The
animal began to separate into two with a ghastly crackling and groaning. The
sounds were so abrasive to Epp’s ears he had to look away. Dealing with the
animal’s pain and agony was overwhelming and his heart was bursting with
sympathy for it. The cold air streaming upwards had stopped and the two animals
turned on Epp as if to attack him. They stopped at his feet, suddenly realizing
that he wasn’t the one who had hurt them but rather the one who had freed them
from the cold. With that they staggered outside in to the snow.
The
hut was now completely empty and the flue had cleared. Outside, still dark and
stormy, the two broken bears stumbled toward the long house. Epp had the
presence of mind to go down to the cellar to bring them some fish – something
they hadn’t eaten for a long time. They attacked the food ravenously and then
continued on to the long house. It was just near the entrance where the two
bears fell down dead.
Epp
noticed it getting a little lighter out and peered up at the chimneys. There
was considerably less cold air rising from them. Bears- single bears were
milling around everywhere, from one to the other, sniffing and smelling each
just like they do when meeting for the first time in the wilderness. It was an
amazing scene, as though they were greeting one another after a long absence. And
the cold air rising had all but stopped. Epp went back outside to see the snow
had slowed to a light fall and it was getting lighter out too. Through the mist
of the snowfall Epp could make out the sun behind it. Everything was returning
to its present day existence as though a freak anomaly had just passed through
and vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
The
individual bears began exiting the long house, stopping at the two dead animals
lying at the doorway. They lingered there momentarily before passing into the
darkness. The cold air now gone from the long house literally stopped the snow
from falling though the wind still blew from the sea. It seemed to be blowing
the snow away and the darkness was lifting. Epp could now see a bit of the sun
and it was getting lighter out. The stormy weather was blowing itself out
toward the east.
The
Elder bent over the two dead bears and said a prayer, giving thanks for their
sacrifice and scattering incense from is pouch. He sang a blessing song for
them and strangely they started to diminish their presence, evaporating into
thin air until they were gone, completely vanished. It was obvious to Epp that
they had been dead for a long time, kept alive only by the spirit of Aakulu who
had waited there for his sister Aleka. Now they were gone without a trace. Epp
could not believe his own eyes.
This
was too much for Epp. His years of archaeological training had prepared him for
most things but this was more than he could handle. Firstly, he could make
neither head nor tail of it and what’s more, things were happening here that
flew in the face of his whole belief system. The other bears had just run off
and presumably continued their lives while these just vanished. He had a sudden
desire to put all this out of his mind and just do some farming somewhere in
the area. Of course that wasn’t possible now in this weather but nevertheless
it was a yearning he felt longingly. But wait a moment. He had dug up a lot of
earth around the roots of the trees he had removed earlier. The soil was now
loose and he knew just where it was. If he spread the seeds on the snow where this
spot was, when the snow melted the seeds would sink into the ground, germinate
and grow. If it worked, he’d call it winter wheat. What a great idea!
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