The Underneath

Night Song makes pottery containers and jars, including jars for the dead featuring a hummingbird on the side; hummingbirds are the messengers between the world of the living and the world of the dead, as the Caddo know.

The jar that contains grandmother doesn’t have a hummingbird etched on the side.

Sabine dreams of leaving the Underneath, but she won’t leave Ranger alone.

Gar Face poles on the Bayou Tartine, looking for the 100-foot alligator. A good shot and an effective hunter, Gar Face finds alligators a challenge, unlike the other animals, which are easy for him to hunt and kill. However, alligators fetch the best price of the skins that Gar Face sells.

He wants to make the men at the pub, who sneer at his deformed face, feel greed and jealousy when he brings in the hide of the 100-foot alligator. He senses the creature lurking beyond his sight. Unseen by Gar Face, a hummingbird hovers near his lantern.

Puck is hungry, but he’s fearful of leaving the safety of the tree den; he remembers what happened when he left the safety of the Underneath. He hisses with anger; this gets rid of his hiccups. He musters his courage and steps out into the sunlight. Puck looks to the other side of the creek, knowing that Ranger and Sabine are somewhere beyond. He remembers his promise to go back to them.

Below, Grandmother reflects on promises, and how there’s always a price.

Ten years after Night Song left, Grandmother Moccasin decided to lure her back in serpent shape. The Alligator King implores Grandmother to tell Night Song that if she returns to her serpent shape, she won’t be able to return to her human shape; Grandmother promises to tell her, but the Alligator King knows that she’s lying, as do the trees.

Puck manages to catch and eat a pair of crickets. While he’s hunting a huge bird almost takes him. He screams at it and runs back to his den. At the entrance is a dead mouse. Puck figures that his cry must have spooked the bird and made it drop the mouse. He practices pouncing on it even though he’s sure that it’s dead. As he eats the mouse, he thinks of his sister and hopes that she’s hunting successfully for herself and Ranger.

A copper-winged bird watches and then flies away.

Hawk Man and Night Song’s daughter turns 10. She glimmers when the sun touches her; it’s a sign of her heritage. Night Song makes her a beautiful clay jar, decorated with crescent moons. Hawk Man helps Night Song fire the jar, and then Night Song carves a pattern with a shell on the jar’s base. She’s surprised to find that she has drawn Grandmother. She smiles as she thinks of her mother and their time together.

Meanwhile, Grandmother is on the move.

Puck manages to scare away a recon and a peccary with his threatening screech. He hunts lizards and mice. As he looks across the creek, wondering how to cross it, he sees a hummingbird floating on the other side.

The trees love Night Song’s lullabies best of all the sounds of the forest. Night Song looks at the jar, engraved with Grandmother’s image, and realizes that she misses her and longs to see her.

One thousand years later, Puck reflects on how much he misses his mother, Sabine, and Ranger.

Ranger licks the sleeping Sabine on the head. He goes into the yard, straining at the end of his chain, and thinks of the bobcat he let escape while hunting with Gar Face. Ranger had understood, when the bobcat met his gaze, that the bobcat had kittens. This caused Ranger to stop baying and shift his position, allowing the bobcat to escape. As a result, Gar Face shot Ranger.

Ranger thinks of the calico mother cat and of Puck. The trees watch Ranger and sigh.

An accompanying illustration shows a hound dog (Ranger) facing a bobcat, which bares its teeth from within long grass.

Gar Face was initially happy with the dog he stole from a farm nearby but felt betrayed when Ranger stepped between Gar Face’s rifle and the bobcat. Gar Face chained Ranger up as a reminder to himself to never trust a living soul.

Night Song presents her daughter with the jar, and her daughter loves the jar. She looks at the pattern of the snake and asks her mother where Grandmother Moccasin is (she has heard her mother talk about Grandmother and her stories). Night Song describes the place in the bayou where Grandmother lives. Night Song feels a rush of gratitude for her mother, for all that she taught her, and for their good times together. She whispers thanks, and the whole world shimmers.

