The High Mountains of Portugal by Yann Martel
Only in their last years, once their identity engineering had succeeded, did his parents relent a little and did he and his sister, Teresa, on occasion get a glimpse into their long-ago former lives. It came in the form of brief stories, supported by family photos. A few names were floated and a hazy geography was sketched, centred on one place name: Tuizelo. That was where his parents came from, and that is where he and Odo will settle.
But he knows nothing of the country. He is Canadian through and through. As they drive in the fading light of day, he notes how pretty the landscape is, how busy the rurality. Everywhere there are flocks and herds, beehives and grapevines, ploughed fields and tended groves. He sees people carrying firewood on their backs and donkeys carrying loaded baskets on theirs.
The night stops them and sends them to sleep. He moves to the cramped back seat. At a late hour, he is vaguely aware of Odo exiting the car through the door, but he is too knocked out by sleep to check on him.
In the morning he finds the ape sleeping on top of the car, on its fabric roof. Peter does not rouse him. Instead he reads the guidebook. He learns from it that the peculiar tree he keeps seeing--stocky, thick-limbed, the trunk dark brown except where the precious bark has been neatly removed--is the cork tree. The parts of the trees that have been stripped glow a rich reddish brown. He vows from then on to drink only from wine bottles that have been cork-stoppered.
Visigoths, Francs, Romans, Moors--all were here. Some did no more than kick over furniture before moving on. Others stayed long enough to build a bridge or a castle. Then, in a sidebar, he discovers that "faunal anomaly of northern Portugal": the Iberian rhinoceros. Was that what the man at the airport meant? This biological relic, descended from the woolly rhinoceros of earlier glacial ages, existed in Portugal in shrinking pockets right up into the modern era, with the confirmed death of the last known specimen taking place in 1641. Hardy and fierce-looking but mostly benign--a herbivore, after all, slow to anger and quick to forgive--it fell out of step with the times, unable to adapt to the shrinking space given it, and so it vanished, though with occasional claims of sightings to this day. In 1515 King Manuel I of Portugal offered an Iberian rhinoceros as a gift to Pope Leo X. The guidebook has a reproduction of the Durer woodcut of that rhinoceros, "incorrectly single-horned." He peers at the image. The animal looks grand, ancient, unlikely, appealing.
Odo awakes as Peter is preparing breakfast on the camping stove. When Odo sits up, and even more so when he stands on the roof of the car, taking in his surroundings, Peter is again struck by his situation. If he were in this foreign land alone, it would be unbearable; he would die of loneliness. But because of his strange companion, loneliness is pushed away. For that he is deeply grateful. Even so, he can't ignore the other feeling troubling him at the moment, which seems to liquefy his innards: fear. He can't explain the sudden onset of the emotion. He's never been subject to panic attacks, but perhaps this is what they feel like. Fear melts through him, opening his every pore, causing his breaths to shorten and quicken. Then Odo climbs down from the car, ambles over on all fours to sit and stare at the camping stove, amiably disposed, and the fear goes away.
After breakfast, they hit the road again. They cross villages with stone houses, cobbled streets, sleeping dogs, and observant donkeys. Places of stillness, with few men and the women dressed in black, all of them older. He senses that the future comes like the night in these settlements, quietly and without surprise, each generation much like the previous one and the next, only shrinking in numbers.
In the early afternoon they reach--according to the map--the High Mountains of Portugal. The air is cooler. He is puzzled. Where are the mountains? He wasn't expecting soaring, winter-clad Alps, but he didn't expect an undulating barren savannah either, its forests hidden away in valleys, without any peaks anywhere. He and Odo cross plains of enormous grey boulders, each sitting on its own in the grassland. Some of these rocks reach past what would be the second floor of a house. Perhaps to a man standing next to one, there is something mountain-like about them, but it's a stretch. Odo is as intrigued by the boulders as he is.
