My 2015 NaNoWri Novel
7:03 PM 11/1/2016
The exploration party was a mixed group of 20 ex-soldiers and "native guides", two mountain men and their leader, men who had been alive a very long time.
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They picked a meadow near a deep and fast moving stgream. There were several old fire pits visible. There were also a couple of stacks ovf fire wood that wold been immediately usable had they not been rained on several times that week.
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This begged the question of who owned the firewood.
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"Whose campground are we in?" This was said by a man who was a lawyher in New York City when not on vacation.
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"Can 't tell", a mountain man replied. "Ah ken cut some tgimber and we leave what we don't use."
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"Excellent idea", the old man replied.
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His crew sorted themselves out with some cutting down a dead tree and several others dropping their fishing poles in the river. The remaining men began to set ujp tents and sme cots. They would began preparing the evening meal latger. The party had taken an early end to the day's travel when they came upon the meadow.
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The old man, who lead the group and looked to be about 30 years old, and who called himself Henri LaVFere, looked at the woods in speculation.
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"Who do you suppose has been following us since mid morning, Thomas?"
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Thomas, who had been a trapper before getting a "real job" (trail cook) thought before answering.
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"I can't tell from waht I've heard and especially what I have not heard. There are three to five flanking us with a moving ambush pattern. I'd think we were being herded save that we are moving in the easiest paths."
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"I agree. I just hope they are peaceful."
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"I'll tell the boys to covertly watch the woods and maybe we can see our stalkers make an error or two."
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"Excellent idea". While Thomas briefed the other men, Henri LeFere began something he had done many times before: he began assembling a firepit by sweeping an area clean of groound cutter. Then, he took some tinder one of his men had brought over and began having it. He was a master at making fires and his men stood around watching his smooth work.
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The fishing crew had managed to bring more than enough fish for their group and had started building a rack to dry and smoke the fish. The old man was quite pleased with this work and thought these young men would have fitted in very well with his people's hunting parties. Of course, there were significant differences in their cultures and the old man did not consider just how difficult it would have been for late 19th centruy Amercians to fit in with his birth people.
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When the fire was going well, Thomas the cook hung a cauldron from a tripod and began to boil drinking water. They had read of the French Chemist and his discovery that invisible life forms could poison water. They would steralize their drinking cups and drinking water.
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Some minutes later, Thomas took the cauldron of boiling water from the fire and removed the cups which had been hanging by cords into the boiling water.
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There was the sound of something clumsley moving through the woods and several of the men thought it was a very clumsley bear cub. Yet, no one was actually concerned with the noise source. It was simply strange.
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The noise stopped then the crunching of underbrush began again. What looked like a small boy, covered with long fur and otherwise nude, ran into the clearing. The boy was babbling loudly in both the Arapaho language and something gluteral that made the old man think it should be familar.
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The creature could only be thought of as a small boy. He ran to one of the soldiers and began punching him. The man, who had sons, began to laugh.
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The boy then ran to another man who happened to once been a very black slave and began hitting him. This soldier dropped to his knees and gently patted the odd boy on his shoulder. Distracted, the boy ran around the clearing before charging toward the old man. Heni LaFere picked the boy up, bemused by the boy swinging his fists at him. He was also puzzled by the ribbon holding the pony tail at the back of the boy's head. It was a fabric traded exclusively to a major Arapaho tribe in the broad region. He spoke to the boy in good Arapaho.
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"Be calm, child, or I will tell your Father that you have attacked my tribe."
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The boy looked started and then went back to swinging at the old man.
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"Are you hungry, grandson? Are you thirsty, grandson?"
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"Yes and you are not my grandfather!"
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Henri LaFere gently set the boy on the ground. Thomas brought over a cup of the boiled water, which was hot but not dangerously hot, and the boy gulped the water down.
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"More please!"
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"So, the boy does have good manners" a soldier murmurred.
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"I'm hungry!"
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"Would you like some fried fish," Thomas opened with.
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"No!"
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"How about some pemmican? We have some with elk and blueberries."
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"No!"
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"How about some pemmican without berries?"
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"We could warm up some meat broth?" ("Broth" was not a word in Arapaho.)
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"No! The boy will never eat it."
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"Yes, I will!" In the distance, the boy's family members, who had been surprised by the boy attacking the strangers, were delighted by the way these humans had manuevered their boy.
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It took several minutes before Thomas brought a large mug of a rich beef broth to the boy. He gulped it down and hardly noticed the piece of elk and blueberries pemmican he was handed. He enjoyed it and asked for more broth.
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The boy leaned over to one side and everyone thought he was going to nodd off. He didn't.
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"I want to play" and used a word noone had heard before. One soldier went to his pack and came back with a ball he had planned on using as trade material. Three men gathered near the boy and began tossing the ball to each other. This got the boy's attention so they started gently tossing the ball to the boy who began to babble in delight.
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The men, some who spoke only English, began congratuating the boy. It was their fond hope the little fart would decide to take a nap. It didn't seem to be working.
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All were surprised when what appeared to be an attractive hair covered girl in her late teens walked into the clearing. Save from her hair, she was nude but was displayed no skin. This met the approval of all the men, including the old man who was utterly bored by human nudity.
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The boy babbled at her. She told him in very clear Arapaho to speak either Arapaho or The Mother Tongue. The boy responded with a clever selected mixture of both languages. The girl rolled her eyes, sighs and grumbled "little brothers".
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The Old Man stood out from his people like a wolf among large dogs. He was 5'8" tall, very broad shouldered and extremely muscular. He was not the tallest man present. He simply had a presence!
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The girl went directly to the Old Man.
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"What are you doing here?"
