Buzzards, Hawks and Ravens

(Account of Six Friend’s Life in the “Dark” Age)

by

Ruwen Rouhs 

Chapter 4

The Making of a Healer

His back hurt and his as yet short legs were tired. Ruwen was on his way back from the mountain pasture, with a small backpack full of fragrant herbs, such as flowering blood worth, white caraway, blue wolf’s bane, lamb's lettuce and sage, flowering blue gentian and the roots of the yellow gentian. He searched the sky for Buzzie. Five big birds were sailing the sky, two harriers easily recognized by their forked tails, and three buzzards, two light coloured and one dark and small. He was pretty sure the small one was Buzzie. Yes, they were still friends. Nearly every morning Buzzie showed up in the orchard behind the house, begging for a mouse. It still behaved like a fledgling, meowing and fluffing up its plumes. Sometimes he showed up with fresh prey, mostly mice but once with a still twisting snake. He would offer his fortune to Ruwen, like an engagement present.

Both had learned to communicate with each other. It was a very simple communication.

"Fine weather today! Just right for a new adventure!"

"Sorry, but I can't come with you, Aliah is waiting!"

"Plenty mice in the fields, come on get your share!"

"Oh, I'm not hungry, I have had porridge for breakfast!"

"Be careful, some strangers are out there!"

"Well, I know. Have you forgotten again? It's market day!"

Yes, Ruwen was sure his Buzzie had taken his place as a guardian of the village.

Buzzie was Ruwen's third best friend. His best friend was sweet Bastian, his blood brother. The second best friends were the twins, Bendrich and Geroldt. He couldn't decide which of them he liked more; and then it was Buzzie. There was one more person he liked even more, but this was a different sort of liking; it was near to worship. This person was Aliah - the Wise Women.

In her barn he was born a second time after his near escape from the terror of war. When he came to his senses several days after his arrival in the village, he asked from the parish priest, "My mother died; she was bleeding to death. Was there a way I could have stopped her bleeding, a way I could have saved her live? I feel so guilty!"

The Father's answer came without any hesitation. "Yes, my son, you should have asked our Lord for her life! You should have asked for His mercy! You should have asked Him on your knees!"

But Ruwen had prayed, the whole way from his town of birth to the village he had asked God for help, the whole dreadful way through the frightening Dark Wood; but the lord hadn't answered his prayers!

He asked Aliah, "Was there a way I could have stopped the bleeding of my dear mother? Was there a way I could have saved her live?"

Aliah didn't answer for a long time, and then she took him into her arms. "Yes, there may have been a way. But I am not quite sure about it. There are some herbs, some minerals, and some ointments which could have been used to stop the bleeding."

Then after a while; "I tried to save your mother after you arrived in our village, but it was too late. I am so sorry my dear, so sorry!"

Ruwen tried to avoid crying. He looked at the old women "Can you teach me how to stop bleeding; how to save wounded people? Please teach me, I have to know!"

Now he had been Aliah's young apprentice for more than two years. At first he was more of a drag on her, but he learned quickly. In the meantime, his sharp eyes replaced Aliah's waning ones, and his swift fingers her crippled ones. At first he had to get to know a lot of herbs, where they grew and when to collect them. She also taught him at what time of the year the herbs had the most healing power and how to preserve these powers. She taught him which parts of what animal was an essential ingredient to her medicines. She showed him the best way to extract the fat of marmots, deer and wild goats. He had to learn how to preserve the testicles of bulls and the rod of boars used by old men for rejuvenation and to increase their virility. They even collected inner part of some animals, dried and pulverized these and preserved them in jars.

With minerals it was a different matter. In the heights surrounding of the village they could get limestone and other minor minerals. Potent minerals like sulfur, blue vitriol, lead and quicksilver had to be bought from travellers coming from far away. They were quite expensive. Aliah had only small quantities of these precious substances and guarded them jealously.

It took only a short time before Aliah was convinced of Ruwen's abilities. He was not only extremely bright, imaginative and skilful, but also trustworthy and kind to everyone. At that point she started to teach him how to mix beneficial potions and to prepare curative salves. Soon he was allowed to treat simple lesions and clean dirty wounds. He got more and more experienced every day. Soon the small children preferred him as a healer over Aliah. But there were some treatments and medications which she refused to teach him, to his great disappointment.

*.*.*

Aliah was a very renowned midwife. She had delivered nearly every child in this and the neighbouring villages. Now she was old, old beyond the memory of most villagers. But she was still tough and strong, like an oak old tree. As Ruwen asked for the favour of taking part at deliveries she bluntly told him, "That's nothing for boys. That's not even a job for a strong man. It's the duty of the women to assist each other in childbirth! Stick to treating wounds!"

Ruwen was disappointed. He already knew how the babies got into the belly of a woman; at least, he was pretty sure how this happened. He guessed that in humans it took place much like in dogs, pigs, cattle and horses.

