Also, I can apply the logic2 of events to the various happenings. For instance, there is no doubt whatever that my mother and I were treed by the wild pigs and fled and fell in the days before I made the acquaintance of Lop-Ear, who became what I may call my boyhood chum. And it is just as conclusive3 that between these two periods I must have left my mother.
I have no memory of my father than the one I have given. Never, in the years that followed, did he reappear. And from my knowledge of the times, the only explanation possible lies in that he perished shortly after the adventure with the wild pigs. That it must have been an untimely end, there is no discussion. He was in full vigor4, and only sudden and violent death could have taken him off. But I know not the manner of his going—whether he was drowned in the river, or was swallowed by a snake, or went into the stomach of old Saber-Tooth, the tiger, is beyond my knowledge.
For know that I remember only the things I saw myself, with my own eyes, in those prehistoric days. If my mother knew my father’s end, she never told me. For that matter I doubt if she had a vocabulary adequate to convey such information. Perhaps, all told, the Folk in that day had a vocabulary of thirty or forty sounds.
I call them sounds, rather than words, because sounds they were primarily. They had no fixed5 values, to be altered by adjectives and adverbs. These latter were tools of speech not yet invented. Instead of qualifying nouns or verbs by the use of adjectives and adverbs, we qualified6 sounds by intonation7, by changes in quantity and pitch, by retarding8 and by accelerating. The length of time employed in the utterance9 of a particular sound shaded its meaning.
We had no conjugation. One judged the tense by the context. We talked only concrete things because we thought only concrete things. Also, we depended largely on pantomime. The simplest abstraction was practically beyond our thinking; and when one did happen to think one, he was hard put to communicate it to his fellows. There were no sounds for it. He was pressing beyond the limits of his vocabulary. If he invented sounds for it, his fellows did not understand the sounds. Then it was that he fell back on pantomime, illustrating10 the thought wherever possible and at the same time repeating the new sound over and over again.
Thus language grew. By the few sounds we possessed11 we were enabled to think a short distance beyond those sounds; then came the need for new sounds wherewith to express the new thought. Sometimes, however, we thought too long a distance in advance of our sounds, managed to achieve abstractions (dim ones I grant), which we failed utterly12 to make known to other folk. After all, language did not grow fast in that day.
Oh, believe me, we were amazingly simple. But we did know a lot that is not known to-day. We could twitch13 our ears, prick14 them up and flatten15 them down at will. And we could scratch between our shoulders with ease. We could throw stones with our feet. I have done it many a time. And for that matter, I could keep my knees straight, bend forward from the hips17, and touch, not the tips of my fingers, but the points of my elbows, to the ground. And as for bird-nesting—well, I only wish the twentieth-century boy could see us. But we made no collections of eggs. We ate them.
I remember—but I out-run my story. First let me tell of Lop-Ear and our friendship. Very early in my life, I separated from my mother. Possibly this was because, after the death of my father, she took to herself a second husband. I have few recollections of him, and they are not of the best. He was a light fellow. There was no solidity to him. He was too voluble. His infernal chattering18 worries me even now as I think of it. His mind was too inconsequential to permit him to possess purpose. Monkeys in their cages always remind me of him. He was monkeyish. That is the best description I can give of him.
He hated me from the first. And I quickly learned to be afraid of him and his malicious19 pranks20. Whenever he came in sight I crept close to my mother and clung to her. But I was growing older all the time, and it was inevitable21 that I should from time to time stray from her, and stray farther and farther. And these were the opportunities that the Chatterer waited for. (I may as well explain that we bore no names in those days; were not known by any name. For the sake of convenience I have myself given names to the various Folk I was more closely in contact with, and the “Chatterer” is the most fitting description I can find for that precious stepfather of mine. As for me, I have named myself “Big-Tooth.” My eye-teeth were pronouncedly large.)
But to return to the Chatterer. He persistently22 terrorized me. He was always pinching me and cuffing23 me, and on occasion he was not above biting me. Often my mother interfered24, and the way she made his fur fly was a joy to see. But the result of all this was a beautiful and unending family quarrel, in which I was the bone of contention25.
No, my home-life was not happy. I smile to myself as I write the phrase. Home-life! Home! I had no home in the modern sense of the term. My home was an association, not a habitation. I lived in my mother’s care, not in a house. And my mother lived anywhere, so long as when night came she was above the ground.
My mother was old-fashioned. She still clung to her trees. It is true, the more progressive members of our horde26 lived in the caves above the river. But my mother was suspicious and unprogressive. The trees were good enough for her. Of course, we had one particular tree in which we usually roosted, though we often roosted in other trees when nightfall caught us. In a convenient fork was a sort of rude platform of twigs27 and branches and creeping things. It was more like a huge bird-nest than anything else, though it was a thousand times cruder in the weaving than any bird-nest. But it had one feature that I have never seen attached to any bird-nest, namely, a roof.
