The Mammoth Hunters
- Tape 1
Side A
- Trembling with fear, Ayla clung to the tall man beside her as she watched the strangers approach. Jondalar put his arm around her protectively, but she still shook.
- He wondered how something could be expressed more clearly in a language in which gestures and actions were used more than words, but he had been more surprised to know those people communicated at all.
Side B
- Seeing Ranec gave him an idea of a way to ease tensions and get back to story telling. "That was a good story, Jondalar," Talut boomed, giving Frebec a hard look.
- Nights had always been the worst time during her lonely years in the valley. During the day she could find something to do to keep busy, but at night the stark emptiness of her cave had pressed heavily.
The Mammoth Hunters
- Tape 2
Side A
- A man often feels closer to his mate's children, the children of his hearth, because he lives with them and trains them, but his sister's children are his heirs, and when he grows old he is their responsibility.
- "The way out is also the way in! That's what Mamut said!" Wymez looked puzzled for only a moment then he slowly grinned his understanding. Tulie looked at both of them. Then a dawning look of comprehension appeared on her face.
Side B
- "I saw it too. I wasn't even sure at first, but it was a wolf, and it was black. And I think it was alone." "Speaking of wolves, we should keep watch tonight. If there is a black wolf around, that's all the more reason," Talut said.
- The first two, one of Jondalar's and one of Talut's, were hit in quick succession. Dirt rained down from the collision, but it took extra time to transfer the additional stones from one hand to the other.
The Mammoth Hunters
- Tape 3
Side A
- In her valley, when she had been hesitant about facing the unknown Others, she had thought Jondalar only wished to leave so he could be with other people. She had never quite understood before just how powerful was his desire to return to his home.
- Then, suddenly, Mamut continued, "there is a disturbance." A herd of reindeer is running straight at them. At first I thought they were attacking-dreams often have deeper meaning than they seem-but these deer are in a panic, and when they see the lions, they scatter.
Side B
- "I know you care for the boy, Nezzie. I do, too. But is your love for him a reason to make a stranger one of us? What woulld I say to the Councils?"
- Why did I ever agree to your joining? Why did I ever believe someone who paid such a low Bride Price would be good enough for her? My poor daughter, my poor Fralie..."
The Mammoth Hunters
- Tape 4
Side A
- He pulled himself up, finally kissing a breast and nuzzling her navel as he backed off and got up. Then she got up, and headed toward the back, dropping some cooking stones in the fire.
- The cave seemed deserted. Everything useful that they weren't taking with them had been put back in the storage holes and cairns, just in case they might want to come back for it some day, though neither one believed they ever would.
Side B
- The tough, sticky clay, washed and sorted into fine particles by the river, would absorb no water. It was impervious to water. Rain, sleet, melting snow, nothing would penetrate. Even when wet, it was waterproof.
- The group repeated the words, and Ayla realized it was the second time in her life that she had been taken in, accepted, and made a member of a people whose ways she hardly knew.
The Mammoth Hunters
- Tape 5
Side A
- She closed her eyes and shivered from the tender touch.
- "Mamut..." Ayla began, then realized she didn't know exactly what she wanted to say. "Ah... I think now is a good time to make medicine for arthritis."
Side B
- "I know because mint has a cord made from the stringy bark of a certain bush, and there are two knots on one end of the cord. The cord on the packet of rose hips is from the long hair of a horse tail, and it has three knots in a row, close together," Ayla said.
- Willow and alder clung close to the earth, bent by the weight of climate and season to prostrate shrubs. A few scrawny birch trees stood tall and thin, scraping bare branches noisily together in the wind, as though clamoring for the fulfilling touch of green.
The Mammoth Hunters
- Tape 6
Side A
- "That may be, but was it necessary to stay out so late tracking the wolf?" It was almost dark before you returned," Tulie said. Jondalar had said the same thing. "But I knew the black had young, she was nursing. Without a mother, they would die," Ayla explained, although she has said it before and thought it was understood.
- Training the cave lion had been somewhat more purposeful. By the time she found the injured cub, she knew an animal could be encouraged to follow her wishes. Her first efforts at training had been directed at controlling the lion kitten's rambunctious affection.
Side B
- Fralie began to feel an ache in her back again. If she lay there quietly, maybe it would go away... if she could keep from coughing. She was beginning to wish she could talk to Ayla, at least to get something for the cough, but she didn't want Frebec to think she was siding with her mother.
- He pushed himself against her, and she felt a warm hardness next to her thigh, as he reached to take her other nipple in his mouth, and suckled hard, making little pleasure noises.
The Mammoth Hunters
- Tape 7
Side A
- Her sadness for Creb brought up the tears she had been holding back, the tears of her sorrow, confusion, and thwarted love. Jondalar had been watching from the cooking hearth.
- Jondalar spent the entire morning walking along the river, his mind in a turmoil, hearing over and over again Ranec's joyful words. Ayla had agreed. They would announce their Promise at the ceremony that evening.
Side B
- Faintly, as though they were inside the earth lodge and she was outside, Ayla heard the chanting and resonant voice of the drums. She focused on the sound. It had a steadying effect, gave her a point of reference and a sense that she was not alone.
- Wolf yelped, but his only reaction was to lick the baby's face, which caused Hartal to giggle. He pushed the warm, wet tongue away, putting his pudgy little hands into his long jaws full of sharp teeth, then grabbed fistfuls of furry coat and tried to pull Wolf toward him.
The Mammoth Hunters
- Tape 8
Side A
- "We can see you are making a new lodge, Avarie." You don't need to go to trouble for us. A place to set up tents will be enough," Tulie said. "Later, we would be pleased to share a meal with you, and perhaps show you some fine reindeer skins and furs we happen to have with us."
- "Oh, Crozie!" Ayla exclaimed. "This is beautiful!" She breathed in wonder at a chalk-white leather cape decorated with ivory beads in subtle repetitive triangles, and hedgehog quills, dyed ocher red and sewn on in patterns of right-angled spirals and zigzags.
Side B
- Soon she was weaving an unusual contrapuntal rhythm around the strong, steady beat, a seemingly random pattern of staccato sounds that varied in tempo. The two sets of rhythms were so distinct they bore no relationship to each other, yet a stressed beat of Ayla's rhythms coincided with every fifth beat of Deegie's steady sound, almost as if by accident.
- The meeting started to break up, then there was a sudden flurry of interest as Vincavec strode into the clearing, followed by his camp, the delegation that had been talking about adopting Ayla, and the last of the Lion Camp, Nezzie and Rydag.
The Mammoth Hunters
- Tape 9
Side A
- It was always an exciting wild ride, and she loved it for just that reason. Ayla clung to his mane, as the wind whipped her face, and breathed in his strong, rangy odor.
- She dashed in and joined the chase, following close on the heels of an old bull with tusks crossed over in front. More burn-able materials, which had been piled into mounds at the opening, were lit in an attempt to keep the frightened animals inside.
Side B
- "It's Rydag's amulet, like the one I made for the Spring Festival. I have to put a piece of red ochre in it, and name him the way the Clan does. He should have a totem, too, to protect him on his way to the world of the spirits." She paused and wrinkled her brow.
- "Ayla, Ayla, what's wrong with me? Why do I take it for granted that you know everything, already? Maybe it's because you know so much that I don't know, and you've learned so much, so fast, that I forget you've just learned it. Maybe I ought to learn a sign for saying things that I don't have words for."
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