Excerpt
In the long evenings, White Eagle told stories of how the world came to be. “Listen,
and I will tell you the story of how the Sun God made men and women and
dogs to keep them company on long winter nights. At a time long, long ago, this
land was the home of men and women who were not made by the Sun God. Those
people fought with each other all the time. When the Sun God saw this, he decided
to destroy the bad people and make others to take their place. The Sun God sent rain
that did not stop for a very long time. The rivers and lakes and even the ocean ran
over their banks and all the people drowned. When there were no more people on
the land, the Sun God made a new man, then a new woman, and then he made a dog
to keep them company.”
Fire Maker also told stories in his language and those who understood listened.
Finten had learned enough of the traders’ language from White 0wl and Rordan and
Ula were learning the language from Yamka. Even those who did not yet understand
the language listened in fascination to the stories told by Yamka’s father, drawn by
the expressiveness of his voice, the animal sounds he imitated so well and the sweeping
motions of his hands and body.
Fire Maker told of his people on the great grassy plain and of the lands he had
visited, from snow and ice to steaming jungles, where strange creatures swung like
tiny children from branch to branch. Finten paid special attention to the stories of
buildings of stone that reached to the sky with water flowing from clay pipes, and
men who read the stars and foretold the moon’s eclipses.
Finten was fascinated by Fire Maker’s stories of civilizations to the south. He decided
he and his Brothers must move on. He felt he’d lost the respect of the First
Light People but that other peoples awaited the call to Salvation. Father Finten was
determined he would redeem himself in the eyes of his companions and convert
many to the One True God. As for White Eagle and his people, he’d knock the dust
from under his feet and move on to more deserving prospects.
As the days grew shorter, Father Finten and the three Brothers turned their
thoughts to Christmas. When Yamka spoke of the importance of the winter solstice
to her people, Rordan realized that, as Christmas arrived at the time of the winter
solstice, he might be able to calculate the exact time of Christmas by knowing when
the winter solstice would arrive. The Brothers would know the dates of the calendar
once more.
Yamka spoke to her father. Since his leg had healed and he was eager to walk
longer distances in preparation for the trek home, Fire Maker agreed to travel with
White Eagle, Rordan, Ula, and Finten to a sacred place in the mountains, where
the winter solstice was marked. Word spread and others joined the party as they
set off on a three-day snowshoe journey through the mountains to the ancient
site. There, on a wall of rock beneath a jagged crevice, White Eagle showed Rordan
a picture of the sun with mysterious writings carved by ancestors of the First Light
People and by other visitors who once had come from across the salt water.
Libros Libertad 