Andrus Kivirähk - The Man Who Spoke Snakish

“They’re the same animals whose ears Tambet and Ülgas stopped up with wax,” she explained. “Now they won’t obey anybody. They just keep running around, their teeth bared, and they’re likely to bite. You can hiss at them as much as you like, but a feral wolf won’t notice it, so there’s nothing for it but to try and run home for cover. I tell you, this is the stupidest, stupidest trick, pouring wax in wolves’ ears. Sooner or later they’re going to eat somebody up. Be very careful and if you see any mad wolves, then climb a tree.”

Sure enough, Hiie and I had hardly gone any distance in the forest when we saw a wolf. It was prowling on us from the bushes and it wasn’t at all possible to read from its green eyes whether it was just watching us or planning to leap on us.

I hissed a few Snakish words, but the wolf’s expression didn’t change; it started slowly creeping closer to us. It was most definitely one of the animals that had been deafened. Maybe the wolf recognized us and now wanted to execute the last command that had reached its brain before its ears were walled up forever. I pulled out my knife from its sheath and prepared to defend myself.

“Perhaps we’d be better off going up a tree as your mother recommended,” suggested Hiie.

“Would my grandfather run away from a wolf up a tree?” I asked.

“Your grandfather definitely wouldn’t,” said Hiie. “I think the wolf would be the one who’d try to save his skin by climbing a tree if he saw your grandfather. But you’re not your grandfather. Do you believe you can start killing wolves?”

“I do,” I replied, and I was speaking the truth. I was quite sure, even though I’d never before fought with a wolf. But the trip to Grandfather’s island had opened a new door within me, so to speak, from which flowed a feeling of self-assurance and a desire to struggle with someone, to chop up living flesh and drink the blood of my enemies. The wolf flew over me and I cut open its stomach with my knife, starting from the throat and ending at the tail. Its innards tumbled out and I was barely able to roll aside to avoid getting the wolf’s intestines in my face.

“Beautiful,” cried Hiie, clapping her hands. But then she added worriedly, “But there are two more coming.”

Indeed two new wolves had trotted onto the field of battle and were now creeping closer to us, a bloodthirsty expression on their faces. Hiie hissed a few Snakish words, but naturally they fell on deaf, or rather silenced, ears, and the wolves didn’t turn their heads. I roared at them, as Grandfather would have done, and prepared myself to take them on.

But I didn’t have time to clash with the new wolves. Before I could, I heard a familiar hiss, and the wolves bayed at the air, only to tumble in a cramp to the ground and slowly perish. Two snake-kings appeared from among the long grass and I understood that they had bitten the wolves’ throats. I recognized the snakes instantly: they were Ints and her father. Ints was accompanied by a whole nest of little adders.

“Hello, dear Leemet!” said Ints’s father. “How nice that you’re back!”

“I wanted to be with you that night,” said Ints. “I would have stung all those filthy wolves to death and Tambet and Ülgas as well. Who cares if they understand Snakish? They are no longer our brothers. But I wasn’t able to get away from my children. Now even they know how to bite. I swear to you today they actually killed a wolf themselves.”

“Not quite by themselves, let’s be precise,” objected the old snake-king. “You’re like all mothers, always praising your own children. First of all I bit the wolf in the hip, so it could no longer move, and then the little ones finished it off. But I have to admit they were really good.”

The little adders listened to their grandfather and nodded their heads proudly.

“Where are you going?” asked Ints. “Might you come with us? We’re crawling through the forest looking for the wolves with the silenced ears, to finish them off. An animal that no longer understands Snakish must die. They’re too dangerous and unpredictable. Father and I have already finished off six animals and all the other adders are at work in the forest, but there are still a lot of deaf wolves roaming around. Let’s go hunting them! I haven’t seen you for so long, Leemet, old friend!”

“Right now I can’t, Ints,” I said. “Another time. We’re on our way to Hiie’s mother’s place. Ints, you know, I’m getting married.”

“It’s great,” said Ints, “that even you are finally in heat. I’m really looking forward to next spring, when you can mate again. How long does your heat last?”

“Forever,” I said, embracing Hiie. “And all year round.”

“Oooh!” hummed Ints enviously. “In one way, humans are better than us after all.”

“Thinking all day only about reproducing is maybe a bit too much, though,” opined the old snake-king. “In any case, I wish you the best of luck! Come past our cave in the evening and tell us where you’ve been and what you’ve seen.”

We promised to come. The snakes crawled off to hunt the wolves, but we were soon at Hiie’s house.

The first thing that struck our eyes was the door of the wolves’ barn, which was swinging in the wind. When we stepped closer, we could see that the giant barn that had once harbored hundreds of wolves now stood completely empty. All the wolves had gone.

“Did he really stop up all the wolves’ ears with wax?” cried Hiie in amazement. “The adders have a lot of work to do …”

“No, not all,” said someone. It was Hiie’s mother, Mall, standing at the door of her shack, looking at us with damp eyes. “There were about thirty of them whose ears he poured full of wax. The rest I released into the forest. I didn’t want to see them anymore. I couldn’t live in the same house with the wolves, not after that night when they chased you, dear daughter. You’re alive! The sprites kept you safe!”

Mall came over to Hiie and hugged her daughter, with love, but still somehow awkwardly. One might think that she hadn’t done it often. Evidently her mother’s embrace felt unfamiliar to Hiie too. She did respond to the affection, but seemed confused, and when Mall let go of her, she pulled quickly aside. “Yes,” sighed Mall guiltily. “We haven’t hugged very often. Your father didn’t like it; he was very stern. With himself and with others.”

“Mother,” said Hiie. “Father is dead.”

“I know,” replied Mall to our surprise. “Somehow I knew immediately when he rowed off from here that he wouldn’t be coming back. Then I let the wolves loose. Do you think I would have dared to do that if I’d thought your father was still coming back? Never! Wolf rearing was special to him,” she added with a bitter smile. “You never did learn to drink their milk.”

“It repulsed me,” said Hiie. “But you forced me; you poured it down my throat.”

“Well, yes,” muttered Mall hesitantly. “I have been too hard on you I know. That’s what your father wanted; he wished you brought up to be a real Estonian.”

“He wanted to kill me,” said Hiie.

“That was what Ülgas wanted,” sighed Mall, who appeared to be collapsing into such a tiny, wretched bundle that I began to feel sorry for her. “For Father it was very hard, but he was used to bringing sacrifices. He knew that the sprites’ wishes must be fulfilled; you can’t contradict them. They always get their way.”

“But we are here!” shouted Hiie. “We’re alive! We haven’t been sacrificed to the sprites. They haven’t got their way.”

“I started believing that they don’t want you killed,” replied Mall. “Ülgas was mistaken. The sprites are good. They protect the forest and its dwellers; they couldn’t want a forest child to die. They helped me, gave me strength, so that I could ride after you and lead you to the boat. Children, the sprites saved you!”