655G Land of the Painted Caves (final files).indd

38 Jean M. Auel
herself, especially when she lived alone in the valley. She had marked the
passing of time by cutting marks on a stick every day. She knew how many
seasons and years she had lived in the valley even without having counting
words, but when Jondalar came, he was able to tally the marks on her sticks
and tell her how long she had been there. To her, it was like magic. Now that
she had an idea how he had done it, she was hungry to learn more.
‘There are ways to count even higher, but it is more complicated,’ the
Second continued, then smiled, ‘as with most things associated with the
zelandonia.’ Those watching smiled back. ‘Most signs have more than one
meaning. Both hands can mean ten or twenty-five, and it’s not hard to
understand what is meant when you are talking about it, because when you
mean ten, you face the palms out; when you mean twenty-five, you turn the
palms inward. When you hold them facing in, you can count again, but this
time use the left hand, and hold the number with the right.’ She demonstrated
and the acolytes mimicked her. ‘In that position, bending down the
thumb means thirty, but when you count and hold to thirty-five, you don’t
hold the thumb down; you just bend the next finger down. For forty, you
bend down the middle finger, for forty-five the next; for fifty the small
finger of the right hand is bent, and all the other fingers on both hands are
out. The right hand with bent fingers is sometimes used alone to show those
larger counting words. Even larger counting words can be made bending
more than one finger.’
Ayla had trouble bending just her little finger and holding that position. It
was obvious that the rest of them had more practice, but she had no trouble
understanding. The First saw Ayla grinning with amazement and delight, and
nodded to herself. This is the way to keep her involved, she thought.
‘A handprint can be made on a surface like a piece of wood or the wall of a
cave, even on the bank of a stream,’ the First added. ‘That hand sign can mean
several different things. It may mean counting words, but it may mean something
else entirely. If you want to leave a handprint sign, you can dip your
palm in colour and leave the mark, or you can place your hand on the surface
and blow colour on and around the back of it, which leaves a different kind
of handprint. If you want to make a sign that means a counting word, dip the
palm in colour for the smaller ones, and blow colour on the back of your hand
to show the larger ones. One Cave to the south and east of here makes the sign
of a large dot using colour on only the palm, without showing the fingers.’
Ayla’s mind was racing, overwhelmed with the idea of counting. Creb, the
greatest Mogur of the Clan, could, with great effort, count to twenty. She
could count to twenty-five and represent it with just two hands in a way that
others could understand it, and then increase that number. You could tell