Web Age Information Management 17th International Conference WAIM 2016 Nanchang China June 3 5 2016 Proceedings Part I 1st Edition Bin Cui
Web Age Information Management 17th International Conference WAIM 2016 Nanchang China June 3 5 2016 Proceedings Part I 1st Edition Bin Cui
Web Age Information Management 17th International Conference WAIM 2016 Nanchang China June 3 5 2016 Proceedings Part I 1st Edition Bin Cui
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Artificial Intelligence and Soft Computing 15th
International Conference ICAISC 2016 Zakopane Poland
June 12 16 2016 Proceedings Part I 1st Edition Leszek
Rutkowski
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part-i-1st-edition-leszek-rutkowski/
Then she ceased and stood with her root-like finger up-raised, and
from near by came the voice of a great white owl, which took up the
song, saying:
Now all this was by starlight, but the moment the owl had ceased,
from over the hill came a glint of light as the pale moon rose, and
with a sound like a thunderclap the witch melted into the great rock
and the owl flapped away heavily.
“Brother,” whispered the girl, “you heard what the owl said?”
“Yes, sister, I heard,” he answered.
“Brother, come to me. I am afraid,” said Natalia, and commenced
to cry a little.
“Sister,” he said, “I try but I cannot. There is something through
which I cannot pass. I can see but I cannot press through.”
“Can you not climb over, dear Luis?” asked Natalia.
“No, Natalia. I have reached high as I can, but the wall that I
cannot see goes up and up.”
“Is there no way to get in on the other side of the rock, dear, dear
Luis? I am very cold and afraid, being here alone.”
“Sister, I have walked around. I have felt high and low. But it is
always the same. I cannot get through, I cannot climb over, I cannot
crawl under. But I shall stay here with you, so fear not.”
At that Natalia put her hands to her face and wept a little, but very
quietly, and it pained Luis to see the tears roll down her cheeks and
turn to little ice pearls as they fell. After a while Natalia spoke again,
but through sobs.
“Brother mine, you heard what the owl said?”
“Yes, sister.”
“Does it mean nothing to you?” she asked.
“Nothing,” he replied.
“But listen,” said Natalia. “These were the words: ‘Save us from
light and the torch’s red flame.’ ”
“I heard that, Natalia. What does it mean?”
“It means, brother, that the things in this horrible valley fear fire.
So go, brother. Leave me a while but find fire, coming back with it
swiftly. There will be sickening loneliness, so haste, haste.”
Hearing that, Luis was sad, for he was in no mood to leave his
sister in that plight. Still she urged him, saying: “Speed, brother,
speed.”
Even then he hesitated, until with a great swoop there passed
over the rock a condor wheeling low, and it said as it passed: “Fire
will conquer frosted death.”
“You hear, brother,” said Natalia. “So speed and find fire and
return before night.”
Then Luis stayed no longer, but waved his sister a farewell and
set off down the valley, following the condor that hovered in the air,
now darting away and now returning. So Luis knew that the great
bird led him, and he ran, presently finding the river and following it
until he reached the great vega where the waters met.
At the meeting of the waters he came to a house, a poor thing
made of earth and stones snuggled in a warm fold of the hills. No
one was about there, but as the condor flew high and, circling in the
air, became a small speck, Luis knew that it would be well to stay a
while and see what might befall. Pushing open the door he saw by
the ashes in the fireplace that someone lived there, for there were
red embers well covered to keep the fire alive. So seeing that the
owner of the house would return soon he made himself free of the
place, which was the way of that country, and brought fresh water
from the spring. Then he gathered wood and piled it neatly by the
fireside. Next he blew upon the embers and added twigs and sticks
until a bright fire glowed, after which he took the broom of twigs and
swept the earth floor clean.
How the man of the house came into the room Luis never knew,
but there he was, sitting by the fire on a stool. He looked at things
but said nothing to Luis, only nodding his head. Then he brought
bread and yerba and offered some to Luis. After they had eaten the
old man spoke, and this is what he said:
“Wicked is the white witch, and there is but one way to defeat her.
What, lad, is the manner of her defeat? Tell me that.”
