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The Narrow Land

by Jack Vance

A pair of nerves joined across the top of Ern's brain; he became conscious, aware of darkness and

constriction. The sensation was uncomfortable. He tensed his members, thrust at the shell, meeting

resistance in all directions except one. He kicked, butted and presently created a rupture. The

constriction eased somewhat Ern squirmed around, clawed at the membrane, tore it back and was met

by a sudden unpleasant exudation: the juices of a being not himself. It wrenched around, reached

forth. Ern recoiled, struck back the probing members, which seemed ominously strong and massive.

There was a period of passivity. Each found the other hateful: they were of the same sort, yet

different. Presently the two small creatures fought, with little near-inaudible squeaks and

chitters.

Ern eventually strangled his opponent When he tried to detach himself, he found that an adhesion

of tissue had occurred, that the two were now one. Ern expanded himself, rounded and fused with

the defeated individual.

For a further period Ern rested, exploring his consciousness. The constriction once again became

oppressive. Ern thrust and kicked, creating a new rupture, and the shell split wide.

Ern struggled forth into soft slime, then up into a glare of light, an acrid dry void. From above

came a harsh cry. An enormous shape hurtled down. Ern dodged, evaded a pair of clicking black

prongs. He napped, paddled, slid down into cool water, where he submerged himself.

Others inhabited the water; Ern saw their dim shapes to all sides. Some were like himself: pale

pop-eyed sprats, narrow-skulled with wisps of film for crests. Others were larger, with the legs

and arms definitely articulated, the crests stiffer, the skin tough and silver-gray. Ern bestirred

himself, tested his arms and legs. He swam, carefully at first, then with competence. Hunger came;

he ate: larvae, nodules on the roots of reeds, trifles of this and that

So Ern entered his childhood, and gradually became wise in the ways of the waterworld. Duration

could not be measured; there was no basis for time: no alteration of light and darkness, no change

except for Ern's own growth. The only notable events of the sea-shallows were tragedies. A water-

baby frolicking too far, recklessly, offshore might be caught in a current and swept out under the

storm-curtain. The armored birds from time to time carried away a very young baby basking at the

surface. Most dreadful of all was the ogre who lived in one of the sea-sloughs: a brutish creature

with long arms, a flat face and four bony ridges over the top of its skull. On one occasion Ern

almost became its victim. Skulking under the roots of the swamp-reeds, the ogre lunged forth; Ern

felt the swirl of water and darted away, the ogre's grasp so near that the claws scraped his leg.

The ogre pursued, making idiotic sounds, then, jerking aside, seized one of Ern's playfellows, and

settled to the bottom to munch upon its captive.

After Ern grew large enough to defy the predator birds, he spent much time on the surface, tasting

the air and marveling at the largeness of the vistas, though he understood nothing of what he saw.

The sky was a dull gray fog, somewhat brighter out over the sea, never changing except for an

occasional wind-whipped cloud or a trail of rain. Close at hand was the swamp: sloughs, low-lying

islands overgrown with pallid reeds, complicated black shrubs of the utmost fragility, a few

spindly dendrons. Beyond hung a wall of black murk. On the seaward side the horizon was obscured

by a lightning-shattered wall of cloud and rain. The wall of murk and the wall of storm ran

parallel, delineating the borders of the region between.

The larger of the water-children tended to congregate at the surface. There were two sorts. The

typical individual was slender and lithe, with a narrow bony skull, a single crest, protuberant

eyes. His temperament was mercurial; he tended to undignified wrangling and sudden brisk fights

which were over almost as soon as they started. The sex differences were definite: some were male,

half as many were female.

In contrast, and much in the minority, were the twin-crested water-children. These were more

massive, with broader skulls, less prominent eyes and a more sedate disposition. Their sexual

differentiation was not obvious, and they regarded the antics of the single-crested children with

disapproval.

