Starling redux

The Starling returned to her mother, and told what she had found and done. Her mother became angry, and said she should have left the creature to die; now they would have to kill it themselves. The Starling asked why, but her mother would not answer; only she put her work away quickly and ordered the Starling to bring her to the place.

When they came to the ravine, the creature was gone. Her mother found a way and started down, but when the Starling asked what she was going to do, her mother hissed at her to be quiet.

For a long time the Starling stood alone at the top of the ravine, peering into the gloom, where she at first could see her mother searching the marks in the earth, then moving off downstream.

The Starling noticed her length of line still hanging from the root to which she had fastened it, and so climbed down to the ledge in order to get it back; when she brought it up, she found that the bundle of mushrooms she had tied to the other end was no longer there. Then, as she was coiling up the line, she heard what sounded like deer crossing the little brook in the direction her mother had gone, and quickly clambered back up the bank. From there she saw some of the men pulling something heavy through the brush. Her mother came up beside her and told her it was too late: the men had found the creature and were bringing it home with them. When the Starling asked if the creature was still alive, her mother struck her to the ground, then turned and began running towards home. After a moment, the Starling got up and hurried after her.

Not long after they arrived, the men appeared, dragging the moveless creature with them. Everyone gathered at the sight, and the Starling imitated her mother's expression of surprise and wonder at what the men had brought home. The men boasted loudly of how they had beset the creature and hounded it until it ran over the cliff.

The Starling did not believe them. She walked boldly up to the creature and touched it, which made it groan and move its hand toward her; at this the men — and everyone else — jumped back in fright, because they had thought the thing was dead.

Then her older brother joked that the creature must desire her for a mate, and the rest joined in making fun of her, her uncle saying that since this was true, the Starling would have charge of it thereafter, and they carried the creature into the rock room, teasing the Starling about seeing to her husband's needs, which made them laugh until tears came.

Her mother put on a smile but did not laugh with the others, and the Starling observed that her younger brother regarded them both with a curious expression. There would be trouble, the Starling knew, and as soon as the rest were gone, she hit the creature again and again. But her mother came in shortly, carrying a basket and a bowl, and gently made her stop, and together they set the creature's broken leg and bathed its wounds.

After a time, the creature's breathing eased, and they knew that it slept. Her mother was silent, but the Starling could tell from her presence that she was no longer angry — rather, her spirit was sorrowful, even tender, though the Starling wondered whether this came from her mother's feeling the creature's suffering herself or from something else.

At that moment, the grandmother entered, and knelt down painfully beside the creature. She smelled it, and looked closely at every part of its body, from its feet to its face, upon which she gazed solemnly and long. She told the Starling to lift one of the creature's hands so that she could examine its lines and markings, but when she took it in her own hands she gave a hushed cry of pain, and reached for the other, and then they saw that both thumbs had been twisted out of joint. The grandmother gestured urgently for the Starling and her mother to reseat the bones and splint them in place. The creature stirred sluggishly but did not rouse, and when they were finished it gave a sigh and fell more deeply asleep.

Then the three women sat back on their knees beside the softly snoring creature, weeping in silence and rocking, rocking.