Tales of Space and TimeWells, H. G. (Herbert George)
Science
Tales of Space and Time
Wells, H. G. (Herbert George)
Science fiction, English
So Ugh-lomi and Eudena came back to the squatting-place from which they
had fled many days before from the face of Uya; and by the
squatting-place lay a deer half eaten, just as there had been before
Ugh-lomi was man or Eudena woman. So Ugh-lomi sat down to eat, and
Eudena beside him like a man, and the rest of the tribe watched them
from safe hiding-places. And after a time one of the elder girls came
back timorously, carrying little Si in her arms, and Eudena called to
them by name, and offered them food. But the elder girl was afraid and
would not come, though Si struggled to come to Eudena. Afterwards, when
Ugh-lomi had eaten, he sat dozing, and at last he slept, and slowly the
others came out of the hiding-places and drew near. And when Ugh-lomi
woke, save that there were no men to be seen, it seemed as though he had
never left the tribe.
Now, there is a thing strange but true: that all through this fight
Ugh-lomi forgot that he was lame, and was not lame, and after he had
rested behold! he was a lame man; and he remained a lame man to the end
of his days.
Cat's-skin and the second red-haired man and Wau-Hau, who chipped flints
cunningly, as his father had done before him, fled from the face of
Ugh-lomi, and none knew where they hid. But two days after they came and
squatted a good way off from the knoll among the bracken under the
chestnuts and watched. Ugh-lomi's rage had gone, he moved to go against
them and did not, and at sundown they went away. That day, too, they
found the old woman among the ferns, where Ugh-lomi had blundered upon
her when he had pursued Wau-Hau. She was dead and more ugly than ever,
but whole. The jackals and vultures had tried her and left her;--she was
ever a wonderful old woman.
The next day the three men came again and squatted nearer, and Wau-Hau
had two rabbits to hold up, and the red-haired man a wood-pigeon, and
Ugh-lomi stood before the women and mocked them.
The next day they sat again nearer--without stones or sticks, and with
the same offerings, and Cat's-skin had a trout. It was rare men caught
fish in those days, but Cat's-skin would stand silently in the water for
hours and catch them with his hand. And the fourth day Ugh-lomi suffered
these three to come to the squatting-place in peace, with the food they
had with them. Ugh-lomi ate the trout. Thereafter for many moons
Ugh-lomi was master and had his will in peace. And on the fulness of
time he was killed and eaten even as Uya had been slain.
A Story of the Days to Come
A STORY OF THE DAYS TO COME
I--THE CURE FOR LOVE
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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