The Plains of Passage - Jean M. Auel [329]
The design carved into the straightened tusk was a geometric abstraction of the Great Earth Mother, formed by concentric ovals to shape the pendulous breasts, rounded belly, and voluptuous thighs. The circle was the symbol for all, everything, the totality of the known and unknown worlds, and symbolized the Great Mother of All. The concentric circles, especially the way they were used to suggest the important motherly elements, reinforced the symbolism.
The head was an inverted triangle, with the point forming the chin, and the base, curved slightly into a domelike shape, at the top. The downward pointing triangle was the universal symbol for Woman; it was the outward shape of her generative organ and therefore also symbolized motherhood and the Great Mother of All. The area of the face contained a horizontal series of double parallel bars, joined by laterally incised lines going from the pointed chin up to the position of the eyes. The larger space between the top set of double horizontal lines and the rounded lines that paralleled the curved top was filled in with three sets of double lines that were perpendicular, joining where eyes would usually be.
But the geometric designs were not a face. Except that the inverted triangle was placed in the position of a head, the carved markings would not even have suggested a face. The awesome countenance of the Great Mother was too much for an ordinary human to behold. Her powers were so great that Her look alone could overwhelm. The abstract symbolism of the figure on Attaroa’s Speaking Staff conveyed that sense of power with subtlety and elegance.
Ayla remembered from the training she had begun with Mamut the deeper meaning of some of the symbols. The three sides of the triangle—three was Her primary number—represented the three major seasons of the year, spring, summer, and winter, although two additional minor seasons were also recognized, fall and midwinter, the seasons which signaled changes to come, making five. Five, Ayla had learned, was Her hidden, power number, but the three-sided, inverted triangles were understood by everyone.
She recalled the triangular shapes on the bird-woman carvings, representing the transcendent Mother changing into Her bird shape, that Ranec had made … Ranec … Suddenly, Ayla remembered where she had seen the figure on Attaroa’s Speaking Staff before. Ranec’s shirt! The beautiful, creamy white, soft leather shirt that he had worn at her adoption ceremony. It had been stunning partly because of its unusual style with its tapered body and wide flaring sleeves, and because the color looked so good with his brown skin, but mostly because of its decoration.
It had been embroidered with brightly dyed porcupine quills and threads of sinew with an abstract Mother figure that could have been copied directly from the carving on the staff that Attaroa held. It had the same concentric circles, the same triangular head; the S’Armunai must be the distant relatives of the Mamutoi that Ranec’s shirt had originally come from, she realized. If they had taken the northern route that Talut had suggested, they would have had to pass by this Camp.
When they had left, Nezzie’s son, Danug, the young man who was growing into the image of Talut, had told her that someday he would make a Journey to the Zelandonii to visit her and Jondalar. What if Danug did decide to make such a Journey when he got a few years older, and what if he came this way? What if Danug, or any other Mamutoi, got caught by Attaroa’s camp and came to harm? The thought strengthened her resolve to help these people put an end to Attaroa’s power.
The headwoman pulled back the staff Ayla had been studying and turned to her with a wooden bowl. “Since you are our honored visitor, and since you have provided an accompaniment to this feast that is collecting so many compliments,” Attaroa said, her tone heavy with sarcasm, “let me offer you a taste of the specialty of one of our women.” The bowl was fall of mushrooms, but since they were cut up