In the Beginning (12 page)

There was no doubt in her mind that she wanted him to stay with them. The hatred she had felt for him was lost in her new awareness of thankfulness and gratitude, and a feeling of kindling warmth. The image of her dead brother came to her, bringing with it a quick sense of horror and loathing, but she put it away. His tribe had destroyed her people, but he had saved her and saved their son. She looked at him again in the way she had looked beside the pool in the wood, and saw beauty in the dark powerful lines of his face, in the piercing eyes and springing beard, in all the strength of him.

“You are my mate, Va,” Dom said, “and I will stay with you and protect you always.”

Va said: “Yes, I will be your mate.”

• • •

The sun broke through in the afternoon: the mists cleared and the lake drowsed under a hot blue sky. They swam in the cool waters and afterward lay together in the sun.

As the day ended, Va fed Bel and put him to rest
in his mossy bed. He looked up at her and she sang to him, one of the lullabies that her mother had sung to her. Dom came into the hut while she was singing and squatted beside her, listening. She smiled at Dom, and sang the song for him as well.

Dom and Va lived ever after in the hut beside the lake. Not always happily, not always peacefully: they had sorrows and they had disagreements. But always Dom remembered that Va was his mate and the mother of his children. And Va remembered all he had done for them and loved him, most of the time.

They had other children, girls as well as boys. They taught them the skills of planting and harvesting, of fishing and cattle herding. From Dom the boys learned to use clubs, to defend their home from attackers. From Va the children learned to love beauty and all beautiful things—to sing, and tell stories, and paint in bright colors.

Their children, or perhaps their children's children, learned
to make boats so that they could fish in the lake more easily. As generations passed the village grew bigger. In time it became a town, in time a mighty city.

But this is the story of Dom and Va. In the dawn of human history, he was our father.

She was our mother.

A Short Story Adaptation

M
ANY MANY YEARS AGO, TWO
tribes lived in a very big country. One tribe lived in the north, and one tribe lived in the south. These tribes never met. The land between them was jungle and swamps. The men of the two tribes never went into the dark jungle, and they never went over the deep swamps.

The people of the south found fruit and nuts on the trees. They took seeds of grass and ground them. They ground them between two stones and made flour. They made bread from the flour. They took eggs from hens and milk from cows. They kept the
hens and cows with them, so they got eggs and milk easily.

They kept some seeds and put them in the ground. Grass grew from the seeds. This grass had big seeds. They called it corn. They built huts near their corn fields and made a village. They planted trees near the huts, and they got fruit and nuts easily from them.

This was their home. At night they told stories and sang songs.

The people of the north did not have corn. They did not have bread or eggs or milk. They killed animals. They were good hunters.

They followed the deer and ran very fast. Some deer did not run very fast. The hunters killed those. Then they ate them.

These people did not have homes. They made nests, like birds, but the nests were not in the trees. They were on the ground, in the long grass. They slept in these nests at night. They did not tell stories. They did not sing songs.

• • •

The tribes lived like this for a very long time—for thousands of years. Day followed night. Summer
followed winter. Year followed year. The people of the south and the people of the north learned new things.

The people in the south made tools from stones. They made knives and hammers out of stone. They made stone wheels, and they ground corn into flour with the wheels. They made pots. They baked the pots in fires, and then the pots were strong and held water. They made ovens and baked bread.

The people in the north did not have any tools. They killed the deer with their hands. They ate them and left the bones. One day a man looked at the leg bone of a deer. He hit things with it. He thought: “With this bone, my arm is strong.” He went with the hunters, and he took the bone with him. He hit a deer on the head, and the deer fell. The hunters of the tribe took bones. They hit deer with them, and the deer fell. The hunters called them killing clubs.

The world changed. Summers grew cold, and winters grew very cold. There was ice on the rivers, and there were mountains of ice in the sea. Cold winds came from these ice mountains. Some animals died. Some moved to the south. They looked for warm weather and food.

The jungles died. The swamps changed. The ­people of the north followed the animals to the south. They took their killing clubs with them.

A boy called Dom lived in the northern tribe. He was tall and strong. He ran very fast in the hunt. He ran like the men. He had a long killing club. He rubbed it with sand. He rubbed it for a long time and made it white. It was bright in the sunlight. Dom used it in the hunt and killed a deer with it.

In the south the corn did not grow well. The people worked and worked, but they were cold. The cold winds cut them. They made clothes and put them on their bodies. They built huts with thick walls.

