THE ANIMAL WIFE

An intriguing companion piece to Marshall's best-selling pre-historic novel, Rein-deer Moon (1986), this time evoking the ancient legend of an animal in the form of a beautiful woman who begets a child with a young hunter--and then unexpectedly abandons him. Kori's natural talent for hunting pleases his shaman father, but the boy's understanding of women 'leaves much to be desired. Frustrated when his father takes the only available single girl as his fourth wife, Kori faces the hard Siberian winter without female companionship--that is, until he sees a beautiful woman swimming like an otter in a river on his father's winter hunting grounds. Kori is surprised--first because he's never seen a woman swim, and second because few strangers dare trespass on another headman's land. Watching the creature climb out onto the bank and wring the river water out of her hair, Kori succumbs to a strange desire he doesn't understand--he pounces on her and takes her to the winter lodge, where he manages to convince his fellow tribesmen to let her stay cooped up with them for the coming months. Throughout the winter Kori wonders at his attachment to this strange female--whom he calls Muskrat--with her incomprehensible language and uncivilized habits. That spring he sires a child with her and hunts with a glad heart, planning how he will raise his progeny. But because communication with Muskrat is still difficult, he inadvertently offends her, and Muskrat escapes with their baby back to her own tribe. Bereft, Kori abandons hope of ever seeing his young son again. But life will go on, he and the other men of the tribe assure themselves around the campfire at night. ""Aren't we feeders of foxes and killers of meat?"" Kori demands. ""We are!"" they answer resoundingly. The earnest, wondering tone of Kori's narration perfectly captures the most ancient and universal of human longings, raising this far above the level of most Ice Age sagas. A haunting, lyrical work.