Then Luis, remembering what the condor had said, repeated the
words: “ ‘Fire will conquer frosted death.’ ”
“True,” said the man slowly, nodding his head. “And your sister is
there. Now here comes our friend the condor, who sees far and
knows much.”
EL ENANO
VERYONE disliked El Enano who lived in the forest, because he
always lay hidden in dark places, and when woodmen passed he
jumped out on them and beat them and took their dinners from
them. He was a squat creature, yellow of skin and snag-toothed
and his legs were crooked, his arms were crooked, and his face was
crooked. There were times when he went about on all fours and then
he looked like a great spider, for he had scraggy whiskers that hung
to the ground and looked like legs. At other times he had the mood
to make himself very small like a little child, and then he was most
horrible to see, for his skin was wrinkled and his whiskers hung
about him like a ragged garment.
Yet all of that the people might have forgiven and he might have
been put up with, were it not for some worse tricks. What was most
disliked was his trick of walking softly about a house in the night-time
while the people were inside, suspecting nothing, perhaps singing
and talking. Seeing them thus, El Enano would hide in the shadows
until someone went for water to the spring, then out he would leap,
clinging fast to the hair of the boy or man and beating, biting,
scratching the while. Being released, the tortured one would of
course run to reach the house, but El Enano would hop on one leg
behind, terribly fast, and catch his victim again just as a hand was
almost laid on the door latch. Nor could an alarm be raised, because
El Enano cast a spell of silence, so that, try as one would, neither
word nor shout would come.
Then there was his other evil trick of hiding close to the ground
and reaching out a long and elastic arm to catch boy or girl by the
ankle. But that was not worse than his habit of making a noise like
hail or rain, hearing which the people in the house would get up to
close a window, and there, looking at them from the dark but quite
close to their faces, would be the grinning Enano holding in his
hands his whiskers that looked like a frightening curtain, his eyes red
and shining like rubies. That was very unpleasant indeed, especially
when a person was alone in the house. Nor was it much better when
he left the window, for he would hop and skip about the house yard
for hours, screaming and howling and throwing sticks and stones.
So, wherever he was there was chill horror.
One day, a good old woman who lived alone went with her basket
to gather berries. El Enano saw her and at once made himself into a
little creature no larger than a baby and stretched himself on a bed of
bright moss between two trees leafless and ugly. He pretended to be
asleep, though he whimpered a little as a child does when it has a
bad dream.
The good old woman was short-sighted but her ears were quick,
and hearing the soft whimper she found the creature and took it in
her arms. To do that bent her sadly, for Enano when small was the
same weight as when his full size.
“Oh, poor thing,” she said. “Someone has lost a baby. Or perhaps
some wild creature has carried the tender thing from its home. So,
lest it perish I will take care of it, though to be sure, a heavier baby I
never held.”
The dame had no children of her own and, though poor, was both
willing and glad to share what she had with any needy creature.
Gently she took it home and having put dry sticks on the fire she
made a bed of light twigs which she covered with a mat of feathers.
Then she bustled about, getting bread and milk for supper for the
little one, feeling happy at heart because she had rescued the
unhappy creature from the dismal forest.
At first she was glad to see the appetite of the homeless thing, for
it soon finished the bread and milk and cried for more.
“Bless me! It must be half starved,” she said. “It may have my
supper.” So she took the food she had set out for herself and El
Enano swallowed it as quickly as he had swallowed the first bowl.
Yet still he cried for more. Off then to the neighbours she went,
borrowing milk from this one, bread from that, rice from another, until
half the children of the village had to go on short commons that
night. The creature devoured all that was brought and still yelled for
more and the noise it made was ear-splitting. But as it ate and felt
the warmth, it grew and grew.
“Santa Maria!” said the dame. “What wonderful thing is this?
Already it is no longer a baby, but a grown child. Almost it might be
called ugly, but that, I suppose, is because it was motherless and
lost. It is all very sad.” Then, because she had thought it ugly she did
the more for it, being sorry for her thoughts, though she could not
help nor hinder them. As for the creature itself, having eaten all in
the house, it gave a grunt or two, turned heavily on its side and went
to sleep, snoring terribly.
