229
THE BLUE FEATHER
Viviana questioned Moka and then reported, “Long ago there
was a large and prosperous tribe living peacefully. They did not
try to kill the monkeys for food, or for sport. They believed the
monkeys were special creatures. They even had a Spirit that had
the face of a monkey. That time was when Moka’s grandfather
was very young. That was, he told me, sixteen hundred and
twenty months of their time ago. Around that time a differentlooking young man came to visit them. He came in a large, fancy
boat. He told the tribal chief about his distant homeland located
far across the sea. He told the tribe the land was very rich, and if
you stuck a branch in the ground a tree would soon grow tall. He
showed and fed them all the vegetables and different fruits they
grew in his homeland. Later, Moka’s grandfather saw the tribe
cut down many tall trees and built strong boats for an ocean
voyage. The last thing his grandfather remembers is seeing the
whole tribe sail out of sight, right from this bay, which they called
Dolphin Bay. They have never returned. Moka thinks they will
never come back to their beautiful city. The tribe called
themselves the Dómpu, after the name of their city.
“You mean there is a large city up there?” Tital asked.
“Yes, Moka said it’s a very large city with many public
buildings and houses built out of stone. He says he has been to
the city, it was strange with no one living there,” Viviana told
them.
“That area over there to the west with the tall grass growing
all around, I was just over there looking around with Brilloso, and
underneath the grass there are many old tree stumps,” Ronú told
the group. “They must be the only evidence left that show that
many boats could have been built around here.”