Ruwen protested, "Aliah, you know I am already famous as a birth assistant ever since I saved the life of Rosie, Bastion’s pet pig. I know how the babies get into the belly of the mother and how they slip out."

But Aliah retorted angrily, "I’ve never heard of a male midwife, especially not a boy, dealing with such a complicated matter."

"Oh, I’ll bet you haven't heard the whole story of how I saved Rosie's life, and her piglets. Do you know? Do you want me to tell you? Everybody knows by now and I have been asked at least four times to help with farrowing sows."

Aliah was delighted with his eagerness however she was still not convinced to teach Ruwen the craft of a midwife. On the other hand, she knew she was getting old, her eyes were failing, her hands were getting unsteady and there was no woman around to replace her as a midwife. "Go ahead, try to convince me, Ruwen!"

"You remember, Bastian adopted little Rosie just after her birth. She was doomed to death because she was the fifteenth piglet and her mother had only fourteen teats. He wanted her to stay alive and raised her by hand. He called the piglet Rosie, because it was not only the smallest but also the cutest he had ever seen. Rosie was pinkish with many small black dots, a black snout and a pitch-black patch around her left eye. I also liked Rosie."

"Yes that true, I remember Rosie was really cute and she was clingy too and she was running after both of you the whole day!"

"No, not the whole day, she had to sleep in the pigpen, not in our bed, even if she begged!"

"Next Spring Bastian wanted to know if she was in heat because he wanted to breed her."

"Did he? How did he do this?"

"The twins told him to check it, by humping Rosie. He did this every morning and as soon she didn't run away anymore, but responded by pressing back, we took her to the nicest boar of the village."

"How on earth can you call a boar nice? They are fat and mean beasts."

"Oh No! Not Evo! He is slim, has pink ears, a black back and three pink legs. He is friendly; he was the perfect mate for Rosie."

Ruwen paused a little bit. He was reluctant to go into the details of the mating. It was his first time to witness the pairing off of pigs. Watching the mating, he got real excited and his trousers tented. Bastian noticed his trouble and started grinning, while Ruwen blushed. The big boy had a woody also! From behind, he put both of his arms around Ruwen, humped him jokingly and started imitating the grunting of the boar. Ruwen kicked back and struggled to get free. The next moment both boys were scuffling around in the straw giggling like madmen. They stopped only when Evo had done his job properly.

Still grinning, Ruwen continued. "About three month later milk started dropping from Rosie's tits one evening. Throughout the night Bastian and I alternated watching her."

"I was dead tired when Bastian aroused me at early dawn. He was totally flustered. The first piglet had slipped out of Rosie's belly like a chicken from the egg; so did the second and third. But then something frightening happened; the fourth got stuck somewhere in the birth canal. Rosie laboured like mad; again and again she tried to squeeze out the baby, but it was stuck. After many futile contractions she started panting violently and then became weak. Bastian was in despair. His dear Rosie was dying. Bastian's mother was not around to help poor Rosie. He raced to fetch me from my bed shouting desperately.

"Come on little Bro, help! Please come and help Rosie. You are a healer, you can help!"

"But I have never helped to deliver babies before. I do not know how to do it!"

"Please, just try. Try, please. You can do it!"

"I had no choice but to help little Rosie. We raced back. I cleaned my hands and arms, greased them heavily and then started to feel my way into Rosie’s birth canal. Meanwhile Bastian soothed her. My right arm was buried in Rosie nearly to the shoulder. Then I touched a piglet and I shouted happily “I got it, I got it. I got its hind legs. I'll turn it around!” And I turned the piglet slowly and carefully pulled it out of Rosie's belly."

Ruwen grinned happily, "That piglet was a real big and fat one. No wonder it got stuck! Rosie gave birth to another six piglets in a rush. Already that evening she looked healthy again and proudly showed us her 10 piglets."

Aliah smiled. She was glad to have such an eager apprentice. But, she had to stay stubborn for the moment.

"Well my little midwife, first you have to learn how to attend newborn human babies. That's a lot different from piglets. They need much more care than piglets, calves or foals. They are more like little naked cats or rabbits. We will talk about being a birth assistant again, if you have proven to be a good nurse."

*.*.*

But Aliah was also being bull-headed in respect to two other important issues. She had already refused to teach him how to prepare love potions, and wasn’t ready to change her mind.

"No woman would come to a small boy like you and ask him for help in such a delicate matter!"

She also wouldn't talk to him about means to prevent pregnancies or to induce an abortion. But both were very important problems in those times.

It was already dark. Ruwen had said ‘good night’ to Aliah and left the house to walk home. He was just locking the hen house and saying ‘good bye’ to the goats, when there was a hesitant knock at the gate in the wall surrounding Aliah’s little estate. Ruwen crossed the yard and went to open the gate because Aliah was a little hard of hearing.

