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CHEMISTRY OF
METALLOPROTEINS
WILEY SERIES IN PROTEIN AND PEPTIDE SCIENCE

VLADIMIR N. UVERSKY, Series Editor

Metalloproteomics • Eugene A. Permyakov

Instrumental Analysis of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins: Assessing Structure and

Conformation • Vladimir Uversky and Sonia Longhi

Protein Misfolding Diseases: Current and Emerging Principles and Therapies •

Marina Ramirez-Alvarado, Jeffery W. Kelly, and Christopher M. Dobson

Calcium Binding Proteins • Eugene A. Permyakov and Robert H. Kretsinger

Protein Chaperones and Protection from Neurodegenerative Diseases • Stephan Witt

Transmembrane Dynamics of Lipids • Philippe Devaux and Andreas Herrmann

Flexible Viruses: Structural Disorder in Viral Proteins • Vladimir Uversky and Sonia
Longhi

Protein Families: Relating Protein Sequence, Structure, and Function • Christine A.

Orengo and Alex Bateman

Chemistry of Metalloproteins: Problems and Solutions in Bioinorganic Chemistry •

Joseph J. Stephanos and Anthony W. Addison
CHEMISTRY OF
METALLOPROTEINS
Problems and Solutions in
Bioinorganic Chemistry

JOSEPH J. STEPHANOS
ANTHONY W. ADDISON
Copyright  2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as
permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior
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the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400,
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Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Stephanos, Joseph J., author.
Chemistry of metalloproteins: problems and solutions in bioinorganic chemistry/by Joseph J.
Stephanos, Anthony W. Addison.
p.; cm. – (Wiley series in protein and peptide science)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-118-47044-2 (paperback)
I. Addison, A. W., author. II. Title. III. Series: Wiley series in protein and peptide science.
[DNLM: 1. Metalloproteins–chemistry–Examination Questions. QU 18.2]
QP551
5720.6076–dc23
2013041995
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
CONTENTS

Preface ix

1 Introduction 1
Proteins: Formation, Structures, and Metalloproteins, 4
References, 28

2 Alkali and Alkaline Earth Cations 31

References, 67

3 Nonredox Metalloenzymes 71
Carboxypeptidases, 75
Carbonic Anhydrase, 84
Alcohol Dehydrogenase, 88
References, 91

4 Copper Proteins 95
Introduction, 95
Electronic Spectra of Copper Ions, 96
ESR Spectra of Copper Ions, 105
Copper Proteins, 117
Plastocyanin, 119
Azurin and Stellacyanin, 127
Superoxide Dismutase, 131

v
vi CONTENTS

Hemocyanin, 135
Ascorbic Oxidase, 139
References, 142

5 Iron Proteins 147

Introduction, 147
Electronic Spectra of Iron Ions, 148
Mössbauer Spectroscopy of Iron Ions, 155
ESR Spectra of Iron (III), 161
Iron Bioavailability, 166
Siderophores, 171
Iron Storage and Transfer Proteins, 184
Ferritin, 184
Transferrin, 187
Dioxygenase Iron Proteins, 195
Iron–Sulfur Proteins, 207
Rubredoxin, 207
Ferredoxins, 212
2Fe–2S Ferredoxins, 212
4Fe–4S Ferredoxins, 221
Aconitase, 226
Hydroxylases, 229
Hydrogenases, 232
Nitrogenases, 240
Binuclear Iron Proteins, 251
Hemerythrin, 253
Ribotide Reductase, Purple Acid Phosphate, and
Methane Monooxygenase, 260
Hemoproteins: Classification and Behavior of Heme in
Absence of Globins, 267
Myoglobin and Hemoglobin, 275
Myoglobin, 275
Hemoglobin, 280
Cytochrome C, 298
Electron Transfer in Porphyrins and Metalloporphyrins, 301
Catalases, 311
Peroxidases, 315
Cytochrome P-450, 322
Electronic Spectra of Hemoproteins, 327
ESR Spectra of Hemoproteins, 362
References, 378
CONTENTS vii

6 Vitamin B12 393

References, 405

7 Chlorophyll 407
References, 421

Index 423
PREFACE

This book is an attempt to reveal the chemical concepts that rule the biological action
of metalloproteins. The emphasis is on building up an understanding of basic ideas
and familiarization with basic techniques. Enough background information is pro-
vided to introduce the field from both chemical and biological areas. It is hoped that
the book may be of interest to workers in biological sciences, and so, primarily for this
purpose, a brief survey of relevant properties of transition metals is presented.
The book is intended for undergraduates and postgraduates taking courses in
coordination chemistry and students in biology and medicine. It should also be a value
to research workers who would like an introduction to this area of inorganic
chemistry. It is very suitable for self-study; the range covered is so extensive that
the book can serve as a student’s companion throughout his or her university career.
At the same time, teachers can turn to it for ideas and inspirations.
The book is divided into seven chapters and covers a full range of topics in
bioinorganic chemistry. It is well-illustrated and each chapter contains suggestions for
further reading, providing access to important review articles and papers of relevance.
A reference list is also included, so that the interested reader can readily consult the
literature cited in the text.
It is hoped that the present book will provide the basis for a more advanced study in
this field.

