Chapter 10 10. Wheels

A little cloud rises from the sea like a man's hand ——"1 Kings" "Yeah," said the red-haired girl in the abandoned Casino, "we've seen her, Paul and I, she was passing here a few days ago." Father Gomez said, "Do you remember what she looked like?" "She looks hot," said the little boy, "with sweat on her face, really." "How old does she look?" "About..." the girl thought for a while and said, "I think maybe forty or fifty years old. We didn't look closely, maybe thirty. But she is hot, like Paul said. She also has a big bag on her back." The rucksack, much bigger than yours, so big..."

Paul whispered something to her, narrowing his eyes at the priest as he spoke.The sun shone brightly on his face. "Yes," the girl said impatiently, "I know. Phantom." She said to Father Gomez, "She's not afraid of monsters at all, she just walks through the city like this, not worried at all. I've never Saw a grown-up do that, really. She didn't look like she knew they existed, like you," she added, looking at him defiantly. "There are many things I don't know," Father Gomez said gently. The little boy tugged at her sleeve and whispered something.

"Paul said," she told the priest, "that he thought you were trying to get that knife back." Father Gomez felt the hairs on his skin stand on end, and he remembered Fra Pavel's testimony during his interrogation in the ecclesiastical court: this must be the knife he was referring to. "If I could," said he, "I would. That knife was taken from here, wasn't it?" "It was taken from the Tower of Angels." The girl said, pointing to the square stone tower standing above the brown-red roof, which shone brightly in the strong light of noon. "The boy who stole the knife killed our brother Tullio. Then the goblins ate him, really. You want to kill the boy, that's fine. And the girl - she's a liar, she's just like him Bad."

"Is there another girl?" said the priest, trying not to be too interested. "Cheating filth," spat the red-haired girl, "we nearly killed them both, but just then some women came, flying women—" "Witches," Paul said. "It was witches, and we couldn't beat them. They took the boy and the girl. We don't know where they went, but the woman came later, and we thought she might have some kind of knife, to stop the goblin, really. Yes. Maybe you have too," she added, looking boldly at him with her chin raised. "I don't have any knives," Father Gomez said, "but I have a sacred mission, and maybe it's protecting me from these monsters."

"Yes," said the girl, "maybe. Anyway, you want to find her, and she's gone south, up the hills. We don't know where. But if anyone has seen her, you can I found out, because no one likes her in Magpie City, neither before nor now, she is easy to find." "Thank you, Angelica," said the priest. "God bless you, children." He picked up his knapsack, left the garden, and set off through the hot, silent street, satisfied. After three days with the Wheel Beasts, Mary Malone got to know them better, and they learned a lot about her. On the morning of the first day, they took her for an hour or so along the basalt road to a settlement by the river.The journey was uncomfortable, she had nowhere to grab her hand, and the animal's back was so hard.The speed at which they were running was frightening, but the rumble of the wheels against the hard pavement and the clatter of scurrying feet so excited her that she ignored the uncomfortable feeling.

Along the way, she learned more about the animal's physiology.Like those herbivores, they had a rhomboid skeleton with a leg at each corner of the rhombus.In the distant past, some kind of ancient creature must have evolved such a structure and found it to work, just as generations of ancient reptiles in Mary's world evolved the central spine. The basalt road gradually descended, and after a while, it became steeper and steeper, so the animals could roll down at leisure.With their legs tucked in, and steering left and right, they proceeded at such an astonishing speed that Mary was terrified, though she had to admit that she did not feel at all in any danger from the animal she was riding.It would be better if there was something to hold on to, she would find it a treat.

At the foot of the mile-long slope was a row of tall trees, and beside it a river meandered through the flat meadow. Not far away, Mary saw a shimmering band of light, which looked like a wider body of water, but she didn't look much, because the animals were heading towards the settlement by the river, and she was full of curiosity, wanting to see See what it looks like. There were twenty or thirty huts here, arranged in an irregular circle—she had to shade her hand from the sun to see, built of wooden beams, plastered fence walls, and roofed with thatch.Other animals on wheels were at work: some were repairing roofs, some were hauling nets from the river, and some were carrying firewood.

