The Land of Painted Caves - Jean M. Auel [256]
“I told you they didn’t stand a chance,” Willamar said to Demoryn, who was standing next to him. They were taking a turn at guarding Balderan and the others, who also heard everything that was said.
“When I saw how these men behaved toward me, I thought they were probably troublemakers. That’s why we brought them with us, though they did not want to come. It was only after we arrived at the Third Cave of Watchers that we understood how much trouble they had caused over the years,” Ayla said. She paused, looking down. It seemed obvious that she had more to say.
“I am a healer, a medicine woman. I have helped many women give birth. Fortunately, most babies are perfectly healthy when they are born, but some children of the Mother are not born right. I have seen some that are not. Usually, if the problem is serious, they don’t survive. The Mother takes them back because only She can fix them, but some have a strong will to live. Even with serious problems, they live and often give much to their people,” Ayla said.
“I was raised by a man who was a great Mog-ur, that is the word the people of the Clan use for Zelandoni. He had only one usable arm and walked with a limp, a problem from birth, and he had only one eye and his weak arm was further damaged when a cave bear chose him and became his totem. He was a very wise man who served his people, and was very well respected. There is also a boy who lives not far from our Cave, who was born with a deformed arm. His mother was afraid that he would never be able to hunt, and perhaps never become a real man, but he learned to use the spear-thrower with his good arm, became a good hunter and gained respect, and now has a fine young woman as his mate.
“When a child is born dead, or leaves this world and walks the next soon after birth, it is because the only way a person who is not born right can be fixed is to return to the Mother, so She takes them back. Although it is much easier to say than to do, one should not grieve for such children; the Mother has taken them back so they can be made right.”
Ayla reached into a haversack she wore over one shoulder and took out a small bowl with a lid. She opened it and held up the two-headed snake. There were startled ooohs. “Some things are not right when they are born, and it is obvious.” The tongues flicked out of the mouths of both heads as she showed the little creature. “The only way this snake can be fixed is to return it to the Mother. Sometimes that is what should be done.
“But sometimes someone is born wrong, and it is not obvious. When you look at them they seem normal, but they are not right inside. Just like this little snake, the only way they can be fixed is to return them to the Mother. Only She can fix them.”
Balderan and his men were also listening to Ayla’s story. “We’re going to have to watch for our chance soon, if we’re going to get away from here,” Balderan said, under his breath. He had no desire to be returned to the Mother. For the first time in his life he began to feel the fear he had so often caused others to feel.
“I think that was a very appropriate way to talk about what needs to be done,” Zelandoni First said as she was walking back to the zelandonia pavilion, along with the First, Ayla, and Jonokol. Wolf was sedately following Ayla, as she had signaled. She wanted people to know that while he was an efficient four-legged hunter, unlike Balderan, he was not an indiscriminate killer. “It will help people accept it if they can think about sending Balderan back to the Mother to be made right. What made you think of it?”
“I don’t know,” Ayla said, “but when I saw the dwarfed young man who came with Beladora’s people, I knew that there was no medicine that could help him to grow into a normal size, at least none that I knew of. Then that little snake made me understand