The shelters of stone - Jean M. Auel [306]
“Now,” Zelandoni continued, “while most of you will be eagerly looking forward to your first baby, there may come a time when a life has started that should not have started. Until you have received the elandon for your infant from your Zelandoni, it has no spirit of its own, only the combined spirits that started it. At that time, the Great Earth Mother will accept the infant, separate the spirits, and give them back. But it is better to stop the continuation of life before it is ready to be born, best within the first three moons of pregnancy.”
“Why would anyone want to stop a new life that has started?” a young woman asked. “Shouldn’t all babies be welcomed?”
“Most babies are welcomed,” the Zelandoni said, “but there may be reasons why a woman should not have another. Though it doesn’t happen often, she may get pregnant again while she is still nursing, and give birth to another baby when she has one that is still very young. Most mothers cannot adequately care for another baby so soon. The one who is already here and named, particularly if it is healthy, must come first. Too many young ones the as it is, especially in their first year. It is unwise to risk the life of a child who is healthy and growing by forcing her from the breast too soon. After surviving the first year, weaning is the next most difficult time for a child. If a baby must be weaned too soon, less than three years, it can weaken the child, and the person they grow into. It is better to have one healthy child that will grow into a strong adult than two or three weak ones, who may not live long.”
Oh … I didn’t think of that,” the young woman said.
“Or, as another example, perhaps a woman has given birth to several seriously malformed children, who have died. Should she continue carrying full term and have to go through such sorrow each time? Not to mention weakening herself?”
“But what if she really wants a baby like everyone else?” said a young woman with tears in her eyes.
“All women do not have children,” Zelandoni said. “Some choose not to. With others, life never starts. Some can’t seem to carry full term, or have stillborn children or children that are so malformed, they don’t live, or they shouldn’t.”
“But why?” the tearful woman asked.
“No one knows why. Perhaps someone who has something against her has cursed her. Perhaps an evil spirit found a way to harm the unborn baby. It even happens to animals. We’ve all seen malformed horses or deer. Some say that white animals are the result of an evil spirit that was thwarted, that’s why they are lucky. People, too, are sometimes born white with pink eyes. Animals no doubt have stillborns and young that don’t live as well, though I suspect carnivores take care of them so quickly, we don’t see them. That’s just the way it is,” Zelandoni said.
The young woman was in tears, and Ayla wondered why the donier seemed so unemotional in her response.
“Her sister has had difficulties having a baby, and she’s been pregnant two or three times,” Velima said under her breath. “I think she’s afraid the same thing will happen to her.”
“It’s wise of Zelandoni not to build up false hopes. Sometimes it runs in families,” Marthona murmured in return. “And if she has a child, she’ll be all the happier for it.”
Ayla watched the young woman and was so moved, she couldn’t resist speaking out. “On our way here …,” she began. Everyone turned to look in surprise at the newcomer who spoke out, and many noticed her speech difference. “Jondalar and I stopped at a Losadunai Cave. There was a woman there who had never been able to have children. A woman from a nearby Cave had died, leaving her mate with three young children. The woman who couldn’t have any went to live with them to see if they could work out a compatible arrangement. If they could, she was going to adopt the children, and take the man for a mate.”
There was silence for a time, then an undercurrent