Читать книгу Waterless Mountain - Laura Adams Armer - Страница 12
ОглавлениеA FRIEND IN NEED
UT GRANDFATHER, I cannot pay for the wire.”
“Why not, my child? Did I not pay six pesos for your corn?”
“But Grandfather, I am poor. A little mouse chewed a hole in my wife’s moccasin.”
The Big Man looked up from his desk in astonishment. What excuse would these Navahos make next?
“The little mouse chewed a hole in your wife’s moccasin, and then what happened?”
“I had to pay a medicine man to sing for her. That was very bad luck to have a mouse eat a moccasin.”
“It certainly was bad luck, Hasteen—bad luck for everybody.”
“So you see, Grandfather, I cannot pay for the wire.”
The Navaho was very serious. He had driven fifteen miles with the corn and he must take back the barbed wire to protect his field. His wife was with him and she had a rug to sell. The trader weighed it and paid her in cash. She had intended to redeem her turquoise bracelet which had been pawned in the winter, but if her husband needed the wire, the money must go for that. She handed it to the Big Man, saying:
“Is there enough to buy coffee and sugar, too?”
“No,” he answered. “There is not enough.”
“When do you buy the cattle, Grandfather?” the Navaho asked.
“Tomorrow I start. I go up the wash first.”
“I have only two steers, Grandfather. Will you look at them tomorrow?”
“When tomorrow comes I can tell.”
When tomorrow came the Big Man drove up the wash in his car. He sang scraps of songs, when he wasn’t smoking a cigar. They were old-fashioned songs like:
Say darling say,
When I’m far away,
Sometimes you may
Think of me, dear.
Sometimes he would break into a Navaho song, which sounded like the howl of a coyote. He drove fast, but the wheel obeyed a steady hand and a clear head. Near a clump of cedars he stopped to speak to a young Navaho who was trying to catch his saddle horse.
“I will help you, son.” With his machine he headed the horse toward its owner, who grabbed the bridle and mounted. The young man rode to the side of the Big Man’s car and said:
“Grandfather. I need a dollar, for I am hungry.”
The Big Man handed him a dollar. The Navaho took it and, with a winning smile, said:
“I am sorry I did not ask for two dollars, Grandfather.”
The Big Man laughed and said, “I would not have given you two, my boy.” Then he drove on, smiling at the ways of these brown people, whom he loved.
At the camp where Younger Brother’s family lived, Mother had been dyeing her wool. Yarn and bunches of uncarded wool were drying on the rocks.
Some of the red dye had been left and Younger Brother had dipped a half-grown sheep in it. He had done it to make Baby Sister laugh, and they were both laughing as the Big Man’s car appeared from behind the rocks that sheltered their camp.
The pink mottled sheep stood stupidly staring at the car, while Younger Brother grabbed Sister and ran into the hogan. He had never before seen an automobile go. He had seen this one parked at the trading post, but this was the first time the Big Man had visited their home.
Younger Brother called excitedly to Mother:
“The Big Man! He comes in the wagon without horses.”
The trader joined the family inside the hogan, where they all sat on the floor, graciously hospitable. Mother left her loom to stir the fire and make fresh coffee.
“I could eat mutton, Sister,” said the Big Man.
Mother put some ribs on the coals to roast, while Father talked to the guest. They did not immediately talk of buying and selling. It is not Navaho etiquette to plunge at once into the business of the day.
Younger Brother sat very quietly watching the Big Man as he talked. This was the second time he had seen him and he liked him just as well as before.
After everyone had eaten mutton ribs and fried bread, the Big Man went outside to his car and brought in a flour sack filled with apples, sweet crackers and tobacco. He gave the tobacco to Father and the sweet crackers to Mother. Then he handed an apple to Younger Brother and smiled. He always smiled when he gave something.
Because Younger Brother was so shy, he could say nothing. He only looked up at the Big Man the way he had looked up at Yellow Beak. The smile made him sure of his friend.
While he ate the apple the men went out to look at the cattle. The Big Man chose what he wanted and told Father to drive them to the post in a week. After shaking hands with everyone he stepped into his car. He must be off to the next camp to look at the two steers of the mouse and moccasin man.
To his surprise his car wouldn’t start. “Some engine trouble,” he thought as he got out to lift the hood. He could find nothing wrong, but for ten precious minutes he worked and could not start the engine.
Younger Brother watched every motion. He knew the Big Man was worried. He was not smiling. The little boy thought very hard. A friend should help a friend. The Big Man could not start his car. Like a flash the child remembered what Elder Brother had told him. “If a thing will not go, spit the juice of the juniper in its face.”
Without a moment’s hesitation he ran to the tree where Father always tied his horse. He chewed a sprig of juniper and when he had a good mouthful of the juice, he boldly went in front of the radiator and spat at it. Immediately the engine turned over.
Everyone was amazed. No one knew what had happened. The Big Man said, “It’s always that way with a car. When you do all the right things it balks, and then all of a sudden when it gets ready, it goes.”
Younger Brother didn’t say a word but he knew he had proven the magical power of juniper juice. The car buzzed out of sight and Younger Brother felt so gay he chased the pink mottled sheep over a hill and back again.
Baby Sister, who could walk a little, laughed so hard she fell right down in the sand just as Brother and the pink sheep reached the hogan. Mother picked her up and laughed too.
Soon everyone was laughing and no one knew how it had all started. Even the pink sheep laughed “Baa, baa, baa, baa.” The burro joined in with his “He haw” and a blue jay in the juniper just screamed at the top of his voice. It all came about through the spitting of juniper juice and that surely was enough to make anyone laugh.
