Burl read their emotions in their eyes, but better than their amazement
and wonderment was a glance that had nothing whatever to do with his
leadership of the tribe. And then Burl rose, and took the two
snowy-white velvet cloaks from the wings of the white butterfly. One of
them he flung about his own shoulders, and the other he flung about
Saya. And then those two stood up before the wide-eyed tribesmen, and
Burl spoke:
"This is my mate, and my food is her food, and her wrath is my wrath. My
burrow is her burrow, and her sorrow, my sorrow.
"Men whom I have led to this land of plenty, hear me. As ye obey my
words, see to it that the words of Saya are obeyed likewise, for my
spear will loose the life from any man who angers her. Know that as I am
great beyond all other men, so Saya is great beyond all other women, for
I say it, and it is so."
And he drew Saya toward him, trembling slightly, and put his arm about
her waist before all the tribe, and the tribesmen muttered in
acquiescent whispers that what Burl said was true, as they had already
known.
Then, while the pink-skinned men feasted on the meat Burl had provided
for them, he and Saya went toward the burrow he had made ready. It was
not like the other burrows, being set apart from them, and its entrance
was bordered on either side by mushrooms as black as night. All about
the entrance the black mushrooms clustered, a strange species that grew
large and scattered its spores abroad and then of its own accord melted
into an inky liquid that flowed away, sinking slowly into the ground.
In a little hollow below the opening of the burrow an inky pool had
gathered, which reflected the gray clouds above and the shapes of the
mushrooms that overhung its edges.
Burl and Saya made their way toward the burrow in silence, a picturesque
couple against the black background of the sable mushrooms and the earth
made dark by the inky liquid. Both of their figures were swathed in
cloaks of unsmirched whiteness and wondrous softness, and bound to
Burl's forehead were the feathery, lacelike antenna of a great moth,
making flowing plumes of purest gold. His spear seemed cast from
bronze, and he was a proud figure as he led Saya past the black pool and
to the doorway of their home.
They sat there, watching, while the darkness came on and the moths and
fireflies emerged to dance in the night, and listened when the rain
began its slow, deliberate dripping from the heavy clouds above.
Presently a gentle rumbling began--the accumulation of the rain from all
the mountainside forming a torrent that would pour in a six-hundred-foot
drop to the river far below.
The sound of the rushing water grew louder, and was echoed back from the
cliffs on the other side of the valley. The fireflies danced like fairy
lights in the chasm, and all the creatures of the night winged their way
aloft to join in the ecstasy of life and love.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account