victim, let him relax and then squeeze him with renewed force.
Av waited for the moment when he could move his wrist and snatched up
the spear-point with the sharp prickles on its end.
At this moment, the serpent evidently decided to finish off its
obdurate prey once and for all; it tightened its coils so hard that Av
fainted.
When he came round, he felt that he was being crushed as before by a
long, muscular body, but it was not throbbing as it had done during the
struggle. There was indeed something dead about its death-grip. It turned
out that even when unconscious, Av had continued straining his body to
resist being crushed. Now he relaxed, trying to make himself as thin as
possible and began gradually crawling out of the dead serpent's rigid coils.
And so, after surviving and beating in single combat a terrible
serpent, Av could receive on coming of age a name associated with his
victory.
But he was still just a brave, agile boy for whom manhood was yet to
come. He used to dream about this time, developing his own courage and
strength.
Although he had become a hunter, he grew up to be kind-hearted
nevertheless and he never killed animals except out of dire necessity.
He enjoyed watching from a tree as the little animals frolicked about
near their lair.
They were four-footed beasts with mouths full of teeth and they could
not climb trees. They had long muzzles, erect ears and bushy tails. They
only attacked small animals. In case of need, however, they could hunt in
packs and set upon the big denizens of the forest.
Av thought it might be a good idea to train these little animals. His
father, after all, had mentioned the domesticated lizards on Faena, which Av
imagined to have been a faraway, fabulous land from which his parents had
flown like birds.
The little animals were playing on the glade, in full view of Av up in
a tree-top.
The little grey balls of fur were rolling over the grass,
somersaulting, growling and fighting endlessly with one another. Or they
chased one another tirelessly across the glade.
Av saw a cub he liked the look of. He jumped down from his tree no less
nimbly than a serpent and seized hold of the terrified little animal. It
clawed and bit him, but Av clutched it to his chest and ran off, stuffing
its sharp-toothed little muzzle into the spotted predator's skin that he
wore for camouflage.
He took his prize home-it had been quietened down by the warmth of his
body-fed it and began training it.
His mother was very much surprised at his behaviour. His younger
brothers and sisters were in raptures.
The little animal used to play with them. It grew up quickly and became
attached to Av. It was evidently in no way inferior to the domesticated
lizards of Faena.
When the animal had grown up a little, Av decided to train it to go
hunting with him. His father smiled condescendingly at the idea, but in no
way interfered with his son's experiments.
Av called his future helper Ding.
The disaster occurred after a domestic ceremony at which Av had been
awarded his new name. Serpent, in honour of his victory over that creature.
Serpent insisted that his mother should let Avik go hunting with him.
It was time he became an assistant provider.
His younger brother was beside himself with joy and ready to follow Av
anywhere.
Ding, of course, had to go with them. Gifted with an amazing nose, he
could scent game even before Serpent had noticed it.
...Serpent came back from the hunt alone.
His mother tore her hair and screamed frantically at him:
"You've killed him, you've killed my Avik!"
Serpent turned pale at these words. They were unfair. Serpent could not
have been accused of such a crime, although he was partly to blame.
The brothers were walking through the forest. Ding was running ahead.
Suddenly, he stopped and growled. His fur bristled.
Just at that moment, a huge shaggy body fell on him from above. Serpent
had heard from his father about the Faetoids which had carried him off as a
baby.
Now a beast like one of those described by his father had seized Ding,
who yelped, went hoarse and then was silent.
The shaggy beast rushed off with its prey.
Without thinking of his brother (and this was where he was terribly at
fault!), he ran after the Faetoid.
The beast was, however, more agile. But Serpent had a determined
nature, however. He neither wanted to nor was he capable of backing out, any
more than his mother, the young Mada Jupi.
With his keen hunter's instinct, he noticed which way the beast had
run. Although slower than the beast, he was unerringly following in its
tracks.
Serpent found it under a wide-branching tree where it imagined itself
to be safe and was devouring the luckless Ding.
