Previous - The Women’s Meeting (July 25, 1643)
July 25, 1643 (Saturday)
Hume Valcar told everyone at the inn a small amount of the story about what happened at the Stones today. Hume being Hume, he kept it short and confirmed that an invisible non-evil spirit is bound in the hills and will leave us alone. He pointed out that Rawson (the Blacksmith) was also up there with cold iron and confirmed it wasn’t Fae. We reached agreement that we won’t bother it and it won’t bother us. It can’t leave the hills, so there is no way it could threaten the village anyway.
Hume also confirmed to the village that the spirit didn’t kill the Vicar because the Vicar died of a fever that he had even before he went into the hills. That seemed to satisfy the men and they got sidetracked into discussing promises not to tell anything to outsiders.
Marion separately told the women the interesting stuff about our neighbor. Yes, the Stones are huge. Yes, there was an invisible voice that talked to us in our heads. Yes, we discovered that it could paint the air around a person somehow and, when it did that to two people, when the colors touched they gave off sparkles. Supposedly, this only happens if the two people would be a good “match” for each other. If the couple would not be a good match, then both sets of colors would start to look bruised. No, we don’t know how it did it. No, we didn’t see any bloodstains on the center stone.
But now I’m thinking back to when we were about to leave and Rawson and his son showed up. The spirit offered to teach Rawson ways to make better iron to get into his good graces. It did the color trick for us, but it didn’t offer to teach us anything.
I think I want to negotiate a better deal. I teach reading, writing, arithmetic and religion. If it can, and is willing to, teach the blacksmith ways to make better iron, what can it teach me? Now that I know the way, I want to go up on my own.
Is this how it lures you in, promising to teach secrets you don’t know, and then stealing your soul?
But if it was a demon, the Vicar would have been able to exorcise it and if it was Fae, it couldn’t have taken the blacksmith’s iron hammers. So, maybe it isn’t evil. Valcar said it was a hillside spirit, but what does that mean? Arrgh. I don’t know.
Tomorrow is Sunday. Since it’s the Lord’s Day, maybe that’s a safer day in case it is evil. I could go up and still decide to turn around before walking to the meadow.
I’ve decided. I’ll go up at first light tomorrow so no one sees me. Then I can decide to back out when I get up there.
July 26, 1643 (Sunday)
It’s still dark. I’m nervous, I’m excited. I don’t have a water bag. How could I have forgotten I need a water bag? There are a couple of streams on the way, I just need a cup. Some apples. I’ll take some apples too.
Do I need to write something down? I have some foolscap and some of the new black lead pencils. No. Its getting too much. I’ll just go and talk. Or not talk. I can remember.
There’s a candle lit at the bakery. I need to get going.
My legs are still tired from yesterday. I can do it though.
I have my cup and apples in a bag. I put a cloth in as well. It might come in handy. It’s still too dark, I’m going to get lost. No. I just need to get far enough up the track that I’m not seen from the village, then I can stop until it gets lighter.
I’m going. I’m actually going.
I’m off the track. It’s not light enough to see well. Stop. Don’t panic. Just sit down. I haven’t crossed the first crest, so even if I’m lost, just going downhill will take me to the village. Just wait for more light.
Good. I found the track again. Up we go.
I made it. There were a couple of times I wasn’t sure, but I made it. On my own. I can see the meadow with the Stones. I dared Marion. Do I dare myself?
I’m going.
I’m here. Yesterday we waited until it spoke. Is that the polite thing to do or just that Hume and Lucy barely talk anyway? It’s not like it has a door to knock on.
“Hello. Anyone home?”
No answer. Maybe it’s talking to a squirrel.
“Hello, Anthracyda!”
“You don’t have to shout. Hello Mathilda.”
Now what do I say? “I teach reading, writing, arithmetic and religion. You told the blacksmith you could teach him how to make better iron.”
“No. I told the blacksmith I could give him suggestions. It is not quite the same thing.”
“Did he learn to make better iron yesterday?”
“Yes.”
“So you taught him.”
“No. He taught himself. I just helped to open his mind to some possibilities he had not thought of before. Humans seem to learn better that way.”
“I was taught that repetition ingrains the knowledge in your mind.”
“Do you learn how to learn new things? Or just remember old things?”
“You mean how does someone learn without a teacher or a book?”
“Yes. How does someone solve a problem they have never seen? Or imagine something they have never heard of?”
“They try until they get it right.”
“How do they decide what to try first?”
“Whatever comes to mind.”
“And if that doesn’t work?”
“Try something else.”
“How do they decide what to try next?”
“Whatever comes to mind.”
“What about thinking ’what the first attempt actually did and why that didn’t work?’”
“So you decide what to try next based on what would improve the result of the first failure?”
“Yes.”
That started a long conversation on what Anthracyda called ’Why and reproducible results’. If you do the same thing several times, but the result is different each time, you need to ask yourself why? Is there something random like honest dice, or was there something different each time that caused the different result? If you cannot say why the result was different, then you probably don’t yet understand. Similarly, if you think you got the right result, can you then ’reproduce’ that correct result again and again. If not why not.
Finally, I had to take a break and asked, “So what are you? Yesterday you said, ‘Call me a small god or a spirit of the hills if you want.’ That is just a name, not what you are.”
“I’ll answer that if you can tell me what you are.”
“I’m a human .. oh. That is a name, not what I am.”
I started again. “Humans have two arms and legs and … no, wait, that’s a description, not a definition.”
The sensation of a smile formed in my mind.
I did feel like my brain had been exercised the same way as my legs.
“So only God really knows.”
The mental voice laughed. “I think we need to talk about something else.”
“I agree. Is it alright if I come again?”
“Yes.”
I retraced my steps back down towards the village, but didn’t walk directly in. Just before I would have crossed the last crest, I tried to look carefully over the crest to see the village. Ideally I would have walked a mile south and crossed the crest there to come down to the road, but the brush was too thick. The brush was thick around the track I was following as well, so I crossed the crest, trying to stay below the tops of the bushes. Just before the track opened up at the village, I paused, concealing myself until no one else was in view, then walked directly to my cottage.
Closing the door, I leaned back against it.
“What is a human?”