Children of the Cave

MEIKE ZIERVOGEL

PEIRENE PRESS      

Greek legends, fables and fairy tales all share an interest in mythical beings. In this book Sammalkorpi imagines what would happen if these creatures really existed. How would we respond? The answer to this question matters hugely. It determines what it means to be human.

This novel is based on the photo series and synopsis by Pekka Nikrus.

Preface

This story is a tribute to a man whose life is little known. He never became a great scientist or explorer. But he did preserve a small collection of images for future generations, thereby making his modest mark on a century of major inventions.

Iax Agolasky was born in Russia in 1795, the only child of Marushka and Vladimir Agolasky. Vladimir, his father, was a scholar and a polyglot. In addition to his native Russian, Iax learned French from his father. Iax gradually became interested in France, that distant land, seeing its language as his second mother tongue. He emigrated there as a young man.

In Paris, the young Iax managed to secure a position as an assistant at the Académie des Sciences. At the age of twenty-two, he was asked to act as assistant and interpreter to one Professor Moltique on an expedition to north-west Russia.

Professor Jean Moltique was a proponent of an early branch of anthropology that researched ancient peoples by means of folklore and legends. He was rumoured to have discovered the footprints of a yeti, possibly even an actual yeti, though none could prove this achievement. The journey undertaken by Professor Moltique and Agolasky lasted from 1819 to 1823, at least. Partly because of defective documentation, partly because of missing notes, no one knows exactly where Agolasky and Moltique travelled.

A letter written by Moltique to the Académie des Sciences reveals that he and Agolasky discovered a small tribe of forest dwellers in the wilderness. Moltique dubbed the members of this tribe les enfants des ombres, the children of shadows. He had at first taken these forest dwellers to be descendants of the ancient Anatolian people of Paphlagonia, but he changed his mind in the course of the expedition. In the words of the professor, his new theory was ‘audacious and unprecedented’. The letter in which these words appear was filed in the academy’s archives without any associated reports or memoranda. No one knows, therefore, what sentiments or proposals for action it may have prompted among academicians.

Much of the expedition remains shrouded in mystery. The first and only news reports concerning it date back to 1823, when Professor Moltique and Iax Agolasky returned from their Expedition of All Times, as the press referred to the trip. The fuss soon subsided. Without the surviving pages of Iax Agolasky’s diary, the venture would have been permanently overshadowed by more significant feats performed in a century now famed for its great inventions and innovations. The names Moltique and Agolasky are nevertheless worth remembering. Every discovery needs numerous dreamers and adventurers behind it: to experiment, to err – and to show the way to others who may yet prove wiser and more fortunate.

It is my hope that I shall see something that nobody has ever before witnessed – and record my tale for future generations. That would mean that I could die happy.

—IAX AGOLASKY IN HIS LETTER TO PROFESSOR MOLTIQUE APPLYING TO BECOME THE LATTER’S ASSISTANT

Contents

Title Page

Epigraph

Preface

Children of the Cave

Acknowledgements and Postscript

Author

Translators

Copyright

These are the only entries surviving from the beginning of the diary. They do not throw much light on the initial stages of the expedition, but they indicate that Agolasky and Moltique’s journey to north-west Russia had begun.

MAY 15TH IN THE YEAR 1819

– even when I left home. I am grateful to Moltique for selecting me from among the dozens of those who applied, all keen to go on this exciting journey. He was of course known to me, given his association with countless incredible-sounding adventures. There are those who allege that he owes his career to his connections and inheritance, but such claims can be put down to sour grapes. I gather he is also esteemed – though he is known for his coarse conduct, too, as well as for his public criticism of Church doctrine relating to the immortality of the soul.

My yearning to travel conquers all my prejudices.

Our journey has commenced, and I cannot get to sleep at night, my agitation is so –

JUNE – IN THE YEAR 1819

Mon Dieu, I never thought I would see –

– were far more impressive than I ever imagined –

I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

We may assume that the party travelled more or less directly through Europe to the Russian border. There is nothing to indicate that Moltique harboured any particular enthusiasm for this leg of the journey or that he had any objectives relating to it. He was probably in a hurry to find the descendants of the Paphlagonians. Diary entries resume from the day the camp was set up in north-west Russia; the notes give no more accurate geographical location.

UNDATED

– a narrow but torrential river runs through the coniferous forest. The site is ideal for our camp. We erected the tents and our men began to build a simple log cabin, to be used for storing goods and, when it gets colder in late autumn, for shelter. The horses will also need a stable.

