Chapter Thirteen
That evening as The Voice prepared for bed there
came a gentle rap on his door. When he opened it, Mountain Glory
Dog stood there. "Lord," she asked, "may I have words with you?"
2 "Of course," agreed The Voice, "enter. I have been curious of you. How old are you?"
3 "Ten and a half seasons," the girl told him.
4 "Are you not a little young to be mated?"
asked The Voice. "The proper age is considered to be twelve seasons."
5 "My parents were not well-to-do," the girl
told him, "and having a hard time making ends meet. My father had three
wives and sixteen children.
6 I went to work for Gray Crow at his business. He runs a freight office here in the city.
7 We got to be close friends and naturally
decided that we should mate. Where I was young I had to have my
parent's agreement, but they saw no harm in it. And really, Lord,
it has been good MOST of the time."
8 The Voice noticed the emphasis she put on
the last words. "Tell me,"asked The Voice, "what troubles you?"
9 "Lord," the girl asked, "what is permitted
between a man and his mates? In what ways is he allowed to know
them?"
10 The Voice thought for a moment. "The
Lords do not precisely say," he answered, "what a man and his mates may
do. They only say that a man may not force his mate to do
anything that SHE considers immoral or endangering. Otherwise than
that, it is a private thing between a man and his mates."
11 "Is a man permitted to know two of his mates at the same time?" the girl asked.
12 The Voice raised his hand and she fell
silent. "I must ask you two questions," he asked, "as a Speaker.
One, has your mate ever threatened to leave you if you did not do as he
asked?"
13 "No," the girl answered.
14 "Has he ever beaten you or made you submit by any other kind of force?"
15 "No, Lord," the girl answered. "He is an honorable man and would never do such things."
16 Then The Voice instructed, "You should not
speak to me of the things that you do together. As I have said,
they are private between you and your mate. You must judge
yourself, whether they are proper or improper."
17 The girl nodded. "That is not all of
my problem," she continued. "I do not consider those things that we do
immoral, though they surprised me at first. My other problem
concerns my sister-mate. Sometimes Gray Crow is away for several
days. On several occasions Valley Blossom has come to me and wants to
do some of the things we do with Gray Crow, if you understand what I
mean, Lord."
18 The Voice nodded. "She wants to know you," he said.
19 The girl covered her face with her
hands. "Yes, Lord," she answered. "Each time she has asked
I have refused her and I do not think I would ever submit. But
Lord, what really shames me is that I do not WANT to say no. I want her
to hold me, to kiss me, to know me." The girl began to weep.
20 The Voice took her in his arms.
"Woman," he asked her, "why do you cry? You have done nothing
shameful."
21 "But Lord," she answered, "I desire another
woman. I wish her to know me intimately. Is that not shameful?"
22 "The desire," explained The Voice, "is
natural. Submitting to it is unnatural. Let me tell you a
story.
23 When I was a young man, I had a very close
friend. We grew up together in my village. We had a secret
spot up in the hills where no one else ever went. There was a
beautiful little pond, and from our childhood we went up there and went
swimming. Now, we knew The Law taught that men should not bathe
together nude. But as we had done it from our youth, we paid it
no heed.
24 Then, one day as we laid on the bank, I
looked at my friend and suddenly began to burn for him more than I had
ever burned for any girl. He looked at me and I was aware he knew
what was in my mind. I rose quickly, put on my garments, and
waited for him at the top of the trail. We said nothing as we
walked home, and for days I felt ashamed of myself for what I had
thought.
25 Then, one day my friend knocked on my door
and handed me a package. I opened it and found a swimming robe.
"Shall we go and try it out?" he asked.
Page 196