The Echoing Woods
It was said that one should be very careful when travelling
out to forests of the Condado de Lagunas. The lakes around those woods were
beautiful, with plentiful fish. The surrounding land was also known to be very
fertile, perfect for the growing of corn and other crops. The grasses were
tall, and provided much pasture for livestock, and since security was so
important for the settlers who were being sent out to live in such isolated
areas, there were many defensible positions. Water, land, grass and a favorable
terrain, these were the primary attraction for those who were arriving from the
south, after the recent rebellion in which so much that had been built up had
been lost. But the woods were another matter, a danger, something mysterious
that didn’t seem to fit in to what they had encountered in other areas. That
was why, once again, the settlers made it a point to avoid the woods, and to
detour around them as they established their new settlements.
For one thing, there was a legend that didn’t seem quite
real to those who first heard it. This legend had to do with woods that were
populated by creatures unlike those found anywhere else. Now, the settlers knew
about bears, and about mountain cats, and about bison and snakes and eagles and
badgers. They knew also about the dangers of the weather, and of the chill
winds that swept across the area, and the tornados that were known to touch
down from time to time. They also knew of the fierce Indian tribes that had
lived around the area, and that had fought so fiercely during the rebellion,
leaving few survivors among those who had settled fifty years before. But they
had never heard of the wolves of the echoing woods, wolves that were said to be
more than wolves, and who had exerted such a hold on the imagination of the
native peoples.
These were no ordinary wolves. The settlers and the native
peoples knew of the wolves of other areas, those that lived and hunted in
packs, that fought with stealth, and if not controlled, preyed mercilessly on
livestock. Those types of wolves had been seen before, and they could be hunted
down, they could be drawn out with traps, they could be corralled with special
dogs, and they could be culled and forced to retreat until they left for other
pastures. Those wolves they knew about. The wolves of the echoing woods were a
different kind of wolves, clever in a way that no other wolves had been known
to be, and were adept at hunting humans, when provoked. It was a fact that the
wolves of these woods, which were seldom seen but could be senses, were
dangerous animals, with an almost human-like intelligence, and time after time
they had shown themselves to be fearsome foes if settlers tried to cross into
their territory. And it was said that these wolves were let by a monstrous
white wolf that could freeze your blood and left you breathless, if you were
unlucky enough to see it.
The echoing woods were aptly named, and they extended for
miles and miles. The trees were packed thickly, and they ranged up to the edge
of the mountains towards the east. There were streams that led out of the
woods, and flowed out to the open land, creating corridors of greenery that
arced across the plains before they became dusty and dry. And these rivers fed
the lakes that were found in the area, lakes large and small, with a clear and
chilled water that tasted of mountain tops.
When they arrived, the first settlers had seen these woods
and felt encouraged. These were woods that they could use, woods that would
protect them if need be, and furnish them with material for the settlements
they were about to establish. These people had just crossed a dry and open
land, one that could seem so desolate at times, and where water was such a
precious resource. Where there was water, and forests, there would be game, and
they could settle down and establish their ranchos, and slowly expand and
incorporate the local inhabitants, bringing the true religion to them, and
maybe, one day, making it out to the mountains and hills that were visible as a
distant shadow off to the east, where those who didn’t wish to live by farming
might find precious minerals. They would built small churches, and have large
families, and live with security, if they could be left alone.
But this forest was different. The trees, for one thing,
seemed to be unique, and those at the edges were packed so closely together
that they resembled what could only be called a type of arboreal fence. There
were openings, of course, and one could always follow the streams inland,
gaining thus access to the interior, but that didn’t stop the woods from
seeming somehow forbidding. And there were signs, for one thing, great flocks
of owls that seemed to circle overhead, and chirping noises the likes of which
they had never heard before, and that seemed to echo against the wall of trees,
almost as if they were warning people to stay away.
Many of the first settlers had been warned by the original
inhabitants. Those first episodes of contact were difficult, for the original Indian
inhabitants were not sedentary, and were used to moving around and avoiding
contact. But once this communication had begun, and once they had found useful
go-betweens who had been trained in the respective languages of the groups,
they were told over and over that the woods were already inhabited, and that,
if they wished to preserve the peace, they should avoid provoking the dwellers
within. When pressed as to the nature of the people that lived within, they
were told over and over again that they weren’t people, they were wolves, with
cold hearts, and with little regard for humans. And they were fighters the
likes of which could not be defeated, should one be foolhardy enough to try to
confront them.
