49 Bullet began to count on his fingers. "You
pray for your enemies," he muttered, "that I can understand. That is
the first day. You pray for those who have committed suicide, that is
the second day. But I do not understand. Why do you set aside a special
Day to pray for people who have wasted their lives?"
50 "Because," explained Smiling Fox, "The Law, given by The Old Fox,
forbids even burial service for suicides. A Speaker may not even give
them prayers. But in the days of Red Cat a mother came to him, begging
that The Law be changed. 'My heart is broken,' she pleaded, 'I cannot pray for my daughter. The Law forbids.'
51 Now, Red Cat could not break The Law, but he could make a new one
that one day a year everybody in all The Land would pray for the
Eternal Spirits of those who had wasted their lives, so that the
mothers and fathers of such could grieve, but as they were grieving for all such people,
not just their own, they wouldn't be breaking The Law.
52 It was Gray Boar that added the Third Day Of Sorrow, for similar
reasons."
53 "I see!" smiled Bullet. "You can't grieve for Them individually, but
you can altogether. I like the way your Speakers solved problems!"
54 "Of course," continued Smiling Fox, "each sect, each group has its
own holidays that are observed in local regions, but not by the entire
Church."
55 Bullet nodded. "We had such diversity in the Oneness, too, only
every holiday had to be approved by The Priest of Priests. Any group
trying to claim a holiday without his permission was quickly
exterminated. My mother told me one such story. I know many of my old
people's prayers, but I know none of yours. Teach me one."
56 "While we were travelling one day," said Smiling Fox, "one of the
men complained that we had no common