LEGEND OF NEVETSECNUAC
THE FISHERMAN'S PRIZE (SECTION 9)
After several gulps, Kaimu then
expressed his approval of the choice wine.
“This brew you've brought is the best I've tasted. It's very good. It's so, so smooth and so, so tasty.” Again, he downed some more and licked his
lips afterwards, showing his pleasure.
His drinking sessions with Zianko had
strengthened his resilience and immured him to last out regardless of the
quantity consumed. “We must have Zianko
over one evening and show off our superior brew.”
Yoansu took his father's words as jest
and so nodded his head in assent without inquiry. Kaimu, pleased, settled back in his chair and
explained. “As you well know son, she is no relative of ours. In fact, she’s
not even a native of this country. That is why she could not engage in any
conversation. She can hear and speak well enough, in her own strange dialogue.
We only said she was a relation, to placate Tufan, to place your wife's mind at
ease.” Then he snickered, “If we had
told her the truth, she might not have slept a wink at all, this night.” He took another gulp and passed it down his
throat with a gurgle. “And no, despite what you may think, I’m far too old to
consider such goings on.” Then after a pause, he pitted his harsh gaze on his
son and said, “The fact is, Jiense was kept here for the sole purpose of
(mating with you) becoming your wife...How were we to know you would return
with one of your own choosing? This is a
clear case of one bride too many.”
The son's eyes opened wide as he
inwardly reveled in this unexpected good fortune. Looking in Jiense’s direction he gasped, then
feigning ignorance, he exclaimed in amazement. “But, father, we’ve always
lacked the funds for the procurement of any wife for me, foreign or
otherwise. We didn't have it when Elder
Brother wanted to marry. I’m aware of
the imposed hardships here and scarcity of such a find. Surely, she did not
fall from the sky.” Yoansu shook his head.
As if you didn’t know or couldn’t guess! Kaimu mused, with a wry
smile. Then softening his gaze, he responded. “What you don't understand son,
is that she cost us not a single Zukon.
She came to us free, yes, free as a bird! Almost as good as if she’d
fallen from the sky.” He then reasserted, seeing utter disbelief in Yoansu’s eyes.
“But how can one as beautiful as she…?” Yoansu’s
curiosity had now peaked.
“Not snatched up by all the ruffians on the prowl?” Kaimu finished the
sentence for Yoansu. “Heaven only knows.” Kaimu shrugged, as if indifferently;
then after a brief respite, he consented. “Very well, I shall not prolong the
suspense any longer.” Oh, but he so enjoyed
the act of stringing along a captive audience.
Yoansu thence (thus) listened with rapt attention to the incredible accounts of Kaimu’s story:
“Well son, it was a strange day, a day like no other, when I picked up my net and headed out to sea in my boat.” Now it was his turn to embellish the facts of his story, albeit an actual one.
Kaimu
studied his son’s face carefully as he told in detail the dangers he’d faced.
His heart sank, reaffirming his belief, when he saw no sign of surprise,
concern or compassion in that well-polished, yet hardened face.
“I hauled the body aboard my small
craft. Since the body was still warm and
there was a slight movement of the head, I knew that she was still among the
living. By now you see, I had found out
that he was she. Rowing to shore I
carried her back home and left her in the care of your mother. Not wishing to waste the day, I returned to
sea once more and that night returned with a bountiful catch. You can imagine my happiness at having struck
out lucky, twice in one day.”
Even though his mind raced with millions of
questions, Yoansu dared not interrupt, lest his father (with his foul temper)
halted and left him hanging in a quandary with the unanswered facts.
“We nursed her back to life and looked after
her all this time, in happy anticipation of your safe return. We looked forward to surprising you with this
lucky chance; instead, you had your own surprise for us. Little did we think you would return with a
wife of your own?” Slamming his hand on
the table, in his somewhat drunken state, he cursed the gods of the sea and
with undecipherable mumble aired his heart’s grievances. After which he gulped down the rest of the
wine in the cup. The son again hurriedly
filled it to the brim as he’d been doing all night. After a thoughtful silence, which Kaimu
remained perfectly still his chin cupped in his left hand, he then concluded,
“Well, that changes everything. Still, since we spent our time and food on
her...Hmm.”
