At last, WooZan turned and spoke to Helga who was standing nearby. “You have had a lost parent. You know the feelings one has. But you may not know the feelings one has as a daughter who knows that her mother will die if she stays with her. My mother, MoontZant-Woo, had an illness that no one in the WooPeace could heal. A Woonyak came. He spoke of hot springs that could heal her. I made up a story about her being a rebel and she was sentenced to die, but when I conducted her to the deep caves as is done in such cases, I took her to the exit instead. She understood what I was doing and why. It was the last time I saw her. I never knew if she had lived and been healed until I saw her coming down.”
WooZan’s fierce, cold manner had now vanished. She looked at the continuing stream of WooSheep descending the ladder. “We have to do something,” she smiled at Helga, “there is no more room here for WooSheep. I will call for boats and we will ferry people to the WooPeace. We will have the greatest, most festive Common Bowl in WooPeace memory!”
Burwell, who had been helping WooSheep begin their descent of the ladder, was signaling frantically at Breister and Helga. “What is it, Burwell?” Breister hollered up to him.
“Ask WooZan if we can bring food from the WooSheep Bottoms also,” Burwell yelled back. “I’ve heard about the WooPeace diet...nothing cooked...Salamander Parts...Bat Milk...Frog Guts...Catfish and Moss Sushi...Can’t we bring some more food?...Please?” he pleaded in a plaintive voice.
Everyone, including WooZan, laughed heartily. “Well, I guess this is a new day,” she replied. “If people are going to be able to come and go as they wish, I guess they should be able to choose what they eat also. Bring on the food from the Bottoms!”
“Helga,” Breister commented quietly, “that ladder is never going to be adequate for this. Once creatures in the Bottoms hear about this, they are all going to come running! The ladder won’t be able to handle all the traffic, especially if they are all bringing dishes for the feast!” he laughed.
“Well,” Helga replied happily, “that’s an entirely different problem than we had yesterday! I think I know what we can do.”
“I’ll play my flicker-pole for just a moment or so. I don’t want every bird within 20 miles, of course,” she grinned. “I’ll play it just long enough to attract the birds, say, within one mile. That ought to do nicely to get helpers for a supplemental airlift!”
Breister looked admiringly at his daughter. “Helga, you never cease to amaze me,” he said, shaking his head in bemused respect.
As WooZan set off in her boat to summon other boats to carry the visitors to the WooPeace, Helga began to work her flicker-pole. The characteristic tones filled the cave and wafted up through the LuteWoo. When the first birds began to appear and drop down through the LuteWoo skylights, Helga stopped. “There, that will be enough, I think,” she observed. “By the time the rest of the birds who were first attracted get here, we’ll have plenty for our airlift.”
One by one the birds arrived, and settled onto perches in the LuteWoo. As they gathered, Helga explained to them what she wanted. They readily agreed. The large birds, such as Eagles, Owls, Geese and Cranes were assigned to carry young beasts down into the LuteWoo, leaving the ladder for adults. The children hooped and hollered as they took the thrilling ride down on the airlift.
The smaller birds—Jays, Robins, Meadowlarks, Woodpeckers, and Sparrows—carried all kinds of packages and parcels containing foods for the feast.
In later years, the ‘WooPeace Airlift’ was one of the most famed events in the common history of the WooSheep clans. But not only because of the wonderful help all the various birds provided. The fame of the WooPeace Airlift also had to do with a certain ‘crazy old Owl’ and his soon-to-be wife...
New Scenes for Toshty’s Painting
After leaving Breister on the sandspit near WooSheep Bottoms, Toshty and Annie paddled for the rest of the day, then Annie asked that they stop for a while. Toshty sensed that something had been bothering her ever since they had left Breister.
Pulling over to the bank, Toshty held on to a bush to keep the canoe from floating downstream. “What do you want, Annie? Shall we stop here for the night?” he asked.
“No, I don’t want to rest,” Annie replied with a sigh. “I want to turn around and paddle back the way we came.”
“Why do you want to do that?” Toshty replied in surprise. “You’re not sorry we’re going to get married, I hope?”
“Oh, no!” Annie exclaimed happily. “I so want to be married, but...,” she paused, then continued, “my heart has been burning since we left Breister. I caused great pain for him and his family. I feel like a hypocrite to do all this mushy talk-talk about ‘family is an unbroken circle of friends’ when I...Well, when I helped to break his circle!” Annie sighed sorrowfully.
“I can’t marry you until I figure out a way to at least say I’m sorry, or do something to help him,” Annie concluded.