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Ern identified himself with this latter group though his crest development was not yet definite,

and, if anything, he was even broader and more stocky than the others. Sexually he was slow in

developing, but he seemed definitely masculine.

The oldest of the children, single- and double-crested alike, knew a few elements of speech,

passed down the classes from a time and source unknown. In due course Ern learned the language,

and thereafter idled away long periods discussing the events of the sea-shallows. The wall of

storm with its incessant dazzle of lightning was continually fascinating, but the children gave

most of their attention to the swamp and rising ground beyond, where, by virtue of tradition

transmitted along with the language, they knew their destiny lay, among the "men."

Occasionally "men" would be seen probing the shore mud for flatfish, or moving among the reeds on

mysterious errands. At such times the water-children, impelled by some unknown emotion, would

instantly submerge themselves, all except the most daring of the single-crested who would float

with only their eyes above water, to watch the men at their fascinating activities.

Each appearance of the men stimulated discussion among the water-children. The single-crested

maintained that all would become men and walk the dry land, which they declared to be a condition

of bliss. The double-crested, more skeptical, agreed that the children might go ashore-after all,

this was the tradition-but what next? Tradition offered no information on this score, and the

discussions remained speculative.

At long last Ern saw men close at hand. Searching the bottom for crustaceans, he heard a strong

rhythmic splashing and, looking up, saw three large long figures: magnificent creatures! They swam

with power and grace; even the ogre might avoid such as these! Ern followed at a discreet distance

wondering if he dared approach and make himself known. It would be pleasant, he thought, to talk

with these men, to learn about life on the shore . . . The men paused to inspect a school of

playing children, pointing here and there, while the children halted their play to stare up in

wonder. Now occurred a shocking incident. The largest of the double-crested water-children was Zim

the Name-giver, a creature, by Ern's reckoning, old and wise. It was Zim's prerogative to ordain

names for his fellows: Ern had received his name from Zim. It now chanced that Zim, unaware of the

men, wandered into view. The men pointed, uttered sharp guttural cries and plunged below the

surface. Zim, startled into immobility, hesitated an instant, then darted away. The men pursued,

harrying him this way and that, apparently intent on his capture. Zim, wild with fear, swam far

offshore, out over the gulf, where the current took him and carried him away, out toward the

curtain of storm.

The men, exclaiming in anger, plunged landward in foaming strokes of arms and legs.

In fascinated curiosity Ern followed: up a large slough, finally to a beach of packed mud. The men

waded ashore, strode off among the reeds. Ern drifted slowly forward, beset by a quivering

conflict of impulses. How, he wondered, could beings so magnificent hound Zim the Name-giver to

his doom? The land was close; the footprints of the men were plain on the mud of the beach; where

did they lead? What wonderful new vistas lay beyond the line of reeds? Ern eased forward to the

beach. He lowered his feet and tried to walk. His legs felt limp and flexible; only by dint of

great concentration was he able to set one foot before the other. Deprived of the support of the

water his body felt gross and clumsy. From the reeds came a screech of amazement. Ern's legs,

suddenly capable, carried him in wobbling leaps down the beach. He plunged into the water, swam

frantically back along the slough. Behind him came men, churning the water. Ern ducked aside, hid

behind a clump of rotting reeds. The men continued down the slough, out over the shallows where

they spent a fruitless period ranging back and forth.

Ern remained in his cover. The men returned, passing no more than the length of their bodies from

Ern's hiding place, so close that he could see their glittering eyes and the dark yellow interior

of their oral cavities when they gasped for air. With their spare frames, prow-shaped skulls and

single crests they resembled neither Ern nor Zim, but rather the single-crested water-children.

These were not his sort! He was not a man! Perplexed, seething with excitement and

dissatisfaction, Ern returned to the shallows.

