Page 67 of Circle of Days
They came out of the pond and washed off most of the protective mud. “Now,” said Bez, “let’s have a look at that nest.”
They returned to the dead pine. The bees were swarming around the nest entrance, which was partly blocked by the still-smoldering fire. But the insects moved slowly and uncertainly, as if dazed.
Bez used a couple of sticks of dead wood to remove the remainsof the fire. The cavity was still full of smoke. The bees flew around aimlessly. Their nest was right in front of them but they did not recognize it.
Tentatively, Bez put his hand inside, ready to jerk it out instantly. But he was not stung. He felt around, then touched what he was searching for: a sticky mass. He pulled it out. “Look at that!” he said triumphantly to Lali. It was a honeycomb, dark in color but dripping with yellow honey. “Do you want a taste? Take some!”
She dipped her fingers in the liquid and put them in her mouth. She swallowed and said: “Oh, my, it’s so good!”
“Take the comb,” he said, handing it to her. “Put it on a lime leaf so the honey doesn’t drip to the ground and go to waste.” Then he reached inside and brought out two more. “Three,” he said. “We were lucky.” He stacked his two on another leaf.
“We have to share,” said Lali in a wistful tone.
“Of course we do.”
They made their way to the village, a cluster of houses close to a stream—which had now dried up. Lali offered honey to some children and soon had a crowd around her.
Bez looked into the hut where he usually slept. His brother, Fell, was there, a younger, shorter, better-looking version of Bez. He was with Gida, a warm and sexy woman they both liked.
Fell and Gida were lying on their backs, side by side, looking pleased with themselves. Bez guessed they had just made love. He said: “I’ve been walking with Lali.” Gida was Lali’s mother. “We raided a bees’ nest.”
They both dipped their fingers in the honey, then made ecstatic faces.
Bez went outside and began offering the honey to everyone.
It was a lucky day.
A few days later, Lali was in floods of tears. Gida, her mother, had her arm around Lali, comforting her. The reason for her distress lay on the ground in front of them. A puppy had been killed and mostly eaten.
There were several dogs in the village. They warned of strangers and joined enthusiastically in any hunt. A dog did not belong to anyone in particular, but sometimes a dog would attach itself to an individual. Fell had one that followed him around. Bez had noticed that girls of Lali’s age liked to befriend a particular pup.
Gida confirmed his guess. “She was fond of that little dog.”
Bez said: “I wonder what killed it.” Wolves rarely came near human habitations. It might have been a boar, a highly aggressive wild pig, but they were so dangerous that the woodlanders would immediately chase and kill any that entered the wood. Bez guessed it had been killed by a merlin, a small falcon that might hunt in the woods.
Then he noticed something unusual on the ground nearby. It appeared to be the droppings of a big animal. There were four large brown turds, too big to belong to a wolf or a boar.
Bez felt hopeful. If his guess was right, the woodlanders were in luck.
Lali stopped sobbing. “What is it?” she said.
“I think it’s a bear,” said Bez.
“I’ve never seen a bear.”
“Nor have I,” said Gida.
Bez picked up a turd and broke it in half. He could see undigested leaves and the stalks of berries. “A bear that hasn’t eaten much meat lately,” he said.
“Like us,” said Gida.
Lali said: “Did a bear kill my favorite puppy?”
“I think so,” said Bez. He looked around for more signs. A few paces away was a fallen tree, the bark of which had been mostly stripped off. “It’s definitely a bear,” Bez said. “Look at this.”
Lali said: “It’s just a dead tree.” Then, remembering how she had been wrong about the dead pine tree that contained honey, she added: “But perhaps it’s more than that.”
Bez smiled. “The bear stripped the bark,” he said. “With its claws.”
