Kali's Song Read online

  Copyright © 2012 by Jeanette Winter

  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Schwartz & Wade Books,

  an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

  Schwartz & Wade Books and the colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc.

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Winter, Jeanette.

  Kali's Song / Jeanette Winter.—1st ed. p. cm.

  Summary: Thousands and thousands of years ago, a young boy gets his first hunting bow

  and learns to shoot, but he prefers to use the bow to make music.

  eISBN: 978-0-375-98860-8

  [1. Prehistoric peoples—Fiction. 2. Cave dwellers—Fiction. 3. Music—Fiction. 4. Hunting—Fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ7.W7547Kal 2012 [E]—dc22

  2011009357

  The illustrations were rendered in acrylic paint, pen and ink, and handmade paper.

  Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

  v3.1

  For Berit

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  First Page

  Thousands

  and

  thousands

  and thousands

  of years ago

  a boy watched his mother paint animals on a cave wall.

  To the boy, the painted animals were beautiful—

  just like the animals he saw on the plains.

  “Kali, soon you’ll be a man,” his mother said.

  “Soon you’ll hunt and kill animals like these.”

  His father gave the boy a bow.

  “Practice, Kali, for your first hunt,” he said.

  Kali practiced shooting arrows all day.

  When he finally sat down to rest,

  he idly plucked the string on his bow.

  Kali liked the sound.

  He plucked the string again.

  Then, still plucking, he put the bow to his lips.

  As he opened and closed his mouth,

  new sounds filled the quiet air.

  Kali forgot about shooting arrows

  and plucked his bowstring into the night.

  The stars came close to listen.

  That night, the sounds from Kali’s bow

  filled his dreams with peace.

  Every day Kali went far off to practice shooting arrows.

  And every day, when he was out of sight of the caves,

  he laid the arrows down,

  put the bow to his mouth,

  and plucked the string.

  Animals listened

  and were still.

  Birds listened

  and were still.

  And the stars came close to listen.

  When his father asked how practice had gone,

  Kali closed his eyes and said, “Good.”

  On the day of the big hunt,

  Kali watched the sun rise.

  The string on his bow was taut

  and his arrows sharp.

  The men led the way.

  Excited boys followed,

  over hills and valleys and across vast plains.

  Finally, the leader spotted animals in the distance—

  mammoths that were bigger and more beautiful

  than any Kali had ever seen.

  Kali ran to a hilltop for a closer look.

  When he saw the magnificent herd below him,

  he forgot about the hunt,

  and he forgot about the other hunters.

  He just heard the music of his bowstring in his head.

  Kali laid his arrows on the grass,

  put the bow to his mouth,

  closed his eyes,

  and played,

  and played,

  and played.

  When Kali opened his eyes,

  the mammoths were close enough to touch.

  They heard the sounds from his bow,

  and came to listen.

  The hunters followed the herd

  to the hill where Kali played.

  All was quiet.

  The only sound was the thrum of the bow.

  The hunters laid down their arrows and bows

  and listened.

  “Kali uses his weapon to charm the mammoths,

  not kill them.”

  “Only a shaman can do this.”

  When word of Kali’s magic reached his mother,

  she mixed new colors from the earth

  and painted the story of Kali's Song.

  It made Kali proud.

  As Kali grew into a man,

  the tribe looked to him for guidance.

  Kali cured the sick

  and talked to the ancestor spirits.

  And every evening,

  even when he was a very old man,

  Kali went to the hills with his bow,

  closed his eyes, and played his bow-harp

  until the stars came close to listen.

 

 

  Jeanette Winter, Kali's Song

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