We constructed a small store for provisions to which a ladder grants access, for we do not want uninvited animal guests there, or in any part of the camp. I have seen a wolverine, a fox, deer, elks, hares and assorted wildfowl in the forest nearby, and have resolved to benefit from our assistants’ expertise in the matters of forest fauna and hunting. My father was never drawn to these matters and consequently never acquainted me with the wonders of the woods, preferring to lure me to the books in his library.

We established a place for a fire in front of the cabin and the tents, and will later build a shelter close by where we may eat in comfort. Our lavatory is just a plank at a fair distance from the camp. I would have wanted it even further away, but, as it seemed our assistants found even the present location hard to reach before dropping their trousers, I agreed to this spot, within shouting distance of the fire but out of sight, behind some rocks.

Jotted in the margin is a list of the provisions brought along by the expedition party:

Rice

Grain

Wine

Cognac

Absinthe

Cigars

Smoked, cured and salted meat

Dried fish, salt fish

Eggs

Raisins

Walnuts, hazelnuts and almonds

Dried herbs

Spices

Onions

Root vegetables

Fat

Beans

Olives

Tea

Sugar

Salt

We have set up our camp with care because, if the information Moltique has received is true, we shall be studying the mysterious forest tribe for a long time, perhaps even years. I am excited, believing that we shall find the tribe, even though its existence is as improbable as that of the abominable snowman. Having heard the story of Moltique and the yeti, I asked him about it, but he merely snorted. He considers me young and inexperienced, I realized, resolving not to pry further. Instead, I went to set traps for hares. As long as we have not found the Paphlagonians’ descendants, as we call the forest tribe of the tales, I have nothing to do but jot down our daily activities and the weather conditions. Moltique is most particular about some things, more casual about others, indifferent even. He has his own acerbic sense of humour and is cultured in many ways. I admire his scientific, unsentimental approach even though –

All the entries for May 1820 have been badly damaged, but the single lines that have been preserved indicate what a turning point the month represented for the expedition. Almost a year has passed since the beginning of the journey.

MAY 7TH IN THE YEAR 1820

This is a big day in the history of our expedition –

There are bones near the cave, along with other signs of life –

MAY 15TH IN THE YEAR 1820

It appears that we have discovered the habitat of a new animal species instead of a mysterious forest tribe. There are no signs of a human settlement.

MAY 22ND IN THE YEAR 1820

The animals of the cave appear mostly to move on two legs –

We do not know what animals they are. They appear quite small –

Moltique is greatly excited. He did not touch his food tonight, though we had not eaten all day, as we were looking for more traces –

MAY 25TH IN THE YEAR 1820

It rained in the morning, for all the day was warm. The rainfall ceased after lunch and the sun came out again – The wet ground was covered in prints.

MAY 28TH IN THE YEAR 1820

I think I was the first to see it –

I took it for a wild boar at first, but when the creature stood up I was certain for a moment that I was facing a human being. I had no time to give warning. A shot rang out.

MAY 30TH IN THE YEAR 1820

I did not tell Moltique, but the examination of the creature we felled gave me nightmares. The details I had noted down swirled in my mind: I dreamed of a human being with the ears of a cat, the muzzle of a dog, the tail of a pig, the hooves of a cow and the feathers of an owl –

A couple of longer extracts have fortunately survived from the entries for June 1820 and these give a better picture of the events that took place during the early stages of the expedition.

JUNE, DATE ILLEGIBLE, IN THE YEAR 1820

I know Moltique considers the creature we shot to be a monkey bearing unusual mutations. I myself cannot forget thinking I first saw a wild boar, then a human being. I do trust Moltique, and yet I wondered aloud what species of monkey lived in these latitudes, giving Moltique the opportunity to snort disparagingly. He pointed his pipe stem at me and asked if I had never before heard of the unheard-of.

I asked the professor what could have caused the strange mutations in the monkey, and he said, teasingly – knowing my religious upbringing – that the mutations were the work of Satan himself. I was taken aback by his mockery. Then he became serious and told me about countless other oddities he had seen while on his travels. The changes in the monkey are but one of the myriad wonders of the world, he implied. Several years have gone by since he last caused a stir in French scientific circles and I had the impression he was planning a Great Return. I hope he succeeds, for it would help me to get established as a recorder and chronicler in the service of notable explorers.

Moltique is not an easy taskmaster, but I can be thankful that I am able to be part of this adventure.

I have earlier told of May 7th, the day we found the cave, though I have not described our find in any detail. I come back to the subject because, as a child, I always