20 The dog had risen. That rock-hard fragment of
a vanished beast was in his jaws and he was
mouthing it with a fierce intensity I had never
seen exhibited by him before.
"Wolf,'' I exclaimed, and stretched out my hand.
The dog backed up but did not yield. A low and
steady rumbling began to rise in his chest,
something out of a long-gone midnight. There was
nothing in that bone to taste, but ancient shapes
were moving in his mind and determining his
30 utterance. Only fools gave up bones. He was
warning me.
"Wolf,'' I chided again.
As I advanced, his teeth showed and his mouth
wrinkled to strike. The rumbling rose to a direct
snarl. His flat head swayed low and wickedly as a
reptile's above the floor. I was the most loved
object in his universe, but the past was fully alive
in him now. Its shadows were whispering in his
mind. I knew he was not bluffing. If I made
40 another step he would strike.
Yet his eyes were strained and desperate. "Do
not,'' something pleaded in the back of them,
some affectionate thing that had followed at my
heel all the days of his mortal life, "do not force
me. I am what I am and cannot be otherwise
because of the shadows. Do not reach out. You are
a man, and my very god. I love you, but do not put
out your hand. It is midnight. We are in another
time, in the snow.''
50 "The other time,'' the steady rumbling continued
while I paused, "the other time in the snow, the big,
the final, the terrible snow, when the shape of this
thing I hold spelled life. I will not give it up. I
cannot. The shadows will not permit me. Do not put
out your hand.''
I stood silent, looking into his eyes, and heard
his whisper through. Slowly I drew back in
understanding. The snarl diminished, ceased. As I
retreated, the bone slumped to the floor. He
60 placed a paw upon it, warningly.
And were there no shadows in my own mind, I
wondered. Had I not for a moment, in the grip of
that savage utterance, been about to respond, to
hurl myself upon him over an invisible haunch ten
thousand years removed? Even to me the shadows
had whispered–to me, the scholar in his study.
"Wolf,'' I said, but this time, holding a familiar
leash, I spoke from the door indifferently. "A
walk in the snow.'' Instantly from his eyes that
70 other visitant receded. The bone was left lying.
He came eagerly to my side, accepting the leash
and taking it in his mouth as always.
A blizzard was raging when we went out, but
hepaid no heed.Onhis thick fur the driving snow
was soon clinging heavily. He frolicked a little–
though usually he was a grave dog–making up to
me for something still receding in his mind. I felt
the snowflakes fall upon my face, and stood
thinking of another time, and another time still,
80 until I was moving from midnight to midnight
under ever more remote and vaster snows. Wolf
came to my side with a little whimper. It was he who
was civilized now. "Come back to the fire,''
he nudged gently, "or you will be lost.''
Automatically I took the leash he offered. He led
me safely home and into the house.
"We have been very far away,'' I told him
solemnly. "I think there is something in us that we
had both better try to forget.'' Sprawled on the
90 rug, Wolf made no response except to thump his
tail feebly out of courtesy. Already he was mostly
asleep and dreaming. By the movement of his feet
I could see he was running far upon some errand
in which I played no part.
Softly I picked up his bone–our bone,
rather–and replaced it high on a shelf in my
cabinet. As I snapped off the light the white glow
from the window seemed to augment itself and
shine with a deep, glacial blue. As far as I could
100 see, nothing moved in the long aisles of my
neighbor's woods. There was no visible track, and
certainly no sound from the living. The snow
continued to fall steadily, but the wind, and the
shadows it had brought, had vanished.
"The Angry Winter" from THE UNEXPECTED UNIVERSE, copyright © 1968 by Loren Eiseley and renewed 1996 by John A. Eichman, III, reprinted by permission of Harcourt, Inc.
A. introduces the theme.
B. creates the setting of the story.
C. introduces the characters.
D. develops the plot line.
A. the previous, windy winter
B. a period in the ice age
C. swirling snow outside the study
D. a long winter from the author's past
A. the motion of the dog's and reptile's heads.
B. the shape of the dog's and reptile's heads.
C. a human skull and the reptile's head.
D. a reptile's teeth and the dog's snarl.
A. remembers a bone he buried in the snow.
B. connects the bone to his instinct for survival.
C. is hungry and wants to eat the bone immediately.
D. wants to obey his owner rather than follow his instincts.
A. All living creatures are susceptible to instincts.
B. Shadows usually appear only to dogs and other animals.
C. The man is hearing supernatural voices.
D. The study is usually an impenetrable sanctuary.
A. diminish
B. polish
C. increase
D. detach
A. moving objects
B. nightfall
C. archeological rules
D. inherited instincts
relic (re lik) n. 1a. something that has survived decay or deterioration
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According to this entry, from which language did the word relic originate?
A. Middle English
B. English
C. Old French
D. Latin