War in an age of innocence: 3

Link to Chapter 1

 The outside fire had been lit, and the people of the village were seated around. Some were waiting patiently, and others were talking. Urho got up and walked slowly and purposely around the fire: an imposing figure among all those little people. His countrymen were at the back of the circle He extended his arm toward the perimeter with his palm downward as he walked and fixed everyone with an intent stare. They fell silent. He started to speak:

“In the valley lay the Great Meadow, and the reindeer lived there. At that time they were not one with the world. They did not understand. They ate the sweet grass and grew fat. They had many young, and the young ate the sweet grass and they, too, grew fat.

“One day a wolf came out of the forest and saw all of those fat reindeer. He called to his family and soon they were all chasing the reindeer. The poor reindeer were too fat to run very fast and the wolves killed many of them. The wolves knew that if they ate too much, they would also grow fat so they called out again, this time to their friends, and soon the Great Meadow filled with more wolves.

“When the earth swallowed the sun the wolves went back into the forest, but the next day they returned again and there were even more of them. After a long time, all the fattest of the reindeer had been eaten by the wolves and the reindeer lived in fear of every new day. Some of the wolves also grew fatter and had many young, but none ever grew too fat to chase the reindeer.

“One day, a very clever reindeer had an idea. He had seen that the wolves called out and found other wolves, and he wondered that if he could call out too then perhaps there were other reindeer somewhere that would reply. He could take his family to them, away from the wolves. He could find safety. Every day he practiced calling out, and every day his voice grew louder. One day he heard another reindeer calling back to him from the other side of the forest.

“The clever reindeer gathered his family and told them that they should travel with him, through the forest, to find the other reindeer and escape from the fear of the wolves. He asked the other reindeer if any of them would come with his family to a new meadow at the other side of the forest. Some were too old to make that journey, and others were afraid of the forest. It was the Great Unknown, they told him. He replied to them saying that the unknown might indeed be dangerous, but the known held certain death. Those that were afraid said that they had lived with the danger of the wolves and it was always the others that the wolves took, not them. The wolves would not take them. They would stay and continue to eat that sweet grass just as they had always done. It would always be another that the wolves would take.

“The earth swallowed the sun and the wolves went back into the forest. When they were all gone about half of the reindeer waited, and then they, too, went into the forest toward the sound of the other reindeer, far away. The next morning the wolves came back and there were even more of them. They saw that half of the reindeer had vanished and this worried them. They chased the reindeer all day and the reindeer had little time to eat the sweet grass. They grew less fat, and as they became thinner, they became faster. The fattest of the wolves could not catch them and fewer reindeer died that day.

“The earth swallowed the sun many times, and the reindeer got even faster. Some of the wolves became too weak and they started to die from their hunger. Some of the wolves called out and their calls were answered from the other side of the forest. They went into the forest, toward the sound of the other wolf and they never returned.

“The reindeer started to grow fat on that sweet grass again, and one of them said that they should call out to their friends to come back to them. They all practiced calling, and one day one of them became loud enough to have his call answered. But it was not from the part of the forest where their friends had gone; it was from the opposite direction.

“The earth swallowed the sun many more times, and these new reindeer arrived and they all became very fat on the sweet grass in the Great Meadow. One day a wolf came out of the forest and saw all of those fat reindeer. He called to his family and soon they were all chasing the reindeer. The poor reindeer were too fat to run very fast and the wolves killed many of them. The wolves knew that if they ate too much, they would also grow fat so they called out again, this time to their friends, and soon the Great Meadow filled with more wolves.

“One day a very old and wise reindeer had an idea. He had seen how everything kept repeating: how the wolves would come and go and the reindeer herd would shrink and grow and shrink again. He knew that the Great Serpent who was one with the world decided such matters. He would seek out the Great Serpent in the very deepest part of the forest and ask him how they could avoid this endless growing and shrinking. He asked the other reindeer if any of them would come with him, but they were all too afraid.

“The earth swallowed the sun and the wolves went back into the forest. The wise reindeer waited and he, too, went into the forest toward the lair of the Great Serpent far away in the very deepest part of the forest.

“The earth swallowed the sun many more times, and the wise reindeer came to a river deep in the forest. He thought that if the Great Serpent created all things, then he would be creating this river, for the water never stopped flowing. At the source of the river he would be able to find the Great Serpent. He followed the river and the earth swallowed the sun many more times.

