登陆注册
5269500000026

第26章 THE BASKET MAKER(3)

These he cannot duplicate at any furbisher's shop as you who live within doors, who, if your purse allows, may have the same home at Sitka and Samarcand. So you see how it is that the homesickness of an Indian is often unto death, since he gets no relief from it;neither wind nor weed nor sky-line, nor any aspect of the hills of a strange land sufficiently like his own. So it was when the government reached out for the Paiutes, they gathered into the Northern Reservation only such poor tribes as could devise no other end of their affairs. Here, all along the river, and south to Shoshone Land, live the clans who owned the earth, fallen into the deplorable condition of hangers-on. Yet you hear them laughing at the hour when they draw in to the campoodie after labor, when there is a smell of meat and the steam of the cooking pots goes up against the sun. Then the children lie with their toes in the ashes to hear tales; then they are merry, and have the joys of repletion and the nearness of their kind. They have their hills, and though jostled are sufficiently free to get some fortitude for what will come. For now you shall hear of the end of the basket maker.

In her best days Seyavi was most like Deborah, deep bosomed, broad in the hips, quick in counsel, slow of speech, esteemed of her people. This was that Seyavi who reared a man by her own hand, her own wit, and none other. When the townspeople began to take note of her--and it was some years after the war before there began to be any towns--she was then in the quick maturity of primitive women; but when I knew her she seemed already old. Indian women do not often live to great age, though they look incredibly steeped in years. They have the wit to win sustenance from the raw material of life without intervention, but they have not the sleek look of the women whom the social organization conspires to nourish.

Seyavi had somehow squeezed out of her daily round a spiritual ichor that kept the skill in her knotted fingers along after the accustomed time, but that also failed. By all counts she would have been about sixty years old when it came her turn to sit in the dust on the sunny side of the wickiup, with little strength left for anything but looking. And in time she paid the toll of the smoky huts and became blind. This is a thing so long expected by the Paiutes that when it comes they find it neither bitter nor sweet, but tolerable because common. There were three other blind women in the campoodie, withered fruit on a bough, but they had memory and speech. By noon of the sun there were never any left in the campoodie but these or some mother of weanlings, and they sat to keep the ashes warm upon the hearth. If it were cold, they burrowed in the blankets of the hut; if it were warm, they followed the shadow of the wickiup around. Stir much out of their places they hardly dared, since one might not help another; but they called, in high, old cracked voices, gossip and reminder across the ash heaps.

Then, if they have your speech or you theirs, and have an hour to spare, there are things to be learned of life not set down in any books, folk tales, famine tales, love and long-suffering and desire, but no whimpering. Now and then one or another of the blind keepers of the camp will come across to where you sit gossiping, tapping her way among the kitchen middens, guided by your voice that carries far in the clearness and stillness of mesa afternoons. But suppose you find Seyavi retired into the privacy of her blanket, you will get nothing for that day. There is no other privacy possible in a campoodie. All the processes of life are carried on out of doors or behind the thin, twig-woven walls of the wickiup, and laughter is the only corrective for behavior. Very early the Indian learns to possess his countenance in impassivity, to cover his head with his blanket. Something to wrap around him is as necessary to the Paiute as to you your closet to pray in.

So in her blanket Seyavi, sometime basket maker, sits by the unlit hearths of her tribe and digests her life, nourishing her spirit against the time of the spirit's need, for she knows in fact quite as much of these matters as you who have a larger hope, though she has none but the certainty that having borne herself courageously to this end she will not be reborn a coyote.

同类推荐
  • 闲燕常谈

    闲燕常谈

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 三国志平话

    三国志平话

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • Awakening & Selected Short Stories

    Awakening & Selected Short Stories

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT FIRST PART

    TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT FIRST PART

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 送李山人还玉溪

    送李山人还玉溪

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 地持义记

    地持义记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 云家九爷超帅气

    云家九爷超帅气

    女装可以俏皮可爱,倾国倾城,天下法术最高强者,是统治天下的千灵祭司,也是无数人心目中的国民女神,上天入地无所不能,性格欢脱外加小流氓一枚。男装俊美邪佞,邪肆慵懒九爷,也是网络上的黑客J,现实中撩妹技术一流,侧脸俊美如画,无数少女的梦中情人。“祭司,请问您是怎么评价自己的?”“嗯?小爷我这么帅气,既能撩妹又能撩汉,简直完美,不过这么多人想嫁给我的确很烦恼。”“……”说好的千灵祭司气质高贵,举止优雅呢,这个一头银白色短发,对着旁边少女不停放电的俊美少年是谁?
  • 女皇陛下的妖孽权臣

