The Myths behind the Mist of Mankind's Memories

Part 3 Alex's Story - A Midwinter's Night Dream.

See here for part one.

See here for part two

Our little family could not have witnessed a Venus Transit, even if there had been one in their lifetime. However, they all knew instinctively to shade their eyes from the sun if they needed to look in its direction.

Both parents were aware however of the beautiful bright star that they sometimes saw early in the morning and again in the evening.

The young mother was restless. She woke often in the night - sometimes from the cold and sometimes disturbed by reoccurring dreams. She had huddled her family together and used all their animal skins to make one warm covering for them all. Their shared body heat helped and the others slept soundly.

The days were warm if the wind wasn't blowing, but the nights were very cold. The grass was dry and brown and it was harder to find berries or any vegetation to eat. However they ate their fill on roots, fish, the occasional small animal or bird - who was also exposed in their search for food.

She crawled out from between the warm soft little bodies of the sleeping twins - just in time to add some twigs and dry leaves to the little fire they kept going beneath the stone overhang of their 'home'.

She remembered how they had all rejoiced recently when the father had managed to trap some of the wonderful energy with a branch and carried it home. They found that it needed to be 'fed' to keep it alive and were only just learning the generosity of its gifts if it was nurtured. She thought of the soft powdery white ashes that the children had used to coat their bodies and how beautifully it helped to clean the marks of the cave wall when the twins had had hours of pleasure experimented with drawing with the smoldered pieces of bark.

The greatest find, she recalled, was when the little girl had dropped her slice of fish on the glowing embers and cried for someone to retrieve it. Without any hesitation, her twin brother fetched his fishing pole, lifted it to his shoulder and 'speared' his sisters meal. She smiled at him in gratitude and went straight to pick it up. "Sshu -shu...sshu -shu," she whimpered, dropping the hot piece of fish on the ground and putting her fingers into her mouth for comfort. The father looked at the lovely golden brown piece of fish and feeling it was just warm to the touch, wiped off the dust, shut his eyes and took a small bite. He chewed a bit, then opened his eyes and rolled them around offering the rest to his little girl. "Shu - shu, shu - shu" she just kept repeating and it was awhile before she accepted a tasty piece from her father. The others had a taste and also smiled in delight.

Satisfied that the fire would burn until morning, the young mother had a drink of water from the little spring. She had noticed that it was not running as fast as it had been and knew that rain was much needed - not just for her family, but for all the birds and animals too. The moon had walked across the skies many times since she had last seen rain clouds. She crawled back into bed and tried to sleep, but her thoughts went back to the fire and how the family had learnt a lot from it. How her own mother back home would love the eggs they had learnt cook - after they found that one couldn't just put one in the fire - it had to be broken open and left to cook on a stone. Oh, how she sometimes wished she had the others to share all her joys with. She finally fell into a deep sleep - to dream of her childhood and her family so very far away.

It was not long after that, that the father stirred. He felt the warmth from the flames of the small fire. 'Shu - shu' - he mouthed the sounds his daughter had made and went directly to the fire and rubbed his hands together in front of their glowing heat. Moving out from below the overhanging rock that sheltered his little family, he felt the crisp night air and shivered. The stars were at their best, the sea seamed at its loudest, as the breakers crashed and broke without stopping. The noise seemed to be all about him and he spun around sharply as one loud BANG! seemed to come from the cave. It was just the echo of the noise hitting the solid rock face on the underside of his stone home. The drumbeat in his chest pounded on for awhile longer as he looked at his little family - sleeping safely in their warm shelter - completely unaware of his concern for them.

As always, he sought out the familiar little cross first. He felt comfortable in this area of the sky and identified it easily. He then turned to gaze at the familiar horizon silhouetted in the distance. A faint line along which announced the arrival of the sun. He smiled as he noticed the very bright 'star' just above the horizon. He was familiar with this star and had watched it often as it rose up in the sky to greet the morning sun. It then lost some of its strength as the dark blue sky changed to pale blue and the horizon from pale pink to shining gold with the arrival of the sun. He had shown the family this star too in the twilight of evening, when the sky once again changed from the rich orange and red of sunset and the sun went down behind the cave.

They had no idea it was a planet, but knew it as the last twinkling star to fade in the morning and the first to arrive in the evening.

Our 'stargazer' did not wait for the sun to rise, he was feeling the cold by this time and returned to his warm cozy bed. He dropped off into a deep sleep - also dreaming about his friends and family at home. He dreamt of the nights they had gone hunting together beneath the stars, of how the animals seemed to share secrets with the stars and of how he and his companions learnt to mimic the animal sounds. They had learnt a lot from the animals and from each other. He woke and shook his head and looked at his little son with compassion. Putting his hand gently on the boy's little chest, he felt the steady drumbeat and realized that they all needed company of others to share exciting finds with and to learn from them too.

The sun had moved up quite high in the sky when the family woke up. After adding a big log to the fire they all went to the beach to try and catch their breakfast. The little boy was delighted to help his sister catch a fish. Since realizing that it was a very tasty dish, she wanted to try and provide one of her own for her family too.

The mother and father sat peacefully on a rock watching the twins from a distance. They shared their dreams and thoughts of the previous cold winter's night. They agreed to set out to find their way back to their people - but not until the weather was warmer and the sun had left its winter path and was well on its way to its summer stopping place.

As they spotted the twins rushing towards them to boast a catch of a small fish, both parents put their fingers on their tightly closed lips in agreement not to share their future plan with with their children just yet.

Next: The Winter Solstice and the Triangles in the Sky.

Story by Jenny L. Marais 2004

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Copyright  2002, Science in Africa, Science magazine for Africa CC. All Rights Reserved

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