Sometime in the dark hours, Sata had to get up for a few minutes. When she returned to her bedroll, she noticed that Mati’s blankets had somehow disappeared, and the slender girl was lying on nothing but her bedroll cover, shivering.
Sata had no idea where Mati’s blankets had gone, but moved close and pulled her blankets over the two of them.
Mati made a whimpering sound of gratitude, and was soon asleep.
When Mati awoke to find the sun peeking over the eastern hills, she noticed that Sata and Boro were already sitting by the fire, so she hobbled out to the corral. Rini, after stretching his arms to the sky, joined her. Tera stood by the fence, her hooves squarely planted on two muddy wool blankets.
Ilika wandered over and took in the situation, but said nothing.
As the three of them contemplated the scene, Buna appeared. “Whose blankets are those?”
“Mine,” Mati said with a pout.
“Did you . . . sleep in the corral?”
“No. I thought Tera was cold, and she was lying right by the fence, so I put my blankets on her.”
Rini entered the corral, but let the donkey come to him. Tera was happy to leave the blankets behind to get her neck scratched. “Good morning, Tera.
You know, Mati, she still has her winter coat. It’s a lot thicker than your
blankets.”
“I feel pretty foolish,” Mati admitted, her face turning red.
“Learn anything?” Ilika asked, pulling the muddy blankets through the rails.
Mati sighed. “Yeah. Donkeys have their own blankets, and won’t keep people blankets on. I’ll . . . go wash my blankets.”
“I’ll help,” Rini offered, carrying the blankets so Mati could concentrate on her crutch.
A large group, including Ilika, took bowls and mugs down along the stream to pick berries to add to their breakfast.
Ilika shared his concern that he was going to accidentally pick poisonous berries, so Kibi picked two different berries and placed them in his hand.
“Eat one at a time. If it’s terrible, spit it out. If it’s good, start picking!”
Ilika chose one. The moment his teeth broke its skin, he started spitting violently.
“He learns pretty quickly,” Neti said with a big grin. “Maybe we can let him be on our crew!”
Everyone else laughed while Ilika continued to rid his mouth of the terrible taste.
“Just so you know,” Kibi said, “you can’t use that method to find good mushrooms. You either know them, or you leave them alone.”
Ilika promised to leave the mushroom gathering to them. Then he spat several more times.
Well nourished on fruitcake and berries, blankets drying in the sun, Mati approached the corral with Rini at her side carrying the brush, halter, and lead rope.
Tera immediately walked to the far side of the corral and looked askance at the pair of humans.
Rini opened the gate so Mati could enter, then they approached the donkey with nothing but the brush.
Tera met them half-way and happily presented her neck.
“Tera, you are such a beautiful jenny,” Mati said, “and I’m going to learn to
ride you today.”
The donkey’s ears twitched, but she stayed right where she was, clearly enjoying the brushing.
Rini got the halter from the fence, and the donkey immediately walked to the far corner of the corral, leaving Mati leaning on her crutch.
Mati tried approaching with just the lead rope, with the same result.
Rini tried approaching with the saddle. Tera led the slender boy around in circles.
Ilika and some of the others started watching from a patch of sunny grass just close enough to see, but not interfere.
The drama continued. For the rest of the morning, Tera walked away from any attempt to approach her with halter, lead rope, or saddle. She looked with suspicion at the saddle blanket, but stood still while it was placed on her back. A moment later Mati found out why. Tera easily shook it off the moment Rini was no longer holding it in place.
Boro and Miko returned to the clearing with the iron pot full of edible roots. Neti and Kibi came in a little later with more mushrooms and greens, and set to work making a mid-day meal.
“This is boring,” Toli said from where he sat near Ilika. “I wish we could do some lessons.”
Ilika took a breath before speaking. “We won’t have other important tasks very often. But getting a mount under Mati is very important today . . . unless you want to carry her.”
“No thanks,” Toli said, then went to sit by the fire that Sata was building.