JOSEPH J. STEPHANOS
ANTHONY W. ADDISON

ix
1
INTRODUCTION

The discipline of bioinorganic chemistry is concerned with the function of metallic

and most of nonmetallic elements in biological processes. Also, it is the study of the
chemistry, structure, and reactions of the metalloprotein molecules belonging to the
living cell.
The precise concentrations of different ions, for instance, in blood plasma indicate
the importance of these ions for biological processes, (Table 1-1).
Such elements fall into four broad classifications: the polluting, contaminating,
beneficial, and essential elements.

• Polluting elements: Pb, Hg, and Cd

• Contaminating elements: vary from person to person
• Beneficial elements: Si, V, Cr, Se, Br, Sn, F, and Ni
• Essential elements: H, C, N, O, Na, Mg, K, Ca, P, S, Cl, Mo, Mn, Fe, Co, Cu,
Zn, and I (Fig. 1-1).
Twenty-five elements are currently thought to be essential to warm-blooded
animals (Table 1-2).
Essentiality has been defined according to certain criteria:

• A physiological deficiency appears when the element is removed from the diet.
• The deficiency is relieved by the addition of that element to the diet.
• A specific biological function is associated with the element.

Chemistry of Metalloproteins: Problems and Solutions in Bioinorganic Chemistry, First Edition.

Joseph J. Stephanos and Anthony W. Addison.
 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Published 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

1
2 INTRODUCTION

TABLE 1-1 Ion Concentration in

Extracellular Blood Plasma
Ion mM Ion mM
+ 2
Na 138 SO4 1
Cl 100 Fe 0.02
K+ 4 Zn2+ 0.02
Ca2+ 3 Cu2+ 0.015
Mg2+ 1 Co2+ 0.002
HPO42 1 Ni2+ 0

Every essential element follows a dose–response curve, shown in Fig. 1-2. At

lowest dosages the organism does not survive, whereas in deficiency regions the
organism exists with less than optimal function.
The ten ions classified as trace metal are Fe, Cu, Mn, Zn, Co, Mo, Cr, Sn, V, and
Ni, and the four classified as bulk metals are Na, K, Mg, and Ca. The nonmetallic
elements are H, B, C, N, O, F, Si, P, S, Cl, Se, and I.

FIGURE 1-1 Distribution of elements essential for life (Cotton and Wilkinson, 1980).
INTRODUCTION 3

TABLE 1-2 Percentage Composition of Essential Elements in Human Body

Percentage Percentage
Element (by Weight) Element (by Weight)
Oxygen 53.6 Silicon 0.04
Carbon 16.0 Iron, fluorine 0.005
Hydrogen 13.4 Zinc 0.003
Nitrogen 2.4 Copper, bromine 2 × 10 4
Sodium, potassium, 0.10 Selenium, manganese, 2 × 10 5
sulfur arsenic, nickel
Chlorine 0.09 Lead, cobalt 9 × 10 6

Biological Roles of Metal Ions

What are the general roles of metal ions in biological systems?

The general roles of metal ions in biological systems are summarized in Table 1-3.
Metals in biological systems function in a number of different ways:

• Groups 1 and 2 metals operate as structural elements or in the maintenance of

charge, osmotic balance, or nerve impulses.
• Transition metal ions that exist in single oxidation states, such as zinc (II),
function as structural elements in superoxide dismutase and zinc fingers
or as triggers for protein activity, e.g., calcium ions in calmodulin or
troponin C.

FIGURE 1-2 The dose-response curves of selenium and fluoride.

