Chapter Twenty-Five
One day he went down by the river to preach to the
poor women as they came down to do their wash. He noticed one woman who
returned to the river with a third load of clothes after she had
already done two bundles. "That woman must have a large family,"
commented The Voice, "to return so many times."
2 One of the other women looked up. "Oh,
that's Singing Bird," she explained. "She's a widow who lives with her
brother. They do their own clothes at their house, but two days a week
she does the clothes of the sick and the lame, who cannot come down to
the river to do their own."
3 The Voice went over, knelt beside the woman,
picked up a garment, and began to scrub it. The startled woman looked
up. "Sir!" she asked, "What do you do?"
4 "I help you with this wash," The Voice
explained, "and when we are done, I wish you to come with me and sit in
the Circle of Great Bear. I will teach you to do more than wash
clothes. The Lords call you to Greater Service."
5 "Surely, Lord," the woman said, "I will come
with you, but let me finish the wash. It is women's work."
6 "When you serve The Lords," answered The
Voice, "what is a man's work, what is a woman's work? Whatever
They direct your hands to do, that is what you do."
7 "I am corrected, Lord." The woman
smiled, and said no more until they were done, then, told The Voice she
would gladly follow him, but she knew she did not have a Speaker's
Powers.
8 "Still," continued the Voice, "in some way
you will serve. The Lords have pointed you out. I will train you."
9 And serve she did. She had an uncanny skill
for educating new mothers in the skills of motherhood. First, she
taught Sweet Blossom, and then Shining Blossom, when she mated with
Walking Crow. Then, other young women began to come to her from
throughout the city. All she learned she wrote in a book that
became the guide for mothers for generations to come.
10 With this addition to the circle The Voice
knew he sought one more woman. Great Bear's house was getting a little
less crowded since Strong Dog had rented a house and mated with Sweet
Blossom. One of Great Bear's sisters, and her two children had gone
with them, as housekeeper. So there was plenty of space for the
additions The Voice brought in.
11 There was a little problem, though, when
Great Bear started to show an interest in Singing Bird. She was
close to his age, and Little Blossom Crow began to get very irritable,
feeling she was being put aside. But her hurt slowly lessened, as
she, too, grew more and more attached to this sweet, loving woman.
12 Finally one day Little Blossom said to The Voice "Will you mate those two, and get my worries over?"
13 Gentle Bear looked at The Voice, then the
two women. "Little Blossom," he argued, "we are only friends."
14 Little Blossom rose, walked over to him,
and whispered in his ear. The great man looked up at her. "You
would not feel badly?" he asked.
15 "I love her, too," answered Sweet Blossom, "as a sister. Do what is in your heart."
16 "Well," said Great Bear, turning to Singing
Bird, "that leaves only you to say! Does the idea please you?"
17 "My choice seems to be made ahead," answered Singing Bird, "who could say no?"
18 So the next Worship Day in The Temple, The
Voice joined them. It was a joyous time, and a break from all the
trouble and confusion.
19 Little Blossom asked to spend the night
with The Voice. "Just for company," she explained. "It
would be the first night I've been alone for a year."
20 So without knowing her, he let her lie
beside him, her child in his basket by the bed. She was a mixture
of joy and sadness, of a little anger, but acceptance. Just before they
went to sleep she asked the Voice, "Will they have many children?"
21 "Enough to keep you both busy!"
explained The Voice, "Enough that you will be glad you can have no
more!"
22 The woman sat up and looked at him in the
darkness. "You're not supposed to joke," she wept, "that's not
funny!"
23 "I'm not joking!" explained The Voice. And he wasn't, as the years proved.
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