Riddley Walker

by Russell Hoban

  He said, ‘Wel Im the Ardship of Cambry enn I.’

  I thot he wer making a joak. I said, ‘Thats about it and you bustit out befor the 1st chop too. So now its some 1 elses tern inside the circel innit.’

  He said, ‘Thats right. 12 mor years or so and Goodparley can have his self a nother Ardship.’

  I said, ‘Whatre you talking about?’

  He said, ‘Im talking about how long Goodparleywl have to wait for a nother Ardship whatre you talking about?’

  I said, ‘What dyou mean a nother Ardship?’

  He said, ‘Wel its jus only a littl wyl since a son of myn ben beartht nor he cant be Ardship til he comes 12 and gets a boy his self can he.’

  I said, ‘How old be you then?’

  He said, ‘I jus come 12 this las Ful of the Moon din I.’

  I said, ‘So did I that makes us moon brothers.’

  He said, ‘Dark of the Moon as wel.’

  I said, ‘Be you telling me theres realy such a thing as the Ardship of Cambry?’

  He said, ‘Why dyou think I wantit out of that hoal?’

  I said, ‘Why?’

  He said, ‘Wel its sharna pax and get the poal innit. 1st the easy askings then its helping the qwirys then its Chops your Aunty and your head on a poal. Dont you know the rime?’

  I said, ‘What rime dyou mean?’

  What he done then he sung Fools Circel 9wys:

  Horny Boy rung Widders Bel

  Stoal his Fathers Ham as wel

  Bernt his Arse and Forkt a Stoan

  Done It Over broak a boan

  Out of Good Shoar vackt his wayt

  Scratcht Sams Itch for No. 8

  Gone to senter nex to see

  Cambry coming 3 times 3

  Sharna pax and get the poal

  When the Ardship of Cambry comes out of the hoal

  The way he sung it made my blood run col. I cud see like in a dream a figger running running in a kynd of dream space. I said, ‘Thats Fools Circel 9wys thats jus a game.’

  He said, ‘O yes its a game right a nuff if you like to call it that only it aint too much fun for the Ardship what gets his head took off at the end of it.’

  I said, ‘Whats it all about why do they do it?’

  He said, ‘Its about what its all ways ben about and they do it for the knowing whats in us.’

  I said, ‘What knowing? In who?’

  He said, ‘Dont you know about the Eusa folk?’

  I said, ‘Who myt they be?’

  He said, ‘O dear o dear o dear you dont know nothing do you.’ Then he begun to tel me. This what Im writing down here it wernt said all in 1 peace like its wrote. Wewd talk a littl and lissen. Talk and lissen. And all ways with 1 eye on the black leader and his nexters for any lerting any blips of foller which there wernt none. It stayd qwyet all day wylst we waitit there in Bernt Arse outers for it to get dark.

  He said, ‘Time back way back who ben the Puter Leat who ben the Power Leat in Cambry? Eusa folk is who it ben. Us the same and us to blame. Who run the Power Ring who ben too close to Power who gone Badstock crookit and seed of the crookit? Us the same the Eusa folk. Who ben bernt out after Bad Time all the clevver Is bernt out with all the clevverness? Us the same. Who ben the 1st Ardship of Cambry? Eusa. Which the hardship be come the Ardship you see. They kilt Eusa but they dint kil all the Eusa folk they dint bern them all out did they. No they savit out some to keap in memberment that clevverness what made us crookit. Savit a breeding stock in Cambry so therewd all ways be some of us o yes theres all ways ben Eusa folk and wil be. And the knowing whats in them the Ardship wil know. Roun the circel of the dead towns to the senter which is Cambry. Becaws weve kep the memberment you see. Kep the memberment of what we done time back way back the knowing of its in us. Dint you never hear of Eusa?’

  I said, ‘Coarse Ive heard of Eusa every bodys heard of him.’

  He said, ‘Then you know he wer crookit.’

  I said, ‘You bes tel me about Eusa as wel I parbly never heard the woal of it.’

  He said:

  He wer crookit he wer Badstock

  He wer not boath sides the same

  Which the knowing brung the doing

  And the doing brung the shame

  I said, ‘Did Eusa go crookit from what he done?’