“At the source of the river was a great tree that towered above all the other trees in the forest. It grew higher than the clouds and its top was lost in them. At the base of the great tree was a dark cave, and from that cave came the endless river. The wise reindeer entered the cave and travelled deep into it. It got darker and darker and the wise reindeer lost all sense of time. He did not know how many times the earth had swallowed the sun outside of the deep cave. He kept the sound of the river at his side and carefully walked across the stony floor of the cave, he would stumble every once in while, but he kept walking, on and on.

“A voice came out of the darkness toward him, and he knew it was the voice of the Great Serpent. The Great Serpent told him that every time the earth swallowed the sun he could give the wise reindeer a little of that light, to better see his way through the darkness. But the wise reindeer was afraid of what he might see in that light. The darkness was comforting, and it was familiar. He wanted to tell the Great Serpent that he was afraid, but he had lost his voice in all that darkness. The Great Serpent remained silent too, and the darkness persisted.

“As the wise reindeer continued stumbling along in the darkness, he started to think about his fear. He remembered that, when he was younger, he was afraid to follow the other reindeer through the forest to escape from the wolves. He remembered that, when he became older, the other reindeer were afraid to follow him into the dark forest. But the forest was not as dark as this cave, and now it was he who was afraid: not of the darkness, but of the light that was offered to him.

“He felt ashamed of himself. He felt that he was like a young reindeer again, running to the safety and warmth of his mother when a strange sound startled him. He couldn't go backward like this. He tried to find his voice, but there was only the silence. He tried again, and this time it came softly, like the sound of a soft breeze through the forest. He tried again, and the sound grew louder. Finally, he was able to bellow into the darkness.

“There was a great flash of light, and for an instant he saw trees by the side of the river, and other reindeer moving among them. Then all became darkness once again. He wondered that if he would see this flash of light only when the earth swallowed the sun, as the Great Serpent had told him, then his journey would be very slow by that light. No sooner than he had that thought, then there was another flash of light. And then another, sooner than the last, and it continued, on and on. The time between each flash grew less and less.

“As the light became almost continuous, he noticed something very strange: he saw the trees growing leaves, and they would quickly turn brown and fall off, and then new buds would appear and the leaves would grow again. He started to see the trees grow bigger, and then die. He saw new trees starting to grow, and watched as they completed their path through life. The reindeer that he first saw moved faster and faster growing older, dying, becoming born. On and on. Faster and faster, until they were just a blur.

“He looked across the river, and in a clearing in the fast ever-changing forest he saw the almost motionless figure of the Great Serpent, his great coils did not move, only his head swayed gently to the rhythm of the changing world. The wise reindeer grew very tired, and he lay down and fell into a deep sleep.

“When he awoke, he was back in the Great Meadow. He saw that he had been sleeping below a gigantic tree. There was a cave entrance at the foot of the tree and a stream of sweet water gushed from within. One of the other reindeers approached him and the wise reindeer asked how long he had been gone. The other reindeer told him that he had been sleeping for just a little while. The wise reindeer asked where the tree, the cave, and the stream had come from. The other reindeer seemed puzzled, and said that they had always been there.

“The earth swallowed the sun, and the next day two new creatures arrived in the Great Meadow. They walked on two legs and were called Man and Woman. They carried a bag of seeds with them. They took some of the branches of the gigantic tree and fashioned a plough. They harnessed two of the reindeer to the plough and had them dig furrows for the seeds.

“When all their plants grew high, they called out, and more of them arrived. They gave some of their plants to the reindeer for their work and they built fires. The wolves were scared of the fires and they were scared of the Men and Women who protected the reindeer. They grew very hungry, and only a few remained.

“The earth swallowed the sun many more times, and mice arrived in the Great Meadow to feed off the plants that the Men and Women grew. The mice were small and fast, and the Men and Women could not catch them. The wolves could hear the mice, and they could smell them and they soon learned how to catch them. There were not enough mice for the wolves to share with other wolves, so when they called in the night, it was only to each other, and no new wolves arrived.

“The earth swallowed the sun many more times, and the wise reindeer grew very old. The Men and Women treated him with respect, and did not make him pull their ploughs. They fed him with their plants, and the sweet water and grass of the Great Meadow. He was happy. One day, he lay beneath the gigantic tree and went to sleep for the last time." 

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