Next morning matters were worse, for El Enano was stretched
out on the floor-before the fire, his full size, and seeing the dame he
called for food, making so great a noise that the very windows shook
and his cries were heard all over the village. So to still him, and there
being nothing to eat in the house, the good old woman went out and
told her tale to the neighbours, asking their help and advice, and to
her house they all went flocking to look at the strange creature. One
man, a stout-hearted fellow, told El Enano that it was high time for
him to be going, hearing which, the ugly thing shrieked with wicked
laughter.
“Well, bring me food,” it said, looking at the man with red eyes.
“Bring me food, I say, and when I have eaten enough I may leave
you. But bring me no child’s food, but rather food for six and twenty
men. Bring an armadillo roasted and a pig and a large goose and
many eggs and the milk of twenty cows. Nor be slow about it, for I
must amuse myself while I wait and it may well be that you will not
care for the manner of my amusement.”
Indeed, there was small likelihood of any one there doing that, for
his amusement was in breaking things about the house, the tables
and benches, the pots and the ollas, and when he had made sad
havoc of the woman’s house he started on the house next door,
smashing doors and windows, tearing up flowers by the roots,
chasing the milk goats and the chickens, and setting dogs to fight.
Nor did he cease in his mischief until the meal was set out for him,
when he leaped upon it and crammed it down his throat with fearful
haste, leaving neither bone nor crumb.
The people of the village stood watching, whispering one to
another behind their hands, how they were shocked at all that sight,
and when at last the meal was finished, the stout-hearted man who
had spoken before stepped forward. “Now sir!” said he to El Enano,
“seeing that you have eaten enough and more than enough, you will
keep your word, going about your business and leaving this poor
woman and us in peace. Will you?”
“No. No. NO!” roared El Enano, each No being louder than the
one before it.
“But you promised,” said the man.
What the creature said when answering that made nearly
everyone there faint with horror. It said:
“What I promised was that I would leave when I had eaten
enough. I did not——”
The bold man interrupted then, saying, “Well, you have eaten
enough.”
“Ah yes, for one meal,” answered the cruel Enano. “But I meant
that I would leave when I have eaten enough for always. There is to-
morrow and to-morrow night. There is the day after that and the next
day and the next day. There are to be weeks of eating and months of
eating and years of eating. You are stupid people if you think that I
shall ever have eaten enough. So I shall not leave. No. No. NO!”
Having said that, the creature laughed in great glee and began to
throw such things as he could reach against the walls, and so, many
good things were shattered.
Now for three days that kind of thing went on, at the end of which
time the men of the place were at their wits’ ends to know what to
do, for almost everything eatable in the village had gone down the
creature’s throat. Sad at heart, seeing what had come to pass, the
good old woman went out and sat down to weep by the side of a
quiet pool, for it seemed to her to be a hard thing that what she had
done in kindness had ended thus, and that the house she had built
and loved and kept clean and sweet should be so sadly wrecked and
ruined. Her thoughts were broken by the sound of a voice, and
turning she saw a silver-gray fox sitting on a rock and looking at her.
“It is well enough to have a good cry,” he said, “but it is better to
be gay and have a good laugh.”
“Ah! Good evening, Señor Zorro,” answered the dame, drying her
tears. “But who can be gay when a horrible creature is eating
everything? Who can be otherwise than sad, seeing the trouble
brought on friends?” The last she added, being one of those who are
always saddened by the cheerlessness of others.
“You need not tell me,” said the fox. “I know everything that has
passed,” and he put his head a little sideways like a wise young dog
and seemed to smile.
“But what is there to do?” asked the dame. “I am in serious case
indeed. This alocado says that he will make no stir until he has had
enough to eat for all his life, and certainly he makes no stir to go
away.”
“The trouble is that you give him enough and not too much,” said
the fox.
“Too much, you say? We have given him too much already,
seeing that we have given him all that we have,” said the old dame a
little angrily.
“Well, what you must do is to give him something that he does
not like. Then he will go away,” said the fox.
“Easier said than done,” answered the old woman with spirit. “Did
we but give him something of which he liked not the taste, then he
would eat ten times more to take the bad taste away. Señor Zorro,
with all your cleverness, you are but a poor adviser.”
