the group’s females.”
“This would be presumably with single-adult-male, isolated groups,” said Brenner.
“They speak of “father,” not “fathers,” said Rodriguez.
“That form of social structure is quite at odds with that of the Pons,” said Brenner.
“Indeed,” said Rodriguez, “it would seem to be, for most practical purposes, the exact opposite.”
“It is a possible grouping,” said Brenner.
“Such groupings exist,” said Rodriguez.
“They can perpetuate themselves?” asked Brenner.
“Certainly,” said Rodriguez.
“I think I would fear such a male,” said Brenner.
“Your feelings would most likely be a mixture of dread and awe, of fear and reverence,” said Rodriguez. “That beast is not only lord and tyrant, but, too, it is clearly understood, he is guide, protector. and leader, keeper of the peace, instiller of order. With him, under his rod of iron, in virtue of his jaws, his might, the jungle is kept at bay. Predators fear him. He makes possible his group. He is a source of security and needed authority.”
“But it is an animal that is spoken of as “father,”” said Brenner.
“We are dealing with primitives,” said Rodriguez. “The concept may be mystical. Too, in a world where little is understood, it might not seem impossible that an animal might father a different form of race.”
“It seems I know little more about the Pons now than before,” said Brenner.
“Having an animal, and one animal, as the “father,”” said Rodriguez, “solves another problem which has been little noticed, a sort of logical, or philosophical, problem, likely to be frightening to a primitive mind.”
“What is that?” asked Brenner.
“It avoids the infinite regress of fathering, with its terrors,” said Rodriguez. “If the father had a father, and that father a father, and so on, it seems that there could not be a first father, but the primitive mind wants a first father, but it seems that no ordinary father could be the first father. Thus the series might be begun with a different father, the totem. This gives us a beginning to the line, that desired first father, and one which, because of its nature, other than that of a normal father, stands outside the normal lines of fathering, thus not being itself exposed to the same difficult question of the father’s father, and so on, which a normal “first father” would require.”
“One might ask where the totem came from,” said Brenner, “or about its father, and so on.”
“No,” said Rodriguez. “You are thinking of the totem there as though it were only an ordinary animal, a mere biological creature. It is more than that. It is mystical. It is the totem.”
“I see,” said Brenner.
“Everyone stops asking questions at one point or another,” said Rodriguez. “The only question is where. Where the totemistic savage stops asking them is not obviously inferior to a number of other places, even more obscure or eccentric, where one might stop asking them.”
“Perhaps not,” said Brenner.
Chapter 19
“I have found something I want you to see,” said Rodriguez.
Brenner put three pebbles down in the dirt, pressing them into the dust like buttons. He counted them, slowly. “One, two, three.”
“One, two, three,” said one of the Pons, crouching before him. Present, too, were two other Pons, observing closely, intently.
It was shortly before noon.
“I found it yesterday,” said Rodriguez. “I would like you to take a look at it.”
“You didn’t mention it,” said Brenner.
“We will talk on the way,” said Rodriguez.
“All right,” said Brenner.
“It is unimportant, of course,” said Rodriguez.
“What is it?” asked Brenner.
“Something,” said Rodriguez.
“I am eager to see it,” said Brenner.
“If you have time, of course,” said Rodriguez.
“In a minute,” said Brenner.
Brenner then wedged three twigs, upright, into the dust.
“Ai!” said Brenner, stung by a small stone flung from the side.
He looked up.
“Get out of here!” said Rodriguez, waving his arm angrily at a Pon, some feet off, which it presumably regarded as a safe distance. “Get away!” said Rodriguez to the small creature. It bared its tiny teeth at him. Rodriguez took one step toward the tiny creature and it spun about and rushed off, scampering about the edge of the clearing.
“You frightened him,” chided Brenner.
“If I could move that fast, and change direction that quickly,” said Rodriguez, “I would break his neck.”
“Bad Pon! Bad Pon!” one of the Pons scolded the fellow who had flung the pebble, he now turned about, again, and standing some yards off.
“That was your friend, wasn’t it?” asked Rodriguez.
It was now baring its teeth at the other Pons. It picked up a handful of dust, too, and flung it angrily, petulantly, in their direction. It was dissipated