4 INTRODUCTION

TABLE 1-3 Role of Metal Ions and Examples

Metal Functions and Examples
+ +
Na , K Charge transfer, osmotic balance, nerve impulses
Mg2+ Structure in hydrolases, isomerases, phosphate transfer, and
trigger reactions
Ca2+ Structure, charge carrier, phosphate transfer, trigger reactions
Zn2+ (tetrahedral) Structure in zinc finger, gene regulation, anhydnase,
dehydrogenase
Zn2+ (square pyramidal) Structure in hydrolases, peptidases
Mn2+ (octahedral) Structure in oxidases, photosynthesis
Mn3+ (tetragonal) Structure in oxidase, photosynthesis
Fe2+ Electron transfer, nitrogen fixation in nitrogenase, dioxygen
transport in hemoglobin and myoglobin
Fe3+ Electron transfer in oxidases
Cu+, Cu2+ Electron transfer in type I blue copper proteins, oxidases and
hydroxylases in type II blue copper proteins, hydroxylases
in type III blue copper proteins, dioxygen transport in
hemocyanin
Co2+ (tetrahedral) Alkyl group transfer, oxidases
Co+, Co2+, Co3+ (octahedral) Alkyl group transfer in B12
Ni2+ (square planar) Hydrogenase, hydrolases
Mo4+, Mo5+, Mo6+ Nitrogen fixation in nitrogenose, oxo transfer in oxidases

• Transition metals that exist in multiple oxidation states serve as electron

carriers, e.g., iron ions in cytochromes or in iron–sulfur clusters of the enzyme
nitrogenase or copper ions in azurin and plastocyanin.
• As facilitators of oxygen transport, e.g., iron ions in hemoglobin or copper ions
in hemocyanin.
• As sites at which enzyme catalysis occurs, e.g., copper ions in superoxide
dismutase or iron and molybdenum ions in nitrogenase.
• Metal ions may serve multiple functions, depending on their location within the
biological system, so that the classifications in Table 1-3 are somewhat arbitrary
and/or overlapping.

PROTEINS: FORMATION, STRUCTURES, AND METALLOPROTEINS

This section is designed to introduce the chemistry of proteins. The text broadly
includes where and how the proteins are formed, along with the structure and
formation of metalloproteins.
Following the introduction of organelles and their functions within the cell, the
discussion will be concerned with the general structure of deoxyribonucleic acid
(DNA) and how the nucleus maintains its control of cell growth, division, and
formation of [messenger, transfer, and ribosomal ribonucleic acid (mRNA, tRNA,
PROTEINS: FORMATION, STRUCTURES, AND METALLOPROTEINS 5

rRNA)]. This is followed by how mRNA and tRNA master the formation of
proteins within a cell. Then, primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary structures
of the formed proteins and the factors that control each of these structures are
discussed.
Specific points about the ligation of various metal ions to different amino acids
within the proteins are made, and the binding stabilities of various metal ions toward
different amino acids are arranged.
The general formulas, side chains, and corresponding names of the common
natural α-amino acids, the formation of the peptide chain from the amino acids, and
the physiological roles of proteins are described.
The chemistry of the prosthetic and cofactors is explored. Enough basic bio-
chemistry is presented to enable the student to understand the discussions that follow.

Organelles and Their Functions

Identify the organelles and their functions within the cell.

• Cells are the building blocks of all living things.
• There are similarities in the appearance, chemical constituents, and activities of
all cells (Fig. 1-3).
• Different structures within the cell are called organelles.
• Each organelle has an important, specific function in the cell.
• The mitochondria are responsible for conversion of food into usable energy
(metabolism):
 They contain enzymes for cell metabolism.
 More than 50% of the energy produced by mitochondrial oxidation of
carbohydrates is recaptured as adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and converted
into adenosine triphosphate (ATP).

FIGURE 1-3 (a) Animal cell and (b) plant cell.

6 INTRODUCTION

SCHEME 1-1 Derived energy is trapped in adenosine triphosphate molecules (ATP).

 The derived energy is trapped in ATP molecules (Scheme 1-1).

 ATP can diffuse rapidly throughout the cell, delivering energy to sites where
it is required for cellular processes.
• In green plants, chloroplasts contain chlorophyll molecules and other
pigments.
 Chlorophyll and other pigments in chloroplasts absorb light energy from
the sun and use it to produce ATP, glucose, and oxygen.
• Ribosomes are round particles (mRNA) that are sent by the nucleus to activate
protein synthesis.
 The mRNA causes a specific protein molecule to be synthesized from the
pool of amino acids present in the cell cytoplasm.
• The nucleus, or command station, contains information for the development and
operation of the cell.
 This information is stored chemically in long molecular strands called DNA.
A combination of DNA and protein forms fine strands of chromatin. When a
cell is about to divide, the chromatin strands coil up and become densely
packed, forming chromosomes.
 The number of chromosomes varies with the species: Humans have 23, the
fruit fly has 4, corn has 10, and the mosquito has 3.