Serpent went mad with rage. He did not even shoot an arrow. Blind with
fury, incapable of containing himself, he hurled himself at the beast and
caught it unawares.
The Faetoid proved smaller than Serpent had imagined at first. He was
much stronger and, above all, much more experienced than his opponent.
Moreover, he knew his father's fighting tricks.
Serpent overthrew the creature; it lay helpless beside the mangled
corpse of Ding which it had not yet finished eating. Serpent was just about
to finish the creature off, when it said:
"Do r-rationals kill those who are lying down?"
Serpent jumped back and asked in horror:
"Who are you, a talking beast?"
"I am a r-rational amid Terrans."
The creature was talking in Serpent's native Faetian, but with an
unfamiliar burr. Even so, it was talking. The flabbergasted Serpent let go
of it. He wanted to ask where it came from and who had taught it Faetian.
But the beast, which called itself rational and was able to speak, was
cunning into the bargain.
No sooner had Serpent relaxed his hold, prepared to carry on with the
conversation, than his shaggy opponent sprang on to its hind-legs and jumped
up onto the lowest branch of the tree. A moment later, it vanished into the
foliage.
The dismayed Serpent rushed in pursuit of the Faetoid, but then
stopped, deep in thought.
Only then did he fear for his brother Avik. What had happened to him?
The little boy must have been left behind while he chased after the talking
beast.
Stifling his alarm. Serpent ran back over the scarcely noticeable
tracks that had brought him to the spot. Serpent could run for great
distances without losing his breath. But this time he felt short of air, his
lungs were ready to burst and his heart seemed about to jump out of his
breast. Even so, he did not slow down until he reached the ill-fated spot
where poor Ding had been carried off.
His experienced hunter's eye immediately pictured the drama that had
been enacted there.
Avik had proved himself to be a true Faetian, although still a small
boy. Judging by the traces of the fight, he had put up a desperate
resistance.
But there had been many attackers and they had overpowered the little
lad. Serpent found the route by which they had carried him off. For a long
time he pursued the kidnappers until he realised that he had lost too much
time and it would be impossible to overtake them.
Dusk had fallen on the forest as, stumbling over the tree-roots,
Serpent made his way back home in utter despair. His arms dangled helplessly
down by his sides, his head was bowed on his breast.
Thus he returned home alone on that tragic day and told his mother
everything.
...Mada went crazy with grief and screamed that he had killed Avik. She
meant that he was responsible for his brother's death, but the proud Serpent
flared up. Perhaps it was his grandfather's blood in him, not just his
mother's. He was stung by the accusation she hurled at him. If his mother
was capable of such a reproach, then he would go away to the caves and would
live there on his own.
Mada was too crushed by grief to recollect herself and restrain her
son.
She lay on the threshold with her hair unloosed and, through a veil of
tears and the evening mist that reminded her of the lost Faena, she saw her
beloved firstborn disappear behind the trees.
But she was threatened by yet another loss.
The lissom form of Ma, her elder daughter, slipped past her. Without a
second thought, the girl had gone to follow Serpent.
When he came back that night from the hunt, Ave was shaken by the
despondency with which he was met at home.
On learning about the double disaster- the loss of Avik and the
departure of the elder children-Ave's face darkened and he thrust his hand
into his thick, greying beard.
"Even if I'm in the wrong, and I am in the wrong, of course," said Mada
to her husband, "how will Serpent and Ma be able to live on their own? You
must bring them back."
"That's got to be done!" replied Ave. "On their own, they won't be able
to beat off attacks by the Faetoids, who have resumed the war with us. Their
first catch, our poor Avik, will only make them even more fierce and
determined."
"I refuse to believe it!" protested Mada. "If Gor Terr lived for so
long with them and taught them a thing or two, they could have kidnapped our
Avik so that he could teach them too. But you've got to bring Serpent and Ma
back."
