Lali's mother Leula was the baby of the family and her father
Chin-Honaw's favorite. She could do no wrong as far as he was concerned.
When Chin-Honaw died, Leula became withdrawn. She grieved and found little joy in
living....except when she could go and be in the forest alone, listening for her father's voice in the waterfall and in
the breeezes. She even thought she could see him in the cloud formations.
No one and no thing could console her.
Leula was tiny for her age and very pretty. Her mystical nature was a pleasant
surprize to some, but others thought she was stuck up. They would tease her. As she was a very shy girl,
their tauntings made her more reclusive, until she avoided the other villagers completely when she could. She turned
to Omwanaku once in a while, and was able to confide in him her deep sorrows. But as she grew into her teenage
years, she no longer sought his advice or comfort. To all, she was a mystery.
***************************************************
Peaciwawala fretted nervously more and more each day. Sittingjing-gongala couldnot,
for the life of her, understand what was going on inside the child's brain that made her act so naughtily. Peaciwawala
would stomp her feet and scratch her arms and legs. She would pull her hair and scream. Gongi seldom used the
switch, for she loved the child so tenderly, but why was Lali so dreadful at times?!
Peaciwawala was not really bad, she was just a little lazy and she loved to daydream.
Lali could sit for hours on end listening to the voices in the waterfall. She even imagined she could hear her
mother calling her, and she strained to listen. But Lali didn't know the sound of her mother's voice. She needed
time to listen. She felt so left out and alone.
All the other children in the village had parents, but she had to live with her Grandmother,
who could be very mean at times. The water jugs were heavy, and Lali would get tired and put the jug down while she
sit by the stream listening. Of course she didn't get her chores done when she did that. And that is what would
make Gongi mad. That's why Gongi finally resorted to having a fresh switch handy at all times now.
Lali's behavior made Gongi very sad, and she would weap by the fire and call to
Chin-Honaw to help her with their very uncooperative little grand-daughter. By the time Lali would come home in the
evenings, Gongi would be so glad to see her safe and alive, she always forgot to scold her. She would always give
Lali her supper, and later they would sing ancients chants of their Ancestors together before jumping in bed under the great
grizly bearskin rug.
Lali would always want to hear a story before going to sleep. Gongi would
tell her how Chin-Honaw her great warrior husband had himself killed the great grizzly bear with just his bow and arrow.
It was a story of courage and strength. Lali had heard it a hundred times and she loved it. It made her have exciting
dreams..
Lali no longer helped Rizing Moon with Ebi and Shiro (her twin brothers).
Salanka needed Rizing Moon's help all the time now, and Lali preferred to linger in the forest by herself. She was staying
out alone now for longer and longer periods. That way no one would call on her to help out. That way she
could listen to the voices in the breeze, and waterfall. The birds paid no attention to her and went about their
business of building their nests and foraging for insects and worms.
Sittingjing-gongala was a weaver like her mother before her, and made beautiful
clothes and blankets. She could sit and weave all day, but she had lots of work to do grinding corn, fetching water,
getting firewood and preparing meals. Work bored Lali though. She expected her Grandmother to do everything, while
she lolled the days away in the forest daydreaming. There didn't seem to be any way to control Lali.
One day, Lali was so delirious with anxiety, she became angry when Gongi
needed her to go fill the water jug. Lali tried to run out, but Gongi blocked the door. Then Lali started having
a fit, tearing her hair out and scratching herself 'til she bled. She flug herself onto the floor and
hit her head on one of the teepee poles, knocking herself out.
Gongi couldn't believe it. She was frantic. She threw open the buffalo
skin on the doorway of the teepee and let fresh air come in.
Omwanaku was standing outside.
"Oh,...Brother. What are you doing here?
"I could hear the commotion from the meadow," he said.
"I thought you were killing someone."
"Oh Lali is having another one of her fits," replied an exasperated Gongi.
"I only asked her to fill up the jug, and she....come look..." she said, leading him into the teepee. Lali was still
laying motionless on the earthen floor. Her arms and legs were bleeding where she had scratched them. "When is
her mother going to come back and take responsibility for her?!" Gongi said bitterly. "I'm getting old and can't take
the stress anymore!"
Omwanaku went over to Lali and examined her. Her heart was beating and she
was breathing, but she was out cold. He looked very sad. In his mind's eye he could see Leula and Lali dancing
together in the meadow where the horses were grazing. They were joyful and playing tag together.
"Brother," Gongi exclaimed, "what it is? Is she alive...what?"
Omwanaku got up. His eyes were heavy with tears. His expression was
somber. "Yes, she's alive and breathing." he assured. "There's a big lump where she hit her head, but no blood.
Let her rest for a moment." Then hesitating, he added, "Let's go outside, I have something to tell you....."