Structure of DNA

What is the general structure of deoxyribonucleic acids, DNA?

• Polymerization of nucleoside phosphates produces the nucleic acids, DNA and

RNA.
PROTEINS: FORMATION, STRUCTURES, AND METALLOPROTEINS 7

• DNA is a giant molecule with molecular weight of order 1 billion or more.

• The information is chemically stored by nitrogen-base molecules that are
bonded to the sugar residues of the sugar–phosphate chain.
• There are four nitrogen bases:
(a) Two purines, which are bicyclic molecules:

(b) Two pyrimidines, which are monocyclic:

• The order in which they appear on the chain makes up the molecular message
(Fig. 1-4).
• The DNA molecule is also capable of duplicating itself and dividing.
8 INTRODUCTION

FIGURE 1-4 Order of N bases on chain.

• Under a microscope we can see the duplicated chromosomes divide equally as

the cell divides.
• The DNA double strand forms when the bases on the two adjacent single strands
form hydrogen bonds:
PROTEINS: FORMATION, STRUCTURES, AND METALLOPROTEINS 9

FIGURE 1-5 DNA double strand.

• Adenine and thymine form a hydrogen bonded pair, or complementary base

pair.
• Cytosine and guanine also form a complementary base pair (Fig. 1-5).
• These complementary base pairs are conformed by the base ratios: G/C = 1 and
A/T = 1 (Table 1-4).

TABLE 1-4 Nitrogen-Base Content of DNA from Different Organisms

Species Tissue Calf Crab Algea (Euglcna) Virus (Coliphaga ×174)
Source Thymus All tissue Chloroplast Replicative Form
A 29.0 47.3 38.2 26.3
T 28.5 47.3 38.1 26.4
A/T 1.01 1.00 1.00 1.00
G 21.2 2.7 12.3 22.3
C 21.2 2.7 11.3 22.3
G/C 1.00 1.00 1.09 1.00
Note: Data in mole percent.
10 INTRODUCTION

Cell Growth and Division

How does the nucleus maintain its control of cell growth and division?

• During ordinary cell division called mitosis, two new cells result from a single
parent.
• Each daughter has the same number of chromosomes as the parent.
• If DNA is the molecular stuff of the chromosome, it must be able to reproduce itself.
• The DNA double helix rewinds and separates into two single strands (Fig. 1-6).
• As the unwinding occurs, the single strands act as templates for synthesis of new
complementary strands.
• When the parent DNA double helix has completed its unwinding, two new
DNA double-stranded molecules are formed.
• The process by which new DNA is formed is called replication.

Protein Synthesis

How can proteins be synthesized in cells?

• The order of the N bases on the DNA molecule determines the order of amino
acids in the protein molecule.
• While DNA is in the nucleus, the proteins are synthesized on ribosomes outside
the nucleus as follows:

FIGURE 1-6 DNA double helix rewinds and separates into two single strands.
PROTEINS: FORMATION, STRUCTURES, AND METALLOPROTEINS 11

FIGURE 1-7 Synthesis of mRNA.

 As the DNA double helix unwinds, the N base segment becomes exposed.
 The DNA molecule serves as template for the synthesis of mRNA molecule.
 The synthesis of mRNA is analogous to the replication synthesis of DNA
(Fig. 1-7).
 mRNA has structure similar to DNA but contains:
• Ribose instead of deoxyribose
• N-base uracil instead of thymine:

• After mRNA is synthesized, it is transported out of the nucleus and becomes

attached to the ribosomes, where the protein syntheses begin (Fig. 1-8).
• At the ribosomes, the order of the bases on the mRNA determines the amino
acid sequence in the protein molecule.
• The amino acid sequence is determined by a triplet code on the mRNA molecule.
• A group of three N bases represents a code for signifying a single amino acid
(Scheme 1-2).
• The amino acids are brought to the mRNA at the ribosomes by much smaller
RNA molecules called tRNA.
• Each tRNA has a triplet of bases, which is complementary to an amino acid code
on mRNA.
• The tRNA molecules bring the amino acids to the ribosomes as they move along
the mRNA strand, and the amino acids are knit into the growing protein chain.
12 INTRODUCTION

FIGURE 1-8 Protein synthesis.

• After the tRNA has discharged its amino acid passenger, it moves out into the
cytoplasm, finds another amino acid, and returns to the ribosome surface.

Common Natural α-Amino Acids

Give the general formula, side chain, and corresponding name of the common
natural α -amino acids.

• There are 20 common natural amino acids.

SCHEME 1-2 Genetic codes.