After that the fox thought a long while before saying anything,
then coming close to the old woman and looking up into her face he
said:
“Make your mind easy. He shall have enough to eat this very
night and all that you have to do is to see that your neighbours do as
I say, nor be full of doubt should I do anything that seems to be
contrary.”
So the good old woman promised to warn her neighbours,
knowing well the wisdom of the fox, and together they went to her
house, where they found El Enano stretched out on the floor, looking
like a great pig, and every minute he gave a great roar. The
neighbours were both angry and afraid, for the creature had been
very destructive that day. Indeed, he had taken delight in stripping
the thatched roofs and had desisted only when the men of the place
had promised to double the amount of his meal.
Not five minutes had the fox and the dame been in the house
when the men of the place came in with things—with berries and
armadillos, eggs and partridges, turkeys and bread and much fish
from the lake. At once they set about cooking, while the women
commenced to brew a great bowl of knot-grass tea. Soon the food
was cooked and El Enano fell to as greedily as ever.
The fox looked at Enano for a while, then said:
“You have a fine appetite, my friend. What will there be for the
men and the women and the children and for me to eat?”
“You may have what I leave, and eat it when I end,” said El
Enano.
“Let us hope then that our appetites will be light,” said the fox.
A little later the fox began to act horribly, jumping about the room
and whining, and calling the people lazy and inhospitable.
“Think you,” he said, “that this is the way to treat a visitor? A
pretty thing indeed to serve one and let the other go hungry. Do I get
nothing at all to eat? Quick. Bring me potatoes and roast them, or it
will be bad for all of you. The mischief I do shall be ten times worse
than any done already.”
Knowing that some plan was afoot the people ran out of the
house and soon came back with potatoes, and the fox showed them
how he wanted them roasted on the hearth. So they were placed in
the ashes and covered with hot coals and when they were well done
the fox told everyone to take a potato, saying that El Enano, who
was crunching the bones of the animals he had eaten, would not like
them. But all the while the men were eating, the fox ran from one to
another whispering things, but quite loud enough for Enano to hear.
“Hush!” said he. “Say nothing. El Enano must not know how good
they are and when he asks for some, tell him that they are all gone.”
“Yes. Yes,” said the people, keeping in with the plan. “Do not let
Enano know.”
By this time El Enano was suspicious and looked from one man
to another. “Give me all the potatoes,” he said.
“They are all eaten except mine,” said the fox, “but you may taste
that.” So saying he thrust the roasted potato into the hands of Enano
and the creature crammed it down its throat at once.
“Ha! It is good,” he roared. “Give me more. More. MORE.”
“We have no more,” said the fox very loud, then, quite softly to
those who stood near him, he added, “Say nothing about the
potatoes on the hearth,” but loudly enough for El Enano to hear,
though quite well he knew that there were none.
“Ah! I heard you,” roared El Enano. “There are potatoes on the
hearth. Give them to me.”
“We must let him have them,” said the fox, raking the red-hot
coals to the front.
“Out of the way,” cried El Enano, reaching over the fox and
scooping up a double handful of hot coals, believing them to be
potatoes. Red hot as they were he swallowed them and in another
moment was rolling on the floor, howling with pain as the fire blazed
in his stomach. Up he leaped again and dashed out of the house to
fling himself by the side of the little river. The water was cool to his
face and he drank deep, but the water in his stomach turned to
steam, so that he swelled and swelled, and presently there was a
loud explosion that shook the very hills, and El Enano burst into a
thousand pieces.
THE HERO TWINS
HERE was once a woman who had two sons and they were
twins, so much alike that the mother herself could not tell one
from the other. So Hunapu always wore a crimson feather and
Balanque a blue one.
As children they spent their days in the open air, playing in the
forest, swimming in the lake, and wandering on the plains, and so
doing they came to know the animals and the birds, finding the
young ones and playing with them, so that it was no uncommon sight
to see them come home with a panther following at their heels as a
dog does. They knew where to find the nests of birds of all kinds, fed
the young ones, and petted them, until with a call they could bring
from the trees clouds of glorious-coloured birds which would perch
on their hands and arms and shoulders. And of course it came about
in time that when animals and birds gathered about the lads, there
was no more fighting between the wild creatures than there is
between a puppy and a kitten that have been raised together.