Oh, not a roof such as modern man makes! Nor a roof such as is made by the lowest aborigines of to-day. It was infinitely28 more clumsy than the clumsiest handiwork of man—of man as we know him. It was put together in a casual, helter-skelter sort of way. Above the fork of the tree whereon we rested was a pile of dead branches and brush. Four or five adjacent forks held what I may term the various ridge-poles. These were merely stout30 sticks an inch or so in diameter. On them rested the brush and branches. These seemed to have been tossed on almost aimlessly. There was no attempt at thatching. And I must confess that the roof leaked miserably31 in a heavy rain.
But the Chatterer. He made home-life a burden for both my mother and me—and by home-life I mean, not the leaky nest in the tree, but the group-life of the three of us. He was most malicious in his persecution32 of me. That was the one purpose to which he held steadfastly33 for longer than five minutes. Also, as time went by, my mother was less eager in her defence of me. I think, what of the continuous rows raised by the Chatterer, that I must have become a nuisance to her. At any rate, the situation went from bad to worse so rapidly that I should soon, of my own volition34, have left home. But the satisfaction of performing so independent an act was denied me. Before I was ready to go, I was thrown out. And I mean this literally35.
The opportunity came to the Chatterer one day when I was alone in the nest. My mother and the Chatterer had gone away together toward the blueberry swamp. He must have planned the whole thing, for I heard him returning alone through the forest, roaring with self-induced rage as he came. Like all the men of our horde, when they were angry or were trying to make themselves angry, he stopped now and again to hammer on his chest with his fist.
I realized the helplessness of my situation, and crouched36 trembling in the nest. The Chatterer came directly to the tree—I remember it was an oak tree—and began to climb up. And he never ceased for a moment from his infernal row. As I have said, our language was extremely meagre, and he must have strained it by the variety of ways in which he informed me of his undying hatred37 of me and of his intention there and then to have it out with me.
As he climbed to the fork, I fled out the great horizontal limb. He followed me, and out I went, farther and farther. At last I was out amongst the small twigs and leaves. The Chatterer was ever a coward, and greater always than any anger he ever worked up was his caution. He was afraid to follow me out amongst the leaves and twigs. For that matter, his greater weight would have crashed him through the foliage38 before he could have got to me.
But it was not necessary for him to reach me, and well he knew it, the scoundrel! With a malevolent39 expression on his face, his beady eyes gleaming with cruel intelligence, he began teetering. Teetering!—and with me out on the very edge of the bough40, clutching at the twigs that broke continually with my weight. Twenty feet beneath me was the earth.
Wildly and more wildly he teetered, grinning at me his gloating hatred. Then came the end. All four holds broke at the same time, and I fell, back-downward, looking up at him, my hands and feet still clutching the broken twigs. Luckily, there were no wild pigs under me, and my fall was broken by the tough and springy bushes.
Usually, my falls destroy my dreams, the nervous shock being sufficient to bridge the thousand centuries in an instant and hurl41 me wide awake into my little bed, where, perchance, I lie sweating and trembling and hear the cuckoo clock calling the hour in the hall. But this dream of my leaving home I have had many times, and never yet have I been awakened42 by it. Always do I crash, shrieking43, down through the brush and fetch up with a bump on the ground.
Scratched and bruised44 and whimpering, I lay where I had fallen. Peering up through the bushes, I could see the Chatterer. He had set up a demoniacal chant of joy and was keeping time to it with his teetering. I quickly hushed my whimpering. I was no longer in the safety of the trees, and I knew the danger I ran of bringing upon myself the hunting animals by too audible an expression of my grief.
I remember, as my sobs45 died down, that I became interested in watching the strange light-effects produced by partially46 opening and closing my tear-wet eyelids47. Then I began to investigate, and found that I was not so very badly damaged by my fall. I had lost some hair and hide, here and there; the sharp and jagged end of a broken branch had thrust fully48 an inch into my forearm; and my right hip16, which had borne the brunt of my contact with the ground, was aching intolerably. But these, after all, were only petty hurts. No bones were broken, and in those days the flesh of man had finer healing qualities than it has to-day. Yet it was a severe fall, for I limped with my injured hip for fully a week afterward49.
Next, as I lay in the bushes, there came upon me a feeling of desolation, a consciousness that I was homeless. I made up my mind never to return to my mother and the Chatterer. I would go far away through the terrible forest, and find some tree for myself in which to roost. As for food, I knew where to find it. For the last year at least I had not been beholden to my mother for food. All she had furnished me was protection and guidance.
I crawled softly out through the bushes. Once I looked back and saw the Chatterer still chanting and teetering. It was not a pleasant sight. I knew pretty well how to be cautious, and I was exceedingly careful on this my first journey in the world.
I gave no thought as to where I was going. I had but one purpose, and that was to go away beyond the reach of the Chatterer. I climbed into the trees and wandered on amongst them for hours, passing from tree to tree and never touching50 the ground. But I did not go in any particular direction, nor did I travel steadily51. It was my nature, as it was the nature of all my folk, to be inconsequential. Besides, I was a mere29 child, and I stopped a great deal to play by the way.
