The clan of the cave bear_ a novel - Jean M. Auel [217]
The creature, raised like a well-loved child and never allowed the least bit of hunger, was entirely tame and comfortable around people. The intelligent animal had learned that certain actions invariably brought additional choice tidbits. He sat up and begged. Ayla would have smiled at his clownish antics if she had not remembered to control it in time.
“Now I know why clans say their cave bears talk,” Ayla motioned to Uba. “He’s asking for more; do you have another apple?”
Uba gave her one of the small, hard, round fruits, and this time Ayla went to the cage and gave it to him. He put it in his mouth, then moved closer to the bars and rubbed his huge, shaggy head against a projection on one of the tree trunks.
“I think you want to be scratched, you old honey-lover,” Ayla gestured. She had been warned never to motion bear or cave bear or Ursus in his presence. If he was called by his real names, he would remember who he was and know he was not just a member of the clan who raised him. It would make him a wild bear again, void the Bear Ceremony, and ruin the whole reason for the festival. She scratched behind his ear.
“You like that, don’t you, winter sleeper,” Ayla motioned and reached to scratch behind the other ear he had turned in her direction. “You could scratch your own ears if you wanted to—you’re just lazy; or do you want attention? You big furry baby.”
Ayla rubbed and scratched the huge head, but when Durc reached for a handful of shaggy hair, she backed away. She had petted and scratched the small wounded animals she had brought to their own cave enough to sense that this was just a bigger, tamer variety of the same thing. Protected by the heavy cage, she quickly lost her fear of the bear, but her baby was another matter. When Durc reached his tiny hands for a fistful of hair, the huge mouth and long claws suddenly looked dangerous.
“How could you get so close to him?” Uba motioned with awe. “I’d be afraid to get that close to his cage.”
“He’s really just a big baby, but I forgot about Durc. That animal could hurt him with a friendly nudge. He may seem like a baby when he’s begging for food or wants attention, but I’d hate to think what he could do if he ever got angry,” Ayla said as they walked away from his cage.
Uba wasn’t the only one surprised at Ayla’s fearlessness, the whole Clan had been watching. Most visitors shied away, especially at first. Young boys made a game of dashing up, reaching in the cage and touching the bear to show off their bravery, and men were too proud to show fear whether they felt it or not. But few women, outside the host clan, ever went very close, and to reach through the bars to scratch him at first look was unexpected from a woman. It didn’t exactly change their opinion of Ayla, but it made them wonder.
Now that they had all gotten a good look at Ayla, people were drifting away, but she was still conscious of surreptitious glances. The outright stares from small children didn’t bother her nearly as much. Theirs was the natural curiosity of the young for anything unusual and didn’t carry connotations of suspicion or disapproval.
Ayla and Uba headed for a shady spot under an overhanging rock on the outer fringes of the large, sloping, cleared area in front of the cave. From that discreet distance, they could watch the activities without discourtesy.
There had always been a closeness of a special quality between Ayla and Uba. Ayla had been sister, mother, and playmate to the younger girl, but since Uba had begun training in earnest, and especially after she followed Ayla to the small cave, their friendship shifted