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"My friends and I are exploring this region. We had heard stories of incredible beauty here and wanted to bear witness to it. You are here because you and your people live in the deep woods and have lived with the Arapaho was generations. Am I correct?"
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"Yes. Is that the real reason your are here?"
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"Yes, it is. All of us can provide for our families, help our children start their futures and protect ourselves. We don't need to find the golden metal or other things of value. There are other people do seek the golden metal and other things of value. We are part of a group dedicated to protecting those such as you and protecting your future."
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"You are very sincere so I tend to believe you. You do not look or act like the White Devils the Arapaho talk about. We will see, however."
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Henri LaFere nodded in agreement.
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"It is some distance from our village and perhaps we could eat our evening meal with you and spend the night with you?"
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"We will be honored to have a girl as intelligent and radiant as you and your energetic little brother stay with us. I will put a blanket roll out here and you and your brother may have my cott. It will get cold tonight, we will provide you with blankets and clothing to sleep in. Will that satisfy you?"
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"Yes."
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The boy had discovered the party had brought a large dog, a Golden Retriever, with them. The boy was rapidly making friends with the dog. After a few minutes, the boy curled up for a nap with the dog. One of the soldiers put a rolled up sweater under the boy's head.
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"What shall we talk about", the girl wondered?
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"You can start teaching your native language to us. First, we can start with nouns. We will think of various nouns and you can teach those words in your language. After we run out of nouns, perhaps you would be willing to think of nouns in your language and teach them to us."
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"Can you learn that quickly?"
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"Yes," Thomas replied. "We all have excellent memories and have been learning other languages for quite a while."
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With the Old Man's Tribe surrounding them, the teenaged girl of non-human appearance began educating the Tribe.
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(Time Is The Fire In Which We Burn!)
9:19 AM 11/2/2016
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By the late afternoon, the boy was awake and was running around with the dog. The tribe had learned a number of nouns and a spattering of verbs. They were wondering how to progress when the boy gave them an answer.
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He demanded a story!
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"What kind of story do you want?"
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"A fun story!"
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One of the ex-soldiers decided to try telling a story. He began with:
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"There was once a small boy who did not obey his older sisters. So, they decided to make him obey them. They told the boy he could not have his favorite treat if he didn't do what they said. He didn't obey and didn't get his favorite treat. He was a bright boy and knew how to get around his sisters. He just told his older cousin 'give me a treat and I'll tell you where my Father likes to hide his whiskey.' The older cousin drank the little boy's whiskey and the boy got his treat. The older sisters got into trouble since their Father thought his daughters had drank the whiskey. This is a happy story."
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"It is not!" The girl then threw grass at the soldier as did her little brother. The boy did not understand the story but he understood throwing grass as did some of the other adults.
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"I know that story", responded Thomas. "I also know the girls were very angry at their brother and made him pay for what he said."
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"Is the story true", the girl asked?
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"It is," Thomas replied. "My son, my daughters and my whiskey. I had to put a stop to the vengence too."
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"What is whiskey?"
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"Whiskey is a nasty tasking drink some adults like to drink. I do not know why!"
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"Is the Little Brother fine?" The little boy was curious about another little boy.
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"I turned out fine," one of the men replied. "So, yes, the 'Little Brother' is fine."
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"Thomas Junior is my son," Thomas the cook added pointing towards his son.
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The girl suddenly had a vision of just how old this group of apparently young men really was. She dismissed these thoughts immediately.
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The girl translated this story into her language and the boy grew increasingly bored while this happened. Finally, he yelled "I'm bored!"
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`Some of the men rolled their eyes while one said "he does not know what true boredom is!"
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The sister rolled her eyes at this.
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Then, in their native language, one man said "Tell them our true creation story; they will think it a myth."
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Another added "why not, it is sometimes hard to believe our story is true."
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Thomas then said "why not have the Chief Scribe tell the story?"
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The Chief Scribe didn't look pleased.
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The girl said "what language was that?"
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"Just our own native language."
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"Are you going to tell my little brother a nice story?"
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"I suspect we will be telling you a 'nice story'. Your little brother looks like he wants to follow the dog around this clearing." The girl nodded agreement. "We're curious, how many hunters were following us? Thomas thinks there are between 3 and 5 hunters around us."
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"There were seven, counting my little brother and me. I suppose there were really only five trackers following you."
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"Are they going to visit?"
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"No, they are going to watch and won't leave cover unless we need help."
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"You won't need help, you have us to watch over you."
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"The hairless ones [Arapaho] are friends to us and say we need fear you."
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"We're not the ones you need to fear. Although you have just met us, something about you and your brother tells me we've known you for a very long time."
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The girl just looked doubtful.
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"I need a beer to settle my stomach before I start a story", the Old Man began. The other men laughed as they had seen him face down an angry religious fanatic after being dragged from his bed. Still, he was given a glass of wine that was close to mead; beer was being saved for special occassions.
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"My story begins a very long time ago. I'm not sure exactly where it was but it may have been in Central Asia. There were several groups of humans there. By 'groups of humans', I mean that were human but simply looked different and had different body appearance. There was one group of these humans who had little body hair and wore furs; call them the bare ones. There was another group who looked like the now common humans but were much more muscular and had larger facial features; call them the muscular ones. There were a third group of very hairy and very tall humans; call them 'tall and furry'. They had lived together peacefully and accepted several bands of what could be called almost 'modern men'."
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"By custom and the times when they had arrived, groups had gotten their own caves. Then, when the number of newly arrived people got too large, the caves were simply too crowded. Since it was rather cold in that part of Central Asia, the various groups built giagantic homes starting after one spring thaw. It took a lot of work but they dug deep into the ground in spite of permafrost and built their floors and walls against Mother Earth. The roofs took a lot of wood. They put sod or grass on top of the wooden roofs. I suppose you can guess what happened?"