  He said, ‘Eusa gone crookit from Bad Time. He made his self that way with the clevverness he done and brung the same on others. Crookit he wer and playg soars on him he wer running from the bernings. The Ram wernt sepert from the res of Inland then it wernt a nylan. Eusa stood at the gate and the dogs licking his soars. Them on the gate they wer afeart they said, “If you want in why dont you say Trubba not?” Eusa said, “I cant say that.”

  ‘Them at the Ram they said, “You bes tel us your clevverness so we can make the 1 Big 1 agen befor some 1 else does. We bes be the strong Is its the safes thing.” Eusa wunt do it he said, “I know all about strong Is I ben with the las lot it dint help them nothing all ther strongness. You bes stay how ever you are dont look for no exter strongness. Bes thing you can do is take me in and keap me til my times out. Show me for a lessing and a lerning Iwl tel every 1 my story so theywl know that road I took wrong and what harm I done.”

  ‘Them at the Ram they wunt lissen to Eusa. They kep asking for the clevverness and how to make the 1 Big 1. When he wunt tel them they beat him to death with col iron then they took his head they put it on a poal for telling. Eusas head tol them, “You had a chance to do a right thing but you done a wrong thing. Youve took my head youve took it on your self itwl be with you from now on.” Thats all his head tol it wunt say no moren that.

  ‘No soonerd that head stop talking nor there come a jynt wave it wer like a wall of water hyer nor a mountin. Dint it come tho. It come rushing it come roaring it come roaling down it cut acrost the lan right thru from Reakys Over down to Roaming Rune. It cut the Ram off sepert from the res of Inland that wer the day the Ram be come a nylan.

  ‘Them at the Ram they wer afeart that head wunt res they dint know what they mytve brung down on ther selfs they dint know what myt be coming nex. They wisht theyd done like Eusa tol them only it wer too late for that becaws Eusa wer dead. They cudnt show Eusa for a lessing and a lerning like he tol them so they begun to make the figger of him then. Begun to make the Eusa figger. They made it littl so they cud work it on ther han they made a fit up so they cud carry the woal show on ther back. Trying to do like Eusa tol them which they wer going to show him. Show the idear of him any how. Thats when they stoppit killing off all the Eusa folk they startit keaping some of us in the dead towns. For a lessing and a lerning is what they say. Nor the Ram musnt want no 1 to have that lessing and lerning only ther selfs becaws they ben keaping us hid long a nuff aint they. The Eusa show men they come roun some times they do the juicy with the Eusa women which the Ram dont allow that only the hevvys keap it dark becaws they do it the same. The Ram dont want no other seed to mix with ours they dont want to straiten the crookit they want us kep jus like we are. They dont want the knowing sparsit out and scattert it dont make no odds tho you cant get a babby on a Eusa woman only with the Eusa seed I knowit my father right a nuff. When his time come to help the qwirys I bint no moren 3 monce old nor dint know nothing but the marks of it come out on me when they hung him up by his hans tyd behynt him. I can feal him in me when its moving I can feal him in me when its stil.’

  I said, ‘When whats moving and stil?’

  He said, ‘What ever there is. I aint going to mouf over it you go somers else and do your moufing oansome if you have to keap on doing it.’

  He gone qwyet for a wyl then. Peopl with eyes you can see them move back from the front of ther eyes when they dont have no mor to say. This kid tho being he dint have no eyes in his face you cudnt see nothing when he movit back he jus dispeart. There come out of him a sylents with a roaring in it like when you put your ear to a sea shel.

  The black dog wer sitting qwyet with his yeller eyes on the kid his 2 nexter
s wer on look out. I closd my eyes and wunnert if Iwd know that dog wer black if I cudnt see him. Becaws I sust the kid knowit the dog wer black. Looking at that black leaders eyes they myndit me of gulls eyes. Eyes so fearce they cudnt even be sorry for the naminal they wer in. Like a gull I seen 1 time with a broakin wing and Dad kilt it. Them yeller eyes staret scareless to the las. They jus happent to be in the gull but they dint care nothing for it.

  I said to the Ardship, ‘Trubba not I have to keap asking becaws theres things I nead to know.’

  He said, ‘No Trubba.’

  I said, ‘Whyd they hang him up by his hans tyd behynt him?’