In this way, they have language, fire, and society.It was around this moment that she found herself making a mental adjustment as the conception shifted from animal to human.These things are not human, but they are human, she said to herself; not them, but us. They were so close that they could clearly see the visitors in front of them. Some villagers raised their heads to look and beckoned others to watch.The procession stopped slowly, and Mary climbed down stiffly—she knew her legs were going to hurt. "Thank you." She thanked her... her what?Mount?wheel?Both ideas are absurdly wrong for the bright-eyed, genial creature standing by her side, and she ends up choosing the word friend.

He lifted his nose and imitated her words: "Excuse me," he said, and everyone laughed again. She took her rucksack from another guy (borrowed! borrowed!) and walked with them down the basalt road and onto the solid ground of the village. Then, her opportunity to open her eyes really came. In the days that followed, she learned so much that she felt like a child again, fascinated by the knowledge of school.Moreover, these wheel beasts seemed to be stunned by her.First of all, her hands, which they couldn't get enough of: they ran their noses at every joint, found thumbs, knuckles, and nails, flexing them gently.They also watched in wonder as she picked up her rucksack, put food in her mouth, tickled her, brushed her hair and washed her face.

In turn they let her touch their noses.They were so soft they were about as long as her arms and thicker where they joined her head, and she felt they were powerful enough to crush her skull.The two finger-like protrusions on the tip of the nose possess great strength, but at the same time there is no lack of extreme gentleness. They seem to be able to change the tone of the skin from within, changing the finger-like nose tip from soft like velvet to hard like wood. Therefore, they can use it for both delicate tasks such as milking those herbivores, as well as rough tasks such as dry-breaking or cutting branches.

