deep. There was a glowing hot rock in the hole. Slamika-na went to the place where the one they saw fall had come to rest. It too was a rock but much smaller than the first one. The men looked up. There was another, but it was off to the side of them.
“These are falling stars,” Manak-na shouted, realizing what they were seeing.
“These must be tiny compared to real stars!” Slamika-na shouted back.
“Think what damage a real star could do!” Kai-na shouted.
“I think we should return to the cave in case others fall nearby. We can look again tomorrow,” Lamk-na shouted.
The others nodded and all headed back to the cave as quickly as possible. With all the white rain out there, the fires from the falling stars weren’t going to cause a fire problem for them.
When they reached the cave, the People wanted to know what happened. Kai-na explained that falling stars had hit the ground down in the valley. The People could see them in the light of day. Slowly the People in the home cave returned to sleep.
When Wisdom returned color to the land, the pines seemed to glow bright green in the light outside the cave. Down below Kai-na could see a hole in the white rain where there was blackness inside and a considerable amount of dirt thrown up on top of the white rain. Having been down there the night before, he couldn’t wait to see what light would show. Quickly he began to put on his garments for outside wear. Slamika-na touched him on the shoulder from behind.
“Why not wait until those of us who eat can accompany you?” he asked.
“I’m just so eager to see,” Kai-na answered standi
ng there in his outside pants.
“It’s not going anywhere. Let me bring you your bowl. I know you’re excited. So am I. To walk around in all that white rain, food will help.”
“Very well,” Kai-na replied.
Mitrak was there with his bowl of food for the morning meal. Kai-na smiled at his wife. He brushed a strand of hair from her face and she smiled back. He took the bowl and she ran her hand along his arm, keeping her eyes on his.
“I love you,” he said quietly.
“And I, you,” she whispered back. She turned away to attend to other things.
Soon men gathered to see what had fallen in the night. At the site of the larger rock, they noticed the way it had been pocked and how part was apparently burned. It certainly had made a deep hole in the ground, throwing up buried dirt and grasses in the process. It was still slightly warm.
They saw that there were other holes in the white rain and the rocks in them were considerably smaller. To realize that falling stars left these wrinkled burned rocks was shocking. They had literally thought falling stars were stars that were falling. It expanded their mind webs to take on this new information. Small rocks could make the streaks in the night sky from these rocks! Some of them had seen it done. Knowledge was increasing almost daily! Manak-na picked up one of the rocks that was of medium size. He was shocked at the weight of it.
“What do you plan to do with the rock?” Kai-na asked.
“Share it with Ki’ti. Eventually she’ll see the large one, but I can take her this one and she won’t be tempted to come down here right now.”
“I see,” Kai-na said. He hadn’t thought what it would mean to Ki’ti to have to stay on her sleeping skins while the People could examine falling stars. Manak-na would know.
Up in the home cave, Untuk-na and Yomuk were having a serious talk near Ki’ti. They thought she slept. She was not sleeping.
“I owe you and Mother an apology,” the young man said. “You see, when I left for the adventure, I thought that hunters were somehow more important or more special than People with other functions. I guess it was because of the -na designation—I’m not sure. But I snubbed you and Mother as not knowing what hunters knew. I hadn’t learned that you’d been a great hunter among the Mol. I thought Mother just dreamed up stories to pass the time of the season of cold days. The problem is that I didn’t think. I saw what I wanted to see. I wanted to have superior status among the People, and I didn’t realize that such a thing is contrary to the People.”
“You did what the old Wise One, Wamumur, would have called believe a lie.”
“Yes, Father. I did. I was responsible at an early age. People seemed pleased with me that I’d matured beyond my years. I thought that made me special somehow. I gloried in it. I felt it made me better somehow than others.”
“You really weren’t listening to the stories your Mother tells, were you?”
“No. Manak-na got after me on the adventure for not listening to the stories. He said they contain life critical wisdom.”
“What did you make of the chiding Ki’ti gave to those who teased Humko-na about the snake and Song?”
“I didn’t see the application to myself, because I hadn’t teased Humko-na.”
“Oh, my son. You were so far from truth.” Untuk-na silently groaned for his son. How could he have been so blind and deaf? “What do you think of taking adventures?”
“That is for others—not me! I was sometimes so frightened on the boat that I wept. So many times I thought I would die on the water. After I began to get an idea of the error of my thinking, I worried that I wouldn’t make it home in time to give an apology to you and Mother. Do you think Mother will accept my apology?”
“Why don’t you ask her?” Untuk-na asked.
“There is no need. I have heard you. You have my acceptance of your apology, Yomuk.” Ki’ti turned over on the sleeping skins to face her husband and son. Her face was expressionless. Her belly was rejoicing. Finally, he had learned what she knew he needed to know.
The three noticed Manak-na walking over in his outside garments. He held something out to Ki’ti.
“What is this, my Brother?” she asked.
“Last night falling stars came over the valley. Didn’t you hear the explosion?”
“I suppose I did, but I didn’t know what it was. It wasn’t an earthquake?”
