In silence Pandion took a handful of the sparkling stones out of his bag and laid them before the Etruscan. Cavius nodded his head in approval, but suddenly doubt showed on his face.
“If they don’t know the value of these stones, the Sons of the Wind may refuse to take them. Who has heard of such stones in our countries? Who will buy them as valuables? Although…” Cavius paused to think.
Pandion took fright. Cavius’ simple explanation of their position had not entered his head before. He had lost sight of the fact that the stones might have no value in the eyes of the merchants. The hand he stretched out towards the stones trembled in consternation and fear for the future. Seeing the alarm in Pandion’s face, Cavius spoke to him again. “I seem to have heard that transparent stones of great hardness were sometimes brought to Cyprus and Caria from the distant east and had a very high value. Perhaps the Sons of the Wind know that?…”
The morning after his talk with Cavius, Pandion set out along a path that led to the foothills where the bananas grew. It was time for Kidogo to return, and his friends were awaiting him in impatience; they wanted his advice on how to obtain something valuable for the Sons of the Wind. Cavius’ doubts had shattered Pandion’s faith in the stones from the south and the young Hellene now knew no peace. Without realizing it Pandion set out towards the mountains in the hope of meeting the expedition of his Negro friend. Apart from everything else, he wanted to be alone to think out a new work of art that was beginning to take form in his mind. Pandion walked soundlessly along the hard trampled earth of the footpath. He was no longer lame and his former easy gait had returned to him. Local people, loaded with clusters of yellow fruits, whom he met on the way, grinned at him or waved bunches of leaves to him as a sign of friendship. The path turned to the left. Pandion walked on between solid green walls of succulent vegetation, filled with the golden glow of sunlight. In the hot glare of the sun a woman whom Pandion recognized as Nyora was moving gracefully along the path. From the hanging clusters of bananas she was selecting the greenest fruits and packing them in a high basket. Pandion stood back in the shadow of the huge banana leaves and the feelings of the artist put all other thoughts out of his mind. The young woman went from one bush to another, her figure bent gracefully over the basket, and again she stretched up on tiptoes, straining her entire body to reach the higher fruits. The golden sunlight sparkled on her smooth black skin, accentuated by the bright green background of leaves. Nyora gave a little jump, her body arched into a curve as she plunged her hands into the velvety foliage. Pandion was so engrossed that he caught against a dry twig, and a loud crackle broke the silence. In an instant the young woman turned round and stood stock-still. Nyora recognized Pandion, and the body that had been tensed like the string of a musical instrument immediately became calm as she smiled at the young Hellene. Pandion, however, noticed nothing. A cry of ecstasy broke from his lips and his wide-open golden eyes stared at Nyora without seeing her, his mouth opened in a faint smile. The astounded woman stepped back from him. The stranger suddenly turned and ran away shouting something in a language she could not understand.
Pandion had suddenly made a great discovery, something he had been groping for unconsciously but persistently, something he had always been very near to in his unceasing mental search. He would never have found it if he had not made comparisons and had not sought new paths for his own art. That which has life in it can never be immobile. In a beautiful living body there is never dead immobility, there is only repose, the moment when a movement has been completed and is changing to another movement, its opposite. If he could seize that moment and reproduce it in the motionless material, the dead stone would live.
This is what Pandion had seen in the motionless Nyora, when she stood still like a statue cast from black metal. The young Hellene went away alone to a tree in a small glade. If anybody had seen him there, he would have been sure that Pandion was mad: he was making jerky movements, bending and straightening his arm or his leg, and trying hard to follow the movements, twisting his neck and straining his eyes till they hurt. He did not return home until evening. He was excited and had a feverish gleam in his eye. To Cavius’ great astonishment, Pandion made him stand up in front of him, march about and halt at his command. At first the Etruscan was patient with his friend and his antics, but at last he could stand it no longer and sat down on the ground with an air of determination. Even then Pandion gave him no rest. He stared at him as he sat there, first from the right and then from the left, until Cavius, letting out a stream of profanity, said that Pandion had a touch of fever and threatened to tie him up and lay him down on the bed.
“You can go to the crows!” shouted Pandion in a joyful voice. “I’m not afraid of you; I’ll twist you up like the horn of the white antelope.”
Cavius had never seen his friend in such a childishly jolly mood before. He was glad of it, for he had long been aware that Pandion was spiritually depressed. He muttered something about a boy who was making fun of his father and gave Pandion a light blow; Pandion immediately calmed down and announced that he was as hungry as a wolf. The two friends sat down to supper, and Pandion tried to explain his great discovery to his friend. Contrary to Pandion’s expectations, Cavius showed interest in the matter and asked Pandion many questions, trying to understand the nature of the difficulties that faced the sculptor in his efforts to depict real life.
The two friends sat talking for a long time, until it was quite dark.
Suddenly something stood in the way of the stars that shone through the open doorway, and Kidogo’s voice gave them a pleasant thrill. The Negro had returned unexpectedly and decided to pay an immediate visit to his friends. When they asked him about the results of the hunt, he gave them an indefinite answer, said he was tired and promised to show his trophies the next morning. Cavius and Pandion told him about the expedition in search of ebony and about Takel’s death. Kidogo was infuriated and in his frenzy showered curses upon his friends, said that their actions were an insult to his hospitality and even went to the extent of calling Cavius an “old hyena.” In the end the Negro grew calmer — his sorrow at the death of a comrade was greater than his wrath. Then the Etruscan and the Hellene told him that they were worried about finding something to pay the Sons of the Wind with and asked his advice. Kidogo showed the greatest indifference to their worries and went away without having answered their questions.
The despondent friends blamed Kidogo’s strange behaviour on to his sorrow at the death of the Libyan, and both of them for a long time tossed sleeplessly on their beds, pondering over the situation.
Late next morning Kidogo came to them with an expression of shrewd cunning on his kindly face. He was accompanied by all the Libyans and a crowd of young men of his tribe. Kidogo’s people winked at the puzzled strangers, whispered amongst themselves, laughed loudly and shouted snatches of incomprehensible phrases. They hinted at the sorcery that was supposed to be a feature of their people and said that Kidogo was possessed of the ability to turn ordinary sticks into ebony and ivory, and river-sand into gold. The strangers had to listen to all this nonsense on their way to Kidogo’s house. Kidogo led them to a small storeroom, a building that differed from the other simple houses in that it had a door which was closed from the outside by a huge stone. With the aid of several of his men Kidogo rolled the stone away, and the young people stood on either side of the wide-open door. Kidogo, bending down, entered the storeroom, beckoning to his friends to follow. Cavius, Pandion and the Libyans did not know what it was all about and stood for some time in the gloom until their eyes got accustomed to the half light coming through a narrow gap that encircled the wall under the eaves. Then they saw a number of thick black logs, a pile of elephant tusks and five big baskets filled to the top with medicinal nuts. Kidogo watched the faces of his comrades attentively as he spoke to them.