He quickly went out and Gongi followed him, very puzzled. "What is he going to tell me now?!," she thought.
Outside, they sat in the shade of the Cottonwood tree on the grass near the teepee.
Reluctantly, he began:
"It's been 9 summers since Leula brought Lali to us....and she's been a great
blessing and a burden too."
"You didn't look hard enough for Leula," Gongi said scolding him. "Where
did she go? Why doesn't she come back Brother...why? Could she still be alive?" Gongi uttered in grief with
a sob..
"You have to listen to me now Sister. You'll not like what I have to
say. But please try to listen........"
Gongi looked up at him, wiping the tears from her eyes.
"..........I found her" he added finally.
"What?! You found her! and you didn't tell me?!!" Gongi abruptly interjected.
"Yes...." he replied softly.
"Well...." she said impatiently. Then realizing maybe she was dead when
he found Leula, she added "Was she alive?"
"Yes" he answered assuredly. "But she had changed"
"Changed?" replied Gongi inquisitively.
"Yes, she was different," he said "She looked and sounded different.
Her hair was matted and her skin was aged and burnt from the sun. She was...naked, but....."
Omwanaku found it difficult to continue. Tears formed in the corners of his eyes. He wiped them away quickly.
Gongi was becoming frantic now. "When was this?" she asked him.
In the teepee, Lali had regained consciousness slowly and could hear the conversation
between her Grandmother and Great Uncle. She crept to the door of the teepee and listened quietly.
"It was three moons after she left the baby with me" he replied.
I was going further and further into the forest to look for her.
One day as I was calling her name, she came out from the bushes. She looked.....possessed...."
he stuttered.
"Possessed?" Gongi inquired impatiently. "What did you do" she continued
"I was afraid of her Gongi. You can't imagine...." he confessed.
"Do you remember I told you Leula didn't tell me the child's name?"
"Yes..." she replied.
"Well, she told me, the child's name was....." he regretted now saying anything
about it.
"Come on old man, you better tell me now" Gongi said a little peeved at
this point. "Tell me her real name.!"
"Well," he continued, "she said the child's name,...is...Jzurlea!"
Gongi was stunned for a moment. Then she repeated the name.. "Jzurlea!
Oh no! That was the old Owl Woman's name. I remember her. She lived in our village when we were kids.
No one knew what happened to her. She just disappeared one day. How could Leula name her child after that old
witch?"
Omwanaku just shook his head in disbelief.
"Well continue Omwanaku," Gongi insisted. "Did she come back with you?...."
"No," he replied sadly. "She ah,....she,...right before my eyes Gongi,....she
grew feathers on his bare skin."
"You're crazy!" Gongi shouted. "You're getting me upset with these
lies! "
"I'm not lying!" he retorted. "If you listen, I'll tell you..."
He took a deep breath and continued. "So...when her wings came in, she began running for the edge of the mesa we were
on. She just ran off the edge Gongi." He stopped now wiping the tears from his eyes.
Gongi sat quietly stunned. Then she continued. "She ran off the
edge. Did she fly?"
Omwanaku looked into Gongi's eyes now. "She flew descending into the
valley," he said soberly. "...until, she hit the side and began tumbling down......oh whew! She didn't make
it Gongi. I was unable to get to her for two days. By then, her mangled body had been chewed up by Pumas
or something.....that's the truth. But she left a feather on the earth where she had stood....an owl feather.
I still have it Gongi." When he finished what he had to say, he stood up and stretched.
Gongi remained seated, her head bent down. Tears fell on her hands.
In the teepee, Lali listened. Were they talking about her mother? Finally Gongi got up.
"We'd better go check on Lali," she said. She looked fiercely at Omwanaku
reading his thoughts. "No! I'm not calling her Jzurlea!" Lali scrambled back to her position on the floor before
they came in.
In his mind, Omwanaku was still reliving that last day with Leula:
Day after day he had returned to the forest calling to her as he went deeper and deeper thru
the tanling maze of vines and branches. Finally he climbed to the top of a hill that overlooked the valley bsin below.
Dusk was coming and the sun was sinking quickly below the horizon.
As he stood looking out over the valley, he had a strange sensation of a presence
behind him. He at once recognized it to be Leula. He turned around, but she wasn't there. He began
calling her name aloud. Then he heard a sound behind him and realized she was standing close, just behind him.
He turned abruptly and faced her. Her eyes were wild like a firer burning
out of control. as she stared at him, the sun's last rays glinting thru their darkness. He was ssurprized to see her
condition had deteriorated since their last encounter the night she had come to his teepee with the baby.
She had grown much shorter curiously enough. She had almost shriveled to an old
woman. Her hair was long and had lightened from living outdoors. It reached almost to the ground. Her skin
was very dark and creased. She was breathing heavily and it was difficult for her to speak.
