Perhaps, they thought, he’d scavenged a few fingers of the new rock, and sat against the granite while he worked it. But there were no flakes around him, granite or otherwise. There were no flakes anywhere.
“He looked like he slept, but for the small predators that covered him. The beetles and ants made busy work. The raven’s had only just started to arrive, as well as the vultures, so his moving on to his sky fire was recent. It would be soon before the larger predators arrived, the sabre toothed tigers and the wolves, but arrive they would. They always did.
“They needed to take him back to the clan, bury him near his mate. But first they needed to get the small predators off him, or they would be attacked themselves. They made hasty baskets and used them to scoop water from a nearby pool, washing the ants and beetles away. Once that was done, two of his rescuers each grabbed a stiffening arm and pulled him away.
“That was when they discovered what had actually killed Eh Rol. He had mistakenly sat against a snakes nest. When they moved his body away, it was like they lifted the lid of a cooking pot. Furious snakes boiled from the hole his body had covered. The party jumped back and ran as fast as they could. The snakes sizzled in every direction but didn’t focus on them. There was one snake still stuck to Eh Rol, but it was easy enough to kill and throw away. They didn’t abandon Eh Rol’s body. It was a small thing to hold him still while they ran, and he needed to be reborn.
“They concluded rightly, that the Shadow People had interfered. Eh Rol had become too tired to continue and fallen into a deep sleep while in the forest. The small predators had found him, and when he didn’t wake at their small nibbles, they killed him. Perhaps the many snake bites they’d found on his back didn’t help, although this kind of snake is not very venomous. But for all this to happen, the Shadow People must have dazed him. Made him sleep deeper than is natural. They only waited for predators to do their work for them, then they steal The Peoples soul away. There could be no other answer!
“And that is why we don’t sleep in the forest. The shadow people will take you!”
Ba Waddle and the Leopard’s Tree
“Everyone is finished eating? It’s my turn to tell a story. And I think it’s a good night to speak of Ba Waddle, that silly little thing. The night is clear, the crickets calm, and the Wind Spirits bothering something else for a change!” Ta Laf grinned and settled herself with a wiggle. The children were instantly surrounding her, two in her lap, one on her back and the rest clumped as tight as they could.
“Who can show me what Ba Waddle looks like when he walks?” She asked.
A small Eh jumped up. “Like this!” he said, carefully turning his toes in. He took slow steps, very careful to swing his behind exaggeratedly from side to side with each cross over pace. It was such a perfect copy the adults all burst into laughter and the other children slapped their knees. His grin huge, he sat back down.
“You’ve been practicing!” Ta Laf’s kept her face grave yet her eyes danced under her slight eye ridge. “Ba Waddle was a Ba that likes the company of his kind. You hardly ever see one by themselves, they always travel together. When they come in to land on water, they announce it clear to all. What do they say, children?”
“Kwaah! Kwaah!” They all cried, giggling and scrunching tighter. Parents giggled themselves, hearing them Kwaah so earnestly.
“Ba Waddle was a little tired that day. He’d eaten a little more than he should and was getting a little round in the belly, like some we know.” She looked a long time at Eh Quest, who realized he needed to help out in the story. He puffed his belly out to look rounder. “When he landed on the water, he wanted a nap. But when on the water you got to stay awake a little bit, to paddle some if you drift into danger, like a water fall. He wanted a real nap! A good nap that you wake from, wanting to play!”
Or a good nap that lasts a long, long time, Eh Quest snickered to himself.
“So Ba Waddle left the water, and searched for a good shade tree. Sleeping in the light of Father Sun dried out his pretty feathers too much, and the cool of the shade is very nice during a nap. He waddled around alongside the water, occasionally kwaahing to tell his friends were he was. They would kwaah back. How do they kwaah back?”
The children kwaah, showing her exactly. A few adults, having fun, also kwaahed.
“He found a few trees that made some shade, but not very much. And when Father Sun moved, the shade would go with him. He wanted a great tree, a thick and leafy tree, that made a shadow fit for a shadow person’s family! Deep and mysterious and maybe just a touch dangerous. For Ba Waddle was a bit of a dare bird, showing off how brave he was to the Ta’s in his group. And he found such a tree!