PROTEINS: FORMATION, STRUCTURES, AND METALLOPROTEINS 13

• The general formula for an α-amino acids is

• They are summarized in Table 1-5.

TABLE 1-5 L-α-amino Acids

Side Chain
Name (R at pH = 7) pKa Nature
Glycine, Gly, G —H 2.35, 9.78 Structural, spacer
Alanine, Ala, A —CH3 2.35, 9.87 Hydrophobic
Valine, Val, V 2.29, 9.74 Hydrophobic

Leucine, Leu, L 2.33, 9.74 Hydrophobic

Isoluecine, Ile, I 2.32, 9.76 Hydrophobic

Phenylalanine, Phe, F 2.16, 9.18 Hydrophobic

Proline, Pro, P 1.95, 10.64 Hydrophobic,

structural

Tryptophan, Trp, W 2.43, 9.44 Hydrophobic

Serine, Ser, S 2.19, 9.21 Ambivalent

Threonine, Thr, T 2.09, 9.11 Hydrophobic

(continued )
14 INTRODUCTION

Table 1-5 (Continued )

Side Chain
Name (R at pH = 7) pKa Nature
Methionine, Met, M 2.13, 9.28 Hydrophobic but
weak Lewis
base, soft
Tyrosine, Tyr, T ∼10 Hydrophobic, but
strong Lewis
base, only when
deprotonated
Aspartic, Asp, D ∼5 Hydrophobic,
Lewis base,
anion

Asparagine, Asn, N 2.1, 8.84 Lewis base, anion

Glutamine, Gln, Q 1.99, 3.90, Polar, neutral

9.90

Glutamic, Glu, E 2.16, 4.27, Lewis base, anion

9.36

Histidine, His, H 1.80, 6.04, Hydrophobic,

9.33 Lewis base

Cysteine, Cys, C 1.92, 8.35, Lewis base,

10.46 anion, soft

Lysine, Lys, K 2.16, 9.18, Polar, cationic,

10.79 protonated

Arginine, Arg, R 1.82, 8.99, Polar, cationic,

12.48 protonated
PROTEINS: FORMATION, STRUCTURES, AND METALLOPROTEINS 15

SCHEME 1-3 Polypeptide formation.

Peptide Chain Formation

How can the peptide chain be formed from the amino acids?

• Linear polymerization by condensation to yield amide peptide linkage (Scheme

1-3).
• All proteins are polypeptides.

Protein physiological functions

What are the physiological roles of proteins?

• The physiological roles of proteins are:

 Structural: finger nails, hair, and skin
 Transport: oxygen, electrons, and iron
 Catalysis: enzymes responsible for all synthesis of proteins, DNA, and
organics
16 INTRODUCTION

Structural Features of Proteins

Define: primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary structures. And what are
the factors that control each of these structures?

• The properties and functions of a particular protein depend on the sequence of

the amino acids in the protein, or the primary structure.
 The primary structure determines higher levels of structures.
 These structural details are crucial to the biological role of a protein.
• The secondary structure arises from the relative disposition of atoms in the
polypeptide “backbone”:

The groups of four gray-shaded atoms are coplanar. Free rotation occurs
about the bond connecting the carbon with the carbonyl and the nitrogen.
Therefore, the extended polypeptide chain is a semirigid structure with two-
thirds of the atoms of the backbone held in a fixed plane.
 Examples of secondary structures:
(a) random coil
(b) α–helix (Fig. 1-9)
(c) β–pleated (Fig. 1-10), associated as (i) parallel and (ii) antiparallel
(d) reverse turns (Fig. 1-11)
(e) omega loops (Fig. 1-12)
Both reverse turns and omega loops appear at the outer surface of the
molecules.
• A Tertiary structure refers to the folding of the already secondary structured
amino acids to form a three-dimensional (3D) structure. The overall 3D
architecture of the polypeptide backbone:
 Fibrous proteins: coils (Fig. 1-13).
 Globular proteins: compact, ellipsoidal, spherical, until denatured. The
folded tertiary, globular, structure of myoglobins is imposed over the
helical secondary structure. Structures from X-ray diffraction are shown
in Fig. 1-14.
 Synthetic polypeptides have random or simply repetitive structures.
PROTEINS: FORMATION, STRUCTURES, AND METALLOPROTEINS 17

FIGURE 1-9 α-Helix structure of protein.

FIGURE 1-10 β-Pleated structure.

FIGURE 1-11 Reverse turn.