"I'll find them," promised Ave, and he added thoughtfully, "It'll be a
good thing if you're right about Avik."
Like a truly courageous Faetian, he was trying not to let his wife see
how shattered he was by it all.
"I'm worried about that talking beast."
"All my hopes are on him!" intervened Mada. "According to what Serpent
told me, he talks like our beloved friend, Gor Terr."
"That's just what's bothering me."
"But I'm delighted. Even Dzin had a feeling of gratitude. The talking
beast, whoever he may be, could save Avik."
"He must be a pupil of Gor Terr's. You were saying yourself that when
Gor Terr became a leader, he hoped to teach the beasts a great deal."
"But why have they come back? Perhaps Gor Terr isn't alive... Either he
wouldn't have let them come here, or he would have come to us."
"Who knows what's happened to our friend after all these years?" sighed
Ave Mar.
"Perhaps they need another leader and they came for a Faetian," said
Mada.
"I'll find Serpent and we'll look for the new lair of the Faetoids
together. Perhaps we'll meet Gor Terr or even find Avik still alive. Anyway,
we'll catch one of the talking beasts and question him."
Ave did not manage to carry out his plan, however. Serpent and Ma had
gone somewhere a long way away. They weren't to be found in the nearby
caves. He could only hope that they hadn't fallen victim to the Faetoids.
Perhaps in another forest they had founded a new station for the
descendants of the Faetians on Terr. The offended hunter hadn't forgiven his
mother for her reproach, although he had deserved it to some extent.
Nothing was known of Avik either.
Life continued for Ave and Mada with their family. As if to take over
from the lost Avik and the runaway children, Mada gave birth to twins, a boy
and a girl, and their mother was fully occupied in caring for them. As if
she hadn't enough cares already.
She cooked for the whole family, treated hides with her younger
daughters so as to sew, with the aid of tendons, primitive clothing and
footwear for the growing children, herself and Ave. They had to gather
medicinal herbs, about which Mada knew a great deal, and not just because
she had once been a Sister of Health. She had been attending to all the
members of her big family. She hadn't time to help Ave with the hunting.
After the working day, when darkness had fallen, keeping the fire going
in the hearth and grinding the day's harvest of com in a stone mortar with a
stone pestle, Mada would tell her children fairy tales.
She didn't invent anything, she simply recalled her life on Faena. But
for the little Terrans, living in the dense forest, stories about houses as
high as the clouds, or about rooms that moved about and even went up into
the air like birds, and even of the piloted star on which her parents landed
on Terr, all sounded like an amazing, unattainable and incredible fairy
tale.
Ave Mar also used to listen to these stories about the irrevocable past
as he dozed on his couch after an exhausting day.
He would listen and could never understand whether he was having
fantastic dreams or whether he was remembering long-forgotten pictures from
the words of the now white-haired but still beautiful Mada.
And, to the rhythmic murmur of her infinitely beloved voice, the first
Faetian on Terr wondered what lay in store for his children and
grandchildren.
Would the Faetoids return? Surely the talking beast that Serpent had
let go would feel duly grateful and would not only save Avik, but would lead
the Faetoids away, as Gor Terr had done in his time? Or were neither Gor
Terr nor Avik still alive, and was the war with the Faetoids about to begin
again? And who would survive in that conflict? Who would settle the planet
with a race of rational beings: the descendants of the Faetians or those of
the Faetoids? In the process of development, they would begin to resemble
the present-day Faetians. Otherwise the law of development of all living
creatures would have to be seen in a wider perspective than had been thought
of on Faena. It must be extended from one planet to all inhabited worlds!
Rational beings could appear everywhere and could migrate to those planets
where rational beings had not yet appeared. They would enter into conflict
with the less developed. Was this not the meaning of the all-embracing law
of the struggle for existence in which Reason must come out on top.
Ave decided to carve the history of his family on a cliff in the
mountains where he went hunting.
One day, his rational descendants would read the inscription.