“He gave a great happy kwaah when he saw it. Mighty the tree stood, thick with green, heavy with many arms that stretches out forever. Some of the limbs bent down, almost reaching the ground, leaving a little canopy for him to sleep under.
“Ba Waddle did like his naps, but lately he’d found he didn’t like them as much unless he had a nest to go with it.”
“Like me with my cuddle fur!” admitted a young Ta.
Ta Laf made an exaggerated surprised face. “Yes! Just like that!” She continued the story. “He found some good looking twigs and took them under the tree, arranging them nicely, kwaahing to himself in contentment.”
Everyone kwaahed without prompting, adults and children.
“Ba Waddle knew that shade tree was the best one ever and he snuggled down on to his nest, with one last happy kwaah.” Ta Laf finished the story.
All the children looked at her, puzzled. “Then what happened?”
“What happened? Oh! That was a leopard’s shade tree, and he took Ba Waddle up into the branches and ate him all up!” She looked around at the small faces with the big eyes. “If you find something perfect, it’s likely something else does, too.”
Ta Sha and the Bison
“Do you hear them? Listen. They sing to each other. We know those of the first egg sing, it is part of being a Ba. And tonight the bison sing to us, just as they did for Ta Sha.
“I will tell you the story of Ta Sha, so you may learn of it, and heed its warning!” Ta Fast said. “That’s right, come closer, sit on my lap.”
“Ta Sha was a young hunter, just learning to track. On one such day as today, with Father Sun happy and Mother Raven near, she heard the bison singing. The trail of the bison are easy to follow and follow she did!
“She followed the low grass, eaten to nubs. And the wide swatch of chewed up ground, where the herd had meandered to get the grass. She slithered with care to find an abandoned bison wallow, one with no water.”
“Why one without water, Ta Fast? She could drink if there was, while she waited.” Eh Yi, who wanted to learn tracking, asked with a thoughtful face and serious eyes.
“A smart question! Yes, water is a good thing. But bison like it, too. They stay near water, when they can. An abandoned wallow is a better choice.
“She saw a group of young bison, playing at being grown bison, butting heads, kicking their feet. They frolicked, chasing and racing. They were not far away, and Ta Sha thought to bring one back to the clan, and show them how good a hunter she was.
“Oh oh,” Eh Yi said, knowing how stories went.
“Oh oh, yes!” Ta Fast pushed Eh Yi’s nose in, and slapped him on the back in approval, with a gentle hand.
“The bison were singing, as I said, just like they are now. Bison like singing! They sing to each other through the day. Grunts; high baby grunts, low grown up grunts, soft ones, hard ones, long ones, short ones. But as you can hear, they make one long song.
“Using all her skill, Ta Sha scooted to the rim of the wallow and watched the young playing so hard, she missed one little thing. An adult had found her and knew what she attempted!
“The bellow this bison sent her, made the bumps on her skin go up! Usually bison are gentle Ba’s, their size and herd enough of a guard against predator
s. But once roused, they are ferocious at protecting each other. It’s why predators always go for the young or the damaged. You don’t want to fight a strong, healthy bison!
“This bison couldn’t see her but he could smell her! He knew where she was, and he sent her another, final warning.
“He put up his head, mouth wide and mean, and sent the most scary growl Ta Sha had ever heard! This up went its tail!”
“What does that mean, Ta Fast?” Eh Yi asked.
“It means, here I come! Ta Sha knew she was in trouble. Leaving her spear in her haste, she ran the fastest she ever had. But she had left it too late, and the bison is very fast when it wants to be.
“The bison charged!” Ta Fast spoke breathless and watched young eyes grow round.
“How did she get away?” Eh Yi wiggled on her lap, pulling on her braid for attention.
“Who said she got away? She didn’t! That bison trampled her and didn’t even notice a bump. The clan found her many days later, although they didn’t find all of her. Predators did, though.”
Eh Yi’s mouth hung open then closed with a clamp. His eyes became even more serious as he studied Ta Fast. “Oh,” he said. “She should have run faster.”
“Very thoughtful, child. But she still wouldn’t have escaped. Even an adult wouldn’t have, bison are very fast!”
“Could you have got away?” He asked.
Ta Fast thought on this, giving it serious