The events that befell me on my leaving home are very vague in my mind. My dreams do not cover them. Much has my other-self forgotten, and particularly at this very period. Nor have I been able to frame up the various dreams so as to bridge the gap between my leaving the home-tree and my arrival at the caves.
I remember that several times I came to open spaces. These I crossed in great trepidation52, descending53 to the ground and running at the top of my speed. I remember that there were days of rain and days of sunshine, so that I must have wandered alone for quite a time. I especially dream of my misery54 in the rain, and of my sufferings from hunger and how I appeased55 it. One very strong impression is of hunting little lizards56 on the rocky top of an open knoll57. They ran under the rocks, and most of them escaped; but occasionally I turned over a stone and caught one. I was frightened away from this knoll by snakes. They did not pursue me. They were merely basking58 on flat rocks in the sun. But such was my inherited fear of them that I fled as fast as if they had been after me.
Then I gnawed59 bitter bark from young trees. I remember vaguely60 the eating of many green nuts, with soft shells and milky61 kernels62. And I remember most distinctly suffering from a stomach-ache. It may have been caused by the green nuts, and maybe by the lizards. I do not know. But I do know that I was fortunate in not being devoured63 during the several hours I was knotted up on the ground with the colic.
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1
prehistoric
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| adj.（有记载的）历史以前的，史前的，古老的 | |
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2
logic
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| n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性 | |
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3
conclusive
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| adj.最后的，结论的；确凿的，消除怀疑的 | |
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4
vigor
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| n.活力，精力，元气 | |
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5
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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6
qualified
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| adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的 | |
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7
intonation
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| n.语调，声调；发声 | |
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8
retarding
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| 使减速( retard的现在分词 )； 妨碍； 阻止； 推迟 | |
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9
utterance
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| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
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10
illustrating
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| 给…加插图( illustrate的现在分词 )； 说明； 表明； （用示例、图画等）说明 | |
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11
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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12
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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13
twitch
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| v.急拉，抽动，痉挛，抽搐；n.扯，阵痛，痉挛 | |
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14
prick
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| v.刺伤，刺痛，刺孔；n.刺伤，刺痛 | |
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15
flatten
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| v.把．．．弄平，使倒伏；使(漆等)失去光泽 | |
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16
hip
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| n.臀部，髋；屋脊 | |
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hips
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| abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯，耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 )；[建筑学]屋脊；臀围（尺寸）；臀部…的 | |
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18
chattering
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| n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
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19
malicious
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| adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的 | |
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20
pranks
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| n.玩笑，恶作剧( prank的名词复数 ) | |
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21
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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22
persistently
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| ad.坚持地；固执地 | |
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23
cuffing
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| v.掌打，拳打( cuff的现在分词 )；袖口状白血球聚集 | |
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24
interfered
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| v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉 | |
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25
contention
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| n.争论，争辩，论战；论点，主张 | |
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26
horde
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| n.群众，一大群 | |
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27
twigs
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| 细枝，嫩枝( twig的名词复数 ) | |
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28
infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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29
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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31
miserably
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| adv.痛苦地；悲惨地；糟糕地；极度地 | |
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32
persecution
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| n. 迫害,烦扰 | |
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33
steadfastly
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| adv.踏实地，不变地；岿然；坚定不渝 | |
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34
volition
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| n.意志；决意 | |
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literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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36
crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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37
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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38
foliage
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| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
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39
malevolent
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| adj.有恶意的，恶毒的 | |
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40
bough
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| n.大树枝，主枝 | |
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41
hurl
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| vt.猛投，力掷，声叫骂 | |
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42
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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43
shrieking
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| v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 ) | |
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44
bruised
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| [医]青肿的，瘀紫的 | |
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45
sobs
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| 啜泣（声），呜咽（声）( sob的名词复数 ) | |
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46
partially
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| adv.部分地，从某些方面讲 | |
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47
eyelids
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| n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 )；眼睛也不眨一下；不露声色；面不改色 | |
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48
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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49
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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50
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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51
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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52
trepidation
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| n.惊恐，惶恐 | |
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53
descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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54
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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55
appeased
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| 安抚，抚慰( appease的过去式和过去分词 )； 绥靖（满足另一国的要求以避免战争） | |
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56
lizards
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| n.蜥蜴( lizard的名词复数 ) | |
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57
knoll
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| n.小山，小丘 | |
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58
basking
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| v.晒太阳，取暖( bask的现在分词 )；对…感到乐趣；因他人的功绩而出名；仰仗…的余泽 | |
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59
gnawed
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| 咬( gnaw的过去式和过去分词 )； （长时间） 折磨某人； （使）苦恼； （长时间）危害某事物 | |
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60
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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61
milky
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| adj.牛奶的，多奶的；乳白色的 | |
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62
kernels
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| 谷粒( kernel的名词复数 )； 仁； 核； 要点 | |
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63
devoured
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| 吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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