Growing up with the wild creatures, wrestling with them and
racing with them, the boys grew strong and fleet of foot. They could
scale a cliff to reach a condor’s nest or climb a tree as swiftly as a
monkey, and in the water they were as much at home as on the land.
Down into the clear depths they would dive, down in the cool, green
lake waters, to bring up shells and bright stones, one boy striving
with the other, laughing merrily the while. And sitting on the shore in
the sunshine they would often look across the lake to the faraway
mountain, talking about the time when they would adventure there to
see what could be seen.
Their father taught them to shoot straight with the arrow and to
use well the spear, and when they were masters of these he made
for them breastplates of silver and light helmets that flashed in the
sun. And as time went on they wandered here and there, finding
other boys of their own age, and these, too, had helmets and
breastplates of silver made for them by their fathers and had learned
the use of the bow and spear, until at last there was a band of four
hundred of which Hunapu and Balanque were leaders. Then there
were great times with running and racing and swimming and
wrestling, and soon the Four Hundred had agreed that when one of
their number was in trouble not of his own seeking, at the sound of
the horn the rest would come to his rescue. But not all the time was
spent in play, for the band of the Four Hundred were wise in all the
arts, playing the flute, working in metals, painting, woodcraft, and
other like activities.
One day Hunapu and Balanque were in the forest gathering fruit,
when there came to them an old man and wife, weeping sadly. They
were strangers to the place and, seeing the two lads in their armour
of silver, with bows in their hands and swords by their sides and
feathers of crimson and of blue in their glittering helmets, they stood
for a while silent. But being asked, they told their tale of how they
had lived in the mountain on the other side of the lake among a
people who were in terror of their lives because of three great and
fearful giants who came now and then, taking the cattle and the
goats, destroying for mere mischief the houses of the people, and
sometimes killing the people themselves. Nothing, they said, could
withstand the strength of the giants. Stone walls were as mere sticks
to them. They uprooted trees or turned the courses of rivers by
scooping away masses of earth with their hands.
Hearing that, the twin brothers were greatly disturbed, for as they
had sat by the lake sometimes, talking of the land far away, they had
heard strange noises faintly come over the waters, which they had
set down as summer thunders. With the tale of the old man and his
wife, they began to believe that things were more serious than they
had supposed. Stepping to a place clear of trees Hunapu put his
horn to his lips and blew long and loudly, three times. Soon from all
directions came lads running, each girt with his sword, his spear in
hand and his bow at his back, breast-plate and helmet glittering in
the bright sun. You can figure for yourself that fine band of clean,
straight-limbed fellows, each with his drawn sword and silver helmet
with drooping plume. You can imagine how they looked standing
there with the cool, green forest behind them. And there were not
only the Four Hundred, but also their friends of the forest, here a
puma, there a panther or deer, bright-coloured birds, glorious
humming-birds and proud llamas, for not a boy but had his wild
creature for a pet.
To the band of the Four Hundred the old man and his wife told
their tale, mentioning what they had not done before, that their sons
and daughters had been carried off by two of the giants. At that there
stepped from the ranks a lad with flashing eyes who said that not a
year should pass over their heads before the giants were overcome,
and a great shout of joy went up. Then and there the lad who had
spoke cried:
“Let everyone step forward who will go to the land of the evil
three,” and no sooner were the words out of his lips than the whole
Four Hundred stepped forward. But, as Flashing Eyes said, some
must stay at home, for there were things to be done, so he proposed
that twenty alone should go. Even then there was no way to decide
which of them should be of the twenty, for everyone wanted to go
forward to the adventure. At that Balanque offered to go alone to the
land, to see what would be the best plan to pursue, but again there
was trouble, for each of the Four Hundred wanted to go with him. So
at last it was decided to leave the matter to be settled by chance.
Each one was to call to his pet wild creature, and the first two
touched would go to the land of the giants. Then a great calling went
up, a naming of names, a whistling, and a making of noises like the
call of animals, and from the leafy caves came the pets, running,
leaping, flying. Each lad there had hung his sword and bow on a
branch and stood with arms outstretched to welcome his pet, and
there was much laughter and good spirit. Down from the sky came