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"They smelled like little brothers," the girl replied.
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"Yes, they did smell but there was a more important consequence. It didn't take so much wood or cow chip to heat the buildings and cook. There was something more important. Would care to guess? Oh, and what is your name?"
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"I am Oldest Daughter and my brother is Fifth Son. What was this important thing?"
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"Have you heard of the 'Birds and the Dogs'?"
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Oldest Sister thought briefly and said "are you refering to that wrestling my parents seem to like doing aftger sending their childrfen to visit our grandparents or cousins?"
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"Yes, exactly. People marry folks who look like the ones they grew up with. The people then simply did not have prejudice against other types of humans. There were a number of cases where children cross the species lines and made the next generations. Oh, there were not a lot of cross overs but there were enough."
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"Does this mean Sisters had to put up with smelly and ugly little brothers?"
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"There were also sisters born, you know. They were not ugly, Oldest Daughter."
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Oldest Daughter said nothing.
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"What do you know about God?"
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"We call our God 'Chebbeniathan', which means 'the Spider Above'."
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"One day, the God of these people was out walking. God had not given much thought to his various humans and thought of them and many more species as being 'his people'. God had gotten these 'humans' started on the roads of life with thinking, and good predator vision and speech, walking on two feet, opposed thumbs and many other things. Seeing these four groups of humans living together caused God to think of an experiment to try. He decided...yes, Oldest Daughter?"
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"Experiment?"
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"Ah, an 'experiment' is when you come up with an idea and see if your idea is right."
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"An experiment would be to see if Fifth Brother would share a sweet with his beloved oldest sister." This was from one of the mountain men who had a droll sense of humour.
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"Probably not but you never can tell. By the time God took his stroll near these houses, there were perhaps a hundred people of very mixed ancestory. God thought about whatever God thinks of and, told these hundred or so people that they would be going on a trip. They were going to be taken to a fancy city in a very warm place."
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"What are we going to eat?"
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"I will teach you how to grow your food. I will teach you how to thrive in this land."
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"Well, the people knew better than to argue with a God so they asked 'when do we leave'?"
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"Soon," God said, "soon."
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'It was actually early summer or a couple of months after God's warning that leaving day happened. They had gotten ready by having parties every couple of nights and God had given them urns of excellent Mead the night before they left their home."
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"What is Mead?"
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Thomas, the cook replied: "You make Mead by boiling one gallon of honey with three gallons of water and pour into a large urn. Put in the juice of several lemons and bread dough and cover. Come back in a couple of weeks and it will either be drinkable Mead or so sour you might not even want to use it for cooking."
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"Can I have some?"
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They gave Oldest Daughter some of their medicre Mead in a cup. (They were not going to waste their small supply of good Mead on a non-drinker.) She did not like it and the men were happy they had not wasted their good Mead on Oldest Daughter.
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She didn't finish the "vin ordinare" and put her mug down. Fifth Brother sipped some and didn't like it. The dog sniffed tghe "vin ordinare" Mead and howled mournfully.
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"Very well, I'll dispose of this Mead and wash the mug." Thomas left, heading towards his kitchen area.
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"He didn't say he was going to throw it away, he just said he would dispose of it. Do you suppose he'll put it back in the jar."
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"I disagree, Henri, he'll probably mix it in a sauce for lunch tomorrow."
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"Shall I get back to my story?"
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"Of course, Henri, of course," encouraged William the Elder, an infantry commander. "We await your pleasure."
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"Everyone got truly drunken that last night. They later learned our God sometimes didn't want to bother with thinking through the consequenes of his decisions and simply watched to see what happened. Then, he or his closest apparachicks would propose various hypothesis and see how they turned out. A hypothesis is an idea someone wishes to test. The next morning, after everyone left their beds and found that most of them were not fit or healthy enough to eat breakfast, God turned his chosen to a different skin colour and around the noon hour, God caused his chosen to disappear from the homeland and reappear on the plains of Turkey. There, a magnificant city awaited them."
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"Of course, they could have walked from the home land and decided to settle on that plain in Turkey. They then mined the rock used to build the city. Just an idea, please don't let me distract you from our creation story."
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"Thank you, William."
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Henri LaFere didn't mention the linestone quary had markings from the tools used during his days working in the quary. He had also heard many stories about the trip from the homeland to that plain in Turkey. Perhaps that part of their story was the "myth" part of their creation myth; there were later aspects to their lives that simply were not myth.
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Also, the city was near some rather interesting rock formations that had been fairly easy to work.
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"God had created this magnificant city located near some rather strange rock formations. These formations could be easily dug into. The settlers spent years designing the rooms to be built in these big rock formations. About Year 10 of The City, the people began carving these rooms. They used some incredible new technology that does not sound so impressive today."
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"God had taught them how to smelt copper! They created coffer axes and copper saws. These were wonderful but too soft. Then, as metal workers began to melt tin and arsinic they had a 'what if' moment. Care to guess what that was, Eldest Daughter?"
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"They mixed metals?"
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"Yes they did! At first, some of the metal worker just poured left over batches of melted metal together, stirred them and then cast them. They got some fine results but they didn't know how they got them!"
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"Perhaps they were Fifth Brothers?" Oldest Daughter smilled a mean smile.
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"Perhaps there was," Thomas spoke in a gentle voice.
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"These metal workers were inventing their art as they worked. They decided to make boxes of different size and fill them with pure metals and then mix these boxes together."
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The city had not been built with each house having it's own fireplace. The citizens had been raised in massive houses with commonly shared firepits. Now, they had built houses in groups of four with a communial fire pit at the center of the four houses. These families used the firepit and ofter had relatives visit to dine with them or use a given fire pit. This wa an attitude of sharing that would be very rare in the rest of the world.