But nothing was as before. The innocence of the easy old life had departed; there was now a

portent in the air which soured the pleasant old routines. Ern found it hard to wrench his

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attention away from the shore and he considered the single-crested children, his erstwhile

playmates, with new wariness: they suddenly seemed strange, different from himself, and they in

turn watched the double-crested children with distrust, swimming away in startled shoals when Ern

or one of the others came by.

Ern became morose and dour. The old satisfactions were gone; there were no compensations. Twice

again the men swam out across the shallows, but all the double-crested children, Ern among them,

hid under reeds. The men thereupon appeared to lose interest, and for a period life went on more

or less as before. But change was in the wind. The shoreline became a preoccupation: what lay

behind the reed islands, between the reed islands and the wall of murk? Where did the men live, in

what wonderful surroundings? With the most extreme vigilance against the ogre Ern swam up the

largest of the sloughs. To either side were islands overgrown with pale reeds, with an occasional

black skeleton-tree or a globe of tangle bush: stuff so fragile as to collapse at a touch. The

slough branched, opening into still coves reflecting the gray gloom of the sky, and at last

narrowed, dwindling to a channel of black slime.

Ern dared proceed no farther. If someone or something had followed him, he was trapped. And at

this moment a strange yellow creature halted overhead to hover on a thousand tinkling scales.

Spying Ern it set up a wild ululation. Off in the distance Ern thought to hear a call of harsh

voices: men. He swung around and swam back the way he had come, with the tinkle-bird careening

above. Ern ducked under the surface, swam down the slough at-full speed. Presently he went to the

side, cautiously surfaced. The yellow bird swung in erratic circles over the point where he had

submerged, its quavering howl now diminished to a mournful hooting sound.

Ern gratefully returned to the shallows. It was now clear to him that if ever he wished to go

ashore he must learn to walk. To the perplexity of his fellows, even those of the double-crests,

he began to clamber up through the mud of the near island, exercising his legs among the reeds.

All went passably well, and Ern presently found himself walking without effort though as yet he

dared not try the land behind the islands. Instead he swam along the coast, the storm-wall on his

right hand, the shore on his left. On and on he went, farther than he had ever ventured before.

The storm-wall was changeless: a roll of rain and a thick vapor lanced with lightning. The wall of

murk was the same: dense black at the horizon, lightening by imperceptible gradations to become

the normal gloom of the sky overhead. The narrow land extended endlessly onward. Ern saw new

swamps, reed islands; shelves of muddy foreshore, a spit of sharp rocks. At length the shore

curved away, retreated toward the wall of murk, to form a funnel-shaped bay, into which poured a

freezingly cold river. Ern swam to the shore, crawled up on the shingle, stood swaying on his

still uncertain legs. Far across the bay new swamps and islands continued to the verge of vision

and beyond. There was no living creature in sight. Ern stood alone on the gravel bar, a small gray

figure, swaying on still limber legs, peering earnestly this way and that. The river curved away

and out of sight into the darkness. The water of the estuary was bitterly cold, the current ran

swift; Ern decided to go no farther. He slipped into the sea and returned the way he had come.

Back in the familiar shallows he took up his old routine searching the bottom for crustaceans,

taunting the ogre, floating on the surface with a wary eye for men, testing his legs on the

island. During one of the visits ashore he came upon a most unusual sight: a woman depositing eggs

in the mud. From behind a curtain of reeds Ern watched in fascination. The woman was not quite so

large as the men and lacked the harsh male facial structure, though her cranial ridge was no less

prominent. She wore a shawl of a dark red woven stuff: the first garment Ern had ever seen, and he

marveled at the urbanity of the men's way of life.

The woman was busy for some time. When she departed, Ern went to examine the eggs. They had been

carefully protected from armored birds by a layer of mud and a neat little tent of plaited reeds.

The nest contained three clutches, each a row of three eggs, each egg carefully separated from the

next by a wad of mud.

So here, thought Ern, was the origin of the water-babies. He recalled the circumstances of his own

birth; evidently he had emerged from just such an egg. Rearranging mud and tent, Ern left the eggs

as he had found them and returned to the water.