Tuizelo appears at the end of a winding road, on the edge of a forest, tucked in a valley. The narrow, sloping, cobbled streets wend their way to a small square with a humble, gurgling fountain at its centre. On one side of the square is a church, on the other, a cafe, which also appears to be a small grocery store and bakery. These two institutions, each plying its own wares, are set amidst modest stone houses with wooden balconies. Only the many vegetable gardens are large, as large as fields, and neat. Here, there, everywhere, chickens, goats, sheep, lazing dogs.
Right away he is taken by the tranquility and isolation of the village. And his parents came from here. In fact, he was born here. He can hardly believe it. The distance between this place and the house in the heart of Toronto, in Cabbagetown, where he grew up, seems immeasurable. He has no memories of Tuizelo. His parents left when he was a toddler. Nonetheless, he will give the place a try.
"We've arrived," he announces. Odo looks around with a blank expression.
They eat sandwiches and drink water. Peter notices a small group of people in a vegetable garden. He reaches for the dictionary. He practices a phrase a few times.
"Don't move. Stay in the car," he says to Odo. The ape sits so low in the car seat that he's barely visible from the outside.
Peter gets out of the car and waves to the group. They wave back. A man shouts a greeting. Peter goes through the small gate and joins them. Each villager steps forward to shake his hand, a smile on his or her face. "Ola," he says each time. When the ceremony is over, he selfconsciously recites his phrase. "Eu quero uma casa, por favor," he says slowly. I would like a house, please.
"Uma casa? Por uma noite?" says one.
"Nao," he replies as he flips through the dictionary, "uma casa por...viver." No, a house to live in.
"Aqui, em Tuizelo?" says another, his wrinkled features expanding in surprise.
"Sim," Peter replies, "uma casa aqui em Tuizelo por viver." Yes, a house here in Tuizelo to live in. Clearly, immigration is unknown in these parts.
"Meu Deus! O que e aquela coisa?" a woman gasps. He guesses that the horror in her tone has nothing to do with his request to live in the village. She is looking beyond him. He turns. Sure enough, Odo has climbed onto the roof of the car and is observing them.
The group makes various startled, fearful noises. One man grips his hoe and lifts it in the air somewhat.
"No, no, he's friendly," Peter says, his palms raised to appease them. He rifles through the dictionary. "Ele e...amigavel! Amigavel!"
He repeats the word a few times, trying to heed the tonic accent and get the pronunciation right. He retreats to the car. The group stays frozen. Already Odo has attracted further attention. Two men are staring from the cafe, as is a woman from her doorstep, and another from a balcony.
Peter had hoped to ease Odo into village life, but the notion is foolish. There are no degrees to amazement.
"Amigavel, amigavel!" he repeats to all.
He beckons to Odo, who clambers down from the car and knuckle-walks to the vegetable garden with him. The ape chooses not to go through the gate but to leap onto the stone wall. Peter stands next to him, stroking one of his legs.
"Um macaco," he says to the group, to help with what they are seeing. "Um macaco amigavel." A friendly ape.
The people stare while he and Odo wait. The woman who first noticed Odo is the first to relax a little. "E ele mora com o senhor?" she asks. Her tone is open, touched by wonder.
"Sim," he replies, though he doesn't know what "mora" means.
One villager decides that he's had enough. He turns to move away. His neighbour reaches for him, but in doing so he stumbles. The result is that he pulls hard on the first man's sleeve as he seeks to regain his balance. The other man in turn loses his balance momentarily, cries out, flings his arm back to throw off the other man's hand, and walks off in a huff. O
Odo doesn't run amok. He sits back down, producing a few inquisitive hoo, hoo, hoos in a rising pitch. Some faces in the group smile at hearing the sound, perhaps reassured by the confirmation of a stereotype--apes really do go hoo, hoo, hoo.
"De onde e que ele vem? O que e que faz?" asks the same woman.
"Sim, sim," Peter replies, again not knowing to what. "Eu quero uma casa em Tuizelo por viver com macaco amigavel."