In particular, there was a legend about a giant white wolf that
paced with a retinue of followers, and that had a power that had not been seen
in others. Now, it was true that most animals tend to avoid human contact, and
they prefer to remain hidden and slip away unnoticed if possible. That had
always been the way of animals, unless they were willing to tolerate human
company, and to grow dependent upon them, and to accept them as kindred
spirits. But this white wolf was known not only for not slipping away, but for
confronting intruders, and challenging them with a withering stare the likes of
which few could describe, for it was a disabling stare, one that paralyzed
those who saw it. This white wolf froze people, the way it froze animals that
were unlucky enough to be caught by its glare, and it was said that people had
seen it freeze massive buffalo who were provoked by the scent of these animals,
and had never shirked from a challenge, and who would charge at any other wolf,
but were unable to move when confronted by the white wolf.
This white wolf, then, was said to be a sorcerer. It had
powers that other wolves didn’t have, and for that reason, and for the way it
easily exerted control over the other wolves in its pack, and for the sense
that it gave of being an ancient creature, it was feared and respected. It was,
indisputably, the master of the echoing woods, and what was just as eerie, it
was known to effortlessly monitor these woods, for it was said to have been
seen at two or more places at the same time, by members of different tribes who
lived many miles apart, but who could share details of their sightings and
pinpoint when and where they had seen the old one.
The pack of wolves did not always stay within the confines
of the woods. From time to time they were known to organize expeditions out to
the prairies, miles and miles out, on mysterious pursuits. Who these wolves had
to fear was hard to imagine, but the fact was that they did venture out, and
when sighted, the Indians knew enough to give them ample space, even though
curiosity was a powerful incentive.
The white wolf (it always accompanied the pack) would lead
them out at a quick pace, following what seemed to be invisible signs that the
observers couldn’t trace to any form of prey. Where they following buffalo? The
wolves were known to challenge and bring down these massive animals from time
to time, and it was a given that they must have big prey within their domain,
for the woods were known to have elk. But when the wolves ventured far out on
the plains, they seemed to follow the trail of a certain weed that grew sparsely
in this domain, a bitter weed that was sometimes gathered by the Indian
inhabitants and boiled in water and drunk by those who were plagued by bad
dreams, and had need of rest. The weed was known as paruntha, a purplish plant
that grew in sparse clumps, but was never very common, and that seemed to trail
away like the footprints of some willowy creature that might have walked across
the plains long ago.
The wolves were seen to stop and smell the weeds, but they
wouldn’t otherwise taste it or try to dig it out. They took note of the weed,
especially when it sprouted during the early spring, as the snow was retreating
and the days grew warmer, and they would resume their trek, ignoring everything
else, and seemingly in little need of any water or nourishment, although if
they happened to come across any game as they ventured out, they would quickly dispatch
it and share it among themselves. The Indians who had shared these accounts
were quite firm in stating that they were never able to give a full account of
these expeditions, for they feared the wolves, and in particular, the white one
that led them during their treks, and was known to be inscrutable and, of
course, deadly. What it was they were searching for, would be something that
was seemingly inscrutable, for even the words of Sa, the elder from long ago,
were couched in terms of vagueness.
The Indians of this region thus avoided the woods, and
preferred to hunt along the edges of the lakes, catching fish, hunting beaver,
and of course, pursuing the elk and moose and the buffalo that roamed across
the plain. They lived by hunting, and they lived by sowing wild herbs and
grains that they would gather at different locations during the year. Hides
were cured for fabric and coverings, bones were carved and became both weapon
and ceremonial items, and meat was dried and stored in preparation for winter.
Their connection to the land extended to the lakes, to the earth, to the
rivers, to the skies and to the animals of the open plains, but it didn’t
extend to the woods. It was seen as an enclosed space, a conception that they
sought to communicate to the first settlers, whose early attempt to penetrate
the woods and to use them had alarmed the Indians and provided the impetus for
the contact with the white settlers that the Indians would otherwise have
avoided if they could. For you see, the Indians feared the consequences that
would have befallen them had the wolves been provoked, consequences that were
deadly, as was seen in several subsequent episodes.
OGRomero © 2013
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