But what would they be like?
Av waited for the moment when he could move his wrist and snatched up
the spear-point with the sharp prickles on its end.
At this moment, the serpent evidently decided to finish off its
obdurate prey once and for all; it tightened its coils so hard that Av
fainted.
When he came round, he felt that he was being crushed as before by a
long, muscular body, but it was not throbbing as it had done during the
struggle. There was indeed something dead about its death-grip. It turned
out that even when unconscious, Av had continued straining his body to
resist being crushed. Now he relaxed, trying to make himself as thin as
possible and began gradually crawling out of the dead serpent's rigid coils.
And so, after surviving and beating in single combat a terrible
serpent, Av could receive on coming of age a name associated with his
victory.
But he was still just a brave, agile boy for whom manhood was yet to
come. He used to dream about this time, developing his own courage and
strength.
Although he had become a hunter, he grew up to be kind-hearted
nevertheless and he never killed animals except out of dire necessity.
He enjoyed watching from a tree as the little animals frolicked about
near their lair.
They were four-footed beasts with mouths full of teeth and they could
not climb trees. They had long muzzles, erect ears and bushy tails. They
only attacked small animals. In case of need, however, they could hunt in
packs and set upon the big denizens of the forest.
Av thought it might be a good idea to train these little animals. His
father, after all, had mentioned the domesticated lizards on Faena, which Av
imagined to have been a faraway, fabulous land from which his parents had
flown like birds.
The little animals were playing on the glade, in full view of Av up in
a tree-top.
The little grey balls of fur were rolling over the grass,
somersaulting, growling and fighting endlessly with one another. Or they
chased one another tirelessly across the glade.
Av saw a cub he liked the look of. He jumped down from his tree no less
nimbly than a serpent and seized hold of the terrified little animal. It
clawed and bit him, but Av clutched it to his chest and ran off, stuffing
its sharp-toothed little muzzle into the spotted predator's skin that he
wore for camouflage.
He took his prize home-it had been quietened down by the warmth of his
body-fed it and began training it.
His mother was very much surprised at his behaviour. His younger
brothers and sisters were in raptures.
The little animal used to play with them. It grew up quickly and became
attached to Av. It was evidently in no way inferior to the domesticated
lizards of Faena.
When the animal had grown up a little, Av decided to train it to go
hunting with him. His father smiled condescendingly at the idea, but in no
way interfered with his son's experiments.
Av called his future helper Ding.
The disaster occurred after a domestic ceremony at which Av had been
awarded his new name. Serpent, in honour of his victory over that creature.
Serpent insisted that his mother should let Avik go hunting with him.
It was time he became an assistant provider.
His younger brother was beside himself with joy and ready to follow Av
anywhere.
Ding, of course, had to go with them. Gifted with an amazing nose, he
could scent game even before Serpent had noticed it.
...Serpent came back from the hunt alone.
His mother tore her hair and screamed frantically at him:
"You've killed him, you've killed my Avik!"
Serpent turned pale at these words. They were unfair. Serpent could not
have been accused of such a crime, although he was partly to blame.
The brothers were walking through the forest. Ding was running ahead.
Suddenly, he stopped and growled. His fur bristled.
Just at that moment, a huge shaggy body fell on him from above. Serpent
had heard from his father about the Faetoids which had carried him off as a
baby.
Now a beast like one of those described by his father had seized Ding,
who yelped, went hoarse and then was silent.
The shaggy beast rushed off with its prey.
Without thinking of his brother (and this was where he was terribly at
fault!), he ran after the Faetoid.
The beast was, however, more agile. But Serpent had a determined
nature, however. He neither wanted to nor was he capable of backing out, any
more than his mother, the young Mada Jupi.
With his keen hunter's instinct, he noticed which way the beast had
run. Although slower than the beast, he was unerringly following in its
tracks.
Serpent found it under a wide-branching tree where it imagined itself
to be safe and was devouring the luckless Ding.
