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Excerpted Inspirations #205

  • Writer: Linda Odhner, with photos by Liz Kufs
    Linda Odhner, with photos by Liz Kufs
  • 4 days ago
  • 0 min read
[Ten-year-old twins Kestrel and Bowman Hath embark on a quest to find the key to the Wind Singer, so that it can again protect their home city of Aramanth from evil. They begin to learn about Mumpo, a classmate who has come with them. Orange District is the third of five castes in the city.] “I really don’t know how you managed to stay in Orange all these years.” Bowman said quietly, “That’s because we’ve never asked him.” Kestrel stared at her brother. It was true: she knew next to nothing about Mumpo. At school, he had always been the one who was odd, the one to avoid. Then when he had become her unwanted friend, she had found his affection irritating, and had not wanted to do anything to encourage it. In the course of their journey together, she had come to think of him as a kind of wild animal that had attached itself to her and become almost a pet. But he was not an animal. He was a child, like herself. “What happened to your father and mother, Mumpo?” Mumpo was surprised at her question, but very happy to answer her. “My mother died when I was little. And I haven’t got a father.” [...] “If you haven’t got a family,” said Bowman, “how can you have a family rating?” “How can you go to school in Orange District,” said Kestrel, “even though – ” She caught Bowman’s glance, and broke off. “Even though I’m so stupid?” He didn’t seem at all offended. “I’ve got an uncle. It’s because of my uncle that I go to school in Orange District, even though I’m so stupid.” Bowman felt a wave of sadness go through him, and he shuddered as if it were his own. “Do you hate school, Mumpo?” he asked. “Oh, yes,” replied Mumpo simply. “I don’t understand anything, and I’m always alone. So I’m always unhappy.” The twins looked at him and remembered how they had laughed at him along with the others, and they felt ashamed. “But it’s all right now,” he said. “I’ve got a friend now. Haven’t I, Kess?” “Yes,” said Kestrel. “I’m your friend.” Bowman loved Kestrel for saying that, even if she didn’t mean it. Love you, Kess. “Who’s your uncle, Mumpo?” “I don’t know. I’ve never seen him. He’s very important, and has a very high rating. But I’m stupid, you see, so he doesn’t want me in his family.” “But that’s horrible!” “Oh, no, he’s very good to me. Mrs. Chirish is always telling me so. Only, if I was in his family, it would make his family rating much lower. So it’s better that I lodge with Mrs. Chirish. “Oh, Mumpo,” said Kestrel, “What a bad, sad place Aramanth has become.” “Do you think so, Kess? I thought only I thought that.” Bowman wondered at Mumpo. The more he knew him, the more, in a strange way, he admired him. There seemed to be no malice in him, or vanity. He accepted what each moment brought him, and never troubled himself with matters that were outside his control. Despite the unhappiness of his lonely life, he seemed to have been born incurably good-hearted: or perhaps the one had somehow led to the other, and the many cruelties he had known had taught him to be grateful for even the smallest kindness. -William Nicholson, The Wind Singer (2000), pp. 333-336

 
 
 

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