Читать книгу Waterless Mountain - Laura Adams Armer - Страница 14
ОглавлениеTHE YOUNG DAUGHTER OF HASTEEN SANI
ASTEEN SANI was a good friend and neighbor of Younger Brother’s family. He lived two miles from them on the high rocky bank of a little stream. A hill of cedars rose behind his house. From his door in the east he could see the Waterless Mountain with its long straight skyline. In the summer time the sun rose right out of the middle of the mountain and shone into Hasteen Sani’s doorway.
One afternoon when Younger Brother was driving the sheep past Hasteen Sani’s hogan, he noticed signs of a ceremony. In front of the hogan a hole about four feet wide had been dug in the ground. It was two feet deep and filled with hot coals which a happy-looking woman was taking out and laying to one side.
Younger Brother stopped to watch. He had never seen this before. The woman lined the round hole with green corn leaves. Other women came out of the hogan carrying pots of corn meal batter. It was all poured into the hole and covered with more green leaves, after which the hot coals were put back.
The women were all gay and happy. Someone said to Younger Brother:
“The cake will be a good one. We bake it for the young daughter of Hasteen Sani. She has been grinding the corn meal for three days. Tell your people to come tonight.”
The boy wondered what it was all about. He would ask Mother when he reached home. She would know what they were doing. She did know, of course, and she said with a good deal of interest:
“So the young daughter of Hasteen Sani is to have the sweet corn cake baked for her. We shall go to hear the songs.”
After supper everyone prepared for the sing. Mother wore her purple plush jacket with all the silver buttons. She took time to brush Father’s long hair for him and tied it with a new string. Then Elder Brother’s hair was brushed and tied. He was looking finer than ever. He had a new silk handkerchief to tie around his hair.
Father hitched the horses to the wagon while Mother wrapped the baby on her cradle board. They had only two miles to go and arrived at Hasteen Sani’s house just as the full moon rose from behind the Waterless Mountain.
Inside the hogan all the friends were sitting around the fire. Uncle was the medicine man and he had many young men singers with him. Some would sing for a while then rest and smoke tobacco which they rolled in corn husks. Then another group would take their place. This was to keep up all night. No one must get sleepy because it was the rule to stay awake. Only those who kept awake all night could eat the corn cake in the morning.
Younger Brother had no trouble at first because he was so interested in everything. There was a lot to look at and a lot to hear. He liked the young daughter of Hasteen Sani. She was slim and tall. Her skin was brown and smooth like the acorn. Her hair was like the night sky. Her slender moccasined feet peeped out from her full skirt and her long fingers were covered with silver and turquoise rings.
It was her eyes that were the loveliest. They did not seem to see people but looked into space while the young men sang the sacred songs. Sometimes the fire looked at itself in her eyes and then the dark brown color changed into flame and made Younger Brother think of the eyes of the night that sometimes peered from dark places under the trees. He knew she could see things that were holy—the things the young men were singing about.
Elder Brother also thought she was beautiful, but he noticed how well her red velveteen jacket fitted her, following the curves of her young body. He liked her eyes best when they looked at him, with half-lowered lids fringed with a curtain of darkness. He was glad he had worn the new red handkerchief on his head.
Just before day everyone except the girl went outside. The singers sang of the dawn and the Turquoise Woman and everybody was happy. At the end of the second song, the young daughter of Hasteen Sani held back the blanket that curtained the doorway and ran as fast as her little feet would carry her. She ran east toward the dawn.
Several young men raced with her. Elder Brother was the only one who caught up with her as she ran to the dawn. Then they all came back just as the sun sent its first rays over the Waterless Mountain to shine in Hasteen Sani’s open door.
Younger Brother was watching everything. He saw the woman who had baked the cake remove the coals. He smelled the sweet steam rising from the ground. So did two little fuzzy dogs who ran too close to the cake hoping to have some also. The woman frightened them away with a corn-cob lying near. She threw it at them and they ran away yelping. Everyone laughed. Everyone was gay and happy.
The corn leaves were lifted from the top of the cake and there it was all brown and hot and four feet across. Younger Brother thought he could not wait for his share but he had to wait until the baker woman cut a circular piece right out of the center. She cut that in four pieces, gave one to Uncle because he was the medicine man, one to the girl because it was her cake, and the other two pieces to her father and mother.
Younger Brother watched the young girl. He thought she was more beautiful than ever with the sun touching her acorn brown cheeks. Elder Brother was standing near and he was very much surprised and very shy when the girl took her corn cake and gave it to him.
Everyone laughed except the two brothers and the girl. To them a very serious thing was happening. The girl was hoping that Elder Brother’s father would send a present to her father. The young man was bewildered. He did not understand. Younger Brother, looking at them, was reminded of the deer that danced in the sunlight. He didn’t know why he thought of the deer; maybe it was because the two young people looked as if they would like to leap and run away as the deer had done.
While he was thinking, the baker woman handed him a piece of the corn cake. Everyone had a piece and people were getting ready to go home. Younger Brother was so sleepy he hoped someone would help herd the sheep. He even fell asleep in the wagon as Father drove home.
After that day there was much talk between Father and Mother and Uncle. It was time for Elder Brother to marry and Father must decide whom he should marry. She must be of an industrious, clean family and belong to a clan outside of theirs.
They thought Hasteen Sani’s daughter would be a very good wife for their son. So it was decided that Father should talk to Hasteen Sani about it, which he did. Everything was settled and the present suggested was acceptable. Father was to give ten fine ponies to Hasteen Sani.
Younger Brother looked forward to the wedding. He wondered what it would be like. Mother had told him that Elder Brother would not live at home after the wedding. He would have a hogan of his own and the girl would live in it. It would be her hogan too and she would have her own sheep to look after.
Younger Brother thought that would be very nice and he asked Mother if he too could live there sometimes. She laughed and said he must live in Mother’s hogan until he was a man like Elder Brother. He knew that Mother was always right about everything so thought no more about it.
He only wished that the beautiful young daughter of Hasteen Sani lived where he lived, because he had seen the far-away look in her eyes when she ran toward the dawn. He was sure she could understand the treasures hidden deep in the cave and he knew she could dance with the Star Children or the Deer People, or mount the sun rays that led to the home of Yellow Beak.
For the first time in his life Younger Brother felt lonely. He wanted to share his treasure cave with someone who understood. Quietly he walked to the cliff and climbed on the big boulders. He crawled in the small opening and sat down on the floor of the cave.
He took the little cloud bowl from the ledge. He had added two more treasures to his collection. The ruby-red stone was there and beside it lay a pure white arrow head which he had found on the mesa, but most precious of all was a little silver button that had fallen from the girl’s moccasin when she raced to the dawn.
