Maleo did not waste time once he had reached Capicek.  Ignoring the villagers who stared, he walked to the fire and addressed them in his loudest voice.

“Where is your leader?” Maleo asked, and a strong, young man stepped forward.  The man saw Maleo’s spear, and he smiled.  He went to the village storehouse and fetched a  piece of boar meat.  The young leader offered the meat to Maleo, who took it and ate slowly.  When he finished eating, the leader spoke to him.

“It is good that a warrior has come to our village.  We have too many women and old men, and there is almost nobody left who can hunt.”  Maleo listened to his words, then shook his head.

“I am not a hunter.  My spear is for killing men.  I have never hunted a boar, I have never stabbed a fish.  I can only kill men.”  Hearing this, the leader frowned.

“Well, we have no men for you to kill, but there is work to be done.  Will you stay with us?”  And Maleo agreed to stay in Capicek.

The work was hard, and Maleo found himself doing tasks alone that needed many men.  He awoke early and worked until long after dark.  There was not enough food in the village for him, but he ate an orange from his bag every day, and it was enough.

Some of the girls in the village were very pretty, and Maleo often paused in his work to watch them.   He wanted to talk to them, but they always moved in groups.  Maleo’s father had taught him that no good comes to a man from women in groups, so he stayed away.

The girls watched him, as well.  Each of them was eager to be married.  Maleo enjoyed flexing his muscles to the girls, making them gasp and giggle to one another.  But he did not speak to them, and at the end of every day he came back to the house that the village had given him, and it was empty.  After nearly a month in the village, he grew used to an empty house.

One day, after he had dug a long and deep water hole, Maleo’s back was very sore and he went straight to bed.  That night, he heard a noise outside of his house.  He rose and took up his spear, then stood by the side of the door.  To his surprise, a girl of the village walked in.  When he saw her, he dropped his spear.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.  ”Did you lose your way?”  The girl shook her head.

“No, Orange Boy.  I came to see you.  I came…to talk to you.”  Maleo enjoyed watching the moonlight on her chin.  He waited for her to say more, but she was silent.

“You came to talk.  Say what you have to say.”

“My name is Kalina.   I watch you every day.  Have you seen me?”  Maleo shook his head.  His back hurt, and he was growing impatient.

“Even so…” she approached Maleo.  ”Even so, you are from far away.  Do you have many women where you come from?”

Maleo’s frown deepened.  ”I am not from far away.  I am from the next region, to the west.  And yes, there were women there, but not so many as you have here.”

Kalina reached out and took Maleo’s hand in hers.  His heart beat faster than it ever had.

“Orange Boy…if you like, I could stay with you tonight.   You don’t have to spend every night alone.”

Maleo looked into her eyes, and saw something new and frightening.  He reached his hand out towards her chest.  Roughly, he pushed her away.

“Kalina, I must sleep alone.  My family is gone, and you are not my family.  So how can we sleep in the same house?  You do not know me; you do not love me.  Maybe you love the idea of me, a stranger, the Orange Boy.  But I am not the Orange Boy.  I am Maleo.”

Kalina began to cry.  Maleo looked at her and felt his heart break.  All of a sudden, he was in love with this beautiful crying girl.  More than anything, he wanted her to stay with him.  He knew that he could make her happy.

“No!” she cried.  ”You are not Maleo, you are the Orange Boy.  I love the man who works the whole day, and he is the Orange Boy!  I do not love Maleo!”

And Maleo realized that she spoke the truth, that she loved the Orange Boy.  And he wept with frustration, for he was not the Orange Boy, he was Maleo.  He wished that she loved Maleo, but she did not.  So he stopped his tears and made her leave, although it caused him great pain to do so.

The next day, when Maleo was busy building a fence for the goats, the young leader came to him.

“Orange Boy,” he said, “I have noticed the girls of our village watching you.  At first, I did not mind.  I have a wife of my own, and I am happy.  But now I see that it is the girls that are unhappy, because they know they cannot all have you.”  Maleo squinted at the leader, who stood above him and almost blocked the sun.

“I think they are foolish.  Do they not realize that none of them can have me?  I am not a gift to your village.”  And Maleo went back to his work.  The leader watched him work for several minutes, then stamped his foot on the ground.

“Orange Boy!” he shouted, “look at me!  I am the leader of this village, and if you want to stay here, you must face me in a wrestling match!”  Maleo snorted, then raised his hands in the gesture of resignation.