By now, other villagers have turned up. They gather at a respectful distance. Odo is as curious about the villagers as they are about him. He pivots on the wall, looking, engaging, commenting with quiet hoos and aarrrhhhs.
"Uma casa...?" Peter repeats as he strokes the ape.
The group in the garden at last begins to address his request. They talk to each other and he can hear the word "casa" being repeated along with what sounds like names. The conversation widens when one woman turns and calls out to another woman who is standing near his car. This villager responds and soon another conversation begins there. Occasional verbal volleys are tossed between the villagers around the car and the ones in the vegetable garden. The reason why they don't come together is plain: Between the two groups is the gate, and guarding the gate like a sentinel is an ape.
Peter thinks that he should perhaps refine his request. A house on the edge of the village would be best. He looks in the dictionary.
"Uma casa...nas bordas de Tuizelo...nas proximidades," he calls out, somewhat addressing his request to the woman who first spoke about Odo, but intending it for everyone to hear.
The discussion starts again, until the woman, who has willingly taken on her role as his main interlocutor, announces the result of it. "Temos uma casa que provavelmente vai servir para si e o seu macaco."
He understands nothing except "uma casa" and "seu macaco". A house and your ape. He nods.
The woman smiles and looks pointedly at the gate. He promptly goes through it and nudges Odo off the stone wall. Odo drops to the ground next to him. They walk a few steps towards the car. The group in the garden advances towards the gate, while the group around the car melts away. He turns to the woman and indicates in various directions. She points to the right, up towards the top of the village. He moves in that direction. Mercifully, Odo stays at his side. The woman trails along at a safe distance. Villagers ahead of them disperse, as do the chickens and dogs. Except for the chickens, all the villagers, human and animal, join in following the newcomers. He regularly turns to make sure they are going the right way. The woman, leading the villagers some fifteen paces behind, nods to confirm that he is, or redirects him with her hand. And so, leading the group while in fact following it, he and Odo walk through the village. Odo strolls along nicely on all fours next to him, despite being powerfully interested in the chickens and dogs.
They emerge from the village. The cobbled street becomes a dirt road. After a turn, they cross a shallow stream. The trees grow more sparse, the plateau starts to show. Shortly, the woman calls out and points. They have reached the house.
It is no different from many of the others in the village. It is a small two-storey stone structure, L-shaped, with a gated stone wall completing the other two sides of the L to create a house with an enclosed courtyard. The woman invites him into this courtyard, while staying outside the gate with her companions. She indicates that the second floor is reached by the external stone staircase. Then she points at Odo and to a door on the ground floor. Peter opens it; it has no lock, only a latch. He is not happy with what he sees. Besides being filled with quantities of stuff, the room is filthy, everything covered in dust. Then he sees a ring attached to a wall and notices that the door he just opened is divided in two horizontally, and he understands. This floor is a pen, a stable, an enclosure for livestock. He has seen any number of such houses on their drive but only now grasps their design. The animals--the sheep, goats, pigs, chickens, donkeys--live below their owners, who thus have them close-by and safe, and who profit in winter from the warmth their livestock generate. It also explains the outside staircase. He closes the door.
"Macaco," the woman says in a helpful tone from the other side of the low stone wall.
"Nao," he replies, shaking his head. He points up the stairs.
The people nod. The foreigner's macaco wants to live upstairs, does it? It has a taste for luxury?
He and Odo climb the stone stairs. The landing, of wood with a roof, is large enough to qualify as a balcony. He opens the door. It doesn't have a lock, either. Burglary doesn't seem to be a problem in Tuizelo.