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except for a bit of old rag about its belly, and it was true he was a fat
and handsome child, the prettiest of her three, and like the father,
and he would look most beautiful in that bit of flowery stuff. So it
seemed to the mother and she felt her heart grow weak in her and
she said unwillingly, “How much is that bit then? But still I cannot buy
it for we have scarcely enough to feed these children and this old
soul and pay the landlord too. We cannot buy such stuffs as rich
women put upon their only sons.”
The old woman looked very doleful at this, and the little girl had
slipped from her place and went to peer at the bright cloth, putting
her dim eyes near to see it. Only the elder lad ate on, caring nothing,
and the man sat idly, singing a little, careless of this bit of stuff for no
one but a child.
Then the pedlar dropped his voice low and coaxing and he held the
cloth near the child, but not too near either, careful lest some soil
come on it if it were not bought, and he said half whispering, “Such
cloth—such strength—such color—I have had many a piece pass
through my hands, but never such a piece as this. If I had a son of
my own I would have saved it out for him, but I have only a poor
barren wife who gives me no child at all, and why should the cloth be
wasted on such as she?”
The old woman listened to this tale and when she heard him say his
wife was barren she was vastly diverted and she cried out, “A pity,
too, and you so good a man! And why do you not take a little wife,
good man, and try again and see what you can do? I ever say a man
must try three women before he knows the fault is his—”
But the mother did not hear. She sat musing and unsure, and her
heart grew weaker still, for she looked down at her child and he was
so beautiful with this fine new stuff against his soft golden skin and
his red cheeks that she yielded and said, “What is your least price,
then, for more I cannot pay?”
Then the pedlar named a sum, and it was not too high and not as
high as she had feared, and her heart leaped secretly. But she shook
her head and looked grave and named half the sum, as the custom
was in bargaining in those parts. This was so little that the pedlar
took the cloth back quickly and put it in its place and made to go
away again, and then the mother, remembering her fair child, called
out a sum a little more, and so haggling back and forth and after
many false starts away the pedlar made, he threw down his pack
again and pulled forth the bit, agreeing at last to somewhat less than
he had asked, and so the mother rose to fetch the money from the
cranny in the earthen wall where it was kept.
Now all this time the man sat idly by, singing, and his high voice
made soft and small and stopping sometimes to sup down his hot
water that he drank always after he had eaten, and he took no part in
this bargain. But the pedlar being a very clever fellow and eager to
turn to his account every passing moment, took care to spread out
seemingly in carelessness a piece of grass cloth that he had, and it
was that cloth made of wild flax which cools the flesh upon a hot day
in summer, and in color it was like the sky, as clear, as blue. Then
the pedlar glanced secretly at the man to see if the man saw it, and
he said half laughing, “Have you bought a robe for yourself yet this
summer? For if you have not, I have it for you here, and at a price I
swear is cheaper than it can be bought in any shop in town.”
But the man shook his head and a dark look came down upon his
idle, pretty face, and he said with bitterness, “I have nothing
wherewith to buy myself anything in this house. Work I have and
nothing else, and all I gain for it is more to feed, the more I work.”
Now the pedlar had passed through many a town and countryside
and it was his trade to know men’s faces and he saw at a glance that
this man was one who loved his pleasure, and that he was like a lad
held down to life he was not ready for, and so he said in seeming
kindliness and pity, “It is true that I can see you have a very hard life
and little gain, and from your fine looks I see it is too hard a life. But if
you buy yourself a new robe you will find it like a very potent new
medicine to put pleasure in your heart. There is nothing like a new
summer robe to put joy in a man, and with that ring upon your finger
shined and cleaned and your hair smoothed with a bit of oil and this
new robe upon you, I swear I could not see a prettier man even in a
town.”
Now the man heard this and it pleased him and he laughed aloud
half sheepishly, and then he remembered himself and said, “And
why should I not for once have a new robe for myself? There is
nothing ahead but one after another of these young ones, and am I
forever to wear my old rags?” And he stooped swiftly and fingered
the good stuff in his fingers and while he looked at it the old mother
was excited by the thought and she cried, “It is a very fair piece, my
son, and if you must have a robe then this is as pretty a blue robe as
ever I did see, and I remember once your father had such a robe—
was it when we were wed? But no, I was wed in winter, yes, in
winter, for I sneezed so at the wedding and the men laughed to see
a bride sneezing so—”
But the man asked suddenly and roughly, “How much will it be for a
robe?”
Now when the pedlar said the price, at that moment the mother
came forth with the money in her hand counted and exact to the last
penny and she cried out alarmed, “We can spend no more!”
At that cry of hers some desire hardened in the man and he said