    女皇陛下的妖孽权臣

    他羽千寻虽是一天才,但更是九淮城的纨绔子弟中的王者,本以为就要这么安安逸逸,抱着美人,喝着美酒过完这荒唐的一生,但不想,家族的日渐衰弱,羽千寻遇见了女帝凰卿歌——这个他初见时觉得花痴的女人。为了家族的复兴,羽千寻不得不接近这个女人,在得到更多的权力的同时,他渐渐的改变了对她的态度,从一开始只把她当做女帝,到后来希望她是自己的女人。占有欲越来越强,他容不得别人多看她一眼。。。她想娶她,迫切的。…………………………分割线…………………凰卿歌躺在羽千寻怀里,撅着嘴道“爱卿,苏大人犯了什么错啊?你非要把他贬谪到那么偏远的地方?”羽千寻瞥了瞥她“他动了不该有的念头”凰卿歌有点痴迷的说“在一群老头中格外好看诶!”羽千寻一听,一把她扑倒在地,修长的手指缠绕着玩弄凰卿歌的头发,有一丝丝威胁的道“那你是觉得我好看,还是那个姓苏的好看,嗯?”凰卿歌见状急忙道“爱卿玉树临风,风流倜傥,朕对爱卿的倾慕就像就像滔滔江水连绵不断,黄河水泛滥一发不可收拾啊”她凰卿歌真觉得这个女皇作的好委屈啊!
  • 代鼎

    代鼎

    曹操脸白心不黑,男儿有泪不轻弹!诸葛亮运筹帷幄,机关算尽终是空!关羽忠义两肩扛,一代武圣下神坛!吕布醉卧美人膝,方天画戟落尘埃!庞统鸾回凤舞鸣,涅槃重生谋天下!典韦护主传古今,待吾古之恶来归!东汉末年,群雄并起,二十四名将,二十四谋士,纷纷登场,英雄无悔,枭雄无泪,天地转,光阴迫,百年太久,只争朝夕!一场旷古烁今的版图之争由此拉开帷幕...新人新书,暂不设QQ讨论群,小祖们可以留言加牛耳微信。低调且又高调,嘎嘎~
  • 名门暖婚

    名门暖婚

    初次见面,她遭这个妖孽般的男人强吻!再次见面,她竟成了他的私人助理!她遭房东扫地出门,他出手相救,却趁机霸道将她强留身边,一步一步攻占她的人,她的心!他说:珞珞,十五年前你保护了我,以后的人生由我保护你!”
  • 快穿:女配上位手册

    快穿:女配上位手册

    快穿是一份三高职业——高逼格、高竞争、高bug别人在宇宙空间站里苦搬砖,咱有时空执掌者在这开后门。卿痕在心里笑得嘚瑟。独享一个看起来十分危险大妖孽的‘关爱’,背靠大树好乘凉哇。妖孽美丽且危险。但卿痕决定好好傍住这颗大树,努力地去攻略任务中的各色男主。霸道总裁啦、冷面明星啦、腹黑帝王啦等等,都是小case~只是攻略的过程中,怎么觉得有点不对呢。姑娘我在位面中混得风生水起,就是在妖孽面前直不起腰来!不要贴我那么近啊,表脸!卿痕炸毛:“excuseme,有话好好说,你能不能不要缠着我?”妖孽男微笑:“我们的缘分,很久以前就已经缔结。”【内容正剧有男主1v1】
  • 清冷宠妃:太子千里寻妻