"Omwanaku," she barely uttered. She had a foul odor about her. He
didn't want to touch her, and she moved back so he could not. Her hair was matted with stickers and mud. He was
so appalled to see her in this condition. As he observed her incredulously, feathers sprouted all over her body, legs,
head and arms. He no longer recognized her.
"My God Leula, what has happened to you," he cried silently.
But she moved quickly now, running toward the ledge, lifting her wings to catch the wind.
She caught it and briefly lifted off, but then began decending into the valley in spiraling circles. Unexpectedly, she
hit the side of the mountain, and catapulted helter skelter to the very bottom below. He could barely see her
twisted and mangled body, laying lifeless and shattered.
He couldn't believe his eyes, and thought they were playing tricks on him. He
sat dizzily for a moment on the ground. He just wanted to get back to the village, but decided to go retreive
Leula's body first. As he rose up, he noticed an owl feather sticking out of the earth. It was a feather from
Leula's left wing. Beside it was a strangely carved stone head. When he picked it up, he noticed that one side
of the stone was carved in the likeness of a human head, the other the face of an owl.
The head looked like it belonged to a statue and had been torn violently off the body.
It was made of a milky, mother of pearl looking material. He examined it closely. It was unlike
any other he had ever seen. The exquisite face was adorned with what looked like jewels and long locks of hair .
Thruout it ran veins of precious metals of azure, vermillion and turquoise.
He rose shakily, still confused and trying to catch his breath. He stood
looking blankly across the canyon. Shaking his head in dismay,
Omwanaku put the carved stone head and the feather in his day bag and decended
the mesa to look for, gather and bury his neice's remains.
*****************************************************
In the teepee Peaciwawla lay perfectly still. She wanted to hear more of
their conversation. Omwanaku stroked Lali's head gently. Gongi massaged Lali's hands. They called to her,
but Lali didn't answer. She was glad she could torment them like this. She loved getting the better of her Grandmother.
It was her way of getting even. Lali always thought that Gongi had driven her mother away because her grandmother was
so bossy and mean. Lali had even said so on occassion. But now she just pretended to be unconscious, and continued to
lay very still.
Omwanaku knew Lali was faking unconsciousness because he could see her in his
mind's eye hiding behind her fluttering eye lids. She was just being a mischeivious brat. But he said nothing.
Instead he got up to Gongi's surprize.
"What are you going to do Brother?" she said anxiously. "We have to revive
her"
"I'll be right back Gongi," he replied. "Don't worry now, I can help her."
With that he left the teepee. Gongi continued to sit beside Lali wiping the sweat from her forehead. It was noon
now and the teepee was getting pretty warm. But Lali didn't move. Instead she waited. She wanted to see
what her great uncle was up to.
Soon Omwanaku returned. In his hands he carried the stone head carving and
the owl feather. He had a little rattle with him too. This he shook to make a rhythmic sound that he made all
about Lali's little body.
"Get your drum old woman," he commanded. "We have work to do. Your
granddaughter is possessed by the spirit of her mother, and her mother went mad. But we can save Lali still. Start
beating your drum."
Gongi pulled the little drum out and began to beat on it while Omwanaku shook
the rattle, chanting in an ancient language neither Gongi nor Lali knew. He held the owl feather and stone head fragment
to the four winds and the six directions. He called on his ancestors and teachers for assistance. The monotony
of it all put Lali to sleep.
Omwanaku lifted Lali's limp body onto the great grizzly bearskin rug while Gongi
continued to beat the drum quietly. Lali sighed deeply and fell into a deep trance.
Sittingjing-gongala sat in the corner waiting, listening...
and in the softly shaded textures of the lodge, one could see
a tear glisten in the corner of the old woman's eye.
She looked sadly at Lali. Why had she alienated Leula,
and now Lali. Why was this happening again?
Gongi continued to beat the drum while Omwanaku
went round and round Lali's little body,
shaking the little rattle, and chanting steadily.
***************************
Gongi was a patient woman. She had lived long enough
to prove the wisdom of the Ancestor's teachings.
Though she was old, her mind was quick and alert.
She always went for a brisk walk in the early morning
to gather herbs while burning cedar bough, making her morning prayers.
She knew if she just kept praying and performing her ritual duty,
things would change for the better.
She would gather grasses and leaves for weaving baskets,
and seldom come home without a bowl of berries.
But she was not as strong as she had been in her youth.
The stiffness didn't leave her back as quickly now, as it did
when she was young. Her hands too were numb,
and she found it hard to have the patience with Lali
she had had with her own children.
She wept often for her grand-daughter. She prayed that Lali
would grow up to love and follow the ancestral path.
But the child was strong willed and she too had little patience
with her grandmother. She would just run awy into the forest
when the old woman called for her to do her chores.
And Lali wasn't getting any better.
Something had to change.
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Go to Chapter 2
