The milky river

That spring, fatherls business was not good. Father came back angry from the market, as more than half of the herd was unsold and, as usual when he was angry, he swore and went to bed without taking a bite.

Next day, all the neighbouring cattle farmers gathered with father in the big room downstairs, poured wine and began to deliberate. They were all true cow herders, had hundreds of cows in their stables, bathed twice a year, at Easter and Christmas, drank brandy as if it were water, swore terribly and wiped their greasy lard knives on their trousers. They were not evil people, however, and there was always sugar in their pockets to give to horses and kids. They faced big competition for their herds; when going to the marketplace they had to sell their cattle well below cost or return home with it, while folk from the Milk Valley sold theirs immediately, their cattle being s’ender, with long twisted horns, gave lots of excellent milk; and what's more, it was believed that their cows were grazing at night and that's why they gave so much milk.

However, those who buy them mix them with the other cows in the herd and bring them to graze during the day, and then they give milk just like all the other cows; so why do they buy the cows from them? "Because of their reputation," Dad said, with anger, and all heads mumbled, still puzzled: "reputation."

Immediately, I thought about Luke. We were going to the same school and were friends. He was from the Milk Valley and has even asked me to come over and visit one day. I had to go to find out the truth. I set out on a holiday, and went part of the road on foot and part by train to arrive at the Milk Valley. The village was situated on a plateau opening into a large and wide valley, cut by three rivers that would join further up into a single river, surrounded by reddish, barren hills.

Luke's house was the last in a group of homes, and was located at the edge of the plateau, the back wall being right at the edge of the precipice. It was early morning, there was nobody in sight, and the geese of the village were coming along swaying; when they saw me they turned their heads and started hissing. The gate was half opened and I squeezed myself quickly into the yard. From there, I saw the geese reaching the edge of the cliff and taking off over the plain. Luke was at the door, smiling.

"They return in the evenings, they know how to take care of themselves," he assured me.

I entered the cool house and sat on the bench. The room was small and the white walls were covered with sheets of bark. By the wall was an iron stove with legs like dog's paws that took half the room's space. It was a warm spring, and the stove was no longer used, and in the kitchen May's lovage was drying on the range. Through the open door I noticed a weaving loom.

"Where are your folks?" I asked.

"Mom just went out to freshen up a bit. She's been weaving all night long," he replied.

While talking with Luke about this and that, a noise was heard from the stove; the cast iron rings of the cooking range were shaking and rattling. Putting the lovage bunches aside, I took the burners out and a child's head emerged and got out the stove. "It's my sister," Luke said, and hurriedly picked her up, and I froze thinking that this was a kid's bed. The girl, who looked about two years old, was naked and I helped Luke wash her in the bath pile and dress her in a white shirt and skirt, and after that she looked like a living dandelion that needed to be sheltered from the wind so it won't scatter. She was looking straight at me and I had the strange feeling that she could see through me.

For a while she stayed motionless in her big brother's arms, as if listening to something, then she started to fret; on her nose a s’ed could glide rapidly, climbing a little on top and stopping at the edge of the precipice.

The girl laughed, but inside me I felt like falling. "There now, grumbled Luke, Mom said she will hire a man to look after the cows but I'm afraid that it will be she."

"Where are the cows?" I wondered. A small window opened to the stable. I set the curtain aside. The cows were fast asleep.

"What's your sister's name?" I asked.

"What's your name?"  Luke turned and asked her.

"Arina," she answered cheerfully, "in the evening I'm taking the cows"…
I looked at Luke. 'No one can contradict my Mom!' he said. We stepped out holding Arina's hands between the two of us and went down to the valley.

"Arina is already given, you know, when she's eighteen she will marry a lad seven villages away, that is waiting for her, until then she'll graze the cows and sew her dowry. You don't know how intricate a wedding dress is around here."  Then he added, "A dress like this takes years to make, since this is the most important event." He started reciting rhythmically, bending towards the little girl that was laughing like a spoiled child:

The four evangelists were three
Luke and Matthew (but not me!)
They found what they were looking for
The round Earth they can control.

I felt like suffocating. "She won't go to school?" I asked. "What would she do at school?" he replied. "Would her sewing be better if she goes? Will she find out why she came here, why she's going and how to survive first love?"

"I will not survive first love," I said with difficulty, looking at Arina.

Luke was silent like an old man full of wisdom; he was three years older than me; he took his sister on his shoulders and we went further away into the valley. The rivers were as white as milk and were slowly boiling.

"Try to put your foot in my footsteps, he said, there are spots that are quicksand while others are solid they are shifting, everything is ever-changing; only the river stays where it is, although this is not expected from it...the river shows the way”

Facing the sun with her eyes closed, Arina was singing and dangling her feet on her brother's chest.

We sat on the river's edge, among huge white rocks and green grass. We laid on the cobbles to catch some sun, then we dipped in the river, the water was thick as milk and steamy. Arina was chasing some blue small butterflies. There was a smell of sunbaked stone, grass and milk. I was looking at that area, arid, reddish, little vegetation, my eyes wondered along the rivers. They were flowing towards a plateau, rising to the sky, like a wall.

"Here the land is desolate, there is too much iron, and there aren't many pastures," said Luke.