  He said, ‘Dyou not lissen or what? Im wording it all out for you til my joars ake nor you wont take it in. I tol you dint I its the easy asking 1st then its helping the qwirys then its head on a poal and whats it all about I tol you that as wel its the knowing what the Ardship knows. Him and the Eusa folk. Which thats the knowing of what Eusa done.’

  I said, ‘Every 1 knows that.’

  He said, ‘I mean the knowing of how to do it.’

  I said, ‘You mean the 1 Big 1 and the Master Chaynjis and that?’

  He said, ‘Thats it.’

  I said, ‘Dont tel me you know the Nos. of it.’

  He said, ‘I dont know them here but Iwl know them in the senter when we gether.’

  I said, ‘The senters where you come from tho innit. How come you never got the knowing befor this?’

  He said, ‘I have got it befor this and manys the time tho Ive never tol Goodparley of it. But its only there when we gether.’

  I said, ‘Whynt you write it down?’

  He said, ‘Even if any of us cud write I wunt have that. The 1 Big 1 and the Master Chaynjis aint some thing you littl in to writing.’

  I said, ‘Cant you keep it in memberment?’

  He said, ‘It goes.’

  I said, ‘Cant you work it wylst you know it? Work it on Goodparley and them?’

  He said, ‘There aint nothing I can do with it. I dont know what it means nor nothing. Why dyou think they keap doing the woal thing over every 12 years. Becaws Goodparley and them they dont know how to do nothing with it no moren I do. They jus keap hoaping some time some Goodparley wil ask the right asking and some Ardship wil say a anser whatwl break them thru the barren year. He ben doing the easy askings ever so gennl slow and careful. I dont know what its like to have eyes but I can feal when peopl look at me. I cud feal his eyes like trying to dril in to my skul and hewd say ever so sof, “Wel here we are in the cruciboal and waiting for that radiant lite hey?” Or hewd say, “Salt and saver. Think on that hey? Whats that salt for? Salt 4? Salt No. 4?” Hewd go on and on like that hewd say to me, “You myt jus only be the leas littl lef over part of it but the woal is in the part you know. The woal is in the part.” Iwd like to work the woal of it on him Iwl tel you that.’

  I said, ‘There dont seam to be no foller on us he mus think you ben dog kilt. Which that means you cant show your self no where no mor if you want to keap wide of him. Wherewl you go?’

  He said, ‘Cambry is where Im going Im going to have a nother go at that Senter Power Im going to gether with the Eusa folk Im going to try for deaper nor I ben.’

  When he said, ‘Im going’ there come a craving in me for him to say, ‘Weare going’. We dint say nothing for a wyl. I dint ask him how he progammit getting pas the Cambry hevvys I dint want to think about it. We jus sqwattit there talkless unner a over hang. I wer lissening to the rain dumming in the puddls and looking at that black dog what brung me to the Ardship of Cambry.

  That dog. I wunnert what the name of him myt be. Which I dont mean name like my name is Riddley or formers myt call a pair of oxen Jet & Fire. I knowit he dint have no name the other dogs callt him by nor I wunt try to put no name to him no moren Iwd take it on me to name the litening or the sea. I thot his name myt be a fraction of the nite or the numbers of the black wind or the hisper of the rain. A name you myt play on the boans or reckon up in scratches on a stoan. The Ardshipd said he pult the dog and the dog pult me. Which I cud feal that right a nuff. I wantit to be pult too. I dint know where to nor what for but I wantit to go with it. I thot of all the years I ben afeart of dogs. I said to the Ardship, ‘Howd you get dog frendy?’

  He said, ‘Im frendy with any thing if it comes in right. Im the Lissener you know. Im all ways lissening thats how I know about every thing. How I pult the dog I lissent him in. You know when I begun to lissen like that?’

  I said, ‘When?’

  He said, ‘When the Other Voyce Owl of the Worl begun saying the sylents.’

  I said, ‘Wil you tel me about that?’

  He said, ‘All right Iwl tel you. This is about when the Lissener wer a kid.’