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They brought in water for the community to use and emptied waste at a distance from the city.
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They had crops to be watered and weeded. Fortunately, it rained enough to mostly water the crops.
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In Year 24 of the City, a mostly human woman gave birth to a son. His name was Veiled Wolf. She chose this name because God had suggested it to her.
7:27 PM 11/5/2016
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The settlers had not just been genetically modified humans. A couple of Denubian women had come with them as well as several Neanthrals.
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Veiled Wolf was born in the late spring and was kept in seculion with his Mother for his first week. Then, his parents took him a community gathering to present him.
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It was a warm evening and the community met outdoors. Held by his Father, the week old Veiled Wolf faced his relatives. He screamed in fear and possibly rage and was upset when his relatives cheered his lungs.
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Then he roared in great baby upset and urinated towards the audience. He fell short but was applauded for his effort.
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The additional noise was too much and he was given into the comfort of his Mother. (More correctly, her breast.) He would be puzzled for years when his older relatives called him a lusty boy!
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6:01 PM 11/6/2016
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Every morning, his Denobean nanny held him, changed the wrappings that constitued diapers and talked to him. She carefully pronounced all 1,400 words in the Denobian language and told him stories in that langyage. After an hour or so, he was enterrained by elders speaking Neanderthal or newcomer (the newcomer's language).
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At age two, he began talking with his nanny. He would be four before he started talking in newcomer and almost five when he started speaking Neanderthal. He was an adroit speaker by the time he was ten.
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When he was eight, his Mother awoke him. "Get out of bed, child."
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"I don't want to."
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"You must if you are to learn to be a scribe."
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It was a cold morning and Veiled Wolf had slept with a younger brother on one side and an even younger sister on the other. H delically extracted himself with only minimum grumbling from his siblings...
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His breakfast of cooked meat, fruit and ground grass seeds resembled the "evolved" foods he would enjoy much later. But for now, they were what he knew and liked.
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He was taken to an open room which was directly sun lighted only part of each day. There were fifteen students in all.
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"You have been choosen to learn the duties of a scribe. What does a scribe do?"
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"Makes lists," said one.
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"Writes stories", said another.
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"Makes holes in clay plates," added Veiled Wolf.
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"Are these marks imporant, Veiled Wolf?"
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Veiled Wolf considered the question briefely before answering.
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"Father told me the marks in clay talk to you about imporant things. He told me this a kind of power. I want this power!"
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6:41 PM 11/6/2016
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`"You shall get it!"
`"First, smooth your clay and make sure it is still soft. Then, I will show you how to hold your scribe tools. Pick up the tool and hold it with you right hand. That is your left hand Thundering Herd. Put the tool down and pick it up with your other hand. Clouds at Dawn, do you know which is your right hand. You don't? Close your eyes and touch your nose. Very good, you are touching your nose with your right hand. Open your eyes and pick up your tool with your nose hand. Very good."
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All the kids held the scribe tool looking awkward.
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"Make some lines in the clay. Make a couple of circles. Did that feel confortable?"
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There were a number of "yes" replies.
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"Now, put the scribe tool in your other hand and make some lines in the clay. Very good! What felt better to each of you? Using your right hand or your left hand. Clouds at Dawn, which felt better? Your nose hand or your other hand?"
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"Nose hand."
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The teacher spent several minutes scribing with her scribe tool and then said: "We are going to learn Denovian script. The first work is "greetings". You create the picture for "greetings" by..." The teacher described how to create that idogram and had the children practice. Then, there was a second word to learn. Then a third...
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After lessons in learning to write, the teacher told her students the history of their combined peoples and their myths. Days later, she told them about their ways of worshiping their God and asked them to invent religious services they thought their God would like. God just sighed...
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Their classes ended by mid afternoon and the students then were dispersed to their usual chores in the fields.
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They started teaching the children staff fighting when they were twelve. Veiled Wolf, using the name of Henri LeFere, paused in his stories to say:
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"...There were things about the staff fighting and spear fighting I never understood."
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"What was that?"
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"Who taught staff fighting to us? Did we have spears before the trip to the city? Where did we get the throwing arm?"
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"You sound like you were there, Henri LeFere?"
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The men laughed and Henri LeFere chuckled ruefully. "I tend to get involved in the stories."
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"There were some stories told and written down that you might not have read, Henri. Your story has been about a person named 'Veiled Wolf', who was the Chief Scribe at a very ancient city. You might now have read all of the stories."
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"I don't agree, Thomas, I think I have read all that are available."
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"Then, there had to be stories which were not available."
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"Then, young one, what stories do you know that I don't?"
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Eldest Daughter thougth this sounded like her Grandfather telling one of her siblings or first cousins to talk!
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"All four groups, even the tall and hairy ones, had used staff fighting. -All four groups have different average sizes but they all used the same techniques of attack, defense, and formal presenatations of the staffs." Thomas had spoken in a dry tone of voice.
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"Formal presenations?"
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"There are certain ways to stand called 'formal presentations'. We'll have to show you later." This was spoken by the lawyer.
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"All we know about the spears is that all four groups mentioned in the stories had spears. They got the throwing arms from a group of black skinned Africians who stopped in The City to winter over. The people of The City had enjoyed a very good crop that year and had also gone on several very boundiful hunting trips. They had also bottled up a number of a large and violent race of horned grass eatters and were very sneaky about killing them. The people simply killed the oldest ones. They tried not to let the grass eatters learn the people were killing them! Back tio those visitors; they taught the People of The City how to create a device that allowed them to throw a spear much furthern that they could otherwise. We'll show you tomorrow."