"And where are the cows grazing?" I asked.

Luke looked intently at a small insect Arina has found, and said "They are going far away" and he pointed with his arm towards the plateau, "on those hills..."

I closed my eyes, and listened to the sounds of water rushing between stones…I thought I heard some familiar sounds…

"Does the river talk?" I asked.

Luke smiled broadly: "It invariably says: everything is good."

“What do you mean?”

“Because everything, this means any thing, first of all, is and second, is either close to whatever is there or is part of whatever is there; so it turns out that one can only place good after is, so even if something is bad, it's still good."

"The way you said it first was clearer," I mumbled. I looked at Arina bathing in the river; she was as white as the river.

"Look how much she grew up since this morning," I said.

"Sorry?" Luke asked as if he hasn't heard me. "She is taller," I said. "Not at all," muttered Luke.

Some thoughts of bad words went through my mind, to tell Luke and be off with him forever; how could he believe he can fool me like that, the girl's face was different as well, damned breed of sorcerers!

"Listen," Luke said, "you are my friend, what you said is true, but I don't know how to explain, it is and it isn't at the same time."

I remembered what he said, that when NOT is in front of IS it's the same as YES, and I didn't say anything.

I gestured that I was fed up

The sun was setting behind the hills and the valley became dark and very chilly; a chill that gets into your bones. I went home with Luke and got to meet his mother. She was making food in a kitchen hastily put together in the yard. She was white and fat, moving around like a goose and also talking like one. She served us dinner, then retreated to her weaving loom, perhaps she was making Arina's dowry.

Luke kindled the lamp that was hanging from the ceiling, a lamp made from a musty pumpkin. We ate heartily and before we were about to finish the food in the pots, Arina got up from the table and went out, without saying a word. She was a bit shorter than I. I remained looking into nothing, staring at the black frame of the door through which the girl disappeared.

"There's full moon tonight," Luke said staring at the pumpkin.  Then, he guided me to a small room and put sheets on a bed with a mattress made of grass.

I stretched with my arms under my head; through the low clay walls, full of bumps and cavities, a reddish light was penetrating. I was about to fall sound asleep, exhausted from the long journey and the dip in river, but I pulled myself out of bed and rushed out, to the edge of the precipice.

The rivers were sparkling white in the darkness of the valley and the village cows were walking on them, in a never-ending row - there was mooing and cowbell noise, and on one of the cows one could see Arina's silhouette. They were heading towards the flat plateau, beneath which the moon was rising, and the first cows were climbing one after the other, slender and black, haloed. 

Everything was true then. This was the starting point of all the trouble for my folk and all the cattlemen that had gathered around the table. But how come Luke asked me to come to his place when he knew I would see everything? I returned to my bed shivering from the cold. Luke was laying in bed, looking at me.

"Please don't get upset, I know we are a curse for the honest cattlemen but you see, we have no choice; however we will all leave this place soon."  

"To go where?" I asked, frozen. "To where the pastures are," Luke answered.

The next day I woke up and washed at the well, pouring water over my head with the bucket, while the images I saw at night were lingering in my head, and I couldn't think of anything else. I looked at the stable and saw the same thing; the cows were sound asleep, with pleated horns.

I said goodbye to Luke and asked about Arina, but he told me that she was very tired and was sleeping.

I remembered myself as a child, sleeping among the cows and asked myself if she were also sleeping like that, or on a white soft bed, as a girl like her deserved. What did it matter though? I went through the door at the same time with the geese, I looked at them again as their flock was flying over the valley and getting further away, then walked to the station.

The long journey was good for me, as I could think undisturbed. Should I tell father what happened? How come Luke was not worried about this? I got home. Father was in the stable with two servants, grooming the horses.

"You're back," he said happily, and then asked briefly "Hey, what's up?" His face was honest yet upset at the same time. I could not lie to him. Facing the ground I said: "It's true"…

"Damn them then!" and he mounted the horse and galloped away. The next day, riding on their horses through the fog, they all went to the Milk Valley. But they found nothing, nothing at all, not even a forlorn cat, only the houses and the stables, all empty and abandoned.

The slender cows with long horns never again showed up at the markets. Ten years went by. One summer day I mounted my horse and went to the abandoned village.

I could not find the homes anymore, and could not recognize the place; only the river was as white as before, with white rocks and green grass on the edges. I walked on the hills till the evening, went into the water, and saw that it was shallow; it hardly covered the horse's hoofs and was slowly boiling.

I started to go forth in the direction of the river, from one side of the river to the other. I was thinking…with a wife like Arina I wouldn't mind if I sold the cattle or not, or hmm, I wouldn't be that upset. Is she still that beautiful, as an adult? With a goose for a mother…

The children are beautiful to make the adults protect them, it's only a defense weapon of the species, when they grow up they start looking like their parents; but for sure I would love her still, and if she got to look like her mother, I would know that she is hidden there in a goose-woman and that would be enough for me.

At the same time I was hearing Arina's childish voice singing.

 I stood straight and did not sway.
The skunk sniffed me and ran away.

I was drunk and could not stay,
But was caught into the fray

Hip-hop, I had it made,
I lit a fire with nobody's aid.