In the Wrong Paradise, and Other StoriesLang, Andrew
Science
In the Wrong Paradise, and Other Stories
Lang, Andrew
Paranormal fiction; Science fiction, English; Short stories; Slavery -- Fiction
As Verva grew older and ceased to be persecuted by the children, she
became beautiful in the unadorned manner of that early time. Her
friendship with Why-Why began to embarrass the girl, and our hero himself
felt a quite unusual shyness when he encountered the captive girl among
the pines on the hillside. Both these untutored hearts were strangely
stirred, and neither Why-Why nor Verva could imagine wherefore they
turned pale or blushed when they met, or even when either heard the
other's voice. If Why-Why had not distrusted and indeed detested the
chief medicine-man, he would have sought that worthy's professional
advice. But he kept his symptoms to himself, and Verva also pined in
secret.
These artless persons were in love without knowing it.
It is not surprising that they did not understand the nature of their
complaint, for probably before Why-Why no one had ever been in love.
Courtship had consisted in knocking a casual girl on the head in the
dark, and the only marriage ceremony had been that of capture. Affection
on the side of the bride was out of the question, for, as we have
remarked, she was never allowed so much as to see her husband's face.
Probably the institution of falling in love has been evolved in, and has
spread from, various early centres of human existence. Among the
primitive Ligurian races, however, Why-Why and Verva must be held the
inventors, and, alas! the protomartyrs of the passion. Love, like
murder, "will out," and events revealed to Why-Why and Verva the true
nature of their sentiments.
It was a considerable exploit of Why-Why's that brought him and the
northern captive to understand each other. The brother of Why-Why had
died after partaking too freely of a member of a hostile tribe. The cave
people, of course, expected Why-Why to avenge his kinsman. The brother,
they said, must have been destroyed by a boilya or vampire, and, as
somebody must have sent that vampire against the lad, somebody must be
speared for it. Such are primitive ideas of medicine and justice. An
ordinary brave would have skulked about the dwellings of some
neighbouring human groups till he got a chance of knocking over a child
or an old woman, after which justice and honour would have been
satisfied. But Why-Why declared that, if he must spear somebody, he
would spear a man of importance. The forms of a challenge were therefore
notched on a piece of stick, which was solemnly carried by heralds to the
most renowned brave of a community settled in the neighbourhood of the
modern San Remo. This hero might have very reasonably asked, "Why should
I spear Why-Why because his brother over-ate himself?" The laws of
honour, however (which even at this period had long been established),
forbade a gentleman when challenged to discuss the reasonableness of the
proceeding.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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