    清冷宠妃:太子千里寻妻

    因一次偶然遇见,她甘愿和亲苦寒之地。因一次蓦然撞见,他无意错认救命恩人。阴差阳错之下,他与她结为夫妇,有名有实却无心。那一年。——“从今日起,太子妃禁足一月,不准踏出景宁殿半步!”——“臣妾冤枉!臣妾没有害人之心,也没有做过害人之事!殿下为何不能信臣妾一回?!”——“你有什么值得本太子信任的?”数年后。——“跟我回家,好吗?”——“回家?太子殿下说笑了,民女的家就在这里。”本文描绘了一条太子殿下的漫漫寻妻之路,历高山、过低谷、哄奶包,其间的心酸苦楚绝笔是太子自找的。
  • 去往松花镇

    去往松花镇

    《去往松花镇》是“宁波青年作家创作文库(第3辑)”中的一部中短篇小说集,收录青年作家符利群*创作的《去往松花镇》《水上花生》《木槿只开一回花》等十部中短篇小说,大多记录了普通人的生活百态,文笔细腻,可读性强。
  • 做人要拿得起放得下

    做人要拿得起放得下

    做人要拿得起放得下可以看作是一个人立身于世所必备的基本能力和素质,也可以看成是关键时刻做事所表现出来的个性与态度。它大到可以决定一个人命运的战略举措,小到一个人日常举止的每一个细节。它既包括获取物质财富的绝妙策略,也包括对自我精神的完美塑造。可以说无数成功人士都是精于做人之道的高手,他们纷纷将成就归功于做人拿得起放得下的策略。
  • 纨绔公子溺爱妻

    纨绔公子溺爱妻

    他是丞相府的嫡出大少爷,同时也是京城的第一纨绔,整天吃喝玩乐,好赌成性,终日流连赌馆。她是大将军府唯一嫡女,从小在边关长大。一场赌注,她选择了京城第一纨绔,舍弃了当太子侧妃的机会,这让她沦为京城的笑柄。一场赐婚,她成了他的未婚妻,皇权至上,既然无力抗争,那么,她只好逆来顺受。可是,这个纨绔公子,怎么跟传言不一样呢?是哪里出问题了么?……当他为了她,剥去纨绔的外衣,把原本的一切展现在世人面前时,是谁乱了芳心?是谁悔青了肠子?又是谁,还在筹谋算计?……场景一:英俊帅气,迷倒众生的太子殿下,笑盈盈地看着面前美丽的女子,蛊惑地道:“沐小姐,今天,我给你两个选择。一、嫁给我,当我的太子侧妃;二、选择丞相府的凌言公子,嫁给他为妻。”沐瑶看了英俊迷人的太子一眼,再看了看懒懒散散地站在太子身边,一副不以为然的纨绔公子,微笑着道:“请问,还有第三种选择么?”太子摇摇头,邪魅一笑,道:“没有了。”沐瑶无奈地道:“那么,我只能选择嫁给凌公子了。”太子几乎惊掉了下巴,旁边一大群羡慕嫉妒恨的女人,开始不再羡慕嫉妒恨了,只是用看白痴的眼神看着沐瑶,而一旁的纨绔公子,在人们不注意的地方,眼里破碎出一丝光亮……场景二:沐瑶优雅地走进赌馆,众位纨绔子弟都看着这个美丽优雅的女子,眼里闪过一丝羡慕。有人大声喊:“言少,你的夫人来找你了,不得了罗,夫人都找到这里来了,看来言少以后还是少来吧。”众人屏住呼吸,等着看第一纨绔如何跟面前的女子发飙,谁知,俊美的男子看着自己的娇妻,宠溺一笑,道:“小瑶,你来了?马上,我就可以赢光这些人的钱了呢,你喜欢的白玉床,我已经让天下第一巧匠打造好了,到时候一手交钱一手交货,你就等着把床抬回家吧。”只见女子笑了一下,那一笑,如昙花一现,美得令人窒息,她轻启朱唇,温柔地道:“相公,家里还差这点小钱么?为了区区一张白玉床,还让你如此奔波,人家多过意不去啊。”“可是家里的钱,我都已经给了娘子了啊,我要用自己的钱,给娘子买白玉床呢。”“你真傻,我的不就是你的么?”“嗯,娘子说的有道理,那就不赌了,风影,把东西收一收,回去了。”“是,公子。”众人目瞪口呆地看着那两人离去的方向,再看看风影收起来的一大袋子银票,如果这些是小钱,请问,什么才是大钱呢?……本文一对一,男女主身心干净,请亲们放心跳坑,谢谢!