CHAPTER XIX.
The smoke, the noise, the fire and the water having cleared away, the Ammi were now discussing the earthquake. They had forgot their war preparations in the presence of a greater enemy than the Lali. They had to make peace with the World. What had happened? Will it occur again? These were among the questions they asked.
“I do not see that we made much by coming down from the trees,” said one. “The earth is just as unstable as the trees, and shakes as much as they. I should have been thrown off many times had there been any place to fall to.”
“Had we kept to the trees,” observed another, “we should have had more experience in holding on. I got thrown down and rolled about, because I had nothing to hold to. When the ground rocks it is more violent than a palm or a pine.”
“It all comes,” said Gimbo, the grandfather of Sosee, “from walking upright. If the Apes had kept on all fours, they would not have been thrown to the ground. Nobody can stand on his hind legs alone, in such a shaking. While the rest of you tumbled I remained on my four feet. Men need to walk solidly, and nothing gives a firmer foundation than four feet. No elephant is fool enough to walk on two; and men, by keeping two of their feet in the air, are always falling. It was a great mistake to get up from the ground. Other animals have not done it. Men were made to go on all fours. Everything they want is on the ground, and they can see it better when looking down than when looking up. Their eyes are thus nearer what they are hunting, and they are not in danger of stumbling when they are looking at their feet.”
Another thought that the horror occurred because they were too irreligious. They had been neglecting their ceremonies, and there was general doubt about the traditions of Shoozoo. “It is a divine visitation,” he said, and he was in favor of sacrificing something.
Another said: “It was the voice of the great winged Alligator, with which Shoozoo fought. Chained under the Swamp this beast shook himself, which caused the waters to flow over these regions. The fire and smoke which he blew from his mouth, caused all the damage. He swallowed up the sun and stars for awhile, and the mountains which he carried off he has not yet returned. I think we should propitiate him, or he will come again.”
