[https://i.imgur.com/8R4pQ1k.jpg]* - /ʃi/
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And so it was that on one of the sunny days in midsummer, I entered the valley of the Rivers. They were a set of streams and tributaries, which flowed south to north and were surrounded by wide stripes of marshlands.
I walked along the marshlands back and forth, not quite sure how to cross them. At some point, I spotted a group of travelers – men, women, and several kids. They confidently walked through the bushes, kids running ahead, adults treading behind them, picking up leaves and twigs on which they chewed. I figured that they might have known the way across the marshes, and so, despite the warnings of the Surian and my own cautiousness, I eventually advanced to make contact with them.
They turned out to be friendly folks. One of the men spoke Surian – with a heavy accent but more or less intelligibly. The rest preferred to converse among themselves, though I got the feeling that they understood Surian too.
The man who spoke Surian was named Tlola-Nashi. He explained to me that they were heading northwest, across the river. He said, they were going to a place where they would meet up with guides, who would then lead them through the marshlands and across the open waters. When I told him that I was heading in the same direction he immediately offered to go with them.
“No use walking there alone! Come on, fella, we’ll share a place with you,” he said, and I gladly agreed.
We went a little further north and ascended to the top of a hill. There already was a shed standing there with a fireplace and a stack of wood; evidently, this place was used often. We made a stay there. Two of the hunters went away and fetched several pheasants and a duck. By the time the sun went down, we had prepared ourselves a good meal.
These people looked rather different from the ones living around Soddo. They were mostly short, with short curly black hair. Their garments were very simple and consisted of only loincloths and necklaces with bones and teeth of different animals.
There were eleven people on that hill including me: Tlola-Nashi with his wife and two children, two other hunters, one of whom was with his wife and two children, and one hunter with a broken nose who kept somewhat distant from the rest of us.
Before we went up the hill, I threw the black orb to understand their tongue. The one they spoke between themselves differed drastically from Surian and, on the contrary, sounded very similar to Klenvi's – western neighbors of my fellow tribes. At first, I even thought that they were Klenvi, but their look and the way they spoke was too different, at least compared to what I remembered of those people.
Though I understood what these people were saying, for the sake of cautiousness (excessive, as I figure it now, but necessary as it seemed to me at the moment) I pretended that I did not speak their language and talked in Surian to Tlola-Nashi, while he translated for me what others were saying. While we were talking, I noticed that the women spoke yet another tongue among themselves, which resembled Tlola-Nashi’s, but sounded different. As Tlola-Nashi explained when I mentioned it to him, they were from the River Clans.
“The ones who live on the rivers,” he said.
“And where are you from?”
“I’m from the plain clans.”
I used that opportunity to ask him about the differences between the peoples living in the plains, but he couldn’t provide much information on that.
“Ain’t that much difference in the plains,” he said. “The River People are much more different from us. They live in waters, hunt in waters. We live and hunt in plains, do rituals in plains.” He pointed at his wife. “Her brother, in fact – my brother-in-law – is going to be our lead across the Rivers. Say, why do you want to go to that rock?” ‘The Rock’ was referring to the Uncle.
“I just want to see the place,ˮ I said.
“Why, though? ˮ
I took some time to think about a good answer to that question.
“Have you heard the story of Gehilia?” I asked him.
“Yeah, of course. Surians love that legend,” he said. “But still, why go there? That Uncle is just a rock now, nothing special there. Besides, he stands right in the River – I wouldn’t go there without a good reason if I were you.”
“What’s the problem?”
“People who are not from the Rivers aren’t really allowed to go near water. Why, didn’t they tell you that story in Suru?”
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And seeing in my frowning face that they didn’t, he told that story to me.
***
Long ago this was a flat plain without any water, and on this plain lived a woman named Shi. She was a wife of a weidefia named Shiide**. “You know about weidefias? ˮ Tlola-Nashi asked me by the bye. “Sure, I know of them,ˮ I answered.
The woman, he went on, received many powers from her husband. She lived by gathering apricots and apples from groves, hunting small game with her bow, weaving sturdy baskets from the twigs of local bushes, making pots and cups from local clay, and exchanging it all with surrounding tribes for their goods.
Shi had four sons from Shiide, and those sons were of indescribable beauty. Many creatures envied her for having such beautiful children, and many even tried to steal them. A jackal tried it, but was driven by Shi's arrows away; a wild dog tried it, but was stepped on and almost beaten to death; a vulture tried it, but was hit with a shaft and flew off. No one else tried it, for everybody saw how fierce a fighter Shi was.
