|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 51
IX
"_Turning softly, she found a tiny naked baby . . . Annadoah leaned
forward, gazing at it intently, wildly--then uttered a scream as though
she had been stabbed to the heart . . ._"
The sun rose above the horizon and flooded the earth with liquid gold;
again the sea ran with running light; the melting glaciers shimmered
with burning amethystine hues; the snow-covered mountains took fire and
glowed with burning bars of chrysoberyl and sapphire, while on the
limpid sea the moving bergs glittered like monstrous diamonds
electrically white. On the sequestered slopes of the low mountain
valleys green mosses once more carpeted the earth, buttercups and
dandelions peeped pale golden eyes from the ground, in the teeming
crevices of the high promontories delicate green and crimson lichens
wove a marvellous lacery, and wherever the sun poured its encouraging
springtime light beauteous small star- and bell-shaped flowers burst
into an effulgence of pale rose and glistening white bloom. The
suggestion of a very faint, sweet aroma pervaded the air.
Above the promontories millions of auks again made black clouds against
the sky,--eider ducks floated on the molten waters of sheltering
fjords,--along the icy shores puffins, with white swelling breasts, sat
in military line,--guillemots cooed their spring love songs and fulmar
gulls uttered amorous calls,--on the green slopes the white hare of the
arctic gambolled, and tiny bears, soft and silken flossed, played at
the entrances of moss-ensconced caves. Out on the sea unexpected herds
of walrus lay sleeping on floating ice; harp seals sported joyously in
the waves; a white whale spouted shafts of blue water high into the
air. From the interior mountains came the howl of wolves and foxes,
the sound of rushing waters and the roar of released glaciers. Nature
was vocal with awakening life.
In her igloo Annadoah lay alone--for with spring the time of her trial
had come.
In the customary preparations for the coming of Annadoah's unborn child
Ootah had entered with rare tenderness and solicitude. When a little
one is expected among these northern people, new clothing, of the
rarest skins of animals and the feathers of birds, must be made for
both mother and child; a new igloo is built for the event by the happy
father, for the little one they believe should come in a house
unspotted and white as the driven snow. Annadoah was deserted,
husbandless; the women of the tribe remained aloof from her; Ootah
alone stood by her. And Ootah helped her with unselfish, eager
gladness.
For several summers, in anticipation of the day when he might be a
father, Ootah had gathered exquisite and delicate skins. These he now
brought to Annadoah. There were silken young caribou hides, soft,
fluffy white and blue fox pelts, as well as the skins of hares and the
young of bears. Of these, Annadoah, in the last week of fading winter,
made, according to custom, new garments for herself. Then, as the sun
rose in early spring and the birds mated, Ootah went away to the high
cliffs, where the auks nested, and jumping from crag to crag, hundreds
of feet above the sea, gathered a thousand tiny baby auks, with crests
of wondrous down, of which the hood for the unborn child was made. In
these high crevices, from which at any moment he might be plunged to
death, Ootah gathered mosses of ineffable softness, which were placed
in the hood as a cushion for the little one.
Near her winter home, Ootah built a new igloo for Annadoah, and never
was one made with more infinite patience and greater care. Inside it
was immaculately white, and when he lighted the new lamp the walls
glistened like silver; over the light he placed a new pot of soap
stone, for everything in that place in which a new life was to come
into being must by an unwritten law be freshly made and never used
before. He built a bed of ice, laid it thick with moss, and over this
tenderly placed, in turn, first walrus hides, then thick reindeer and
warm fox skins. He brought to the igloo a supply of walrus meat, and
then, fearful to be present at an event in which he had no right of
participation, prepared to depart to the mountains to hunt game.
Before leaving he crept half fearfully into Annadoah's old igloo and
told her all was ready. She smiled fondly and reached forth her little
hands. "Thou art very kind, Ootah," she said, "thou art brave and
kind." Ootah was at a loss for words, but his heart beat high, and he
was very glad.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|