Time passed. The men came no more. Ern wondered that they should abandon an occupation in which

they had showed so vigorous an interest; but then the whole matter exceeded the limits of his

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understanding.

He became prey to restlessness once again. In this regard he seemed unique: none of his fellows

had ever wandered beyond the shallows. Ern set off along the shore, this time swimming with the

stormwall to his left. He crossed the slough in which lived the ogre, who glared up as Ern passed

and made a threatening gesture. Ern swam hastily on, though now he was of a size larger than that

which the ogre preferred to attack.

The shore on this side of the shallows was more interesting and varied than that to the other. He

came upon three high islands crowned with a varied vegetation-black skeleton trees; stalks with

bundles of pink and white foliage clenched in black fingers; glossy lamellar pillars, the topmost

scales billowing out into gray leaves-then the islands were no more, and the mainland rose

directly from the sea. Ern swam close to the beach to avoid the currents, and presently came to a

spit of shingle pushing out into the sea. He climbed ashore and surveyed the landscape. The ground

slanted up under a cover of umbrella trees, then rose sharply to become a rocky bluff crested with

black and gray vegetation: the most notable sight of Ern's experience.

Ern slid back into the sea, swam on. The landscape slackened, became flat and swampy. He swam past

a bank of black slime overgrown with squirming yellow-green fibrils, which he took care to avoid.

Some time later he heard a thrashing hissing sound and looking to sea observed an enormous white

worm sliding through the water. Ern floated quietly and the worm slid on past and away. Ern

continued. On and on he swam until, as before, the shore was broken by an estuary leading away

into the murk. Wading up the beach, Ern looked far and wide across a dismal landscape supporting

only tatters of brown lichen. The river which flooded the estuary seemed even larger and swifter

than the one he had seen previously, and carried an occasional chunk of ice. A bitter wind blew

toward the stormwall, creating a field of retreating white-caps. The opposite shore, barely

visible, showed no relief or contrast. There was no apparent termination to the narrow land; it

appeared to reach forever between the walls of storm and gloom.

Ern returned to the shallows, not wholly satisfied with what he had learned. He had seen marvels

unknown to his fellows, but what had they taught him? Nothing. His questions remained unanswered.

Changes were taking place; they could not be ignored. The whole of Ern's class lived at the

surface, breathing air. Infected by some pale dilution of Ern's curiosity, they stared uneasily

landward. Sexual differentiation was evident; there were tendencies toward sexual play, from which

the double-crested children, with undeveloped organs, stood contemptuously aloof. Social as well

as physical distinctions developed; there began to be an interchange of taunts and derogation,

occasionally a brief skirmish. Ern ranged himself with the double-crested children, although on

exploring his own scalp, he found only indecisive hummocks and hollows, which to some extent

embarrassed him.

In spite of the general sense of imminence, the coming of the men took the children by surprise.

In the number of two hundred the men came down the sloughs and swam out to surround the shallows.

Ern and a few others instantly clambered up among the reeds of the island and concealed

themselves. The other children milled and swam in excited circles. The men shouted, slapped the

water with their arms; diving and veering, they herded the water-childien up the slough, all the

way to the beach of dried mud. Here they chose and sorted, sending the largest up the beach,

allowing the fingerlings and sprats to return to the shallows, taking the double-crested children

with sharp cries of exultation.

The selection was complete. The captive children were marshaled into groups and sent staggering up

the trail; those with legs still soft were carried.

Ern, fascinated by the process, watched from a discreet distance. When men and children had

disappeared, he emerged from the water, clambered up the beach to look after his departed friends.

What to do now? Return to the shallows? The old life seemed drab and insipid. He dared not present

himself to the men. They were single-crested; they were harsh and abrupt. What remained? He looked

back and forth, between water and land, and at last gave his youth a melancholy farewell:

henceforth he would live ashore.

