And so it is with much that I narrate2 of the events of that far-off time. There is a duality about my impressions that is too confusing to inflict4 upon my readers. I shall merely pause here in my narrative5 to indicate this duality, this perplexing mixing of personality. It is I, the modern, who look back across the centuries and weigh and analyze6 the emotions and motives7 of Big-Tooth, my other self. He did not bother to weigh and analyze. He was simplicity8 itself. He just lived events, without ever pondering why he lived them in his particular and often erratic9 way.
As I, my real self, grew older, I entered more and more into the substance of my dreams. One may dream, and even in the midst of the dream be aware that he is dreaming, and if the dream be bad, comfort himself with the thought that it is only a dream. This is a common experience with all of us. And so it was that I, the modern, often entered into my dreaming, and in the consequent strange dual3 personality was both actor and spectator. And right often have I, the modern, been perturbed10 and vexed11 by the foolishness, illogic, obtuseness12, and general all-round stupendous stupidity of myself, the primitive13.
And one thing more, before I end this digression. Have you ever dreamed that you dreamed? Dogs dream, horses dream, all animals dream. In Big-Tooth’s day the half-men dreamed, and when the dreams were bad they howled in their sleep. Now I, the modern, have lain down with Big-Tooth and dreamed his dreams.
This is getting almost beyond the grip of the intellect, I know; but I do know that I have done this thing. And let me tell you that the flying and crawling dreams of Big-Tooth were as vivid to him as the falling-through-space dream is to you.
For Big-Tooth also had an other-self, and when he slept that other-self dreamed back into the past, back to the winged reptiles14 and the clash and the onset15 of dragons, and beyond that to the scurrying16, rodent-like life of the tiny mammals, and far remoter still, to the shore-slime of the primeval sea. I cannot, I dare not, say more. It is all too vague and complicated and awful. I can only hint of those vast and terrific vistas17 through which I have peered hazily18 at the progression of life, not upward from the ape to man, but upward from the worm.
And now to return to my tale. I, Big-Tooth, knew not the Swift One as a creature of finer facial and bodily symmetry, with long-lashed eyes and a bridge to her nose and down-opening nostrils19 that made toward beauty. I knew her only as the mild-eyed young female who made soft sounds and did not fight. I liked to play with her, I knew not why, to seek food in her company, and to go bird-nesting with her. And I must confess she taught me things about tree-climbing. She was very wise, very strong, and no clinging skirts impeded20 her movements.
It was about this time that a slight defection arose on the part of Lop-Ear. He got into the habit of wandering off in the direction of the tree where my mother lived. He had taken a liking21 to my vicious sister, and the Chatterer had come to tolerate him. Also, there were several other young people, progeny22 of the monogamic couples that lived in the neighborhood, and Lop-Ear played with these young people.
I could never get the Swift One to join with them. Whenever I visited them she dropped behind and disappeared. I remember once making a strong effort to persuade her. But she cast backward, anxious glances, then retreated, calling to me from a tree. So it was that I did not make a practice of accompanying Lop-Ear when he went to visit his new friends. The Swift One and I were good comrades, but, try as I would, I could never find her tree-shelter. Undoubtedly23, had nothing happened, we would have soon mated, for our liking was mutual24; but the something did happen.
One morning, the Swift One not having put in an appearance, Lop-Ear and I were down at the mouth of the slough25 playing on the logs. We had scarcely got out on the water, when we were startled by a roar of rage. It was Red-Eye. He was crouching26 on the edge of the timber jam and glowering27 his hatred28 at us. We were badly frightened, for here was no narrow-mouthed cave for refuge. But the twenty feet of water that intervened gave us temporary safety, and we plucked up courage.
Red-Eye stood up erect29 and began beating his hairy chest with his fist. Our two logs were side by side, and we sat on them and laughed at him. At first our laughter was half-hearted, tinged30 with fear, but as we became convinced of his impotence we waxed uproarious. He raged and raged at us, and ground his teeth in helpless fury. And in our fancied security we mocked and mocked him. We were ever short-sighted, we Folk.
Red-Eye abruptly31 ceased his breast-beating and tooth-grinding, and ran across the timber-jam to the shore. And just as abruptly our merriment gave way to consternation32. It was not Red-Eye’s way to forego revenge so easily. We waited in fear and trembling for whatever was to happen. It never struck us to paddle away. He came back with great leaps across the jam, one huge hand filled with round, water-washed pebbles33. I am glad that he was unable to find larger missiles, say stones weighing two or three pounds, for we were no more than a score of feet away, and he surely would have killed us.
As it was, we were in no small danger. Zip! A tiny pebble34 whirred past with the force almost of a bullet. Lop-Ear and I began paddling frantically35. Whiz-zip-bang! Lop-Ear screamed with sudden anguish36. The pebble had struck him between the shoulders. Then I got one and yelled. The only thing that saved us was the exhausting of Red-Eye’s ammunition37. He dashed back to the gravel-bed for more, while Lop-Ear and I paddled away.