Mary gradually realized that their noses were also used for communication. Every movement of the nose was accompanied by a sound to interpret the meaning of the sound. It means "water", if the tip of the nose is rolled up, it means "rain", when the nose is turned down, it means "sad", when the neck flicks quickly to the left, it means "tender grass".As soon as she discovered this, Mary imitated moving her arms in the same way as she could.The animals were delighted when they realized she was talking to them. Once they started talking (mostly in their language, although she managed to teach them a few words in English, they just said "borrow, grass, tree, sky and river" and her name, even though it was still a little more difficult), and the communication between them is much faster.As a race they call themselves Murfa, but as individuals they call themselves Zalif.Mary thought the voices of the male and female Zalif were different, but too subtle for her to tell easily.She began to write down all the words and compile them into a dictionary. ’ But before she could really commit herself, she pulled out the battered paper book and eucalyptus stalks and asked: Should I do this here, or should I keep searching elsewhere? The answer is: don't be impatient when you are in peace, if you are uneasy, you will disappear, and you will see Dafa only after you are in chaos. Also: the tranquility of the mountain comes from the mountain, so the wise man does not let the will deviate from its environment. This couldn't be more clear, she put away the eucalyptus stalks, closed the book, and then realized that a circle of watching animals had attracted around her. One of them said: Question?license?curious. She said: Please look. Their noses moved deftly, arranging the stalks of jasmine or turning the pages in the way she had just counted.They were amazed that her hands were in pairs: because she could hold a book and turn the pages at the same time, and they liked to watch her intertwine her fingers, or play a childhood game—"This is the church, this is the church." "Spire", or the movement of flipping the thumbs and index fingers of both hands, Amma used this movement of Laila as a charm to ward off evil spirits. Once they were done with the stalks and the books, they carefully wrapped the cloth and put it back in her rucksack.The information in the ancient Chinese classics made her happy and relieved, because according to its explanation, what she most wanted to do at the moment was exactly what she should do. So she happily set out to learn more about Murfa. She learned that they were of two sexes, lived a monogamous life, and that their offspring had a long childhood: at least ten years; from what she understood of their interpretation, they grew very slowly.There are five cubs in this settlement, one is almost an adult, and the others are between adults and minors.Being smaller than adults, they are not yet able to cope with seed pod wheels.The children had to move like those herbivores, on all fours.Although they were energetic and adventurous (sprinting up to Marie, then coyly running away, trying to climb a tree trunk, playing in shallow water, etc.), they appeared clumsy, as if something was wrong.In comparison, the speed, strength, and grace of adult beasts are astounding.Mary saw the cubs longing for the day those wheels would fit them.One day she watched the largest cub sneak up to the warehouse where some seed pods were kept, and try to fit his front paws into the hole in the middle of the pod, but when he tried to stand up, he froze. The pup fell to the ground, trapping itself, and the sound caught the attention of an adult beast.The cub screamed anxiously and struggled to get free.Mary couldn't help laughing as she watched the distraught mother and the shamed cub break loose and flee at the last moment. The seed pod wheels were obviously vital, and it wasn't long before Mary began to see how valuable they were. First off, Murfa spends a lot of time maintaining their wheels.By deftly lifting and twisting the claws, they can slide them out of the holes and then run their noses over the wheels, cleaning the rims and checking for cracks.Their claws are strong: a horn or bony spur at the right angle on the leg, slightly curved so that when inserted into the hole, the front middle part bears the weight.One day Mary watched a Zarif examine the hole in her front wheel.She touched here and there, raised her nose in the air and brought it back again, as if tasting its scent. Mary remembered the oil she found on her fingers when she inspected the first seed pod, and with that Zarif's permission, she looked at her paws and found that the surface was smoother than anything she had touched in her own world. Even more slippery, her fingers couldn't stay on the surface at all, and the entire paw was soaked with the faintly fragrant oil. After seeing some of the village beastmen examine, test, and examine their wheels and claws, she began to wonder which came first, the wheel or the claw, the beast on the wheel or the tree with the pod-like wheels? But of course there is a third factor: that is geology.It is only possible for these beasts to use wheels on the open road.There must be something about the mineral content of these lava flows that allows them to spread like ribbons across the vast grasslands and to be resistant to climate change and not to crack.Little by little, it dawns on Marie that everything is connected, and that it all seems to be in Murfa's hands.They knew where every herd of herbivores, every wheeled tree, and every pile of sweet grass was; they knew also every individual and every tree in the herd, and they discussed their happiness and destiny.Once she saw a Murfa pick out a few herbivores from a herd, drive them aside, and send them off by snapping their necks with a powerful sniff.Clean and neat.Holding the razor-sharp stone flakes, Murfa skinned and disemboweled the animals in just a few minutes, and then began the skilled butchering process, separating the viscera, tender meat and rougher joints, and cutting out the meat. Fat meat, horns and hooves removed.He worked so efficiently that Mary watched with interest, as if she were enjoying a good show. Soon strips of flesh were hung in the sun to dry, others stuffed in salt and wrapped in leaves; the skins were scraped of fat—reserved for later use—and soaked in tanks soaked in oak bark before being browned. yellow. The largest cub was playing with a pair of horns, pretending to be a herbivore, and making the other cubs laugh.There was fresh meat to eat that evening, and Mary ate a feast. Murfa also knows where to catch the best fish and knows exactly when and where to cast his net.Seeking something she could do, Mary came to the Web Weaver and offered to help.When she saw how they worked—not alone, but in groups of two, nose knotting together—she realized how astonished they were by her own hands, that she could tie knots by herself . At first, she thought it was an advantage to her—she didn't need anyone, and then she realized it was separating her from the group.Maybe all humans are like that.So, from then on, she only used one hand to complete the task with a female Zarif with whom she was particularly close, and her fingers