Serpent went mad with rage. He did not even shoot an arrow. Blind with
fury, incapable of containing himself, he hurled himself at the beast and
caught it unawares.
The Faetoid proved smaller than Serpent had imagined at first. He was
much stronger and, above all, much more experienced than his opponent.
Moreover, he knew his father's fighting tricks.
Serpent overthrew the creature; it lay helpless beside the mangled
corpse of Ding which it had not yet finished eating. Serpent was just about
to finish the creature off, when it said:
"Do r-rationals kill those who are lying down?"
Serpent jumped back and asked in horror:
"Who are you, a talking beast?"
"I am a r-rational amid Terrans."
The creature was talking in Serpent's native Faetian, but with an
unfamiliar burr. Even so, it was talking. The flabbergasted Serpent let go
of it. He wanted to ask where it came from and who had taught it Faetian.
But the beast, which called itself rational and was able to speak, was
cunning into the bargain.
No sooner had Serpent relaxed his hold, prepared to carry on with the
conversation, than his shaggy opponent sprang on to its hind-legs and jumped
up onto the lowest branch of the tree. A moment later, it vanished into the
foliage.
The dismayed Serpent rushed in pursuit of the Faetoid, but then
stopped, deep in thought.
Only then did he fear for his brother Avik. What had happened to him?
The little boy must have been left behind while he chased after the talking
beast.
Stifling his alarm. Serpent ran back over the scarcely noticeable
tracks that had brought him to the spot. Serpent could run for great
distances without losing his breath. But this time he felt short of air, his
lungs were ready to burst and his heart seemed about to jump out of his
breast. Even so, he did not slow down until he reached the ill-fated spot
where poor Ding had been carried off.
His experienced hunter's eye immediately pictured the drama that had
been enacted there.
Avik had proved himself to be a true Faetian, although still a small
boy. Judging by the traces of the fight, he had put up a desperate
resistance.
But there had been many attackers and they had overpowered the little
lad. Serpent found the route by which they had carried him off. For a long
time he pursued the kidnappers until he realised that he had lost too much
time and it would be impossible to overtake them.
Dusk had fallen on the forest as, stumbling over the tree-roots,
Serpent made his way back home in utter despair. His arms dangled helplessly
down by his sides, his head was bowed on his breast.
Thus he returned home alone on that tragic day and told his mother
everything.
...Mada went crazy with grief and screamed that he had killed Avik. She
meant that he was responsible for his brother's death, but the proud Serpent
flared up. Perhaps it was his grandfather's blood in him, not just his
mother's. He was stung by the accusation she hurled at him. If his mother
was capable of such a reproach, then he would go away to the caves and would
live there on his own.
Mada was too crushed by grief to recollect herself and restrain her
son.
She lay on the threshold with her hair unloosed and, through a veil of
tears and the evening mist that reminded her of the lost Faena, she saw her
beloved firstborn disappear behind the trees.
But she was threatened by yet another loss.
The lissom form of Ma, her elder daughter, slipped past her. Without a
second thought, the girl had gone to follow Serpent.
When he came back that night from the hunt, Ave was shaken by the
despondency with which he was met at home.
On learning about the double disaster- the loss of Avik and the
departure of the elder children-Ave's face darkened and he thrust his hand
into his thick, greying beard.
"Even if I'm in the wrong, and I am in the wrong, of course," said Mada
to her husband, "how will Serpent and Ma be able to live on their own? You
must bring them back."
"That's got to be done!" replied Ave. "On their own, they won't be able
to beat off attacks by the Faetoids, who have resumed the war with us. Their
first catch, our poor Avik, will only make them even more fierce and
determined."
"I refuse to believe it!" protested Mada. "If Gor Terr lived for so
long with them and taught them a thing or two, they could have kidnapped our
Avik so that he could teach them too. But you've got to bring Serpent and Ma
back."