When Ruwen opened it and greeted “Good evening, come in!”, a hooded girl fled into the dark.

Aliah had heard the noise and called from the house, “Ruwen, who's out there on the gate?"  .

"It's a hooded girl, she's not gone; she is still besides the gate hiding in the dark."

"It's late enough Ruwen. Go home. This is my business!"

Ruwen pretended to leave the estate but returned after some moments and sneaked to the house, to eavesdrop.

"…I need help. Please, Aliah, please. Do not turn me away!" a desperate voice pleaded.

"Now dear, show me your face first, and then sit down and tell me what is wrong!"

"I can't, I so ashamed!" a sobbing voice answered.

From his hiding place behind the window shutters, Ruwen recognized the voice. It was Marci, the blacksmith’s daughter. He knew her well enough to be sure.

Marci started sobbing forlornly, but also with anger, "Please help. My father wants me to marry an old man. He is as old as my father! I do not love this worn out old blacksmith. I do not even like him. He has daughters my age; terrible girls, naughty daughters. I love someone else. And I have a baby in my womb!"

Ruwen understood. These were too many problems for a young girl to handle at the same time. That a father could pledge his daughter to another man without her consent was common law. In this special case the marriage might even make sense to the bride's father and the groom, as both of them were blacksmiths and the marriage would increase the ties between the two. Also, the marriage of an old man to a young girl was not uncommon. However, while the groom expected a virgin, and certainly not a bride pregnant with someone else’s child, the bride expected a tender young lover.

Ruwen started chuckling inside. He pitied the girl, but on the other hand he was pretty sure who Marci’s heartthrob was, or rather who the two heartthrobs were - the twins.

Naturally, it must be the twins. About two moths ago they had come home, burned out but joking about their normal trick.

Geroldt bragged, "Marci didn't get our trick. At her farewell she said, “Never has a boy done me six times in one night. Your little soldier really has a lot of stamina!"

Bendrich tried to outdo his brother, "I had the harder job, you lazy bloke. At first Marci was a little reluctant and I had to do a lot of teasing, stroking and flirting, but in the end she was real hot, and I had to make out two times in a row."

"Thank you, little brother. You did a real good warm up. She was so hot when I joined in for the third and fourth shags, that she even didn't object to doing it doggy style. She asked me to take her real hard, fondle her soft butt and milk her little tits."

"Now I know why she asked me to do it the same way too, after I returned."

"In the morning she was so spend, she just fell back into the hay and let me do all the work. Afterwards she smiled happily and asked me to marry her."

"Does she know which of us she wants to marry, me or you?"

"I don't think so, but it must be one of us, because she told me I was the best of all the lads who have done her before!"

Still grinning to himself, Ruwen caught Aliah’s hushed voice of Aliah, "…no, no that impossible! You could die! Sure I could prepare a strong potion with White Ginger and Bryony in dark wine and mix it with celery, fennel and parsley. That mixture, taken at dawn for three days, would procure a bloody abortion. But before this you would get sick - terribly sick. At first you would get a bad tummy, then start puking like you never did before, then a rash would erupt all over your face and body and your heart would run wild. If I did not hit the right dose immediately, and you were to drink too much of this potion, you would die."

Marci didn't stop pleading, "Please Aliah, give it to me! I can't marry this old man! I love someone else! And, I know for sure, if I marry that old man and he finds out that I am no virgin anymore he will kill me! And if he doesn't do it, my father will do it! I am doomed!"

Aliah tried to calm her down, "No and no and no! You are a young girl, you have to live!" – and, after a while, "The virginity problem? That's not much of a problem anyway. He wants to see a bloody bed sheet on the wedding night? Stupid man! It must not be your blood! Take an air bladder of a fish, fill it with chicken blood, and tuck it in your pussy. And when he takes you, that stupid man is certain to believe he was the one to pick your flower first!"

Ruwen couldn't linger any longer, and rushed home, giggling. He had to tell the twins. Only two weeks later there was a big wedding at the blacksmith’s, and next morning the husband proudly presented a blood stained sheet. About seven month later, Marci had twins, two strong boys, a blond one and a dark haired one. The blond one looked like Geroldt or Bendrich, but the dark haired one? Maybe it was a miracle!

*.*.*

AUTHOR NOTE

I would like to express a special thank to Anthony and Paul for doing a great job by correcting all the wrong expressions and especially to B. who revised the language used by a non native English writer.

Comments, reviews, questions and complaints are welcomed. Please send them to ruwenrouhs@hotmail.de or use the feedback form.  And I would like to add, thanks for reading.

Copyright Notice - Copyright © 2007

The author copyrights this story and retains all rights. This work may not be duplicated in any form – physical, electronic, audio, or otherwise – without the author's expressed permission. All applicable copyright laws apply.

Ruwen Rouhs