Gradually we drew out of range, though Red-Eye continued making trips for more ammunition and the pebbles continued to whiz about us. Out in the centre of the slough there was a slight current, and in our excitement we failed to notice that it was drifting us into the river. We paddled, and Red-Eye kept as close as he could to us by following along the shore. Then he discovered larger rocks. Such ammunition increased his range. One fragment, fully38 five pounds in weight, crashed on the log alongside of me, and such was its impact that it drove a score of splinters, like fiery39 needles, into my leg. Had it struck me it would have killed me.
And then the river current caught us. So wildly were we paddling that Red-Eye was the first to notice it, and our first warning was his yell of triumph. Where the edge of the current struck the slough-water was a series of eddies40 or small whirlpools. These caught our clumsy logs and whirled them end for end, back and forth41 and around. We quit paddling and devoted42 our whole energy to holding the logs together alongside each other. In the meanwhile Red-Eye continued to bombard us, the rock fragments falling about us, splashing water on us, and menacing our lives. At the same time he gloated over us, wildly and vociferously43.
It happened that there was a sharp turn in the river at the point where the slough entered, and the whole main current of the river was deflected44 to the other bank. And toward that bank, which was the north bank, we drifted rapidly, at the same time going down-stream. This quickly took us out of range of Red-Eye, and the last we saw of him was far out on a point of land, where he was jumping up and down and chanting a paean45 of victory.
Beyond holding the two logs together, Lop-Ear and I did nothing. We were resigned to our fate, and we remained resigned until we aroused to the fact that we were drifting along the north shore not a hundred feet away. We began to paddle for it. Here the main force of the current was flung back toward the south shore, and the result of our paddling was that we crossed the current where it was swiftest and narrowest. Before we were aware, we were out of it and in a quiet eddy46.
Our logs drifted slowly and at last grounded gently on the bank. Lop-Ear and I crept ashore47. The logs drifted on out of the eddy and swept away down the stream. We looked at each other, but we did not laugh. We were in a strange land, and it did not enter our minds that we could return to our own land in the same manner that we had come.
We had learned how to cross a river, though we did not know it. And this was something that no one else of the Folk had ever done. We were the first of the Folk to set foot on the north bank of the river, and, for that matter, I believe the last. That they would have done so in the time to come is undoubted; but the migration48 of the Fire People, and the consequent migration of the survivors49 of the Folk, set back our evolution for centuries.
Indeed, there is no telling how disastrous50 was to be the outcome of the Fire People’s migration. Personally, I am prone51 to believe that it brought about the destruction of the Folk; that we, a branch of lower life budding toward the human, were nipped short off and perished down by the roaring surf where the river entered the sea. Of course, in such an eventuality, I remain to be accounted for; but I outrun my story, and such accounting52 will be made before I am done.
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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
narrate
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| v.讲，叙述 | |
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dual
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| adj.双的；二重的，二元的 | |
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inflict
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| vt.(on)把…强加给，使遭受，使承担 | |
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narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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6
analyze
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| vt.分析，解析 (=analyse) | |
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7
motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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8
simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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9
erratic
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| adj.古怪的，反复无常的，不稳定的 | |
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10
perturbed
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| adj.烦燥不安的v.使（某人）烦恼，不安( perturb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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11
vexed
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| adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
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12
obtuseness
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| 感觉迟钝 | |
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primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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14
reptiles
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| n.爬行动物，爬虫( reptile的名词复数 ) | |
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15
onset
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| n.进攻，袭击，开始，突然开始 | |
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16
scurrying
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| v.急匆匆地走( scurry的现在分词 ) | |
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17
vistas
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| 长条形景色( vista的名词复数 )； 回顾； 展望； （未来可能发生的）一系列情景 | |
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hazily
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| ad. vaguely, not clear | |
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19
nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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impeded
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| 阻碍，妨碍，阻止( impede的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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liking
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| n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢 | |
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progeny
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| n.后代，子孙；结果 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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slough
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| v.蜕皮，脱落，抛弃 | |
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26
crouching
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
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27
glowering
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| v.怒视( glower的现在分词 ) | |
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28
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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30
tinged
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| v.（使）发丁丁声( ting的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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31
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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32
consternation
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| n.大为吃惊，惊骇 | |
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33
pebbles
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| [复数]鹅卵石； 沙砾； 卵石，小圆石( pebble的名词复数 ) | |
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34
pebble
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| n.卵石，小圆石 | |
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frantically
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| ad.发狂地, 发疯地 | |
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36
anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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37
ammunition
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| n.军火，弹药 | |
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38
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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40
eddies
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| （水、烟等的）漩涡，涡流( eddy的名词复数 ) | |
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41
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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42
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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43
vociferously
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| adv.喊叫地，吵闹地 | |
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44
deflected
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| 偏离的 | |
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45
paean
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| n.赞美歌，欢乐歌 | |
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46
eddy
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| n.漩涡，涡流 | |
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47
ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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48
migration
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| n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙 | |
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49
survivors
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| 幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 ) | |
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50
disastrous
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| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
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51
prone
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| adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的 | |
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52
accounting
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| n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表 | |
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