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"Thank you, Thomas", Henri LaFere stated.
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9:55 AM 11/7/2016
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Eldest Daughter knew about the "throwing arm" or "spear chunker" or "atlatl" was still in common use among her people. It was an interesting creation myth for her even if she had never heard the concept of "creation myth".
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"Something is bothering me about your story."
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"What is that?"
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"How much did the People of The City have to write down?"
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"They wanted the history of everyone known and written down. They also wanted things like who discovered what, what was known, their history, what visitors told them and why they did things recorded. They knew that someday they would probably have to leave the city if the weather turned bad or if enemies drove them out. They also were beginning to keep records of who owed chickens or grain or whatever to others. There were actually very few of these economic records but what little business was done or debt accumulated was recorded. The real duty of the City Scribes was the history of the Peoples and the Natural History of the area and genelogies. Genelogies were very import as a tool for deciding who could marry whom."
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First Daughter [get her name straight!] considered this was going on among her people as well.
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"Were the Scribes busy all the time?"
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"No," Thomas replied, taking up the story telling, "they spent much of their time caring for their families, hunting, and weeding the fields with the women and children. Something strange happened during the 44th Year of The City. God paid a visit..."
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"The people suspected that God would wonder through occasionally. There would be an old man seen from the corner of one's eye but not there when they turned their heads. Others would think they saw the very rare visitor to The City or that someone was not where they were usually located.
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"The People awoke with the dawn one morning. The sky was clear, the air was a pleasant cool temperature despite it being the height of summer's heat. The dogs had not stirred during the night, the horses were drousing in their fields and even the babie's had slept through the night. It was mid summer of of Year 30 of The City. The City was established in what people today call Six Thousand BC. What you call our current year of 1878 AD is properly the Year 7878 of The City."
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"You might think they would have people watching the area from the watchtowers but that was not the case. There simply were not many people coming into their area. Their dogs had not alerted and that was a very important matter. Finally, the walls were very tall and smooth; it was nearly impossible to climb them without latters and not one had invented grapels and ropes. These early risers looked about the area and overlooked something different because they were tired and weren't really looking."
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"They overlooked a baren area west of the city that could not be cultivated. Finally, several glanced in the proper direction. There, that fine morning, was an immense tent. They could not see what was beneath the tent. They had a farily good idea that God was responsible as he stood by the tent, watching toward The City."
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"How did they know this was God?"
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"It was kind of hard to miss a 30 foot tall glowing creature. His skin changed colors and he had the subdued sagittal crest of The People. He spoke into the heads of everyone in The City. 'Eat! Be Joyous! I will show you treasures. Be prepared to visit with me at the time of the noon meal'. Then, God disappeared but the tent remained. The People of The City were impressed."
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"The houses of the people had a large room where they slept, worked and generally entertained visitors. There was a kitchen area, used when the weather was nasty out. If the weather was nice, people would cook at a firepit on their roof and eat there. There was a small room used for chamber pots. Chamber pots were emptied into a large wooden keg, which was taken severral miles from The City and emptied. The People were very careful to make sure their body waste was never emptied near their water supplies.
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"That morning, everything in the homes was incredibly cldean. The People liked to eat from bronz plates, cups and utensils. They did not have forks but they knives, spoons and something for stabbing that looked like two picks held by a leather thong used to hiold the picks to a wooden handle. Think of it like a crude fork; it worked."
`
"The plates had excellent food on them, there were piles of wonderful fruit and a strange drink. This was the first time anyone had drank white wine. I know these folks drinking white wine around 5,970 BC is a bit earlier than expected but with God all things are possible."
`
"In the late morning, the People began walking around under the tent and saw some incredible crops and large seeds Everyone realzied these barrels of seeds were meant to grow the crops they admired. There were also pots and pans clearly meant for cooking these amazing crops. Each crop had multiple plaques by them and these plaques included words of wisdom about growing these crops.,"
`
"Finally, God called the People to attend him. God appeared to be sevceral times the height of a tall man. He shrunk down to the height of an "average" man.
`
"My children, you need to know why you exist and why you are here today. You exist because I wanted to have intelligent children and wanted to be able to talk with them. There are a great many other people but sadly, I am somewhat disappointed in them. I have assigned angels to work with them. I have hope for them but since I have given them free will, so I don't know what they could do."
`
"One of the older women said 'can't you think of what the results would be'?"
`
"I could child but this leads to many possible futures."
`
"Show us!"
`
"Are you sure child?"
`
"Yes!"
`
And so God said these are the possibilties just from the actions of the People of The City."
`
"I think God was showing off a bit," Henri LeFere said, "but what he did was teach us arithemac and then calculas and truly advanced math. God gave us the intelligence to comprehend this advanced mathematics, think in it, create problems in this mathematics and solve problems. Then," Henri LaFere cleared his throat realizing he had been telling the story from the viewpoint of someone who had lived the story, "he showed the various possible futures to The People of The City. Then, it was over. The People of The City gave up this knowledge and hoped to not have it again."
`
"God gave everyone a glass of that lovely drink he called 'wine'." The people liked it."
`
First Daughter was clearly thinking so everyone allowed her to process this story. Fifth Brother climbed up on one man's lap and began kicking his feet.
`
"Did the scribes keep this knowlege?"
`
"Yes, Eldest Daughter, some of the scribes and definitely the Chief Scribe kept this knowledge of mathematics and advanced sciences they were later taught. The ability to retain this knowledge in a human brain or perhaps in a different form of brain accessable to a human brain is a strange and wonderful miracle."
`
"I hate it when you get mystical." Thomas kept a straight face when saying this. Everyone in their group had retained the knowledge and abilities the entire People had "enjoyed" for that short period.
