Маленькая хозяйка большого дома / The Little Lady Of The Big House

“Me, I am Ai-kut[39 - Ai-kut – Ай-Кут], the first man, Ai-kut is the short for Adam, and my father and my mother were the coyote and the moon. And this is Yo-to-to-wi[40 - Yo-to-to-wi – Йо-то-то-ви], my wife. She is the first woman. Her father and her mother were the grasshopper and the ring-tailed cat. They were the best father and mother left after my father and mother. The coyote is very wise, the moon is very old. The mother of all women was a cat, a little, wise, sad-faced, shrewd ring-tailed cat.

The song of the first man and woman was interrupted by protests from the women and acclamations from the men.

“This is Yo-to-to-wi, which is the short for Eve,” Dick chanted on. “Yo-to-to-wi is very small. But it is not her fault. The fault is with the grasshopper and the ring-tailed cat. Me, I am Ai-kut, the first man. I was the first man, and this, Adam chose Eve. Yo-to-to-wi was the one woman in all the world for me, so I chose Yo-to-to-wi.”

And Evan Graham, listening, thought, “Dick Forrest is lucky—too lucky.

“Me, I am Ai-kut,” Dick chanted on. “This is my dew of woman. She is my honey-dew[41 - honey-dew – медвяная роса] of woman. I have lied to you. Her father and her mother were neither hopper nor cat. They were the dawn and the summer east wind of the mountains. Yo-to-to-wi is my honey-dew woman. Hear me! I am Ai-kut. Yo-to-to-wi is my quail woman, my deer-woman, my lush-woman of all soft rain and fat soil. She was born of the thin starlight and the brittle dawn-light before the sun …”

5

The guests asked Paula to play.

“I’m asking you to play �Reflections on the Water[42 - Reflections on the Water – «Размышления на воде»]’,” Terrence said to her.

“Oh, Debussy[43 - Debussy – Клод Дебюсси, французский композитор]!” Paula laughed.

No sooner was she seated than the three sages slipped away to their listening places.

All jollity and banter had ceased. Ernestine leaned across from a chair to whisper to Graham:

“She can do anything she wants to do. And she doesn’t work … much. She doesn’t play like a woman. Listen to that!”

Paula played with the calm and power. Her touch was definite, authoritative.