Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
After a rest, Brother Wolf continued to clean up the wounds for both of the people, and finally put on the healing medicine for dressing.
Li Du asked, “Are you okay? Can you walk by yourself?”
The older native man nodded, got onto his feet with the help of a tree branch, and bowed after getting up. “Thank you, thank you for saving my life. If I had not come across you today, we would have died!”
Brother Wolf frowned. “Copperhead is not that venomous. How could you become unconscious so soon after being bitten?”
The Native American said, “I don’t know. We’ve always been like this in our tribe. We are sensitive to the copperhead bushmaster. Our nerves are often numb from a bite.”
“Sensitive towards vipers,” Brother Wolf understood. “Be careful next time and stay away if you see a snake.”
The boy asked, “Did you see a helicopter just now? It’s got a big box. Did you notice it?”
Li Du said, “Oh, we saw it. Why are you concerned about the helicopter?”
The boy said, “We followed the helicopter. Is that the helicopter that the Pittsburgh administration used to drop food and medicine?”
To help the natives and some remote villages, the cities around the Appalachian mountains often send helicopters to drop some daily necessities in the remote mountains, to assist the vulnerable groups.
Listening to the boy’s words, Li Du knew he worried too much and said, “It was a private helicopter, it was supposed to carry something. It didn’t drop anything.”
The boy showed a disappointed expression, and muttered, “Oh, well, the Pittsburgh administration hasn’t dropped anything in two months. That’s strange.”
The older Markelov grinned. Li Du looked at him and whispered, “Was it you?”
Big Markelov grinned and said, “It turned out that these government packages are very nice. We found them once. Clothes, medicine, food and a few tools came from there.”
The two men were exceedingly grateful after Li Du saved them. Li Du wanted to continue on his way, but the locals wouldn’t hear of it and invited him and his party for a meal.
.
The two natives were Mohicans. Their tribe was once one of several large Appalachian tribes.
The Mohican people originally lived north of the Catskill Mountains on the upper Hudson River. Their tribal name meant ‘Wolf’ in their Algonquin language, but the Dutch and English who first discovered them called them riverside Indians because they lived along the river.
Later, the land of the Mohicans was invaded and sold cheaply, and eventually, they left their homeland for the mountains.
By this time, the Mohican tribe had a large number of branches, five of which were the main ones. Each branch was ruled by ancestral leaders and supported by elected advisers.
The young native was named Catulom and the older man’s name was Sadisram. They belonged to a small branch of the Mohican tribe called Tavisi.
Catulom, who had the enthusiasm and honesty of a teenager, said, “If you can, I want you to come to our place. My parents will want to thank you for saving their son.”
Li Du looked at the sky, where the sun was almost setting, and decided that eating a meal with the tribe would be fine. He nodded.
However, he noticed that Sadisram did not seem very pleased with the invitation, and seconded it only half-heartedly.
Catulom, who had not noticed this, was delighted and said, “Great! Our tribe must welcome you, for we have had no guests for a long time!”
“It’s not that our tribe hasn’t had guests for a long time,” Sadisram said gravely. “It’s that we don’t allow them in. Most people, white and black, are bad people. Only some of them are good. We welcome good people.”
Li Du smiled and said, “Fortunately, I am not white or black.”
“That’s one of the reasons my nephew invited you,” said Sadisram.
As they walked, Ah Ow and Ah Meow ran back after having played enough in the surrounding woods.
Ah Ow came out of the trees. The two natives were shocked. “Hey, Wolf!” they cried out.
Both of them lived in the mountains and naturally were familiar with such animals.
“Don’t be afraid. It’s my pet. She’s a good girl.” Li Du beckoned, and Ah Ow ran towards him and placed the wild grouse that she caught in his hands.
When Sadisram saw this, he suddenly fell on his knees before Ah Ow and muttered something in their traditional Algonquin language. Li Du had no idea what he was saying.
Ah Ow looked puzzled. She cocked her head to look at Sadisram. She couldn’t understand what he was doing.
Li Du hurried to help Sadisram up said, “My God, man, what are you doing?”
“This is not your pet,” Sadisram said solemnly. “This is the spirit of the mountain, the spirit of all the beasts.”
Li du laughed and said, “I think she’s a clever wolf, but surely not a holy wolf?”
“There are two kinds of wolves. The ones who hurt people are normal wolves. The clever, friendly ones are the holy wolves. Our ancestors met the holy wolves, and when the holy wolves saw they were exhausted, they didn’t just leave them in peace but also gave them food!” said Sadisram.
Catulom nodded vigorously. “Yes, yes, yours is a holy wolf!”
The Mohican tribe was the Wolf tribe, and their totem was the Holy Wolf.
Of course, as Sadisram said, they were not stupid, and they didn’t just worship any wolf. They worshipped the holy Wolf, and it didn’t matter whether it really existed or not. They had faith anyway.
Ah Ow’s presence excited the two men, and Sadisram changed his attitude towards Li Du, making sure to invite him and his party to the tribe, and becoming even more enthusiastic than his nephew.
On the way, he said, “Our rescue must have been arranged by the god Mohican. It must be like this. He brought the holy wolf to us.”
Li Du touched his chin and said, “It’s possible, man. It was my pet wolf who found you. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have noticed you in the woods.”
From this point of view, there was something metaphysical about it. Those who worshipped wolves were saved by a wolf, which seemed nothing short of miraculous.
When they heard this, they were more excited, and Sadisram could not help saying, “Oh, is it so? Oh, it must be so! We are the Mohicans. Boy, you are blessed by the Mohican god. Sir, you are a good man who takes care of the holy wolf. Please tell our chief and the elderly about this when we come to the tribe.”
After discovering that Ah Ow saved them, both of them became more energetic and the weakness caused by the snake bites was gone. They walked so fast the others had trouble to keep up with them.
Li Du had to admit, the psychological effect had a tremendous impact. This was the power of the human spirit.
