I Take My Place Among The Forest People

 

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            I awoke in my basket nest next morning feeling much better than the morning before. When I sat up and looked out I could see that I was not alone with Jula this morning.  Hofel was sitting by the fire speaking expansively with many wide gestures to a group of others. All of them were laughing and smiling, and if I had known, trying to best his story with one of their own.

            Since I had been living with the wolves, these flowing coats of beautiful hair in various shades of brown and black didn’t surprise me at all.
            When Jula noticed that I was awake she spoke to four of the others at the fire and they all walked over to my nest. As they approached I saw that three of the four were grown women of the Forest People, and one was a young girl.   
            “What do you have here Jula?  You said she was small but she’s like a little bird in that nest!,” said one Mother. The young one looked on very curiously. She said, “Put,” and patted her chest.  I said “Put,” and reached out and patted her chest. This gave her the giggles.  She patted my chest and said “Soosha!” then laughed.
            The others laughed. Everyone was smiling. I bounced to my feet and said, “Soosha!”  Then they really laughed. This story was told to me when I was older and could speak and understand their language.
            “She already knows how to introduce herself,” said Jula with a little grin.
            “She has no one to go to,” said Jula. “Mother Wolf kept her in her den until Hofel found her two days ago. It is most well that he saw her, for her sake. I don’t think Mother Wolf could have kept her much longer, through the winter.
            “I think someday when she is a little bigger and stronger and can speak, we must find her some humans to join.  We must do this very carefully. Not all humans have the same virtues, and Hofel and I have come to love her.
            “The next thing she needs is something to cover herself with.  Her body is unoffensive of course, but she will be too cold without garments of some kind,” she said to the others, who looked concerned and nodded. “My idea is to take a soft doe skin and cut it into a robe and put in sleeves, with the fur on the inside. Then I will make shoes in the manner of the nomads.
            “She is so small and vulnerable,” said Jula. “So, I will be sewing today.”
            How Jula made my first robe was more like lacing than sewing. She punched a row of holes alone the edges of the skin pieces she had cut and the drew long leather lacings through the holes in a kind of large whip stitch. It was a little rough in design, but it was warm and furry on the inside. It wasn’t a very big job, because I was so small. Later the same day she made little boots that laced up to my knees.
            You’ve seen how cats or dogs act if a person puts shoes on them for some reason.  That was me. I found it hard to walk.  I kept picking my feet up and looking at them. The furry robe got in my way, but I loved Jula, so I didn’t cry.  I sat very still on one of the stones by the fire. I was as still as I could be, just like Fila had taught me. It was the best way I knew to be a good child.
            I was learning words. I knew fire, meat, fur, nest, mother, father, girl, tree, water, and some others of course, not as well.  I knew a few names.  Hofel. Jula. Put. Over time of course I learned the names of the whole band of the people.
            The day that Jula decided that my hair must be dealt with stands out. My hair was long, curly and matted.  She had washed it, but it was a terrible mess. As it happens, forest people comb their hair, well the women do more than the men. So, Jula had combs of varying fineness. She called me to where she was sitting on a stone by the fire and said, “Soosha, I must comb your hair and braid it.  This will be hard for you.  Will you be a brave girl?”
            I could hear the question in her voice. So, I waited to see what would happen. She said, “this is a comb for your hair.” She stroked my hair and said the word to show me what she was talking about.  Then she took the comb and started working in my hair starting at the tips and working up into the tangled bulk of it. It hurt. But I loved her, so I held still. It took quite a long time. When it was combed out I think we were both tired.
            She said, “I’m nearly done Soosha. I will make braids, so your hair doesn’t get so messy again.” Then she braided two long plaits of my hair and tied the ends off with some long fiber. I had never felt so sleek and clean.
            You may wonder why she didn’t take her obsidian knife and just cut most of it off. I suppose it has to do with the fact that the forest people do not cut their hair, but also, she didn’t want to frighten me or make me think that part of me was bad in her eyes. 
            When she was all done with my hair she called out to Hofel and Put to come and see how nice I looked. She put me on her knee to display her handywork.
            Hofel rumbled his laugh when he saw me, telling me that I was, “a pretty little bird.”
            Put came to admire me also; she picked me up and hugged me and told me I “looked so much better!”
            But it was to Jula’s lap that I retired to hide my tiredness and confusion. She was like the whole earth to me. I buried my face in her coat and held on tightly until it was time to climb into my basket nest for the night.
            I remember that as I drifted off to sleep that night, I was full of love and much unaccustomed peace, accompanied by a full belly, in much comfort.

All of it so far!