entered and exited with her good friend's nose. But of all the creatures that the wheel-beasts manage, the one they tend most carefully is the seedpod tree. They take care of half the forests in this area.There are a few more in the distance, but they are the responsibility of other groups.Every day, a group of people went to check whether the giant trees were safe and harvest the fallen seed pods.The benefit that Murfa gets from it is obvious, but what do the trees get from it?One day she understood. As she was passing with them, there was a sudden loud crack, and they all stopped, and surrounded a beast with a split wheel.Each herd carried a spare wheel or two, and Zarif with the broken wheel was soon on his wheel again, but the broken wheel was carefully wrapped in a cloth and carried back to the settlement. They cracked it open and pulled out all the seeds -- oval, flat white flakes as big as Mary's tiny fingernails -- and examined them one by one.They explained that the pods need to be bumped repeatedly against hard surfaces to break apart, and that the seeds are also difficult to germinate.Without Murfa's care, the trees would all die. Every species is interdependent, and it is the oil that makes this possible.This is difficult to understand, but what they seem to be saying is that these oils are the center of their thoughts and feelings, and that the cubs do not have the wisdom of their elders because they cannot use the wheel and therefore cannot absorb the oil through their paws. At this point, Mary began to see the connection between Murfa and the problem that had occupied her life for the past few years. However, she hasn't been able to delve any further (conversations with Murfa are always long and complicated, because they like to use dozens and dozens of examples to demonstrate and explain their arguments, as if they have forgotten nothing, they know Everything can be used as a reference at your fingertips), the residence was attacked. Marie was the first to see the attackers approaching, though she didn't know what they were. It happened in the second half of the day, when she was helping to repair the roof of a thatched cottage.Mulfa's house was only one story high because they were bad at climbing, but Mary was happy to be off the ground.As soon as they taught her the technique, she was able to lay thatch with her hands and tie the knots in place much faster than they could. Just like that, she was leaning on the beam, taking the bundles of reeds thrown to her, and enjoying the cool breeze blowing over the water that eased the heat of the sun, when suddenly she saw a white light. The white light came from what she felt was an ocean glow in the distance.Shading her eyes with her hands, she saw a—two—more—a fleet of tall white-sailed flotillas emerging from the heat fog, some distance away, but sailing quietly and calmly. into the estuary. Mary!Zarif shouted from below, what do you see? She didn't know how to express the word sailboat in their language, so she said: tall, white, many. Zarif immediately raised the alarm, and everyone who heard the call stopped what they were doing, ran to the center of the residence, and called out to the children.After a while all the Murfas were ready to flee. Her friend Attar shouted: Mary!Mary!Come!Torapi!Torapi! It all happened so quickly that Mary barely had time to move when the white sailboat was in the river and was sailing effortlessly against the current.The discipline of the sailors astonished Mary: they rowed quickly, and the sailboat advanced together like a flock of whales, steering in unison.The little snow-white boat turned and heeled and then opened its sails, and it looked so beautiful—there were at least forty of them, and they were going up the river much faster than she expected, but she didn't see any sailors on board, and then she Realize that they are not ships at all: are huge birds, with sails as their wings, one in front of the other, erected, bent and adjusted by the power of their own muscles. There was no time to stop and study them as they had reached the river and were crawling out of it.They had necks like swans, beaks as long as her forearms, wings twice her size, and—she glanced back as she scurried away—they had powerful legs: no wonder they were on water move so fast. She ran as fast as she could after Mulfa calling her name, and the crowd poured out of the residence onto the road. She caught up with them in time: her friend Atal was waiting for her.As soon as Mary was on her back she slapped her feet on the road and followed her companions swiftly up the slope. Those birds that couldn't move fast on land quickly gave up their pursuit and came to the place where the wheel beast lived. They tore open the storehouses, roaring and raising their cruel jaws high, devouring the dried meat and all the stored fruit and grain.In less than a minute, everything edible was gone. Then Torapi found the wheelhouse and tried to break open the huge seedpods, but to no avail. Mary felt her friends tense up with terror as they watched from the low hillside around her; saw pods thrown to the ground, kicked and filed by the claws on those giant legs, but of course it was They do no harm.What worried Mulfa was that a few were shoved to the edge of the river and floated lumberingly down to sea. Then those giant snow-white birds began to violently and intensively wave their big feet, slashing and tearing with their big beaks, destroying everything in sight.All around, Murfa was murmuring, almost moaning. I'll help, Mary said.We rebuild our homes. But those evil guys are not over yet, they put their beautiful wings up high, squatting in the ruins to defecate.The stench floated up the slope with the breeze, and piles and pools of green, black, brown and white manure were scattered among the broken beams and scattered thatch.Then, with a gallop that was swaying from clumsiness on land, the birds walked back into the water and sailed down the river to the sea. It was not until the last white wing had disappeared into the afternoon mist that Murfa rode down the road again. They are full of sadness and anger, but mostly they are extremely worried about the seed pod bank.Only two of Curry's fifteen pods remained.Others had been pushed into the water and disappeared.But at the next bend in the river there was a sand bank, and Mary saw a wheel stuck there, and to Mulfa's surprise, Mary took off her clothes, tied a rope around her waist, and walked towards the sand bank. swim.On the sandy bank she found not one but five precious wheels, and dragged them back with difficulty, pulling the rope through their weakening middles. Murfa was grateful that they had never entered the water themselves, only fishing from the dike, lest they get their feet and wheels wet.Mary felt that at last she had done something useful for them. That night, after a simple meal of sweetroot, they told her why they were so worried about those wheels.There was a time when there were many wheels, and the world was rich and alive, and the Murfas and their trees lived eternally happy days.But a bad thing happened many years ago, some virtue left this world, and in spite of all the efforts and all the love and attention of Murfa, the wheel-pod tree was dying.