"I'll find them," promised Ave, and he added thoughtfully, "It'll be a
good thing if you're right about Avik."
Like a truly courageous Faetian, he was trying not to let his wife see
how shattered he was by it all.
"I'm worried about that talking beast."
"All my hopes are on him!" intervened Mada. "According to what Serpent
told me, he talks like our beloved friend, Gor Terr."
"That's just what's bothering me."
"But I'm delighted. Even Dzin had a feeling of gratitude. The talking
beast, whoever he may be, could save Avik."
"He must be a pupil of Gor Terr's. You were saying yourself that when
Gor Terr became a leader, he hoped to teach the beasts a great deal."
"But why have they come back? Perhaps Gor Terr isn't alive... Either he
wouldn't have let them come here, or he would have come to us."
"Who knows what's happened to our friend after all these years?" sighed
Ave Mar.
"Perhaps they need another leader and they came for a Faetian," said
Mada.
"I'll find Serpent and we'll look for the new lair of the Faetoids
together. Perhaps we'll meet Gor Terr or even find Avik still alive. Anyway,
we'll catch one of the talking beasts and question him."
Ave did not manage to carry out his plan, however. Serpent and Ma had
gone somewhere a long way away. They weren't to be found in the nearby
caves. He could only hope that they hadn't fallen victim to the Faetoids.
Perhaps in another forest they had founded a new station for the
descendants of the Faetians on Terr. The offended hunter hadn't forgiven his
mother for her reproach, although he had deserved it to some extent.
Nothing was known of Avik either.
Life continued for Ave and Mada with their family. As if to take over
from the lost Avik and the runaway children, Mada gave birth to twins, a boy
and a girl, and their mother was fully occupied in caring for them. As if
she hadn't enough cares already.
She cooked for the whole family, treated hides with her younger
daughters so as to sew, with the aid of tendons, primitive clothing and
footwear for the growing children, herself and Ave. They had to gather
medicinal herbs, about which Mada knew a great deal, and not just because
she had once been a Sister of Health. She had been attending to all the
members of her big family. She hadn't time to help Ave with the hunting.
After the working day, when darkness had fallen, keeping the fire going
in the hearth and grinding the day's harvest of com in a stone mortar with a
stone pestle, Mada would tell her children fairy tales.
She didn't invent anything, she simply recalled her life on Faena. But
for the little Terrans, living in the dense forest, stories about houses as
high as the clouds, or about rooms that moved about and even went up into
the air like birds, and even of the piloted star on which her parents landed
on Terr, all sounded like an amazing, unattainable and incredible fairy
tale.
Ave Mar also used to listen to these stories about the irrevocable past
as he dozed on his couch after an exhausting day.
He would listen and could never understand whether he was having
fantastic dreams or whether he was remembering long-forgotten pictures from
the words of the now white-haired but still beautiful Mada.
And, to the rhythmic murmur of her infinitely beloved voice, the first
Faetian on Terr wondered what lay in store for his children and
grandchildren.
Would the Faetoids return? Surely the talking beast that Serpent had
let go would feel duly grateful and would not only save Avik, but would lead
the Faetoids away, as Gor Terr had done in his time? Or were neither Gor
Terr nor Avik still alive, and was the war with the Faetoids about to begin
again? And who would survive in that conflict? Who would settle the planet
with a race of rational beings: the descendants of the Faetians or those of
the Faetoids? In the process of development, they would begin to resemble
the present-day Faetians. Otherwise the law of development of all living
creatures would have to be seen in a wider perspective than had been thought
of on Faena. It must be extended from one planet to all inhabited worlds!
Rational beings could appear everywhere and could migrate to those planets
where rational beings had not yet appeared. They would enter into conflict
with the less developed. Was this not the meaning of the all-embracing law
of the struggle for existence in which Reason must come out on top.
Ave decided to carve the history of his family on a cliff in the
mountains where he went hunting.
One day, his rational descendants would read the inscription.
But what would they be like?