The First Snow Falls
The first snowflake drifted down silently, landing lightly on the embers of the still-burning campfire in the center of the Fire Tribe Valley, making a soft "sizzling" sound. Then, the second, the third... countless white snowflakes fell from the sky, as if covering the entire valley with a thin veil.
"It's snowing!" A child who was learning to draw the character for "mountain" was the first to notice, and he excitedly pointed to the sky and shouted.
Everyone looked up at the first snowfall of the winter. The elders smiled with relief—the timely snow meant there would be no drought next year; the newcomers felt a strange warmth and security, because in the Fire Tribe, they no longer had to fear the cold winter.
Wang Yan looked at the falling snowflakes and smiled at the students sitting around the large shed, saying, "Look, this is 'snow'." He picked up a new bamboo stick and drew several simplified, six-petaled snowflake symbols on it with charcoal, then drew the sky and falling lines next to them. "From now on, we can use this symbol to record snowy days."
A warm fire burned in the shack, and more than twenty core members and over thirty selected bright children watched intently. Among them were Jianshi, Jianya (who studied exceptionally hard), Qingye, Witch, and other outstanding young talents such as Shibang and Gubang.
Wang Yan's teaching method is very intuitive. He first draws the image of an object, then simplifies it into a symbol, and gives it a clear pronunciation and meaning.
"This is a 'person'." He drew a small standing figure.
"This is a 'mouth'." He drew an open mouth.
"This is a 'hand'." He drew a hand with its five fingers spread out.
"One, two, three..." He used simple vertical lines to represent numbers.
He was not in a hurry to achieve quick results. He taught only five to eight of the simplest characters each day, had them practice repeatedly, and asked everyone to try using them in their daily lives. For example, outside the warehouse where meat was stored, bamboo boards with the character for "meat" and numbers were hung; when recording hunting harvests, they were encouraged to try using symbols and numbers.
Jianya is in charge of distributing the tribe's supplies. He used to rely entirely on his memory and knots, which often left him overwhelmed. Now, he has a special clay tablet that he carves with sharp stone shards.
"Today, the Hunting Team returned two deer and one wild boar." As he muttered this, he carved the symbol for "deer" on the clay tablet, adding two vertical lines next to it; then he carved the symbol for "boar," adding a single vertical line. It was clear and concise.
Qingye, who was in charge of the granary, also started using it. She hung bamboo tags on the pillars of each granary and wrote with charcoal whether it contained "hemp" or "rice" and the approximate quantity (using circles or vertical lines to indicate the approximate range). When checking the inventory, there was no longer a need to open each one to check.
The most excited person was the shaman. He was old and had always worried that the tribe's history and knowledge would not be fully passed down. Now, he began to carefully record the tribe's major events on soft, tanned animal hides using the script taught by Wang Yan, such as "in such and such a year and month, six hundred new tribesmen were recruited" and "traded with the Fish Tribe and obtained 100,000 catties of grain." Although his memory was still very brief, it was undoubtedly groundbreaking.
Whether they were original members of the Fire Tribe or newcomers, everyone started on the same footing when faced with these new symbols. They identified them together, practiced together, and tested each other. In this process, the original tribal barriers disappeared without them even realizing it. Everyone became a companion in learning the "Fire Tribe script."
A young man from another tribe, displaying exceptional talent in learning to read and write, quickly gained the favor of Jianya and was assigned to help with chores. This incident also showed the newcomers that in the Fire Tribe, ability and contribution are the keys to earning respect.
The men repaired tools, wove baskets, and looked after livestock; the women spun thread, wove cloth, sewed clothes, and processed food; the children, besides helping out, would gather at a fixed time each day to learn to read and count.
At night, the huts are warm and cozy. The tribespeople sit around the fire pit, listening to the shaman recount tribal legends using the few words he has just learned, combined with pictures, or listening to Wang Yan explain new knowledge. The childlike symbols carved on bamboo boards and animal skins seem to contain magical power, tightly connecting everyone's hearts.
Jianshi stood at the entrance of his own hut, watching the snowflakes fall and listening to the buzzing sounds of his tribesmen studying and discussing from the various huts, a satisfied smile appearing on his face.
"This winter is different," he said to Qingye beside him.
Qingye nodded, still sewing a fur coat with a bone needle, on which a small "fire" symbol was embroidered with colorful thread. "Yes, the children learn very quickly. It feels like the tribe is full of hope."