Beyond the Valley of Mist (3 page)

The High Priest presided
over the sacrificial ceremonies and declared that God had ordained
him to perform the tasks. If anyone objected, he or she was defying
God, and the priests ordered the soldiers to throw that person into
the Fire, and God would deal with them.

Fear of God became the
order of the day. No one dared voice an objection. The Lalocks who
meekly accepted the dictates of the priests were deemed to be
“God-fearing men," and the Lalocks revered them.

More and more, the people
became fearful of the Fire God. It would do wonderful things
for
them—if they gave it
gifts and paid it homage—but if they didn’t, it would do terrible
things
to
them.

Fire was now a full-fledged
God, and the Lalocks gathered nightly to worship it. They knew they
had to do what the priests told them to, or the priests would expel
them from the temple and deny them communication with God. It was
no small punishment, because it denied them the use of
Fire.

***

Chapter 4

Zor

A group of Lalocks gathered
around their God to worship. In the group was a man called
Zor.

Zor was a little different
from the rest. He was no bigger, stronger, or braver--he was just a
curious man. He was interested in everything, and had a driving
need to
know
. He
asked, how do birds know how to build their nests? Why do birds fly
south when it starts getting cold?

His main interest at that
time was fire. He didn’t believe that fire was God. He thought that
fire was hiding in wood, and that if you rubbed the wood hard
enough, it would release fire. He noticed that by rubbing two
pieces of wood together, the wood got hot. He reasoned that if he
rubbed hard enough and did not let the wood rest, it would have to
let fire come out. After many days of trying, it finally
worked.

When fire first came out,
it was small and weak. He fed it tiny pieces of dry wood and blew
into it until it got stronger. He then gave the fire larger pieces
until it was strong enough to put logs on it. He did it repeatedly
until he was sure he could make fire anytime he wanted to. When he
was sure his method worked, he demonstrated it to his friends. He
showed them that not only did he have power over fire, but they
also could make fire, and that they didn’t need the priests as
their source of fire.

By showing the Lalocks how
to make their own fire, Zor had diminished the power of the
priests. The priests therefore saw Zor as a threat and looked for
ways to get rid of him. But the priests knew they had better be
careful, or the people would question them for sacrificing Zor
without a well-established reason. They had to handle the
excommunication of Zor very carefully. The priests had their
zealots watching Zor day and night so they could justify doing away
with this meddlesome man.

The priests labeled Zor a
troublemaker, but many Lalocks depended on Zor for information
other than how to make fire. The priests noticed. Among other
things, Zor told the townspeople when to plant their
crops.

At first, the Lalocks
didn’t believe what Zor told them, but he was right so often, they
eventually relied on him for knowledge. He said rather strange
things, such as why their crops wouldn’t grow when it got cold, and
why they had to give the plants water. Some Lalocks wondered how
anyone could know such things—did Zor have connections with the
dark world? Perhaps they should keep an eye on him. Others thought
that since he was smarter than the rest, he should have a special
place in the clan.

The people knew that Zor
was a little different, but yet he told them useful things, such
as, the reason it got cold was that the sun took a journey south,
and that it got warm again when he sun returned.

The priests had been
telling the Lalocks that only God could know the answers to those
questions, and that anyone who claimed to know was claiming to be a
God, and must be punished.

One night, while the Lalocks
were gathered around Fire, Zor stared at it and thought,
I do not think that Fire is God.
God would be all-powerful and nothing mortal
could have power over it; yet, I can give it life, and I can take
life from it. I can kick dirt on it and kill it.

That same thought kept
running through his mind, until one night he just couldn’t stand it
anymore. He nudged his friend Arber. “Arber, I don’t think Fire is
God. I can kick dirt on it and put it out.”

The idea of killing God
terrified Arber. “Zor, you'd better not, and don’t even say that to
anyone else. I will come to your cave tonight; we will talk, but
please don’t do anything or tell anyone else.”

When Arber arrived at Zor’s
cave, Arber said, “I think the priests are just looking for a
reason to sacrifice you to Fire. Your idea would cause people to
have doubts, and the priests would lose control. They can’t let
that happen. Most people already know in their hearts that what
they are pretending to believe is not true. Nevertheless, they need
something to believe in. Without God, they would be lost. If you
take their God from them, you must give them something to replace
it. If Fire is not God, then who is?”

“
I do not know who or what
God is,” Zor said, “but I know for sure that Fire is not. God would
be all-powerful. God would be good. God would be the giver of life,
not the taker of life.”

“
How do you know that Fire
is not God? Our people have been worshipping Fire for a very long
time.”

“
I think God gave Fire to
man for man to use. Man can control Fire. He can give it life, and
he can take its life. Rain is stronger than Fire. If rain blows
into your cave and gets into Fire, it will put Fire out. Dirt is
stronger than Fire. One day, wind blew Fire into my collection of
skins. I prevented Fire from burning all of the skins by throwing
dirt on it. Man can use Fire to cook his food, light his cave, warm
himself on cold nights, and keep the beasts away, but Fire needs
man to exist. The way we are worshipping Fire, we have made it a
bad thing. Fire takes the life of our clansmen when the priests
throw them into it. I don’t think Fire is bad by itself—only when
it's used in a bad way.”

Arber was worried. “But the
Lalocks must have a God, and if you do not have another God to give
them, I don’t think you should take this one away.”

“
Perhaps
Earth
would be a good God,” Zor
responded. “Earth is the giver of life. All life comes from the
earth, and all life goes back to the earth when it
dies.”