Grandmother approaches the Caddo village. Angrily, she sees Hawk Man and remembers how he stole Night Song from her. Then, she recognizes Night Song in human form and sees her holding her daughter; Grandmother is amazed to see the girl, who shimmers a myriad of colors in the sun.

Grandmother realizes that she must tempt Night Song away from Hawk Man and her daughter. She remembers the Alligator King’s warning to explain to Night Song the consequences of taking her serpent form again, but Grandmother dismisses the advice; she wants her daughter back.

Puck develops a daily pattern of hunting and napping throughout the day and sleeping in the den at night. One night, a shining light awakens him; he’s confused. It’s the moon. Puck has never seen it before because he has always been asleep in the Underneath.

He comes out to stand in the moonlight. Across the creek, he sees a family of possums; their mother cleans the babies. Puck reflects that he needs his family.

Sabine emerges from the Underneath to look at the moon. She thinks of Puck.

Grandmother fails to recognize the feeling that she feels, while looking at her daughter and granddaughter, as love; her hatred has blinded her to love. She feels only hunger for her daughter.

That night, Grandmother hums an ancient song. It draws all the snakes near. Night Song hears it and emerges. Grandmother begins singing; it’s a magical song that pulls Night Song towards her. Night Song is aware of the trees seeming to say beware—and of the other snakes whispering that there’s a price—but the song continues to lure her in. Night Song remembers all the years she spent with her beloved mother. She steps into the water.

Puck occasionally sees the hummingbird. The trees warn Puck of the Bayou Tartine and the Petite Tartine; the land between them is quicksand—and the trees don’t want him to go that way.

Puck continues to look at the other side of the creek, reflecting on his promise.

The trees also warn Hawk Man, 1,000 years earlier, when he wakes up and finds that Night Song has gone. He runs from the hut, worried, looking for Night Song. Thousands of birds whir at him in the sky. He worries that she has wandered toward the quicksand; he remembers seeing a bison being sucked under.

In the water of the bayou, Night Song, in serpent form, can feel that Hawk Man is looking for her. She’s now trapped in her serpent body. She feels devastated and betrayed. Grandmother, thrilled to have her daughter back, feels no regret. She’s confident that her daughter will forget Hawk Man and their daughter.

Night Song’s daughter wakes up in their empty hut. Something feels wrong. She hears the beating of a thousand wings and realizes that her father is calling for her mother. She picks up her jar and leaves the hut. She sees her mother’s footprints in the mud and follows them; they lead into the creek. She calls for her father.

Hawk Man hears his daughter calling and runs to her. He holds her on the bank of the creek. He sees the footprints towards the creek, and then sees the S-shape of a snake print. He screams, “Nooooooo!!!” (174).

Cats have always lived in the ancient forest. Once, there were saber-toothed tigers and then panthers, jaguars, margays, jaguarundi, ocelots, and pumas. The trees miss the cats; there are now only a few bobcats. They scratch the trees when they itch.

Sabine bravely hunts, cornering and catching rats and other animals, but she needs Puck, she needs to hear Ranger’s song again, and they need to leave the Underneath.

Grandmother lives on hope in her jar. One thousand years earlier, Hawk Man is filled with the hope that Night Song will return to him, he hopes that he’s mistaken in his conclusion that she became a serpent forever more.

The girl sits by her father next to the creek. She looks at her jar, etched with Grandmother’s picture, and has an idea; she knows that Grandmother will know what happened to Night Song.

Night Song’s daughter considers her jar. She decides to go to find Grandmother. She wades into the creek and floats down it, but she rides the creek too far down.

As Gar Face hunts for the Alligator King, he sees the bubbles rising from the deep and knows that the creature is taunting him. He envisions the other trappers, who sneer at him in the bar, being amazed when he brings in the skin of a 100-foot alligator.

In her jar, Grandmother remembers the names she has been given. Of all of them—wife, sister, Grandmother Moccasin, and mother—mother has meant the most to her.

Hawk Man realizes that Night Song must have returned to her serpent form. He considers the fact that she may not have known that she wouldn’t be able to return to her human form again. He reflects that Grandmother Moccasin should have told her that. He dreams of being a hawk again but knows that he also must be a father. He doesn’t hear his daughter slip out with her jar.