Fish Tails by Sheri S. Tepper Page A

Artemisians know that’s my name and they’ll show you where it is. Be sure to take the Griffin’s tear and her feather with you along with the pouch with all the little bottles of things I make. I only tie them under my skirt when I’m going somewhere. If you take them, you tie them under your skirt. It’s not comfortable and it’ll keep them away from anybody but a child rapist. You have a weapon for that sort?”
    â€œYes, Grandma.”
    â€œBe sure you do. I taught you to read. I taught you the Great Litany. Do you remember the Statement of Study?”
    Needly folded her hands. “The existence of the universe is proof of the Creator. That which exists can be seen, measured, and studied, and it does not lie. As we know healers by their healing, craftsmen by their craft, singers by their song, so we know the Creator through its creation. The dedicated study of creation reveals the nature of the Creator.”
    â€œAnd the Creator?”
    â€œThe Creator sends no prophets, requires no worship, heeds no prayers. Creation itself includes the evidence of everything that was, the presence of all that is, and the possibility of everything that will be. Everything true is in it or will evolve in it. Creation simply is and cannot lie.”
    â€œAnd suppose a man brings forth a stone with words written upon it, or a scroll, or plate of engraved metal with writing upon it, claiming it bears the words of the Creator.”
    â€œAt the moment of creation the Creator spoke, finally, absolutely, and infallibly through the totality of what was created. Having spoken the universe, which contains all that is, what need is there to speak again? Those seeking myths make them up out of their heads. Those seeking truth study Creation. The study may be arduous, but the universe remains there for any student and for all students. It does not reveal itself to some and withhold itself from others, it does not contradict itself in various languages, its changes and processes are part of itself, its laws are immutable. Those seeking comfortable myths and stories that children may learn without difficulty may go to the mythmakers and storytellers who are many upon the face of the earth and who dwell in houses of dreams.”
    â€œSuppose a man calls himself a prophet and claims he was inspired by the Creator?”
    Needly sighed. “You paraphrased that one for me. ‘Better wholly understand one grain of sand than follow any prophet.’ The litany says, ‘There is evidence for every truth, if there is no evidence, there is no truth, for the CREATOR is truth; CREATION does not lie or play tricks.’ ”
    â€œExactly. Don’t forget it. I remember one fool woman who told me the Creator put bones in ancient rocks just to fool us and make us think the universe was older than her book said it was. As though the Creator would LIE! Fool woman. She would rather worship a liar than pay attention to reality.” She sighed, reached out, and stroked the child’s hair. “Needly, you know, I first began to be . . . doubtful about the Oracles when I realized they don’t live by the litany. The ­people I grew up among, the ones I called my family, they lived by the litany, certainly insofar as studying creation goes. They certainly never said a certain thing was true unless it came from a deep understanding of that thing and everything known about it. They didn’t just quote some book or some scripture, they knew the proofs. They always told me that nothing exists without showing proofs of its existence, though sometimes one has to dig deep to find the proofs, deep into the edges of the universe or deep into the tiny of the atoms.
    â€œNow, remember what I’ve told you. The book and the labels on the bottles are clear. Lucky for us, Hench Valley men think reading is a female thing. They have no patience with it. And it’s a sorrowful thing to say, but