(Subsequent to yesterday's introduction.)
There was a rumor about Mouse Woman. It was what old people whispered to one another when they were chuckling together about things they had done in their own childhood; when they were remembering the stories they had made up to get themselves out of trouble. And they didn't actually believe the rumor.
After all, who could think that Mouse Woman had ever been anything but the spirited, imperious little busybody they all called Grandmother? Who could ever think she had once been a girl-narnauk playing with other children? And who could ever think she had once made up a story to get herself out of trouble? Or had ever gotten into trouble in the first place?
"Of course, it's only a rumor," they reminded one another. And anyway, it had happened -- if indeed it had happened -- in the very, very Long Before when some of the real people had migrated southward along the coast to build their handsome totem pole villages. Long before Mouse Woman herself had moved southward into the Place-of-Supernatural-Beings to watch the world with her big, busy, mousy eyes.
According to the rumor, the small-girl-narnauk named Mouse Woman was living with her Mouse People relatives far to the north of the Place. And one day she was playing with other children. According again to the rumor, she was running and squeaking and catching a streaming kelp bulb when one of her playmates noticed something.
"Mouse Woman!" the friend squeaked. "You've lost a tooth."
"Yes," Mouse Woman agreed. And she clamped her mouth shut to end the conversation.
"But...it wasn't even loose yesterday," her friend insisted "It wasn't even wiggly or anything."
"Wasn't it?" Mouse Woman asked, as if she couldn't quite remember.
"So! What happened to your tooth?" the friend asked.
"Well..." Mouse Woman looked up at the sky while she tried to think of a good way a small girl could loose a tooth that hadn't even been loose or wiggly the day before. And, as she continued to look up, she suddenly thought of Envious-One, the mischievous little being who was always doing something spiteful to children. Or at least he was always being blamed for doing something that more proper little beings would never have done.
"Envious-One did it," Mouse Woman suddenly announced.
"Oh!" her friend squeaked. "What did he do?"
Quickly thinking what Envious-One could have done, Mouse Woman said: "He shot at me from the sky and knocked out my tooth with one of those little arrows."
The friend looked properly indignant about the dreadful deed.
"And it hurts terribly," Mouse Woman went on, beginning to enjoy her own story. "In fact," she continued, "I think I'm going to die." She put both hands over her mouth to prove that it hurt so terribly that she might even die the way Real People died.
"You mustn't died outside," the concerned friend said. So, putting an arm around the agonizing Mouse Woman girl, she led her into the house.
"My dear! What happened?" Mouse Woman's mother cried out.
"Envious-One did it," the friend was quick to answer. "He shot at her from the sky and knocked out her tooth with one of those little arrows."
"Lie down, my dear!" the mother said. And she covered Mouse Woman with a rabbit skin robe. "We'll send for Grandmother."
"Oh, no!" Mouse Woman was quick to urge. "I mean...please don't trouble Grandmother!"
But her mother sent for Grandmother who was a wise old woman with very sharp eyes.
"My goodness! What happened?" Grandmother asked when she saw little Mouse Woman lying under the rabbit skin robe.
"Envious-One did it," Mouse Woman's mother answered. He shot at her from the sky and knocked out her tooth with one of those little arrows."
Reluctantly Mouse Woman showed her teeth to prove that he had indeed done the dreadful deed. But she quickly shut her mouth and her eyes too, with the pain of it all. For she knew Grandmother had very sharp eyes.
(to be continued)
* Be sure to watch for Part 2 of this story in Saturday's edition of Wrights Lane
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