63: The First Knife
The first knife was finished by the dusk of the seventh day.
Wang Er had, at the morning of the seventh, drawn the small specific bar of bog-iron from the cooled clay-cup at the forge — where he had laid it overnight under the small banked ash, for the small specific slow re-cooling that an upper-hills smith's first piece required by Lao Wen's saying — and had, at the small specific anvil, drawn the bar into the small specific shape of a knife. The blade was perhaps the length of two of his fingers laid end to end. The tang was perhaps the length of one finger. The small specific edge — drawn by the small specific careful pace of a smith's son who was, at this morning, at his first piece of his own iron at his own forge — was, by the small specific reading at Lao Wen's eye at the noon, the small specific edge of an upper-hills hunter's knife.
By the second hour of the noon, Wang Er had — by the small specific work of fitting a small new wooden handle from a small piece of the lame brother's reserve hardwood at the bench — made the handle. The handle was small, square, with the small specific careful taper of a young carpenter's first joint. The lame brother had — by the small specific quiet way of the past two days — made the handle's small specific socket at the small bench, and had laid it on the small wooden table for Wang Er to take up.
The two of them — smith's son and lame brother — at the small specific work of the seventh's morning, fitted the handle to the tang. They fitted slowly, with a small specific copper rivet that Lao Wen had — by the small specific accumulating reading of the past nineteen winters — kept in the small wooden chest against an unfound day. The copper rivet, by the small honest measure, was the only piece of copper at the hut.
By the noon, the knife was finished.
It was — by the small specific reading at the small wooden table in the small clear noon light — the small specific household's first knife of its own making at its own iron at its own hands.
Wang Er laid it on the small wooden table.
He stepped back.
He did not, at the small wooden table, speak.
Lao Wen looked at the small knife.
He took it up.
He held it across his palms in the small specific way of a man weighing an old object. He turned it slowly. He looked at the small specific shape of the blade — the small specific even draw of the upper edge, the small specific slight asymmetry of the tip from the smith's son's first hammering, the small specific careful rivet of the handle.
He said in the small low voice: *smith's son. The knife is — by the small specific reading at an old officer's eye — the small specific knife of an upper-hills smith's first piece. It is — by the small specific honest measure — not perfect. The slight asymmetry at the tip will, by the small specific reading at any small specific cut, give the knife a small specific tendency to pull to one side at the small specific motion of cutting. The smith's son will, in the next two months, learn the small specific accommodating grip. It is — by the small specific reading — a knife that will hold for many years.*
He paused.
"Smith's son. By the small specific old saying of a hut's first knife — the small specific first cutting is the smith's son's. The first cutting is the small specific cut at the household's first meal that the knife is at."
He laid the knife back at the small wooden table.
He turned to An Ashi.
"Boy. The noon meal. Bring it."
An Ashi brought the small clay pot of the noon meal — a small portion of millet with a small slice of the second deer's small remaining piece of dried meat and a small handful of fresh wild greens — and laid the small wooden bowls at the small wooden table.
Wang Er took up the small new knife.
He cut, slowly, at the small specific careful work of a smith's son cutting the household's small specific first meal at the new knife — the small slice of dried meat from the second deer into four small portions, one for each of the four young men, and a small fifth slightly smaller for Lao Wen. The cuts were even. The blade held.
He laid down the knife.
He bowed, very slightly, at the small wooden table.
He said in the small low voice: *master. The small first cut.*
Lao Wen nodded.
"Smith's son. Yes. The small first cut."
The household ate.
The small first cuttings of the new knife were — by the small specific reading at the small wooden table — the small specific first iron the household had eaten with at this hut.
Heizi, at his small portion, ate slowly. He filed the small specific accumulating taste of a small slice of dried deer cut by the household's first iron.
He filed it.
In the small lighter catalog of moments, beside the dusk of the bog-iron's first drawing, he set: *the small specific noon of the seventh day of the fourth moon, when the smith's son cut the household's first meal with the household's first knife.*
The lighter catalog stood, at this noon, at perhaps twenty items.
The dark catalog stood at five names.
The summer came in.
By the small specific accumulating reading at the long days of the fifth moon, the country at the upper hills was at the small specific accumulating shape of an upper-hills summer — the small specific full green of the brush at the lower edges of the grove, the small specific reach of the wild garlic at certain southern slopes, the small specific accumulating warmer wind from the south at every noon, the small specific small accumulating fresh hares at the snare-line, the small specific small accumulating fresh greens at the lower-edge gathering.
The household, by the small accumulating reading at An Ashi's small slab at the noon arithmetic, was — by the small honest measure — at the small specific shape of a household that was no longer at any small specific spring-shortfall worry.
The bodies of the four young men, by the small specific reading at the morning fire of any specific morning, had — by the small specific accumulating eating at the slightly larger portions of the past two months — gained back perhaps the small specific small remaining weight from the road. Wang Er was — at the seventeenth year — at the small specific shape of a smith's son who was no longer thin. Tie-zhu was — at the eighteenth year — at the small specific shape of a young carpenter whose foot, by the small specific accumulating reading of the past five months at the salve, had at last reached the small specific working pace of his thirteenth year. An Ashi was — at the sixteenth year — at the small specific shape of a young Sogdian merchant's son who had, at the small specific accumulating recovery, taken back the small specific accumulating fitness of his fourteenth year. Heizi himself was — at the fifteenth year — at the small specific shape of a young man who had, by the small specific accumulating eating of the past two months and the small specific accumulating discipline of the past nine months, become the small specific shape of a young man at his small specific entry into his fifteenth year that the village would, perhaps, no longer have recognized.