`
"What happened next", was the surprising remark Fifth Son spoke. No one had expected him to be listening let along comprehending the story. He would tend to surprise many people many times over the coming decades...
`
"God said 'walk around under the tent and my helpers will teach you what you need to know about farming and these crops."
`
The People of the City did exactly that and began farming these new crops the next day.
`
"After everyone had looked at these gifts, God said 'it is time to tell you the real reason I am here. Have you wondered where you come from and what you are made of? Before you are born, everyone is created in an invisible form called a 'soul'. Then, every 'soul' is allowed to enter a baby and is born into this world. When each person dies, this soul leaves the world to live with me and with my helpers, Those who have been 'good' are allowed to come directly into this world. Those who have failed tests in behavious or who have caused hurt to others are required to be taught the errors of their ways. They do not enjoy this." God smilled.
`
"I have decided that each of you must decide how long you are going to live in your bodies before you move to the last world. Later, as you live your lives, I will ask each of you if you wish to move on or stay within your bodies."
`
"According to the story, everyone looked stunned and puzzled and God said 'I will be back'. Then, God diasppeared."
`
"Did God kiss everyone good bye?"
`
"No, Fifth Son, the story tells us that God simply vanished."
`
`
where they were
how did God announce his presence
building God made
God's offer
immortality and later heaven
reduced aging and heaven sooner
why just us? God disappointed with everyone else
rest will have normal life lengths and likely heaven or intensive re-education before heaven
*** Did they have evening meal before or after the story telling? ***
`
"Did your people get married?"
"We certainly did. That is, marriage was the way families were joined. When the four groups of humans began living together, they started comparing customs and worked out compromises to allow all of them to live together peacefully. One custom is Fathers are responsible for arranging marriages. Of course, Fathers get the advise of the various families and the wise Fathers generally arrange the marriages to suit those who want to get married!"
`
"It was not quite that simple, First Daughter. The families would require kids to go courting twice before they were allowed to courty the person the elders wanted them to marry. For example, Veiled Wolf was told he would court two girls of other clans and then would court Dawn Breeze. Now, Dawn Breeze was Veiled Wolf's third cousin but she was also member of a different Sept. A Sept is part of a clan. There is an interesting and amusing story about Veiled Wolf. Would you like to hear it?"
`
Both children nodded in agreement; Henri LaFere frowned.
`
"Veiled Wolf was told he would court three girls. The first girl, Wind Blown Willow, got sick and said 'I'm not ready to court'. They guessed that no one told her she was just there to talk with Veiled Wof. This really upset poor Veiled Wolf. (Veiled Wolf, AKA Henri LaFere snorted in disagreement.) The second girl was a lovely girl named Brook Trout who had a great time with Veiled Wolf. They apparently had an even better time when she informed him she was going to marry Thin Wolf, who was Veiled Wolf's sightly younger brother. Veiled Wolf had been interested in Dawn Breeze for years."
`
"Veiled Wolf and Dawn Breeze had a pleasant time and met the next day to offically go pick apples. They were really just enaging in some clumsey, ah, married folk wrestling but quit that when a couple of their Aunts happened to wonder bye."
`
"Veiled Wolf and Dawn Breeze were married at age 15 exactly as the Sept and Clan Fathers and Mothers intended them to be. Over the years, they had five daughters. This had to be distressing to Veiled Wolf as Mothers generally did the match making for daughters."
`
Henri LaFere smilled happily.
`
"Their second daughter married well and had seven children. Their second child, a little boy named Lesser Egrot, was also Veiled Wolf's first grandson. Veiled Wolf was quite the doting Grandfather." The men all laughed to the children's surprise.
`
Then Thomas Junior announced "dinner is ready".
`
They went to the kitchen where Thomas Jr had baked bread, made a stew of vegetables found along the trail and dried vegetables, and chopped up meat. The meat was dried jerky and had been soaked to remove the salt it had been rolled in and well as to rehydrate it. Someone had killed a couple of squirels and this meat had been carefully removed from the bodies, sliced up and pan fried by an assistant cook before it went into the stew. Desert was a baked apple scruddle which had been baked in a Dutch Oven. This Dutch oven had legs and coals went until the Dutch Oven and a lid designed to hold even more coals.
`
The ate from tin pans, with steel forks, spoons and knives the had been issued to them during the Civil War. Since the date was 1878 AD, this cook ware was rather old but it was in very good condition.
`
It took very little time for the group to clean the utensils and to clean the children's utensils. After the clean up, everyone this time sat around the rebuilt fire and Henri LaFere resumed talking.
`
"No one in the families had died after deciding who would live long lives before going to their happy afterlife and those who put off dying were wondering what they would do with all the years ahead of them. It still is something they wonder about some 7,957 years later. While they had very few visitors, they did have a few who wanted trouble. There was one time when everyone had to stay inside the walls of the city because a group of some thirty maruarders attacked. These maruarders spoke a common trade language known to many in this very wide region."
`
"The leader of this group stood outside the wooden door to The City and bellowed: 'Give us your women and your good and your best weapons. Do it now and we may let you live!"
`
"This 'leader' did not know the People of The City had practiced attack and defense measures for a number of years. They also did not know that a half mile away were the curious moutains of the region. The People had been digging rooms into the moutains and had been careful to make small enterance holes that lead into the large halls and rooms of the New City they were building. There were already a number of people, with arms, in these rooms in the mountain. The invaders set up camp several hundred feet from the City entrance. They enjoyed their fires, cooked parts of a somewhat tame auroch. This killing was why The People decided these invaders should be killed. The auroch, a very productive Mother, had birthed a number of calves which were less violent towards humans that most auroch."
