The Land of Painted Caves - Jean M. Auel [277]
There was a niche in the center of the next section. To the left of it were faded red lions and dots superimposed by black lions. Then a section with a rhino with multiple horns, eight in perspective, so that it appeared to be eight rhinos side by side and many more rhinos. To the right of the rhino panel was the niche, and painted inside it was a horse. Two black rhinos and a mammoth were painted above it, and impressions of animals emerging from deep in the rocks, the horse coming out of the niche, a massive bison coming from a crack, from the Other World, then mammoths, and a rhinoceros.
The section to the right of the niche had primarily two animals, lions and bison—lions hunting bison. The bison were crowded together in a herd on the left side, and the lions were straining toward them from the right, as though waiting for a signal to pounce. The lions were beautifully fierce, as she knew they should be; the Cave Lion was her totem. To Ayla, this was the most spectacular chamber in the whole cave. There was so much, she could not absorb it all, but she wanted to. The big panel ended at a ridge that formed a kind of second niche, a shallow one, with a complete black rhinoceros emerging from the world of the spirits. On the other side of the niche a bison was drawn with its head on one wall, seen full face, and its body in profile on another wall perpendicular to it, very effective.
Below the bison was a triangular cavity with two lion heads and the forequarters of another lion facing right. Above the lions was a black rhinoceros with streaks of red showing wounds and blood coming out of its mouth. Beyond that a wide rock pendant showed the place where the ceiling descended until it was perpendicular to the right wall. Three lions and another animal were painted on its internal surface, but visible from the chamber. Just before the ceiling descended, a protrusion of rock stood out and descended vertically, ending in a rounded point. It had four faces all richly decorated.
“To understand it fully, you need to see all the way around it,” the Watcher said, showing Ayla the full composite figure: the forequarters of a bison on top of human legs with a large vulva between them, shaded black, with vertical engraving at the lower point. It was the bottom of a woman’s body with a bison head above, and a lion around the back of the pendant. “The shape of that pendant has always looked to me like a man’s organ.”
“It does, doesn’t it,” Ayla agreed.
“There are a couple of small rooms that have some interesting paintings,” the Watcher said. “If you like, I’ll show you.”
“Yes. I’d like to see as much as I can before we have to leave,” Ayla said.
“You can see here, behind the male pendant, there are three lions. And after the bleeding rhino, there is a little corridor that leads to a beautiful horse,” the Watcher said, leading her to show the way. “And here is the big bison at the end of the panel. Inside this area is a big lion, and some little horses. The area across the way is very hard to get into.”
Ayla walked back toward the beginning of the chamber to where the First was resting on a stone. The rest of the visitors were nearby.
“Well, what do you think, Ayla?” the woman asked.
“I am so glad you brought me here. I think this is the most beautiful cave I have ever seen. It’s more than a cave, but I don’t know a word for it. When I lived with the Clan I didn’t know you could see something in real life and make something that looked like it out of something else.” Ayla looked around for Jondalar, and smiled when she saw him. He came closer and stood with his arm around her, which was what she wanted. She needed to share this with him. “Then when I went to live with the Mamutoi and saw the things Ranec could make out of ivory, and others could make using leather and beads,