He had, by the small specific reading at the small thin water-mirror of the spring's small noon flow at the rock face, looked at his own face one morning at the third week of the fifth moon.
The face was — by the small specific reading — the face of a young man whose small specific shape had — at the past nine months — taken on the small accumulating set of a young head of household. The dark skin was the same dark. The eyes were the same eyes. The small thin mustache that had, at the third moon of the year, begun to come in had — by the fifth moon — become a small specific recognizable line.
He filed it.
In the small lighter catalog, beside the small noon of the first knife, he set: *the small specific morning of the third week of the fifth moon, when he saw his own face in the spring at the rock face for the first time in nine months.*
By the small specific reading at the noon of the first day of the sixth moon, Lao Wen — at the small wooden table after the morning's *Analects* reading — said to Heizi in the small low voice: *lad.*
"Yes, master."
"By the small specific accumulating reading at the past five months — the lad is at perhaps eight hundred and fifty characters."
"Yes, master."
"By the small specific reading at the past five months at the bow — the lad is at the small specific shooter's posture and the small specific reading of a small five-pace target at the small specific dead center perhaps two times in three."
"Yes, master."
"By the small specific reading at the past five months at the cloth map — the lad has, at the small accumulating reading at the long evenings, laid out at the small slab the small specific where-to-stand of perhaps four small specific places in the upper hills."
"Yes, master."
"By the small specific reading at the past five months at the small wooden table — the lad has, at the small specific accumulating reading of an old officer's eye, become the small specific apprentice an old officer would have, in his twenty-seventh year at the watch, hoped to teach."
He paused.
"By the small specific reading at the next five months — at the spring and the summer of the next year — the lad will, by the small specific accumulating reading, be at the small specific shape of a young head of household whose small specific accumulating reading and writing and shooting and where-to-stand are at the small specific level of a young man whose hands, by the small specific reading at the next ten years, the country will need."
He paused.
"That is — that is what I am saying."
Heizi looked at him.
He bowed, very slightly, at the small wooden table.
He said: *yes, master.*
That afternoon, at the small clear ground in front of the south face, Heizi shot at the small specific charcoal-mark on the small flat target at twenty paces — five paces further out than the past five months' practice. He shot ten arrows. Six landed at the small specific dead center. Two were within a finger's-breadth. Two were within two finger's-breadths.
Lao Wen, at the edge, nodded.
"Lad. Twenty paces. By the small specific reading at the past five months — at twenty paces, six in ten at the dead center. By the next five months — at thirty paces, perhaps the same. By the year after, forty. By the third year, fifty. By the seventh year — at the small specific reading at any small specific battle of the country's failure — perhaps eighty."
Heizi nodded.
He filed it.
That summer, the household took two more deer. The smith's son made a small specific second knife, larger, for the household's specific cutting at the morning's heavier work. The lame brother made a small wooden cup for Lao Wen's altar. The boy laid out, on a small new piece of pine bark at the small slab, an updated arithmetic of the household's stores — by the noon of the second week of the sixth moon, the household was at perhaps eight months ahead of any small specific shortfall, by the small specific reading at the snare-line and the bog-iron's small specific accumulating second smelting and the wild greens and the deer.
By the sixth moon, the small specific accumulating preparation of the household was — by the small specific reading — at the small specific shape Lao Wen had laid for it at the morning of the cloth map.
By the eighth moon, the small specific harvest came in. There was no field at the hut; the harvest was the country's harvest, gathered at the lower edges of the grove and the small specific upper terraces — small specific dried mushrooms, small specific wild apples at the small specific southern face of the bear-back's small specific other side, small specific wild grain at certain narrow gullies, small specific dried herbs the lame brother had been laying out by name for many months. The household, by the small specific accumulating reading at the dusk of the eighth moon, was at the small specific shape of an upper-hills household at its first full year's harvest.
By the ninth moon, the wind shifted to the cool of the autumn.
By the tenth, the leaves at the lower edges of the grove began to turn.
By the eleventh, the first frost.
By the noon of the first day of the twelfth moon, Lao Wen at the small wooden table said in the small low voice: *lads. The first winter at the hut, by the small specific reading at the noon, has begun.*
The household nodded.
The work, by the small unhurried way of an old scholar's hut, went on.
That night Heizi at his watch sat at the small banked fire ring inside the south face. He listened.
The shape of the silence at this watch was — by the small specific reading at the noon of the first day of the twelfth moon — the shape of an old hut whose household had, at the past full year, become a household.
He filed it.
In the small lighter catalog of moments, beside the small specific noon of the first knife and the small specific morning of the spring's water-mirror and the small specific dusk of the second deer of the second moon, he set: *the small specific noon of the first day of the twelfth moon, when Lao Wen named the first winter as begun.*
The lighter catalog stood, at this noon, at perhaps twenty-five items.
The dark catalog stood at five names.
He sat his watch through.
The owls of the upper hills called once.
The first winter at the hut was — at this dusk — at the small specific opening.
The work, in the small unhurried way, went on.