Now that he knew all the facts, Yoansu
remained most unwilling to let go of this golden opportunity. In fact, he would like nothing better than to
dispose of his tiresome old wife and indulge in pleasure with this tender shoot
of a rare find.
Failing that, he would have them both.
Nevertheless, Yoansu knew that it would
be a daunting task to convince his upright mother to accept this sort of
bigamous relationship. On the other hand, he might have a better chance with
this old relic, as Kaimu was an ordinary, ignoble man and hence, more open to
such notions.
In that awkward repose, he’d therefore had
pondered on his persuasive arguments:
Yes, bigamy was unlawful in Wenjenkun, but who abided by laws here, in
this remote corner, with no real enforcement to speak of? Besides, provided one had the monetary means,
one could always maintain a mistress or have illicit liaisons (consort) with
servants. After all, was it not men’s
prerogative to fulfill their destinies by appeasing their ferocious sexual
appetites that ultimately perpetuated the human species and ensured their
domination of the world? As many held this viewpoint, no one had paid any genuine
heed to this unnatural and unrealistic mockery of a law in the doctrines that
imposed quixotic monogamy on the citizens of a civilized society. As proof
throughout the land, polygamy had secretly, under the very noses of
authorities, had flourished (thrived) even amongst (with) didactic,
well-established families. Emperor himself was rumored to have had numerous illicit
relations with those noble young ladies, ones in the close company of the
Empress. Meanwhile, houses of pleasure
flourished, feeding the egos of lesser, indigent classes.
As his own wife was in a family way and
he meant to leave her to Ensa’s competent care anyhow, why not take Jiense back
to town with him as his mistress, a companion of sorts, to ward off temptations
from other illicit women (prostitutes). What could be better than that, as it
would certainly keep him on the righteous course?”
“Why can't I have her as my mistress?”
Instead, Yoansu suddenly proposed (blurted out). “I can take Jiense back to the city with me and
leave Tufan, as it would be difficult for her in her family way, to adjust to a
new lifestyle with you guys and to moreover in future, take good care of you
both in your old age. My resourceful wife has a big mouth; everyone back in
town will think Jiense’s a relative. Meanwhile, if anything happened to my
wife, I would have a perfectly good one for (as) a standby.”
“You would like that, wouldn’t you?” Kaimu
frowned. “Supposed virtuous son; what about the feelings and needs of your pregnant
wife… you would forsake her as callously as that?” He growled.
Yoansu bowed his head feigning shame. It
wasn’t going to be that easy convincing this old coot!
Kaimu relented; striving for peace, he
smiled mischievously and nodded.
“Then again, Jiense is quite a beauty,
how can I blame you. Nevertheless, you must constrain your wayward (capricious)
love interests, for woman, your wife, can always sense these things.”
Ensa, who had strained her ears and had
heard only the last part of what had been said, now seething in anger, bolted to her feet (jumped up in a big hurry) and burst out of the room. Shaking an accusing
finger to her husband and then to her son, she scoffed.
“The pair of you is shameless, talking of her
as if she was a tender piece of fish or meat, ready to be consumed!”
Turning to her husband in a more
accusatory tone, she snarled. “You’re the worst. Just because you saved her
life and gave her shelter, that doesn’t give you the right to act as if you
owned her. She is a living, breathing, independent human being…not some animal
to do with as you liked! I thought we’d kept her because we had a good reason
to, and that even now, we would strive to do the right thing for her. But you two...” Then, turning again to face
her son, “And you! Have you no
shame? A brand-new wife in there,
already with a child and you talk of having another. I thought I had brought you up right, but now
I am disappointed in you. Too bad...”
“Hush up, woman!” Kaimu stormed at
her. “Who asked your opinion? This does
not concern you. Now get out of here
before I really lose my temper and give you a taste of this.” He showed a
threatening clenched fist in the air. And don't think your son being here is
going to change anything.”
“Go ahead, I dare you to!” Ensa stuck
her chest out in defiance.