  This is what he tol:

  The Lissener and the Other Voyce Owl of the Worl

  There wer the Other Voyce Owl of the Worl. He sat in the worl tree larfing in his front voyce only his other voyce wernt larfing his other voyce wer saying the sylents. He had a way of saying them. He said them wide and far where he begun them he said them tyny when they come close. He kep saying the sylents like that in his other voyce and when he done it the sylents wer swallering up the souns of the worl then the owl wer swallering the sylents.

  No 1 knowit he wer doing it. He wer trying to swaller all the souns of the worl then there wunt be no mor worl becaws every thing wud foller the soun of its self in to the sylents then it wud be gone. What the owl had in mynd wer to get it all swallert then fly a way. He only done it at nite he thot hewd get some of it swallert every nite and til he gone the woal worl a way.

  No 1 knowit what the owl wer doing only a kid. He dint have no eyes he lissent all the time. When he heard the owl saying the sylents in his other voyce he heard the sylents swallering up the souns of the worl littl and big from the wind sying in the trees to the ants crying in ther hoals. The kid knowit the owl wer trying to say the woal worl a way and he knowit wer on him to stop the owl so he begun to lissen every thing back. He lissent them far and wide where he begun them he lissent them tyny when they come close. The eye of the goat and the dants in the stoan and the beatl digging a grave for the sparrer. He lissent them in to his ear hoals he kep them all safe there. The foot steps of the mof and the sea foam hissing on the stran he lissent every thing back.

  The kid dint keap the souns of the worl in his ear hoals only at nite he kep them safe til morning. When the cock crowt in the middl nite it never foolt him nor when it crowt agen befor 1st lite. He kep them souns safe in his ear hoals til the day stood up and the cock of the morning crowt every thing a wake. Then the kid unheard the souns and they gone back where they livet. The kid wer larfing at the owl but the owl dint know it he thot he done a good nites work. He sat in the worl tree grooling and smarling all day thinking he wud get the woal worl gone only he never done it.

  The rivvers run

  My storys done

  I said, ‘That owl tho he keaps trying dont he.’

  The Ardship said, ‘O yes he keaps trying and hewl do it 1 day too. All it takes is for no 1 to be lissening every thing back. Hewl go the worl a way and his self with it and thatwl be the end of it. But may be not for a wyl yet. Lissener is my calling name you can call me that.’

  So we past the time til it come dark. That black leader he had that pack in good shape there come back 1 of them and bringing him a hynt leg of a goat nor there wernt no wyld goats roun there some form had a hoal unner the fents and 1 goat short that day. Which he offert us nor I wuntve beleavit that hadnt I seen it. Lissener and me we et a littl jus to show meat brothers only we dint fancy it raw nor dursnt make a fire. We made do with some of the roady I had in my pockits which I had some I brung from fents and some I got out of the pockits of that bloak the dogs kilt. I give some of it to the black leader and the 2 nexters.

  Going in to my pockits for that roady I brung out the dead han and that hook nose figger. I put that old blackent figger on my right han and it movit qwick and fearce wav
ing its arms and looking all roun sharp. It pickt up a stoan and begun banging on the wall with it. I said, ‘Wutcha wutcha’ then I put him back in my pockit. The dead han 1st I thot about it 1 way then I thot about it the other then I throwit over the wall. I lookit to see if any of the dogs wud eat it. They dint.

  12

  Like Ive said it stayd qwyet all day we dint hear nothing nor there wernt no lerting from the dogs. A littl too qwyet I thot it wer. Qwyet with may be eyes and ears in it waiting for us to make our move. The rain he wit on by the end of the day it wer coming down in buckits plus it blowt up a hevvy wind out of the Norf and Eas you cud perwel lean on it.

  It come dark early we waitit til it wer solid nite and filfy dark it wer you cudnt hardly see your han on the end of your arm. We slyd out slow and easy we had the woal Bernt Arse pack with us. I had the black leader nexy bumping agenst me now and agen and I wer leading Lissener by the han. Soons we come out of the outers and clear of stumps and stannings he pult his han luce and ternt his self a roun this way and that. Poyntit his self in to the wind and he said, ‘Cambrys this way innit?’

  I said, ‘Thats it right a nuff.’

  He said, ‘Wel Im on my way then. Thanking you for getting me out of the hoal. Good Luck to you where ever youre going.’

  I said to him, ‘Whatre you on about? Be you out of your mynd or what? You think youre going to Cambry oansome?’