`
"When the outsiders had let their fires die down and had laid on skins on the hard ground, Veiled Wolf and a number of the other Fathers had either slipped over the wall of the city, lowering themselves to the ground by rope or had been summoned from the rooms in the mountain. They were armed with obsidian knives and thought themselves ready to attack the invaders."
`
"They were not."
`
Thomas Junior cleared his throat and said "I'd like to continue telling this tale."
`
"The first group of The People killed perhaps eight of the invaders. They made so much noise the rest of the invaders responded. Then, some of the People were killed but most of the invaders were also killed. The leader of the enemy and three of his people survived and agreed to stop fighting if they would be allowed to leave."
`
"The People told this leader that one of their people, Veiled Wolf, was severely cut. The enemy leader asked to be taken to Veiled Wolf. He examined Veiled Wolf and made a list of demand. One damand, light a fire made sense. But, to make it from very fast burning wood did not. It would."
`
"Then, he rinced his hands off and asked that the bravest of his enemies bring ants long feared by the people. These ants had large jaws that once locked would not loosen. This enemy leader had some of The People hold the lips of Veiled Wofe's wounds together and then he stitched them for forcing ants to bite the lips of the wounds. He then ripped the bodies of the ants off and the wounds were held together. The fast burning fire was dead and he took spider webs and spead them over the wounds stitched by ant jaws. These spider webs were covered by ash. Other wounded of The People were treated in similiar fashion."
`
"What will happen now?"
`
"I have done all I know to do. Do you any cheese? Bring me to it."
`
"The enemy leader looked at some of the cheese and especially at the mold on some of it. He tasted the mold, smilled and said 'this might prevent disease'. The wounded were given cheese with this yeast for a number of days after the fight and recovered.."
`
"The People were grateful and puzzled. Why had their enemy helped them?
`
"We were driven out of our valley and simply wanted supplies."
`
"Why aren't you angry at us killing your men?"
`
"It was war and we inivited your attack. I don't take this as a personal matter. Also, no one from my family was hurt. Your attack was spirited but poorly organized and poorly done. We will be willing to teach you to fight if you are willing to let us and willing to let us live outside your city."
`
"The People agreed to this and the training began. The People were taught by the four surviving former enemies to fight with spears. This was similiar to the quarter staff fighting they did but also different. They were taught to fight with sword. The outsiders made The People learn to walk in strange patterns and to attack from odd postures. They learned to feint, parry, block and to attack with the point, the blade, and the pummell of their bronze swords. They learned to attack and defend with the dagger. They also learned to fight with a shield."
`
"When Veiled Wolf learned to fight with shield and dagger, he attacked more with shield and blocked with his dagger. This was so odd that it saved his life a number of times in their future. It was clear that Veiled Wolf was not a great warrior!"
`
Veiled Wolf, AKA Henri LaFere, rolled his eyes. In the woods, a new comer to the watchers looked with curiousity and geeat interest at Henri LaFere and especially his eye rolling. He also remembered pictures and descriptions of Veiled Wolf. There was a very old statue passed down through the centuries to the Leading Shamen of his people. Something about the sight of Henri LaFere troubled him. He went back to his village to check the old tribal records and to look at the old statue.
`
"These outsiders were there almost a half year when a caravan came past The City. These pople were heading towards 'the Big Water', what we would call the Eastern Mediterrean today, in hopes of setting up a fishing village. Centuries later, Veiled Wolf, their wifes and families and dogs, horses and some cattle had gone to this area and had been very impressed by the fishing village. They had moved east along the coast of 'the Big Water' and had fished there for a couple of hundred years. Then, the urge to return home to Central Asia had forced them to leave their fishing village and move back home."
`
"Explain to me again what a Scribe did?"
`
Henri LaFere then responded with: "The Scribes wrote down everything people thought was worth remembering. Laws, stories, fables, business records, they made up religious rites but mostly to amuse or perhaps annoy God, poetry, jokes, science and attempts to explain nature and attempts to create mathematics. Sometimes, scribes would write down insults. Veiled Wolf woud never have done that, of course!"
`
There were numerous eye rolls at this statment.
`
"First, the clay had to be prepared and had to be just the right softness. Then, using wooden frames, the scribes made slabes of clay abut a foot wide, a foot tall and two inches thick. They carefully removed the wooden frames and corrected any damage done by removing the frames. When a scribe wrote something, he or she always put the Year of the City and Day of the Year and time of the morning and their personal sign aross the top of the slab. After that, they used their scribing tools to inscribe the clay slab with whatever they needed to record. When they were done with a slab, it was put in a sunny area with a dry surface to fully dry. If it was the rainy season, they had a special house to put the slabs in where they would stay dry and would completely dry out. When the clay was fully dry, experts in baking the clay would construct a special kiln and the clay would be fired until it became a brick. Veiled Wolf did not think he was good enugh to spend his time taking clay; the families thought he was a fine Scribe and kept him busy."
`
"What did they do with 'business'?"
`
"Not much," Henri LaFere admitted. The People had lists of who owed what and who had made payments. This was nothing like the oh-so-modern (in English) Double Ledger Accourint (back to Arapaho) people today are so fond of. After the plaques were fully hardened, they were examined to see if they needed to be redone. There were always one or two damaged plaques in each firing of perhaps 50 plaquest and they had to be redone. This did not make the kiln masters popular among the scribes."
`
"Why not," Fifth Brother asked?
`
"Because they had to waste a good board to replace each broken plaque and take up the time to try to make it just like the first plaque."
`
"Oh, well isn't that fun?"
`
Henri LaFere went to their supplies and came back with a sketch pad and a pencil sharpened with a good knife. Then, he quickly sketched representative drawings of both the girl and her little brother.