Then one day a hunter from the west came to the plane and learned about the beautiful sons. He thought of fetching some of those kids for himself and taking them to his lands.
He gathered the unlucky thieves – the Jackal, the Wild Dog, and the Vulture – and offered them assistance: he would go to the woman and distract her with a conversation, in the meantime the three thieves would crawl up and steal her sons. So they agreed, and the Hunter approached the place where Shi stayed and talked to her.
“Truly, woman, you're so beautiful! And your sons are so well-fed and so good-looking! ˮ he said, pointing at the children who lay asleep under the shed. Shi was very pleased to hear that.
“And your fruit preserves are so plenty and good! ˮ he said. “Surely you won't mind sharing it with the hungry hunter? ˮ
The woman agreed and bent over the baskets with fruits to fill a bundle for him – at that moment the Jackal grabbed the youngest son.
“And your pots are so pretty and well molded,ˮ the Hunter went on. “Surely you won't mind giving one of the spare ones to the loner hunter? ˮ
The woman went off to fetch one of the pots – at that moment the Wild Dog snatched the second son.
“And your baskets are so big and sturdy,ˮ the Hunter proceeded. “Surely you won't mind sharing one of them with the wondering hunter? ˮ
The woman sat down to free one of the baskets from stuff. At that moment, the Vulture snatched the third of her sons but woke up the oldest in the process. The oldest son saw the crime and screamed for his mother.
Shi dropped the basket and ran to the shed. She saw what was happening and dashed for her bow, but the Hunter knocked her down with a punch. The oldest son tried to protect his mother, but the Hunter fought him and accidentally pierced him with his spear. Dazed, he ran away, chased by Shi's arrows.
Shi was furious, and her fury put the whole world into darkness, and her cry stirred the feelings of every creature. All spirits came to help. All creatures of the world raced after the thieves. Even the Sky Giant joined the chase – he grabbed the Vulture and twisted its neck, but the third son slipped from his claws and fell down to the earth. He died right there.
Shiide himself took part in the chase. He caught up with the Wild Dog and tore it in two, but the second son was already hidden underground by the Wild Dog; by the time they dug him out, he was already dead.
The River People came to help too. Among them was a prominent hunter named Tuna-Shidda – Big-Eye is the meaning of this name. Tuna-Shidda chased the Jackal down and carefully approached it. The Jackal was going to eat the youngest son, but Tuna-Shidda took good aim with his bow and let the arrow loose. It hit the Jackal right in the eye, killing it on the spot.
The youngest son was saved and brought back to Shi. The other three sons, however, were dead, and the Hunter himself got away. Shi and the hunters gathered the bodies and brought them far to the south. They buried them on the slope of the Big Southern Hill, and when the funeral was done, Shi wept for many days. As she was weeping, a strong source sprung from the ground. Its waters mixed with the tears of Shi, and formed a stream that ran down into the plains. This is how the Rivers came to be, and ever since then, Shi hides in these waters waiting for the moment when the hunter or his descendants come around.
Her youngest son was adopted by Tuna-Shidda himself. His people and their descendants are the only ones whom Shi respects and protects. They are the only ones who are allowed close to the waters.
***
“This is a cruel story,ˮ I told Tlola-Nashi when he was finished.
“These are cruel Rivers,ˮ he answered. “You do not wanna enter them without knowledge. Shi has all sorts of dangers there: snakes, crocodiles, swarms of gnats, angry spirits, unknown, unseen creatures. Only the River People know how to bypass all this. ˮ
Dry twigs kept crackling in the fire. Toads and frogs croaked from the black mass of the thickets that lay to the west of the hill. A stripe of open water lit by the moonlight shimmered in the distance. From the eastern side, the savanna sounded with songs of grigs.
“Our folks tell an even worse version,ˮ Tlola-Nashi said. “All of the children were killed, and all hunters got away unpunished. The one I told you is how they tell it in my wife's clan. Frankly, I like their version more. ˮ
“But if the hunter was from the west,ˮ I asked after a pause, “why are we not allowed to the water? ˮ
“When all this happened,ˮ Tlola-Nashi said, “all our tribes were in the west. We came here later, after the Fourth Fire. Who knows where that hunter's descendants are? Maybe they're still in the west, maybe they're around these Rivers. Maybe they are right here, near this fire. ˮ
I threw another look at the cruel water in the distance inhabited by the poor woman.
“Wherever he is, though, he'll get his share,ˮ Tlola-Nashi suddenly said with confidence. “However he hides, he certainly will. ˮ
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Footnotes:
** - /ʃiˈidɛ/