wilfully, “But I will have myself a robe cut from this piece and I like it
very well so that I will have it for the once! There are those three
silver pieces I know we have.”
Now those three coins were of good value and coins the mother had
brought with her when she came to be wed, and her own mother had
handed them to her for her own when she left her home. They were
her precious possession and she had never found the hour when
she could spend them. Even when she had bought the coffin for the
old mother when they thought her dying, she had pinched and
borrowed and would not spend her own, and often the thought of
those three silver pieces was in her mind for safe riches, and they
were there if ever times grew too hard, some war or hardship that
might come at any hour and lose them the fruits of their land. With
those three coins in the wall she knew they could not starve for a
while. So now she cried, “That silver we cannot spend!”
But the man leaped up as swift as a swallow and darted past her in a
fury and he went to that cranny and searched in it and seized the
silver. Yet the woman was after him, too, and she caught him and
held him and hung to him as he ran. But she was not quick enough
and never quick enough for his litheness. He threw her aside so that
she fell upon the earthen floor, and the child still in her arms, and he
ran out shouting as he ran, “Cut me off twelve feet of it and the foot
and more to spare that is the custom!”
This the pedlar made haste to do, and he took the silver coins
quickly, although indeed they were somewhat less than he had
asked, but he was anxious to be away and yet have his stuff sold,
too. When the mother came out at last the pedlar was gone and the
man stood in the green shade of the tree, the blue stuff bright and
new in his two hands, and her silver gone. The old woman sat afraid
and when she saw the mother come she began in haste to speak of
this or that in a loud creaky voice, “A very pretty blue, my son, and
not dear, and a long summer since you had a grass cloth—”
But the man looked blackly at the woman, his face dark and red, and
he roared at her, still bold with his anger, “Will you make it, then, or
shall I take it to some woman and pay her to make it and tell her my
wife will not?”
But the mother said nothing. She sat down again upon her little stool
and she sat silent at first, pale and shaken with her fall, and the child
she held still screamed in fright. But she paid no heed to him. She
set him on the ground to scream, and twisted up afresh the knot of
her loosened hair. She panted for a while and swallowed once or
twice and at last she said, not looking at the man, “Give it to me
then. I will make it.”
She was ashamed to have another do it and know the quarrel more
than they did now, watching from their doors when they heard the
angry cries.
But from that day on the woman harbored this hour against the man.
Even while she cut the cloth and shaped it, and she did it well and
the best she knew to do, for it was good stuff and worth good care,
still she took no pleasure in the work and while she made the robe
she stayed hard and silent with the man, and she said no small and
easy thing about the day or what had happened in the street or any
little thing such as contented women say about a house. And
because she was hard with him in these small ways the man was
sullen and he did not sing and as soon as he had eaten he went
away to the wayside inn and he sat there among the men and drank
his tea and gambled far into the night, so that he must needs sleep
late the next day. When he did so in usual times she would scold him
and keep him miserable until he gave over for peace’s sake, but now
she let him sleep and she went alone to the fields, hard and silent
against him whatever he might do, though her heart was dreary, too,
while she kept it hard.
Even when the robe was done at last, and she was long in making it
because there was the rice to be set and planted, even when it was
done she said nothing of how it looked upon him. She gave it to him
and he put it on and he shined his ring with bits of broken stone and
he smoothed his hair with oil he poured from the kitchen bottle and
he went swaggering down the street.
Yet even when this one and that cried out to him how fine he was
and how fine his robe, he took no full sweet pleasure in himself as he
might have done. She had said no word to him. No, when he had
lingered at the door an instant she went on with her task, bending to
the short-handled broom and sweeping about the house and never
looking up to ask if the robe fitted him or if his body was suited to its
shape, as she was wont to do if she had made him even so much as
a pair of new shoes. At last he had even said, half shy, “It seems to
me you have sewed this robe better than any robe I ever had, and it
fits me as a townsman’s does.”
But still she would not look up. She set the broom in its corner and
went and fetched a roll of cotton wool and set herself to spinning it to
thread, since she had used her store in the making of the blue robe.
At last she answered bitterly, “At the cost it was to me it should look
like an emperor’s robe.”
But she would not look at him, no, not even when he flung himself
down the street. She would not even look at him secretly when his
back was turned because she was so bitter against him, although
her heart knew the blue robe suited him well.
 V
THROUGH that day long the mother watched for the man to come
home. It was a day when the fields could be left to their own growing,
for the rice was planted in its pools, and in the shallow water and in
