If
there is an aura of caste, the distinctions must be created by those who
have come as strangers into the mountains and not by the mountaineer.
They know they are not ignorant, except as everyone is ignorant who
lacks contact with new customs and changes in world progress. They are
fully cognizant of their lack of that knowledge which "comes only out of
a book." But whatever their educational shortcomings, no one has ever
laid at their door the charge of stupidity.
Raised in nature's school they are masters of its non-elective course.
They know by the arc the baying hounds make the size of the circle the
fox will take and where to intercept him. They can tell by the distance
up the mountain's side where the dogs are running whether the fox is red
or gray. They know by the sound a rock makes as it is dropped into the
stream the depth of the ford. They have even a classical finish to their
woodland schooling and they find a pleasure in noting that the bullfrog
sits with his back to the water as the moon rises and faces it as the
moon sets.
They know the signs of changing weather that will affect their crops.
The tints of the clouds that float above them convey a meaning. There
are cause and effect in the wind that continues in one direction. They
watch the actions of wild animals and fowls, and they are wise enough to
attribute to beast and bird an intuitive protective sense superior to
their own.
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