He is better pleased with this top floor. It is rustic, but it will do. It has a stone floor (easy to clean) and little furniture (less to break). The walls are very thick and covered in uneven whitewash, showing areas of rise and fall, but clean; they look like a plausible map of the High Mountains of Portugal. The layout of the flat is simple. The door opens onto a main room that has a wooden table with four chairs, some shelves built into the wall, and a cast-iron woodstove. To one side of this room, the top of the L, separated by a wall that goes only halfway across, is the kitchen, which is fitted with a large sink, a propane gas stove, a counter, and more shelves. At the other end of the living room, through a doorway without a door, he finds two rooms in a row, the bottom of the L. The first room contains a wardrobe whose door holds a large mirror speckled with age. The end room has a bed with a mattress long past its prime, a small bedside table, a chest of drawers, and a primitive bathroom with a sink and a dusty, dry toilet. There is no shower or bathtub.
He returns to the living room, scanning the bottoms of the walls. He examines the ceiling of each room. There are no electrical outlets or light fixtures anywhere. In the kitchen he confirms what he thought he did not see; indeed, there is no refrigerator. The place has no electricity. And no phone jack, either. He sighs. He turns the kitchen faucet on. No gush of water disturbs the silence. Two of the windows are broken. Everything is covered in dust and grime. A wave of fatigue washes over him. From the Senate of Canada, surrounded by all the amenities of the modern world in a capital city, to this cave-age dwelling on the fringes of nowhere. From the comfort of family and friends to a place where he is a stranger and does not speak the language.
He is saved from his impending emotional meltdown by Odo. The ape is evidently delighted with their new digs. He gives out excited hoots and bobs his head as he races from one end of the apartment to the other. It is, Peter realizes, the first habitation Odo has seen outside the cages he has lived in his whole adult life. So much bigger and airier than anything he has known. And better than the cars he has been dwelling in this last week. Perhaps Odo thought he had traded living in a hanging cage for living in a cage on wheels. By captive ape standards, this house is the Ritz.
With good light, come to think of it: There are windows in every wall. The sun will be their light bulb. And there's charm--and economy--in the idea of lighting the place in the evenings with candles and lanterns. And if there is plumbing, there must once have been running water, which can no doubt be restored.
Peter approaches one of the windows facing the courtyard. He opens it. The villagers are waiting patiently on the other side of the courtyard wall. He waves and smiles at them. What is "good" in Portuguese? He consults his dictionary. "A casa e boa--muito boa!" he cries.
The villagers smile and clap their hands.
Odo joins him at the window. In a state of high excitement, he says the same thing Peter has just said, only in his own language, which, to his ears and those of the people down below, comes as a terrific shriek. The villagers cower.
"Macaco...macaco"--he searches for the word--"macaco...e feliz!"
He runs down the outside steps and joins them. Odo has grabbed the edge of the schist-tile roof and, pushing himself off the stones of the wall, has climbed on top of the house. He is now perched on its peak, looking about with unbounded delight at the humans below, at the village, at the trees nearby, at the wide world around him.
The moment is good to conclude matters with the villagers. Peter introduces himself to their leader. Her name is Amelia Duarte; he should call her Dona Amelia, she tells him. He makes her understand that he would be happy to live in the house. (Whose house? he wonders. What happened to those who lived in it?) In butchered Portuguese he inquires about the windows and the plumbing and about the place being cleaned. To all these, Dona Amelia nods vigorously. All will be taken care of, she makes clear. She turns her hand over and over. Amanha, amanha. And how much? The same: Tomorrow, tomorrow.
To one and all he says, "Obrigado, obrigado, obrigado." Odo's shrieks echo the same gratitude. Eventually, after he has shaken hands with each and every one, the villagers move off, their eyes fixed on the roof of the house.
Odo is sitting in what Peter already recognizes is a posture of relaxation: feet apart, forearms resting on the knees, hands dangling between the legs, alert head peering about. After the villagers have gone, and with the ape showing continuing pleasure at being where he is, Peter walks down to retrieve the car. "I'll be back," he shouts to Odo.
Back at the house, he unpacks their few belongings. Then he makes an early supper using the camping gear, which requires him to find a bucket and walk down to the village fountain to get water.