A girl called Va lived with the southern tribe. She was small and beautiful. She made pots and painted them. She made them well, and she painted bright pictures on them. She sang songs, and her voice was sweet.

The ice moved south, and the people of the north went in front of it. They went a very long way. They hunted animals. One day they found a large number of animals. These animals did not run like deer. The
people of the north killed them easily. They made a feast.

Men attacked them at the feast. It was the men of the south. Why did they attack? Because the animals were their cows.

The men of the south attacked, but they did not have killing clubs. The men of the north drove them back. They ran back to their village. The northern men followed them.

There were thick bushes around the village. The southern men cut thorns and put them with the bushes. This made a wall of thorns around the village. There was a spring in the village. They got water from it. They kept food in the village too.

The northern men attacked the village. The thorns kept them back. Three or four men got through the wall, but the southern men killed them. The northern men went away.

They did not go far. They made a camp not far from the village. They had the killing clubs, and they were strong. They did not need a wall.

They attacked again, and the southern men drove them back. Day followed day. The northern men
attacked the village again and again. But the wall of thorns was strong. Again and again the southern men drove back the attackers.

There was a forest near the village. It had big trees. It had a stream too. The stream fell from rocks into a pool. Trees leaned over the pool. Squirrels ran along the branches of the trees. Birds sat on the branches and sang.

Va loved the forest and the pool. She swam there on warm days. She sat on the rocks beside the pool, and she sang like the birds.

• • •

Va was in the village. She thought about the forest. She looked at the wall of thorns. In one place it was not very thick. She made a hole and crawled through it. She saw the camp of the northern people, and she did not go that way. She crawled through tall grass. She went slowly and quietly into the forest.

The stream ran over stones under the trees. Va walked beside the stream. There were bushes there with bright flowers. She took flowers and put them in her hair. The stream sang, and the birds sang in the branches. She was very happy.

She came to the place of rocks. The stream ran between the rocks and fell into the pool. The trees leaned over, but they did not hide the sky. The sky was blue and the sun shone. It shone on the pool and made the water bright.

Squirrels ran along the branches of the trees. They never hid from Va. One of them came down to the ground beside the pool. Va knew this squirrel. It came to her hand, and she gave some nuts to it. She was happy. She touched the squirrel gently and spoke gently to it.

Va stayed beside the pool a long time. The birds sang, and she sang too. She looked at her face in the water of the pool. The birds and the squirrels saw her, but people did not see her.

She left the pool and went through the forest. She crawled through the tall grass. She came to the wall of thorns and found the small hole. She crawled through it. She was back in her village.

Dom attacked the village with the men from the north. The thorns kept them out. They were very angry. They said: “We will get through the thorns. We will kill the people in the village.”

Dom was angry and said this too. The northern men swung their clubs and danced a war dance. Dom danced with the men.

They attacked again, and the thorns kept them out again. They said: “We will wait. The people in the village will soon need food and water. They will come out, and we will kill them.”

They killed the animals near the village. Soon there weren't any animals there. They hunted a long way from the village.

One day Dom fell on some stones in the hunt. He stood up, but he could not run. He could walk slowly, but he could not hunt with the men.

They left Dom with the young boys. He did not like that. He took his killing club and walked slowly through the tall grass. He did not go near the village. He saw the forest and went to it.

He found the stream and followed it. He walked in the stream. He saw the bushes with their bright flowers. He swung his club and hit the bushes. The flowers fell on the water. The stream carried them through the forest.

Dom was a good hunter. He moved very quietly, and he listened. He heard the song of the birds. He
heard the squirrels on the branches. And he heard a new sound. It was a strange sound. He listened. It was a girl's voice. She sang a song. He did not know the song, but he liked the strange sound.

Dom walked very slowly. He was very quiet. He came to the place of rocks. He looked over the rocks and saw the pool. He saw Va, too. She sat by the pool and sang.

The flowers came down on the stream and fell into the pool. She leaned over and took them. She put the flowers in her hair. The flowers were very beautiful there. Va looked at her face and hair in the water. She was beautiful too.

Dom jumped down from the rocks. Va saw him. She said: “Who are you?”

Dom did not understand her words. He said: “Who are you?”

Va did not understand his words.

She saw the bone—the killing club. She knew then: he was one of the northern tribe.

