Our story this week is called "The God of His Fathers". It was writtenby Jack London in the year 1901. Here is Shep O'Neal with the story.
Silently, the wolves circled the herd of caribou deer. Gray belliesclosed to the ground. The wolves in the pack surrounded a pregnantdeer. They pulled her down and tore out her throat. The rest of thecaribou herd raced off in 100 directions. The wolves began to feed.
Once again, the Alaska territory was the scene of silent death. Herein its ancient forests, the strong had killed the weak for thousandsand thousands of years.
Small groups of Indians also lived in this land at the Rainbow's Endbut their Stone Age life was ending. Strange men with blond hair andblue eyes had discovered the lands of the north. The Indian chiefsordered their warriors to fight them. Stone arrow met steel bullet.
The Indians could not stop the strangers. The white men conquered theicy rivers in light canoes. They broke through the dark forests andclimbed the Rocky Mountains.
One of these men sat in front of a tent near a river. His name was HayStockard. Over the smoke and flames of his fire, he watched an Indianvillage not far from his own camp. From inside his tent came the cryof a sick child and the gentle answering song of its mother. But theman was not concerned now with them. He was thinking of Baptiste theRed, the chief of the Indian village, who had just left him. “We donot want you here.” Baptiste had told him. “If we permit you to sitby our fires, after you will come your church, your priests and yourGod. “Baptiste the Red hated the white men’s God. His father had been anEnglishman; his mother, the daughter of an Indian chief. Baptiste hadbeen raised among white men. When Baptiste was a young man, he fell inlove with a Frenchman’s daughter. But her father opposed themarriage. A Christian priest refused to marry them. So Baptiste tookthe girl into the forests. They went to live among his mother’speople. A year later, the girl died while giving birth to her firstchild. Baptiste took the baby back to live among the white people. Formany years he lived in peace with them as his daughter grew up, talland beautiful. One night, while Baptiste was away, a white man brokeinto their home and killed the girl.
(No voice here …)”… go and go quickly.” “And if I stay,” Hay Stockard had askedquietly as he filled his pipe. “Then soon you will meet your God,your bad God, the God of the white men. The Indian chief rose to hisfeet and left Hay Stockard's camp to return to his village.
The next morning, Hay Stockard watched with angry eyes as 3 men in along canoe came to the riverbank. Two of the men were Indian. Thethird, a white man, wore a bright red cloth around his head. HayStockard reached for his gun and then changed his mind. As soon as thecanoe landed, the white man jumped out and ran up to Stockard. “So,we meet again, Hay Stockard. Peace be with you. I know you are asinner, but I, Sturges Owen, am God’s own servant. I will bring youback to our church.” “Listen to me,” Stockard warned, “if you stayhere, you will bring trouble to yourself and your men. You all will bekilled and so will my wife, my child and myself." Owen looked up tothe sky, “The man who carries God in his heart and the Bible in hishand is protected."Later that morning, the Indian chief Baptiste came back to Stockard'scamp. “Give me the priest,” Baptiste demanded, “and I will let yougo in peace. If you do not, you die.” Sturges Owen grabbed his Bible,"I am not afraid,” he said, “God will protect me and hold me in hisright hand. I am ready to go with Baptiste to his village. I will savehis soul for God.” Hay Stockard shook his head, “Listen to me,Baptiste, I did not bring this priest here, but now that he is here, Ican’t let you kill him. Many of your people will die if we fight eachother." Baptiste looked into Stockard’s eyes. “But those who live,”
he said, “will not have the words of a strange God in their ears.”
After a moment of silence, Baptiste the Red turned and went back tohis own camp. Sturges Owen called his two men to him and the three ofthem knelt to pray. Stockard and his wife began to prepare the campfor battle. As they worked, they heard the sound of war drums in thevillage. As Sturges Owen waited and prayed, he began to feel hisreligious fever cooling. Fear replaced hope in his heart. The love oflife took the place of the love of God in his mind. “The love oflife,” he could not stop himself from feeling it. Owen knew thatStockard also loved his life, but Stockard would choose death ratherthan shame.
The war drums boomed loudly. Suddenly, they stopped. A flood of darkfeet raced towards Stockard’s camp. Arrows whistled through the air.
A spear went through the body of Stockard’s wife. Stockard’s bulletsanswered back. Wave after wave of Indian warriors broke over thebarrier. Sturges Owen ran into his tent. His two men died quickly. HayStockard alone remained on his feet knocking the attacking Indiansaside. Stockard held an ax in one hand and his gun in the other.
Behind him, a hand grabbed Stockard’s baby by his tiny leg and pulledit from under his mother’s body. The Indian whipped the child throughthe air, smashing its head against the log. Stockard turned and cutoff the Indian’s head with his ax. The circle of angry faces closedon Stockard. Two times, they pushed up to him but each time he beatthem back. They fell under his feet as the ground became wet withblood.
Finally, Baptiste called his men to him. “Stockard,” he shouted,“you are a brave man. Deny your God and I will let you live.” TwoIndians dragged Sturges Owen out of the tent. He was not hurt. But hiseyes were wild with fear. He felt anger at God for making him so weak.
Why had God given him faith without strength? Owen stood shakingbefore Baptiste the Red. “Where is your God now?” demanded theIndian chief. “I do not know,” Owen whispered. “Do you have a God?
” “I had." "And now?" "No.” “Very good,” Baptiste said. "See thatthis man goes free. Let nothing happen to him and send him back to hisown people. So he can tell his priests about Baptiste the Red's landwhere there is no God."Baptiste turned to Hay Stockard. "There is no God." Baptiste said.
Stockard laughed. One of the young Indian warriors lifted the warspear. “Do you have a God? “ Baptiste shouted. Stockard took a deepbreath. “Yes,” he said, “the God of my fathers.” The spear flewthrough the air and went deep into Stockard’s chest. Sturges Owen sawStockard fall slowly to the ground. Then the Indians put Owen in acanoe. Sturges Owen went down the river to carry the message ofBaptiste the Red in whose country there was no God.
You have just heard the story "The God of His Fathers”. It waswritten by Jack London and adapted for Special English by DonaldSanctus. Your narrator was Shep O'Neal. I am Susan Clark. Listen againnext week for another American Story in Special English on the Voiceof America. |