Chapter 8: Shaman Apprentice

Ma Shao was called into the tent by Shi Ya, and the noisy voices of the tribesmen outside continued.

"Who told you the medical skills that saved Luanfa just now?" asked Shi Ya.

"No one told me this, I just think this should be feasible." This is all Ma Shao could say.

Dr. Heimlich, who invented this first aid method, died a few years before his rebirth and was not yet born.

"That is the revelation from the Great Spirit." Stone Crow immediately made a judgment.

...Okay, if you say so, then so be it.

Ma Shao did not refute, and he couldn't refute.

The concept of the Great Spirit is not as concrete as gods and Buddhas. It is supreme, but also illusory and mysterious. It has very little personality. Everything can be attributed to it, and all debates about it can lead to contradictions.

If Da Ling's personality were to fade a little, it would probably become a synonym for "nature". Therefore, Ma Shao did not have much emotional resistance to this religious concept and simply accepted it.

"It seems that you are very suitable to learn shaman knowledge." Stone Crow said, and then looked at Ma Shao seriously with his eyes shining, "Child, do you want to become a shaman?"

Ma Shao was startled, and then felt hesitant.

Of course he wanted to be a shaman. For Indians, this is an important identity, and it is easier to gain people's recognition with this identity. But to become a shaman, you need to learn a lot of strange things, such as various techniques of dancing...

"how?"

Ma Shao finally decided to become a shaman, and said, "Yes, I want to learn shamanism."

Stone Crow smiled and said, "From now on, you are my apprentice. I will teach you all the knowledge a shaman should have."

From then on, in addition to learning combat skills from Duanfu, Ma Shao also had to take time out every day to learn shaman culture from Shi Ya.

But he had more free time.

In order to let him learn Shamanism, Shi Ya asked for a lot of class hours from the physical education teacher Duan Fu. After all, Shamanism is a mental study, and Ma Shao can always learn it quickly, and then he can move freely.

Ma Shao did not waste his free time; he started more general physical exercises.

Although combat training can be considered physical exercise, it is centered on cold weapon combat and does not focus on basic physical qualities such as general strength, speed, and endurance.

Duanfu didn't understand this either, he only knew how to shoot arrows and throw axes.

In Ma Shao's eyes, these basic physical qualities are more valuable than the skills of using cold weapons, or at least more universal, and are also useful in the era of hot weapons.

In addition, in the process of learning shaman culture, he also came up with another idea - writing.

The Apache language has no written form, and all culture is passed down orally, so civilization is naturally difficult to develop.

However, as a physics teacher, Ma Shao felt at a loss as to where to start. He had no knowledge of linguistics, or maybe C language programming counts?

Maybe you can try to bring the Chinese version over?

"...twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three..." Ma Shao was thinking about language issues while doing push-ups.

At this moment, Stone Crow came in from outside the tent, and seeing his actions, he couldn't help but ask, "What are you doing?"

"This is the dance I invented." Ma Shao found that dance was a concept that was easily accepted by the tribesmen.

Stone Crow nodded and did not ask any more questions. Instead, he changed the subject and said, "We have good news. A brother clan will soon come to join us."

"Join us?"

"That's right." It can be seen that Stone Crow is in a good mood. "Although we lost a lot of female members of our tribe a few months ago, the situation of this brother clan is more critical. In a conflict with the Mexicans, almost all of their men died in the battle."

I see.

Winter has already begun, and life is becoming increasingly difficult. A clan without men will have a hard time surviving the winter, and will have to rely on others. The men of the Mianxiong clan, young and old, are of course very happy about this.

"We have sent a team to pick them up. We will be able to see them in three days," Stone Crow added.

"Little Whistle, you'd better get ready. During the clan-union ceremony, I will ask you to whistle for our sisters who have come from afar... Your whistle is so exquisite, they will definitely like you!"

The sound properties of the horse whistle had spread throughout the clan, and people would often ask him to play a tune, so he was naturally indispensable for such a grand occasion.

Three days later.

On a cold but clear evening, amidst the eager anticipation of the men of the Sleeping Bear Clan, the brother clan from the southwest finally arrived at the camp.

Or should they be called the sister clan. Ma Shao took a look from a distance and felt that except for the escort team from the Mianxiong clan that went to pick them up, they were almost all women, probably about eighty or ninety of them.

The leader of these women was a woman in her thirties. She had delicate features, but she was a bit tall and held an axe in her hand.

"Who is this woman?"

People were talking.

Someone explained: "She is the Red Woman, the third wife of their chief. After all their men died, she is now leading the tribe."

Most Indian tribes support polygamy, and Chief Sleeping Bear and Stone Crow also have two wives.

However, for a small ethnic group, three wives are still a bit too many.

When the team arrived at the camp, Red Girl dismounted, exhaled, and then bowed slightly and greeted, "Chief Sleeping Bear."

"Welcome, sisters of the clan." Chief Sleeping Bear took the lead to greet them, holding a scepter and smiling.

After a brief greeting, the old chief waved his hand and said, "Get ready to light a fire!"

Fire was sacred to all civilizations, but especially to those of the Stone Age, where it was an integral part of every important event and festival.

Following the chief's order, several men with strong arms appeared on the scene.

Like most of the tribesmen participating in the ceremony, these men had paint on their bodies and faces, but the patterns were all in the shape of flames.

Their unusually strong arms held a fire bow.

The fire bow is a tool for drilling wood to make fire. It is in the shape of a bow. When making fire, the bowstring is wrapped around a wooden stick, and then the wood is drilled by repeatedly pulling the bowstring.

This method is an improved version of drilling wood to make fire, which reduces the risk of hand rubbing and is more efficient. From the action point of view, it can also be described as "sawing wood to make fire".

These men with fire patterns on their bodies are the fire-making experts in the tribe. All the flames used by the tribe come from their hands.

The fire-making competition among them is often the opening of important ceremonies.

"start!"

As soon as the words fell, several people began to compete in sawing wood like crazy. In a blink of an eye, their faces were red and the smell of burning quickly filled the air.

"Woo-woo-woo--" The tribesmen also became excited and started shouting.

Unfortunately, this process did not last long. After only half a minute, a man raised a flame and shouted to announce his victory. His name was Kuaihuo, and he was the one who won the most fire-making competitions.

Two seconds later, the other person also completed the fire, but was dejected - victory always belongs to only one person.

The chief took the victor's flame and lit the bonfire in the center of the camp: "Let us begin the ceremony. After tonight, our ancestors will reunite!"