`
"At first, The People stored their plaqes in houses in the city but then they moved the plaques to rooms in the mourtain. They even build tables to hold them. Finally, God warned them they needed to protect the plaquest better..."
`
By now, Veiled Wolf was the Chief Scribe and leader of the Scribes. He told his fellow Scribes "We need a better way of protecting the plaques. I'd like to build rooms that no one knows about."
`
"How can we do that since every room we build is clearly visible. We simply can not hide rooms."
`
"Yes, we can," replied Lessor Egrot, who by that time was considered a fully grown adult. "Yes, we can if we dig the tunnels into the mountain perhaps three man heights below the surface of the ground."
`
"How do we dig down to your tunnels without leading a hole future people will see?"
`
"Simple," Lesser Egrot replied to his fellow Scribe, "we dig a hold in the ground outside the mountain and tunnel in from there."
`
"We could do that," Veiled Wolf allowed, "although we can hardly do our normal Scribe duties and help with the coming fall harvest and the fall hunt. We need help."
`
Two days later was a mass meeting intended for everyone to discuss the affairs of The City or simply talk.
`
First, the Denuvian Nannies spoke. "We tired of teaching babies. Start talking language we teach."
`
The Chief Elder replied "We try".
`
The Speaker for the Denuvian Nannies sighed and in excellent human replied "Continue speaking as you wish. Our native language lacks the words to have an intelligent conversation."
`
The Denuvian Nannies were very intelligent and spoke "human" better than the "humans" did. However, they could get emotional and wanted their language lessons used occasionally.
`
"Chief Scribe, do you have something you wish to say?"
`
"Yes, Grandfather, I do! We Scribes have built up a vast number of plaques with our stories, our history, fanciful religious ideas, stories about the world and work in mathematics. Some of what the Nannies have created is very difficult to understand and someday more of us may do so. (The Nannies had invented Euclidian Geometry and were dabbing in not-Eufclidian Geometry or non-Euclidian Geometry millenia be Rheilann) What we have is the story of our people and it must be protected."
"Protected from whom?"
"That Grandfather is something we don't know. At the moment, we have no one threatening to destroy our plaques. Time is long and someday we might be many in size and live in many large cities. People then will want to know our early history. There are people who would destroy our history if they could."
"Why would they do this," asked the Chief Nanny?
"Because they can, because they have no history of their own, because we are the Chosen People and that might be enought to destroy our memory. I don't know but I think it is a real threat."
"Why should we prepare for something that might never happen?"
"It will be too late to prepare to hide our history when we are under attack." The Chief Nanny was adamont.
"That is why we have encouraged the training of Scribes and encouraged writing plaques of so many stories. Someday, perhaps tens of tens of tens of years from now, the joke everyone loves to tell may be long forgotten with only a plaque remembering the joke. You all know the joke I am talking about, Grandson?"
"Yes, Grandfather, we have written down that joke on three plaques that I know of and perhaps eight more versions of the same joke."
"Grandson, I want you and all your scribes to write down this wonderful joke on all your plaques until the next full moon."
"Yes, Grandfather." Some 70 plaques were written which had the joke and the note "The Grandfagther of the Chief Scribe believes this is the greatest joke in history and commanded we place it on all the plaques we create". In the year 2025, the plaques with this "greatest joke in history" were transcribbed into unborn languages and many schalars wrote their Masters and PhD Thesis in attempts to explain this "greatest joke in history".
When the surviving People of The City read these thesis, they were shocked the "moderns" did not understand the joke. Then, however, the People of the City did not take into consideration that they really were not human and had been rasied by "non-humans" as well...
"We can dig a large pit next to the mountain," Lessor Ergot stated, "and dig into the mountain three man heights below the ground surface. If we make tunnels and rooms there, we can save all of our plaques. We can also mark the rooms."
Veiled Wolf had greately puzzled everyone by his habbit of going into each room of the mountain as each room was completed and drilling a small diamter hole perhaps a half meter into the rock face. Then, he pushed a straight reed into the hole and lighted. The reeds would burn out completely, leaving an ash filled hole. He then rubbed pale, wet, mud into the entrance of these holes. He could not explain why he found it necessary; he could simply say "God came to me in my sleep one night" and commanded this be done.
That was good enough for his family. It was millenium before anyone had heard of Carbon 14 dating but the One who commanded his knew all about Carbon 14 dating.
Digging the pit proved to be harder than digging the tunnels into the mountain lager proved to me. The tunnels were carved in the shape of arches as were the rooms. There was little work done during the harvest and then during the fall hunting seasons as those were survival events and digging the tunnels a long term proposition. Still, it only took two years to create the tunnels. Then, while keeping good records, the scribes began moving plaques into the tunnels.
Suddenly, plaques that had not been read for years became "must read items" and this annoyed the Scribes who had to retrieve the plaques and then return them to the assigned rooms. Finally, Veiled Wolf had enough.
One day, one of his Aunts came to visit:
"I want to read the stories I wrote for your sisters."
"Yes, Aunt, I will get them."
Veiled Wolf brought three plaquest out, knowing his Aunt would demand he carry them to her house and when she was done reading them, he would have to find them and return them. Instead, he smilled at his Aunt and said:
'"You will have to read them over here, in this tent."
"No, Nephew, I will read them on my roof."
"I cannot allow you to take them there, Aunt. We need to keep track of these plaques and to make sure they are properly stored."
"Well, I never!"
With that, his Aunt turned and left in anger. Veiled Wolf returned the plaques to their assigned resting places. His older relatives let him know of their anger at this. Later, Veiled Wolf wrote down the entire story. Millenia later, when the tunnels were fiund and the plaques read, this story would become famous world wide.
