In The Beginning by Richard Webber

  Chapter Eighteen

  I followed the same path up the hillside that we had come down last night, aiming for an even higher peak from which to view the valley. When I had climbed to the highest point in the hills above the village, I looked over the land that I knew was destined to be mine.

  In the early morning light the valley was even more impressive than I had thought last night. It was a very wide land, much larger than the land of my parents. Far to the east I could faintly see another range of mountains which seemed to run parallel to those on this side of the valley. They would be many days walk for me, and they were too distant for even my keen eyes to pick out any details.

  As the sun rose over those mountains the land came into sharper focus. To the south the two ranges appeared to gradually run together, though if they finally joined it was too far away for my eyes to see. To the north, many days distant, I could see another tall mountain range. Even from this distance it was fiercely imposing.

  Before me was an absolutely beautiful valley, wide, green and lush. As far as my eyes could see were grassy plains interspersed with patches of woodlands. I now saw more clearly the wide river I had noticed last night. It seemed to run generally north and south, dividing the valley, although this side was by far the larger of the two parcels. The morning light flashed off many other flowing waters; not too far to the north I saw a small river.

  The village was located at the southern end of a large meadow, and it stood out in the open, with a thinly wooded forest farther to the north. On the edge of the village was the stream I had seen the night before, running out of the mountains and off to the north and east.

  From this vantage point I could clearly see that the village had no gardens or planted fields, nor could I see any animals grazing nearby. My conclusions had been correct; everything they ate was hunted or gathered in the forest. The woods north of the village were thin and I would not be surprised if they held no large game, which explained why the tribe hunted in the deep forest behind me.

  I liked what I saw around the village. There was water for drinking and irrigating crops, plenty of wood nearby for building, and more than enough meadowland for both growing crops and grazing animals. Though it might eventually be necessary to move the tribe to a larger source of water since the stream below would not support the irrigation of large fields, I could see no physical obstacles to my plan for turning this tribe into a great people. All the raw material was here, and though there was a huge amount of work to do, I was confident I would be successful.

  Getting accepted and being allowed to stay had been the important first step, but now the real work began. To advance these people and become their leader I needed to transfer my knowledge, and to communicate properly it would be necessary to use my language. Their languages’ vocabulary was extremely limited, plus the crudity of the language irritated me. Unfortunately, in order to teach them my language properly, I would be forced to first learn theirs.

  I had decided last night that I wanted Catto and Kalou as my guides in the language and ways of their tribe. I was impressed with their intelligence and energy, and they had both shown an excellent aptitude for my language. They would be both my students and teachers, and through them I would learn about these people, teach the tribe what they needed, and turn them into what I wanted them to be.

  I would have Kalou and Catto guide me through the forests and plains to find crops that could be grown for food, and I would bring the crops here. There was no reason, given the open meadow and abundant water, why these people should have to travel deep into the forest to gather food when it could be grown right next to their village.

  In addition to the potatoes and blueberries I already knew about, I hoped to find and grow staples such as wheat and corn, but I also needed to find as many fruits and vegetables as possible that could be transferred to a garden, such as peas, carrots and strawberries. I also hoped to discover herbs like parsley, sage and rosemary that could be used in cooking and for medicinal purposes.

  In addition, I would search for any animals that could be domesticated. As disgusting as I found the habit of eating meat, the tribe needed sources of food that could be raised on these wide meadows. I knew there were sheep in this land, since I had seen the skin. I did not want the sheep for a food source as much as I wanted them for their wool, but where there are sheep there may also be goats, pigs and cattle.

  If I could find this livestock, or at least animals that were similar, the tribe would be able to have meat, milk and wool. Raising livestock would not mean they didn’t need to hunt for food, but at least killing game would no longer be a matter of life or death.

  Unfortunately, there was so much to do here in the village that I could not immediately go off hunting for sources of food. The people were primitives. The only positive thing I had seen in the village was that the tribe knew how to build functional huts. Otherwise, they had no decent clothing, no furniture, and no cooking or eating utensils. They cooked their food by roasting it over an open fire, and then used their filthy hands to eat!

  That reminded me that I needed to find a source of oil to make soap. Even though I was now getting somewhat used to it, the stench they carried was still tremendously offensive. Cleaning them should not be more important to me than feeding them, but it was. Their smell and the layer of dirt that coated them repelled me, and although to become powerful I was willing to lead people that ate meat, I would not live in filth like an animal.

  But I could not be thought of as the stranger that came into their village and forced them to change their way of life. I needed to show them what was possible, and then, hopefully they would want to change. It was important that they desire all the improvements I could bring. I wanted them to blindly believe in me and my leadership, and I needed them to think that they could trust me.

  I would split my time between exploring the countryside and teaching in the village. My plan was to travel through the land with Kalou and Catto as far as we could in two or three days. On these trips we would collect plants, capture animals, and explore for anything of interest. At the same time, as we travelled I would be transferring advanced language skills to my companions.

  We would carry everything we found back to the village. There I would take the time, whether it was a week or a moon, to plant, build and teach about what I had discovered on the trip. Then we would go off again in a different direction, searching for new discoveries. I wanted this cycle to be repeated as often as necessary, with new foods, animals and knowledge being added to the village with every trip.

  I also wanted to venture out alone whenever possible. Alone I could travel faster and cover much more land, since I could run without rest and did not need to eat or sleep the way Catto and Kalou would. To be able to explore the farthest reaches of this land, I would need to travel by myself.

  I could see people beginning to move about in the village below, and sounds were drifting up to me as the children awoke and cried out to their parents. The mix of all ages, from the little ones up to the old ones was curious to me; I was interested to see how these people grew and aged. The old ones looked so very ancient to me. They appeared to have lived many more years than my father, but I knew that was not possible.

  I wondered idly as I walked back down the hillside if it was the harshness of their lives that caused them to age more rapidly than my family. Though my parents were hundreds of years old, they were smooth-skinned and vital, while I was still considered little more than a youth, having lived only 112 years.

  As I returned to the village I realized I was looking forward to staying put for a few days, observing what the people did and how they lived their daily lives. I needed to talk to Garon, to make sure I could keep Kalou and Catto with me as my guides.