He walked a few steps up the path, stopped to listen.

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Silence.

He proceeded warily, prepared to duck into the undergrowth at a sound. The soil underfoot became

less sodden; the reeds disappeared and aromatic black cycads lined the path. Above rose slender

supple withes, with gas-filled leaves half-floating, half-supported. Ern moved ever more

cautiously, pausing to listen ever more frequently. What if he met the men? Would they kill him?

Ern hesitated and even looked back along the path . . . The decision had been made. He continued

forward.

A sound, from somewhere not too far ahead. Ern dodged off the path, flattened himself behind a

hummock.

No one appeared. Ern moved forward through the cycads and, presently, through the black fronds, he

saw the village of the men: a marvel of ingenuity and complication! Nearby stood tall bins

containing food-stuffs, then, at a little distance, a row of thatched stalls stacked with poles,

coils of rope, pots of pigment and grease. Yellow tinkle-birds, perched on the gables, made a

constant chuckling clamor. The bins and stalls faced an open space surrounding a large platform,

where a ceremony of obvious import was in progress. On the platform stood four men, draped in

bands of woven leaves and four women wearing dark red shawls and tall hats decorated with tinkle-

bird scales. Beside the platform, in a miserable gray clot, huddled the single-crested children,

the individuals distinguishable only by an occasional gleam of eye or twitch of pointed crest.

One by one the children were lifted up to the four men, who gave each a careful examination. Most

of the male children were dismissed and sent down into the crowd. The rejects, about one in every

ten, were killed by the blow of a stone mallet and propped up to face the wall of storm. The girl-

children were sent to the other end of the platform, where the four women waited. Each of the

trembling girl-children was considered in turn. About half were discharged from the platform into

the custody of a woman and taken to a booth; about one in every five was daubed along the skull

with white paint and sent to a nearby pen where the double-crested children were also confined.

The rest suffered a blow of the mallet. The corpses were propped to face the wall of murk...

Above Ern's head sounded the mindless howl of a tinkle-bird. Ern darted back into the brush. The

bird drifted overhead on clashing scales. Men ran to either side, chased Ern back and forth, and

finally captured him. He was dragged to the village, thrust triumphantly up on the platform, amid

calls of surprise and excitement. The four priests, or whatever their function, surrounded Ern to

make their examination. There was a new set of startled outcries. The priests stood back in

perplexity, then after a mumble of discussion signaled to the priest-women. The mallet was brought

forward-but was never raised. A man from the crowd jumped up on the platform, to argue with the

priests. They made a second careful study of Ern's head, muttering to each other. Then one brought

a knife, another clamped Ern's head. The knife was drawn the length of his cranium, first to the

left of the central ridge, then to the right, to produce a pair of near-parallel cuts. Orange

blood trickled down Ern's face; pain made him tense and stiff. A woman brought forward a handful

of some vile substance which she rubbed into the wounds. Then all stood away, murmuring and

speculating. Ern glared back, half-mad with fear and pain.

He was led to a booth, thrust within. Bars were dropped across the aperture and laced with thongs.

Ern watched the remainder of the ceremony. The corpses were dismembered, boiled and eaten. The

white-daubed girl-children were marshaled into a group with all those double-crested children with

whom Ern had previously identified himself. Why, he wondered, had he not been included in this

group? Why had he first been threatened with the mallet, then wounded with a knife? The situation

was incomprehensible.

The girls and the two-crested children were marched away through the brush. The other girls with

no more ado became members of the community. The male children underwent a much more formal

instruction. Each man took one of the boys under his sponsorship, and subjected him to a rigorous

discipline. There were lessons in deportment, knot-tying, weaponry, language, dancing, the various

outcries.

Ern received minimal attention. He was fed irregularly, as occasion seemed to warrant The period

of his confinement could not be defined, the changeless gray sky providing no chronometric

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