Va was frightened. She stood up and ran through the forest.

Dom said: “Come back!”

She did not understand the words. She ran fast.
Dom could not run. He walked, and he hunted for her in the forest. He did not find her. He looked behind the trees and in the bushes. But he moved slowly, and he did not find her. In the end, he went back to his people.

Va was very frightened. She hid behind bushes. She heard Dom and saw him, but he did not see her. He went out of the forest. Then she went back to her village. She crawled through the tall grass. She crawled through the hole in the wall of thorns. The people did not see her.

The men of the village met around the fire. One man said:

“We have nearly eaten our food, and we cannot get food from our fields. Our enemies are there.”

An old man said: “Our enemies cannot get through the wall of thorns. We have to wait a long time, so we have to use our food very slowly.”

The first man said: “In the end we will not have any food. Then we will be hungry.”

The old man said: “Our enemies will be hungry too. They have eaten our cows. They will be hungry, and they will go. We have to wait. They will go. Then we can go out of our village and get food.”

Va was frightened. The boy in the forest was one of their enemies. She did not go to the forest again for a long time. She stayed in the village.

One day Dom went to the forest before daylight. He walked beside the stream and came to the pool. It was dark. The sun was not yet in the sky. One or two birds sang quietly.

Dom saw a big bush near the pool. He went behind the bush and lay on the ground there. In the hunt men waited for animals like that. They hid, and the animals came near them. Then they ran and killed them.

Dom waited for the girl. “Will she come?” he thought. He waited a long time. The sun came up. It shone far up in the sky. The birds sang. He saw squirrels on the branches of the trees. Dom lay quietly and did not move. He stayed behind the bush, and he waited.

Then the girl came. He saw her at the place of rocks. She jumped down. She looked around the place. She did not see Dom. He was behind the bush. She went to the pool. She sat beside the pool and looked into it.

Dom watched her. Then he stood up very quietly.
He walked very quietly to the girl. He was behind her—very near her, but she could not see him.

Va looked into the water. She saw her face. Then she saw a second face. It was Dom's. She was very frightened.

She jumped up and ran through the forest. She ran very fast, but Dom was a hunter. Very soon he caught her. He held her in his arms. She fought, but he held her.

Dom said: “I have caught you, but do not be frightened. I will not hurt you.”

She did not understand his words, but his voice was not angry. He said again: “I will not hurt you.”

Then she did not fight, and Dom did not hold her.

• • •

The next day, Dom went to the forest again. He went to the place of rocks and the pool. He saw Va beside the pool. He called to her: “I am here. Dom.” She was not frightened. She smiled at him. He went to her and sat beside her.

In the evening, Va went back to the village. She crawled through the hole under the wall. A man saw her. He took her to the old men of the tribe.

He said: “She went out of the village. She made
a hole under the wall. There was not a hole before that. Our enemies can come through the hole.”

The old men were angry. They said to Va's father: “Watch her. Keep her in the hut.”

Va's father took her to the hut and told her mother. Her mother was very angry. She said: “You have to stay in the hut, Va. You will work there, and I will watch you. You will not go out of the village again.”

Va was sad. The next day, she was very sad—very, very sad. Dom was in the forest, but she could not go there. She stayed in the hut, and her mother watched her.

Night came. Va went out of the hut very quietly. She went to the wall. The hole was not there now. There were just thorns. The thorns hurt her. She could not get out. She went back to the hut and cried.

Dom went to the forest. He called Va, but he did not get an answer. He walked beside the stream to the place of rocks. She was not there. Dom sat on the rocks and waited. Va did not come.

He walked through the forest. He called Va's name. He listened—the birds answered, but Va's voice did not. He took flowers from the bushes. He
dropped the flowers in the stream. The stream took them.

Dom came out of the forest. He saw the village with its wall of thorns. Va was in the village, but she was a long way from him.

He went back through the forest. The birds sang. The squirrels ran along the branches. The red and yellow flowers were on the bushes. But the forest was not the same. Va was not there.

The next day Dom went to the forest again. He did not find Va. He looked for her and called her. Then he went back slowly to his people.

There was a meeting of the men. Dom sat down and listened. One man said: “We cannot get into the village. The wall of thorns is very strong.”

A second man said: “There are not any animals here now. We hunt a long way from here, and we do not find deer easily. It is not good here. We have to leave this place.”

The chief hunter said: “Should we leave this place? What do you say?”