The son at this point hastily
interjected to placate his father, meanwhile asking his mother to please stop
her goading diatribe and withdraw quietly from this highly volatile scene (the
room). As she with hurtful countenance,
reluctantly, seeing sense, turned to go, Kaimu quite incensed still, bellowed
after her. “You are always meddling in my affairs and stirring up trouble! What
business is it of yours, what I do with her?” Then turning to face his son, he
grumbled. “See what I have to put up
with, day in and day out?”
Yoansu nodded; for how else he was to
respond.
Emboldened by this, Kaimu shouted after Ensa
once more. “If you continue to anger me, I may dispose of you altogether and
take her as my wife instead. Or better
still, give her to Zianko!” Then in that moment being reminded of something, he
reverted (turned) his attention back on Yoansu. “That’s right, the rogue knows
all about her! The scoundrel wormed it out of me one night during our drinking
bout.”
Just one more
reason to, (dispose) off that cur, Yoansu
mused coldly.
Now who could sleep through that entire racket? But one, that should have understood and taken due caution, could not tell what was being said, while the new bride, Tufan had only woken up midway from her deep slumber, missing most of it, except for the last part. Nevertheless, Kaimu's abusive words to his wife had been enough to cause disgust and a bit of a fright in Tufan. From their last exchange, she now concluded that the old man must have been carrying on impure thoughts or perhaps an illicit affair with someone, and having been confronted with it by his wife, it had spurred his outrage. At this point Tufan had cursed her ill fate, for allowing her to be part of such an ignoble, vulgar family. She cursed her uncle for deliberately withholding this fact from her and she cursed herself for being so completely beguiled (duped) by one with such base, humble origins. She would have been more mortified had she heard all that had been said and came to know the truth about Jiense.
Subsequently, as things had quieted
down, the already exhausted women folk had succumbed to an uneasy sleep. In that seeming quietude, Yoansu with his
duplicitous design had deliberately plied his father with added drinks.
Precipitately, Kaimu refusing next
refill, proposed: “The atmosphere is quite stifling in here, why don’t we go
outside for a bit of fresh air.”
Finding this most agreeable, Yoansu
nodded in concurrence.
And so, they’d walked quietly for some
time under the blanket of night’s sky, their seemingly capricious steps leading
them towards the shed and even going beyond it, as far as safety had allowed.
Satisfied that they had gone beyond
everyone’s hearing range- Kaimu then abruptly halting grabbed hold of Yoansu’s
arm and brusquely pulled him aside. Cocking (tilting) his head to one side, he
spoke in a stern voice: “If you’ve had your fill of games son, I would like to
now delve into the truth…You still know what that is, right?” Then curtly
turning away grumbled under his breath. “I really should be furious with him,
far more than I am, for his arrogance and his audacity!”
Yoansu was too amazed, to see his father
after the volume (amount) of snifter (alcoholic drink, consumption) being still
in full faculty of his senses, to take any offense. “Father, back in there, I
did not mean what I said about the girl….” He started to say, but Kaimu put a
hand over his son’s mouth to stop him. “Save your breath!” He ejected tersely.
“But there’s another matter that warrants clarification.” He then added
sternly, as he deliberately turned his back to his son and walked brusquely
away.
Now Kaimu had excellent night vision,
but Yoansu stumbled over a rock or two as he hastily rushed to catch up with
him. Thank Heaven the moon periodically peeped from the clouds to provide him
with some illumination.
“Father, please stop!” The urgency of the
latter’s voice brought Kaimu to a reluctant halt. With a wry smile he waited
rooted to the spot for his son to reach him.
“Back inside, your claims as to how
you’d acquired your wife. That was quite a tale you told son.”
When Yoansu tried to protest, showing
indignation in face, Kaimu raised his hand to stop him. “Don’t insult my
intelligence!” He scoffed. “I’m not as gullible as your mother. Her love for
you is so great; she’ll swallow any lie you utter, always believing in the best
of you. I went along, not wishing to dishearten her. But honestly, who is she,
your wife? Would you, also care to tell me the real account of how you came to
amass your apparent wealth? Gambling, teahouses… feed that chum to the sharks!”
Kaimu snarled.
(END OF SECTION 9)
(BE SURE TO CHECK BACK AND LEARN, WHAT
FACTS WILL BE REVEALED IN NEXT POST OF THE FISHERMAN’S PRIZE, SECTION 10)
~