“Then I do not want to sta-”

“Silence!  I will not hear your protestations; we must wrestle.   You look like you have trained, and I have not.  But I am tall, and you are not!  And this is my home, so the ground will support me over you.”

Maleo had no time to think when the leader suddenly charged him.  The training took over, and before he knew it, Maleo had flipped his opponent onto the ground.  The leader struggled, but he was not strong enough to move Maleo.  Grunting, he accepted his loss.  He stood and hugged Maleo tightly, then turned to the crowd that had appeared to watch.

“My people!” called the leader, “today, the ground of Capicek has shown that it accepts and honors our visitor, Orange Boy!  This means,” he narrowed his eyes and glared at some of the older onlookers, “that we, too, must accept and honor him.”  Maleo was surprised.  Looking into the crowd, he saw distrustful eyes in many of the older villagers.  The eyes of the girls, of course, were the same as Kalina’s had been.  The leader turned to Maleo and whispered.

“My friend, the elders of our village are unhappy with you.  They do not see what you do for us; all they see is that the girls are in love with you.  This is bad for us; we have always had too many women, and normally the girls would be courting men in nearby villages.  With you here, though, they have no desire to leave.”

Maleo nodded his understanding.  ”But why, leader, do you not simply suggest that I marry one of them?  Surely that would solve your problem.”

The leader grinned.  ”Orange Boy, nobody who wants a wife would go an entire month without going near one of our women.  You are obviously not ready to marry, and I won’t force it on you.”

Maleo was very happy.  ”I am sorry, leader, I did not have the full measure of you.  You are a good leader, and a good friend.”  Maleo paused, thinking hard.  ”What should I do now?”

“Orange Boy, I can’t tell you what you should do.  But there is someone who can help.  After it is dark, take the road that leads out of our village to the east; you will find a small house before you get tired of walking.  Enter this house, and you will find what you need.”  Maleo thanked the leader and went back to his house, ignoring the looks the elders were giving him.

That night, Maleo followed the leader’s instructions.  He made his way to the small house, and opened the door slowly.  The light inside was soft, cast from a small fireplace in the corner.  There was a very old woman sitting on the floor, draped in several layers of blankets.  As Maleo stared at her, her eyes slowly opened, one at a time.

The old woman cackled.  ”So, boy.  Orange Boy.  Boy of a thousand faces.  What do you want to know?”

Maleo was very confused.  ”What do you mean?”

“You come here, there must be something you want to know.  Because of what you’ve done for our village, and because you have our leader’s respect, I’ll answer one of your questions, and I’ll give you one wish.”

Maleo grew more confident.  ”If I have any question, it is this:  where should I go next?  For I cannot stay here; there is no food for me, and my bag of oranges is empty.”

The old woman chewed her lip.  She stared at Maleo, and he grew cold.  Finally she responded.

“You must go east.  Do not take the road, but follow the river until you come to a village, and then take that village’s road east.  You must go east until you have found one of your dreams.”  Maleo sighed his frustration, but said nothing.

“And now, boy?  What is your wish?”

“I do not need a wish.  I took all that I need when I left my home.  What more is there?”

“I can give you many things, Orange Boy.  I can give you a name, here.  I can give you an identity.  I can give you the real love of any one of the girls, so that you can be with her.  Kalina, perhaps?”  And the woman chuckled, for she knew what Kalina had tried.

Maleo was confused.  He loved Kalina, and here was the chance for her to love him.  Before he could reply, the woman made another suggestion.

“Or maybe…you would like for your family to be happy, where they are now?  I could make certain of that, you know.”  Her smile looked kind, but Maleo could not see it.

“Old woman,” he said, “I can tell that you know what has happened to my family.  Why, then, would you make such a cruel offer to me?”

“Oh, Orange Boy.  Even a dead man wishes happiness for his living family.   Of course the living should return the favor.”

Maleo shook his head.  ”It is not my place…to decide for them, whether to be happy.  Whether they are happy with what they have…is their decision to make.  I will not make it for them.  I see you are skilled at convincing people what they want.  I think you are not so skilled at giving it to them.”  Hearing this, the old woman grinned broadly.

“Maybe so, Orange Boy.  But Kalina knows what she wants.  Why not give it to her?”

Maleo frowned, thinking hard.  Ten minutes later, he made his way back to the village, where he stopped only at his house to get his spear and bag, then went straight to the river and marched east.  On the way, he took an orange from his bag, and ate it as he walked.

Posted by Scott | November 13th, 2008 | Maleo | No comments