“No. It was several falling stars that landed nearby or right in our little valley. There is a huge one, but I couldn’t carry it up here. I thought you might like to see what a falling star really is. I don’t think falling stars are actually falling stars’’.
“I see what you mean, she said feeling the rock.”
“You can see the little indentations that the big one also has. You can see where it was burnt from the fire that it trailed behind it.”
Ki’ti laughed, “Manak means strong rock. My name means falling star but now I realize it means falling tiny rock.”
Manak-na, Untuk-na, and Yomuk enjoyed the laugh. They were all fascinated. They’d seen falling stars for years.
To hold something that flew with a brilliant tail of fire expanded Ki’ti’s mind web again. She looked mainly at Manak-na and Untuk-na but included Yomuk, “What is the cause of all this learning so fast and clumped together in time. What do you make of it?”
“I find it the most exciting time of my life,” Untuk-na said unequivocally.
“It makes me feel so alive. I savor it.” Manak-na realized he was dripping, so he turned towards the entryway to put his season-of-cold-days garments on their peg. He wanted to share with Domur.
Ki’ti turned to Yomuk. “My son, take this stone to share with Grypchon-na. He cannot easily go to the valley to see for himself. Explain what Manak-na explained to us. Then, bring the rock back.”
“I will. Thank you, Mother.”
“Why thank me?” Ki’ti asked.
“First, for accepting my apology. Second, for giving me this to do,” he said looking at the rock and back at her.
Ki’ti smiled.
Manak-na sat beside Domur and marveled at what she’d done. She had ground the ochre rock to a fine powder and put it into a gut container. He was astonished that she’d ground so much. She’d almost finished one of the bags he’d filled. Seeing her doing that for him under the circumstances warmed his belly and tore it all at the same time. He felt so undeserving.
“You’ve been very busy,” he said.
“So have you. What do you make of the rocks?” she asked.
“They’re just burnt rocks that have traveled through the night sky to land in our valley. They are bent into odd shapes and have burn marks on them. They’re heavier than you might think from the size of them.”
“Are they anything to fear?”
“I don’t think so. It isn’t like they fall every night.”
“That’s good. I’m adding some oil to this powder. Can you bring me some birch resin?”
“Of course,” he replied and got quickly to his feet. They both knew he’d have to go to the meat preparation cave to get it. “That may be just what you need. Now that you mention it, when I smelled my ochre ball, I think that’s an odor I detected but couldn’t place.”
“I hope so,” she said.
When Manak-na returned with a small container of birch resin, he was surprised to find the powder transformed into a ball mixed with oil. Having left his outside garments on the peg, he sat next to Domur and watched while she added some of the resin to the ball. She kept mashing the ball and folding it on itself and mashing and folding until she finally squeezed it into a ball.
“See if this feels right,” she asked.
Manak-na took the ball and broke off a small piece. He spit on it to make the substance suitable for painting. He painted his line and dots on his leg. Sure enough. It worked! Domur had replicated his painting ochre ball. Manak-na threw his arms around her and hugged her, knocking over the resin container. Domur broke free and turned the re
sin container upright, so that nothing spilled, and then hugged Manak-na again.
“Come take a walk with me,” he asked huskily. “I know a little cave that isn’t too far.”
She smiled, got up, and went to put on her garments for outside wear. She carried the birch resin container to the home cave entrance. They could take it back to the meat preparation cave on their walk.
At the entryway they met Lamul-na who offered to carry the birch resin to the meat preparation cave because that’s where he was heading. Domur thanked him and handed him the container.
She and Manak-na went outside and she started to walk the path to the meat preparation cave. There was a special cave in that direction. He pulled her hand the other direction up the hill.
“What’s up here?” she asked. This was a surprise.
“This is the new cave and it’s filled with some really great skins. It’s back in the earth, so it’s warmer.”
They arrived at the cave with the log out front that they would place in the upright position that signaled the cave was occupied.
“I would never have seen this!” she said.
The two climbed into the cave where there was just enough height to stand stooped over, but standing wasn’t what they had in mind. Each hungered for the other, and they wasted no time before feasting.
Back in the cave, Ki’ti was coughing. Likichi brought her a gut container that she could cough the foamy substance into. The coughing didn’t help her fatigue. Tiriku worried over the coughing as if somehow he could help, but just couldn’t figure out how. Likichi brought some additional skins and propped her sleeping skins over them so that she rested with her chest and head elevated.
“How long will it take to get over this?” Ki’ti asked petulantly.
“Wise One, you have to rest your body, mind web, and spirit together. You’re barely resting your body. Oh, it looks like you’re resting it, but it’s primed to leap up at a moment’s notice. It’s important for you to give in to the rest. I’m surprised you stayed in the skins when the men went to see the falling stars last night. Your mind web and spirit are still running.”
Ki’ti laughed. “You’re right. Last night after the explosion Untuk-na made it clear he’d sit on me if I tried to go outside to see what was happening. Am I that difficult?”
Manak-na's Story, 75,000 BC Page 31