Читать книгу People of the Mesa: A Novel of Native America - Ardath Mayhar - Страница 3

Foreword

In 1970, the mummies of a small boy and an old man were housed in the museum atop Mesa Verde. The child had been found in a crevice, down which he had evidently fallen, and he looked so alive that an observer felt he might open his eyes and speak. The old man had been buried at the back of one of the caves, behind the house.

On a return trip, in 1984, I found both bodies gone, and those in attendance at the museum at that time knew nothing of them. However, in the interim, some time in the Seventies, I had seen a newspaper item that mentioned that two mummies had been stolen from the Mesa Verde museum. I hope they were taken by their own kind of people, distant kin though they might be, and put to rest, at long last, with all the proper rituals.

As my husband and I drove down the mesa, after that latter visit, I found chunks of this story dropping into my lap. Uhtatse came clearly and with impact, as did the name his people called themselves. At that time I received a full scene in detail. Once I got that onto paper I found I must wait for additional scenes to arrive, which was unlike my usual breakneck speed when writing a book. It took four years for the entire story to complete itself, and for once I did not become impatient. It was, to me, well worth the wait. Even now I feel that, in some mysterious manner, this tale may reflect some part of the truth about those long-lost people.

—Ardath Mayhar

Chireno, Texas

August, 2007