“
Are you saying that you
think Mother Earth is God?” Arber asked.

“
No,” replied Zor. “Earth
cannot give life by herself. She must have help from the Sun, and
they must have the help of wind and water. If any of these things
are not present, there can be no life.”

“
Maybe Sun is the Father
God,” pondered Arber. “And Earth is the Mother God. But how can
that be, when Earth is so much bigger than Sun? We can see the sun
go into the earth each evening, and we watch Mother Earth give
birth to a new Sun each morning.”

Zor questioned, “If Sun is
the father God, and Earth is the mother God, then what are the moon
and the stars? Are they the children of Sun and Earth, or are they
gods also?”

“
Why does it matter? Why do
you need answers to these foolish questions? No man can know the
answers.”

“
I think we can know the
answers, but we are afraid to ask the questions.”

“
Why do you think we can
know,” Arber asked, “and how will it help us to know?”

“
I once noticed that the sun
goes south when it gets cold, and then it returns to the north, and
it gets warm again. I wanted to know how far south it goes before
it starts back.”

Arber shook his head in
disgust. “You see what I mean? That's a foolish thing to ask. No
man can know the answer, and what good is it?”

“
I did not find out where it
goes, but I found out how far it goes by watching where it went
down each night for two summers,” Zor replied.

“
How did you do
that?”

“I went to the top of a
steep hill, and I placed two pointed rocks in a line that ran east
and west. By standing behind one of the rocks and aligning both
rocks with where the sun went down at the beginning of each phase
of the moon, I could tell how far the sun moved during each phase.
By watching the movement of the sun for two summers and placing a
rock where the sun went down at the end of each phase, I was able
to tell when the sun began its trip back north.”

“
What a foolish thing to do.
How did that help you?”

“When the Lalocks ask me
when they should plant their crops, I could tell them. You say I
cannot know, but I do know, and that's because I was curious enough
to want to know, and I took the time to find the answer. I think
there are answers to all questions if we will take the time to find
them. We need to overcome our fears and quit pretending to believe
the things the priests tell us when they themselves don’t know—they
only pretend to know. When we ask them to explain, they cannot
explain; they tell us to have faith. I do not believe faith helps
us to know. I think faith prevents us from looking for the truth.
The truth is knowable if we have the courage to look for
it.”

Zor stood up and looked
into Arber’s eyes. “When my son was born, I placed a rock beside
the cave, and each summer I placed another rock on the pile. In
that way, I could remember how many summers my son has been here.
Now I know how many summers it takes a baby boy to become a man.
There are many questions for which I myself will not find answers,
but I think that someday, someone will find answers to all the
questions. I feel compelled to tell the men in our town that they
are worshipping a false god.”

“
But why tell them
that?”

“
It is not just the fact
that the men are worshiping a false god that bothers me; it is that
they are allowing innocent people to be sacrificed to that false
god. If they know that Fire is a false god, maybe they will stop
the priests from killing people and pretending it is God who is
doing the killing. The priests are doing a horrible wrong, and we
are allowing them to continue doing it. I think the men should know
the truth.”

“
There is so much we don’t
know,” Arber said, shaking his head.

“
I would like to know how
far it is to the ends of the earth,” Zor answered. “I want to know
if Sun goes into Earth at night. I believe Earth is round and that
Sun goes around Earth. Why does the wind blow only occasionally?
Where do we come from, and where do we go when we die? I'm sure we
did not come from Fire.”

“
Those are all interesting
questions, Zor, but I’ve got to go home now. Again I caution you,
do not tell the men that Fire is not God.”

***

Time passed, and Zor waited
until the moon had gone through several changes, but he still
couldn’t rid his mind of the idea that they were worshiping a false
God. Then one night, another young girl was put to death because
she could not bear a child. That was just too much. He had to think
this out, so he went into the forest and started a fire. After the
fire was burning strongly, he took a burning stick and began
another fire. Then he turned to the first fire and kicked dirt on
it. Sure enough, it went out. He turned his attention to the second
fire, but he didn’t give it wood, and it slowly died.

It was obvious that he had
power over the fire. He had given the fire life, and he could deny
life to the fire. The fire, in truth, needed him. Zor was sure the
townspeople were worshipping a false god, but should he tell them?
Surely the men would want to know that they were allowing the
priests to sacrifice innocent girls for no reason.

Zor couldn’t sleep; still,
it took him several more changes of the moon to get up enough
courage to tell them. Then one night during the ceremony, he jumped
to his feet and told the men of his experiment with the fire. The
men were bewildered, confused, and terrified. They did not want to
know that Fire was not God. If what he was saying were true, they
had no God, and that was intolerable.

The zealots, who had been
waiting for Zor to do something like this, told the priests right
away.

The priests called all the
Lalocks together and predicted that Fire God would be offended and
would rain destruction down upon them. They had to do something to
make peace with God. The priests wanted to sacrifice Zor, but Arber
spoke in Zor’s behalf and reminded the Lalocks that Zor had helped
them many times.

The priests had a good
reason to sacrifice Zor, but they still had to handle it very
carefully, so they agreed to banish Zor into the Valley of Mist,
knowing that no one had ever returned from that terrible valley.
They tied four logs together, placed Zor on them, and floated him
down the river. His wife and sons and many Lalocks mourned
him.

After they had banished Zor
to what they believed would be certain death, the men sat around
thinking about what they had done. One of the men asked the
priests, “How will we know when to plant our crops?”