Ilika joined Boro for some wood collecting trips, but kept an eye on Mati’s progress. Buna arrived with more berries, then sat down to help Kibi prepare the roots. Soon, a hearty stew was simmering.
As mid-day passed, Mati and Rini closed the corral for the last time and plopped down on logs near the fire. Mati looked like she wanted to cry.
“I think I’ve spotted your problem,” Ilika said.
“Me too,” Boro said.
“What!” Mati snapped, still nursing hurt feelings.
After a moment, Ilika responded. “Let’s get some lunch in our stomachs, then we’ll talk about it. Other people might be able to explain it better than I
can.”
They shared the berries as an appetizer so the bowls would be free for stew.
“These roots aren’t potatoes, but they’re good,” Ilika said.
“They’re called turning-to-the-sun. You can even eat them raw,” Kibi said.
When everyone had eaten, Ilika led the group out to a dry patch of grass near the corral. “What did you see, Boro?”
“They’re treating the donkey like a person. They’re saying ‘please’ and
‘thank you’ like they would to a person, but I don’t think that will work with a donkey.”
“But
Tera
is a . . .”
Ilika put his finger to his lips. “This is a time for you to listen to others, Mati. What do you think, Miko?”
“Horses and donkeys are pretty smart, but they’re also very stubborn.
They’ll get away with anything they can, and you have to . . . make them work with you.”
“I don’t want to be a master with Tera my slave!” Mati burst out.
“I understand your feelings about a relationship like that,” Ilika said in a calming voice.
Suddenly a look of understanding flashed onto Neti’s face. “I think I see it.”
“Go ahead, Neti.”
“I don’t think Tera is capable of working with you by her own choice, no matter how much grass you pull for her, no matter how much you brush her.
I think she’s more like . . . a three or four-year-old child, and you are her mother. Mothers must be firm with their children, sometimes make them do what needs to be done, sometimes even punish them.”
“I think Neti is right,” Ilika said. “Slavery is forced-labor of people who could be free and independent. Children can’t be. I think the same is true for Tera.”
“Isn’t . . . Tera free to walk away, just like we are?” Buna asked.
Ilika thought for a moment. “Tera was born into human society, and probably doesn’t know how to protect herself from the predators of the wild.
She’s had a fence around her and people nearby all her life. If she was set
free, she would probably be killed by a wild animal very soon.”
“Not a very good kind of freedom,” Boro commented.
There was a long silence as everyone thought about the issues.
“I had a master who weighed no more than me,” Toli said, “but who could make a big horse do anything he wanted, and the horse weighed . . . maybe . . .
five times as much.”
“But he didn’t use physical force, right?” Ilika asked.
“No. That would be impossible with something so big and strong. He used words, and tone of voice, and sometimes signs with his hands.”
“Good thoughts and observations, everyone. Are you starting to get some new ideas, Mati?”
Her face was twisted with deep thought.
Everyone wandered away, some to move boots and saddlebags that were no longer in the sun, some to look for wild edibles.
Mati and Rini wandered down to the stream to talk.
Deep Learning Notes
The taste-test for edibility works with most plants because plant poisons are most often alkaloids, bitter bio-chemicals that are strongly basic (the opposite of acidic). Alkaloids taste terrible, and the taste is very difficult to get out of the mouth. As Kibi points out, the taste-test doesn’t work with mushrooms.
Poisonous mushrooms are usually not alkaloid, and often quite delicious.
Perhaps one reason that donkeys, horses, and mules are so stubborn, but ultimately willing to work with us under the right conditions, is that they are highly intelligent. They have the largest brains of any animals, including humans, in proportion to body weight.
The edible root they found, called “turning-to-the-sun,” is known to us as Jerusalem artichoke. It’s a member of the sunflower family, and can sometimes be found in grocery stores.
The judgment that an animal must be treated firmly, like a human child, is probably correct in Tera’s case. However, we should keep in mind that the same judgment is often used to justify slavery when no reason exists for it other than the profit of the slave owner.