How the Alphabet Was Made · page 21 2 3 4101When you draw a hissy-snake by the door of your little back-cave where you mend the spears, I’ll know you’re thinking hard; and I’ll come in most mousy-quiet.102And if you draw it on a tree by the river when you are fishing, I’ll know you want me to walk most most mousy-quiet, so as not to shake the banks.’103‘Perfectly true,’ said Tegumai.104And there’s more in this game than you think.105Taffy, dear, I’ve a notion that your Daddy’s daughter has hit upon the finest thing that there ever was since the Tribe of Tegumai took to using shark’s teeth instead of flints for their spear-heads.106I believe we’ve found out the big secret of the world.’107‘Why?’ said Taffy, and her eyes shone too with incitement.108‘I’ll show,’ said her Daddy.109‘What’s water in the Tegumai language?’110‘Ya, of course, and it means river too--like Wagai-ya--the Wagai river.’111‘What is bad water that gives you fever if you drink it--black water--swamp-water?’112‘Yo, of course.’113‘Now look,’ said her Daddy.114‘S’pose you saw this scratched by the side of a pool in the beaver-swamp?’115And he drew this.116(8.)117‘Carp-tail and round egg.118Two noises mixed!119Yo, bad water,’ said Taffy.120‘’Course I wouldn’t drink that water because I’d know you said it was bad.’121‘But I needn’t be near the water at all.122I might be miles away, hunting, and still--’123‘And still it would be just the same as if you stood there and said, “G’way, Taffy, or you’ll get fever.”124All that in a carp-fish-tail and a round egg!125O Daddy, we must tell Mummy, quick!’ and Taffy danced all round him.126‘Not yet,’ said Tegumai; ‘not till we’ve gone a little further.127Let’s see.128Yo is bad water, but So is food cooked on the fire, isn’t it?’129And he drew this.130(9.)131‘Yes.132Snake and egg,’ said Taffy ‘So that means dinner’s ready.133If you saw that scratched on a tree you’d know it was time to come to the Cave.134So’d I.’135‘My Winkie!’ said Tegumai.136‘That’s true too.137But wait a minute.138I see a difficulty.139SO means “come and have dinner,” but sho means the drying-poles where we hang our hides.’140‘Horrid old drying-poles!’ said Taffy.141‘I hate helping to hang heavy, hot, hairy hides on them.142If you drew the snake and egg, and I thought it meant dinner, and I came in from the wood and found that it meant I was to help Mummy hang the two hides on the drying-poles, what would I do?’143‘You’d be cross.144So’d Mummy.145We must make a new picture for sho.146We must draw a spotty snake that hisses sh-sh, and we’ll play that the plain snake only hisses ssss.’147‘I couldn’t be sure how to put in the spots,’ said Taffy.148‘And p’raps if you were in a hurry you might leave them out, and I’d think it was so when it was sho, and then Mummy would catch me just the same.149No!150I think we’d better draw a picture of the horrid high drying-poles their very selves, and make quite sure.151I’ll put them in just after the hissy-snake.152Look!’153And she drew this.154(10.)155‘P’raps that’s safest.156It’s very like our drying-poles, anyhow,’ said her Daddy, laughing.157‘Now I’ll make a new noise with a snake and drying-pole sound in it.158I’ll say shi.159That’s Tegumai for spear, Taffy.’160And he laughed.161‘Don’t make fun of me,’ said Taffy, as she thought of her picture-letter and the mud in the Stranger-man’s hair.162‘You draw it, Daddy.’163‘We won’t have beavers or hills this time, eh?’ said her Daddy, ‘I’ll just draw a straight line for my spear.’ and he drew this.164(11.)165‘Even Mummy couldn’t mistake that for me being killed.’166‘Please don’t, Daddy.167It makes me uncomfy.168Do some more noises.169We’re getting on beautifully.’170‘Er-hm!’ said Tegumai, looking up.171‘We’ll say shu.172That means sky.’173Taffy drew the snake and the drying-pole.174Then she stopped.175‘We must make a new picture for that end sound, mustn’t we?’176‘Shu-shu-u-u-u!’ said her Daddy.177‘Why, it’s just like the round-egg-sound made thin.’178‘Then s’pose we draw a thin round egg, and pretend it’s a frog that hasn’t eaten anything for years.’179‘N-no,’ said her Daddy.180‘If we drew that in a hurry we might mistake it for the round egg itself.181Shu-shu-shu!182‘I tell you what we’ll do.183We’ll open a little hole at the end of the round egg to show how the O-noise runs out all thin, ooo-oo-oo.184Like this.’185And he drew this.186(12.)187‘Oh, that’s lovely!188Much better than a thin frog.189Go on,’ said Taffy, using her shark’s tooth.190Her Daddy went on drawing, and his hand shook with incitement.191He went on till he had drawn this.192(13.)193‘Don’t look up, Taffy,’ he said.194‘Try if you can make out what that means in the Tegumai language.195If you can, we’ve found the Secret.’196‘Snake--pole--broken--egg--carp--tail and carp-mouth,’ said Taffy.197‘Shu-ya.198Sky-water (rain).’199Just then a drop fell on her hand, for the day had clouded over.200‘Why, Daddy, it’s raining.1 2 3 4← previousHow the First Letter Was Writtennext →The Crab That Played With the Sea↑ back to Just so storiesThis page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/10/page/2/