In The Beginning

by Richard Webber

  Chapter Thirty Four

  After a sleepless night, I left the hut early the next morning. I was troubled by the insights I now had into my behavior and unsure of what, if anything, I needed to change. I could see that I had made many mistakes in my life, and I was guilty of doing many things that at the time I either hadn’t realized or hadn’t cared were wrong. But I had come to no conclusions as I lay on my back staring up the thatched roof. I didn’t know where to go from here.

  I rose with more questions than when I lay down, and I felt more confused than ever before in my life. The only thing I knew to do was lose myself in my work, like I had always done in the past. To make sure I was so busy that I didn’t have time to question my decisions or think about God. I couldn’t run away forever, but I wasn’t ready to face myself yet.

  Kalou would stay at the city to lead in my place while I went to the village. I started early with the twenty-five newcomers, as well as seventeen members of our tribe that would be returning to their families. Though we were outnumbered I had no fear; I could probably defeat all five of their men by myself.

  It took most of two days to return to the village, and on our arrival we were greeted joyfully, especially by the families of the returning men and women.

  Everyone looked with such uncertainty at the newcomers that I almost laughed, but I quickly called the tribe to attention. I divided the newcomers and sent them home with the people they would live with while they learned our ways, and they were quickly settled into the huts they would stay in until the city was ready. It was now late in the evening, so everyone went to the fire where we enjoyed a delicious meal together, with the newcomers once again greedily eating everything that was placed before them.

  I stayed two full days, discussing with Cadune and the other leaders how things were going in the village and filling them in on our progress with the city. I also met with the tribe, and everyone was pleased when I described how quickly and well the building was progressing.

  I and the new workers from the village would return to the city with more seeds and many additional trees that would be planted for our orchards and groves. This cycle would be repeated as we continued to build the city and prepare for the move to our new home.

  In three trips we had transferred enough seed and seedlings to plant all the fields for the city, though we continued to transfer immature fruit and olive trees for several more trips. Within four months everything needed for farming was done. The fields were planted, the irrigation ditches and fences were complete, and the storage sheds which were needed for the animals and farming tools were built.

  The newcomers adapted quickly to our culture. They were enthusiastically open to any new foods we offered them, and most of them had a real desire to learn everything they could. It quickly became obvious that while they were good workers and would do anything we asked, they especially wanted to farm and enjoyed working with plants. I found this interesting, since to my knowledge they had never grown anything before joining us.

  One day, as I stood with Gadu watching several of the newcomers eagerly question Lataan on the purpose behind putting manure on the farm fields, I asked him to enlighten me about their interest in farming.

  Gadu looked at me seriously and said, “I don’t have this interest, so I’ve been wondering the same thing. I asked a few of the men and they couldn’t really explain it, but I think I’ve figured out why they’re so interested in growing. In the north we never seemed to get enough to eat, and the only thing we had was meat. Your tribe at least had potatoes and some berries to eat, but we didn’t.”

  “While building the houses and all that sort of thing is fine, growing your own food is incredible for people that were almost starving on a daily basis. Putting seeds in the ground and having food come from them is a miracle. Though the men can’t explain themselves, I think they want to farm because they feel like they are doing the work of the gods by giving food to the people.”

  I asked, “The work of the gods is giving food to the people?”

  Gadu looked at me curiously, as if he wondered why I asked such an obvious question. “Well yes, the gods give us the food we eat; they bring us the wild goats, antelope and deer. Without the gods’ favor, we would not have any meat.”

  “Do you need to do anything for the gods in order for them to give you the meat?”

  “Not really. After the kill we drain the animals’ blood onto the ground in the gods’ honor, but that is all.”

  I thought back to my first day with the tribe, and how I had killed a deer with a thrown stone. Though at the time I was shocked to see the blood flow from the deer’s slit throat, even now I remembered the reverence with which Nadar performed that action, and the way all the hunting party paused.

  “Yes, this tribe does the same thing to honor their gods.”

  “But I remember how you said to Aron when you first met that you believed in only one God; a God which had all power. Is this not what all your tribe believes?”

  I said, “No, only me, but I will begin to teach everyone of the only God when we all live in the city.”

  The words were out of my mouth before I knew they were coming. What had I just said, and why would I even think this? For years I had pretended that God wasn’t on this side of the wasteland. I acted as if I alone controlled my world and everything in it. Why would I even mention God to these people?

  Gadu nodded, “Good, you are a wise man and great teacher. If you believe there is only one God, I want to hear of it.”

  Later, as I thought back over my conversation with Gadu, I realized that I offered to teach the people about God because I knew it was the right thing to do. I did not want to see these people worshiping things that didn’t exist, gods that weren’t there, when the true and only God was a fact. I felt compelled to give the people all the information about God that I could, and then let them decide for themselves what they would do and who they would worship.

  Though I had failed, I knew God had created man to be good and do what was right. The gods the tribe followed carried no moral or ethical weight; these gods seemed to exist only in the people’s minds to provide them with food and other necessities. Their gods were an invention designed by the people themselves.

  I decided that once we were all together in the city I really would tell them everything I could about God. I would tell them the truth so they could know about the Creator of the world and the standards he had set for mankind. Only then would the people be able to make their own educated decisions about about right and wrong, good and evil, and how they would live in this world.