Speechcraft and witcraft were not inborn to her. When she was my instructress in the Jinfolk language her words were that of a friend a senior of only few years from me; every now and then she would stumble over her words or speak unclearly.
As the nature of our work grew beyond the two of us such skills had to be nurtured. Speeches had to be written, spoken, and spoken again before an address could be given.
“This country was conceived and dedicated to man’s skill to freestand and to selfwield; three hundred years ago a king looked after his folk like a father looked after his children; a free man may -with a ring of the palace’s bell and the will to endure a couple lashes- ask for his audience. Four dozen and eleven years ago our capital was lost and the freefolk were brought to heel by the mightfolk and it took only two dozen more before The Black Prince regained our independence. Such was the dedication to uphold our nation’s truths.”
The gathering we had was at first small. Little more than five persons she took great pains in choosing were by our side. At our height it was twenty.
“These truths, however, rested on the assumption of the equality of the races — this was a mistake. Like building a house on sand, when rain came and wind blew, it fell, with a great crash. Our truths are founded on the exact opposite. Its groundwork laid on the great truth that man can never be equal to another; that his way, and his subordination to his superior, is the natural and normal condition of things. The quickening of this truth has been slow, like all truths in different branches of philosophy, but nevertheless self-evident.”
“The question as to which folk and their folkway could be considered ‘superior’ is -of course- open for debate. If we are to judge a folk by economic might, the Portusfolk would be at the summit of that mountain; if it instead were the longevity of their race and size of the country, it would be the Jinfolk at the top; mathematics, the mussulmen; zeal to spread their religion, the kirishitans; the breadth and length of the ways to measure such a matter is endless but I say — A country is firstly a folk, and if its men and women are divorced from one another, such a joyless existence is not worth perpetuating.”
“The gulf between man and woman is not from one cause alone. It takes many fractures before such a gap is made; some are inborn to us - for women it is the pain of menses and childbirth; for men it is the threat to his life and limb when called by his city to be peace officer or a fighting man, and in marriage it is his burden to bear the cost of the bride-dowry.
“Though it must be said some of these fractures are easier to mend.”