the warm sunlight the green young plants waved their newly forming
heads in the slight winds. There was no need to go out to the land
that day.
So the mother sat under the willow tree spinning and the old woman
came to sit beside her, glad of one to listen to what she said, and
while she talked she unfastened her coat and stretched her thin old
withered arms in the hot sun and felt the good heat in her bones, and
the children ran naked in the sunshine too. But the mother sat
silently on, twisting the spindle with a sure movement between her
thumb and the finger she wet on her tongue, and the thread came
out close spun and white, and when she had made a length of it she
wound it about a bit of bamboo polished smooth to make a spool.
She spun as she did all things, firmly and well, and the thread was
strong and hard.
Slowly the sun climbed to noon and she put her spinning down and
rose.
“He will be coming home soon and hungry for all his blue robe,” she
said dryly, and the old woman answered, cackling with her ready,
feeble laughter, “Oh, aye, what is on a man’s belly is not the same as
what is in it—”
The mother went then and dipped rice with a gourd from the basket
where they kept it stored, and she leveled the gourd with her other
hand so not a grain was spilled, and she poured the rice into a
basket made of finely split bamboo and went along the path to the
pond’s edge, and as she went she looked down the street. But she
saw no glimpse of new blue. She stepped carefully down the bank
and began to wash the rice, dipping the basket into the water and
scrubbing the grain with her brown strong hands, dipping it again
and again until the rice shone clean and white as wet pearls. On her
way back she stooped to pull a head of cabbage where it grew, and
threw a handful of grass to the water buffalo tethered under a tree,
and so she came again to the house. Now the elder boy came home
from the street leading his sister by the hand, and the mother asked
him quietly, “Saw you your father on the street or in the inn or at
anyone’s door?”
“He sat a while at the inn drinking tea this morning,” the boy replied,
wondering. “And I saw his robe, new and blue, and it was pretty and
our cousin when he knew how much it cost said it had cost my father
very dear.”
“Aye, it cost him dear, I swear!” said the mother, suddenly, her voice
hard.
And the girl piped up, echoing her brother, “Yes, his robe was blue—
even I could see that it was blue.”
But the mother said no more. The babe began to weep where he lay
sleeping in a winnowing basket and she went and picked him up and
opened her coat and held him to her breast, and she suckled him as
she went to cook the meal. But first she called to the old woman,
“Turn yourself where you sit, old mother, and watch and tell me if you
see the new blue of his robe, and I will put the meal on the table.”
“I will, then, daughter,” called the old dame cheerfully.
Yet when the rice was cooked and flaked, white and dry as the man
loved it, still he did not come. When the cabbage was tender and the
woman had even made a bit of sweet and sour sauce to pour upon
its heart, as he loved it, he did not come.
They waited a while and the old woman grew hungry and faint with
the smell of the food in her nostrils and she cried out, in a sudden
small anger, being so hungry, “Wait no more for that son of mine!
The water is leaking out of my mouth and my belly is as empty as a
drum and still he is not here!”
So the mother gave the old woman her bowl then and she fed the
children too and even let them eat of the cabbage, only she saved
the heart of it for him. She ate also after this, but sparingly for she
seemed less zestful in her hunger today, somehow, so there was still
much rice left and a good bowlful of the cabbage and this she put
carefully away where the wind would catch it and keep it fresh. It
would be as good at night as it was now if she heated it again. Then
she gave suck to the babe, and he drank his fill and slept, a round,
fat, sturdy child, sleeping in the strong sun and brown and red with
its heat, and the two children stretched in the shade of the willow
tree and slept and the old woman nodded on her bench, and over
the whole small hamlet the peace of sleep and the silence of the
heat of noonday fell, so that even the beasts stood with drooping,
drowsy heads.
Only the mother did not sleep. She took up her spindle and she sat
herself in the shade of the willow tree that cast its shadow on the
western part of the threshing-floor and she twisted the thread and
wound it. But after a while she could not work. Through the morning
she had worked steadily and smoothly, twisting and turning and
spinning, but now she could not be still. It was as though some
strange anxiety gathered like a power in her body. She had never
known the man not to come home for his food. She murmured to
herself, “It must be he has gone into the town to game or for
something or other.”
This she had not thought of, but the more she thought upon it the
more it seemed true that so he had done. And after a while her
cousin-neighbor came out to go to his fields and after a while his wife
awoke from where she had sat sleeping by a tree, and she called,
“Has your man gone for the day somewhere?”
The mother answered easily, “Aye, he has gone to the town on some
business of his own,” and the cousin searching slowly among his
hoes and spades for what he wanted called in his thin voice, “Aye, I
saw him gay in his new blue robe and set for town!”
“Aye,” said the woman.
Now her heart eased itself somewhat, and she fell to spinning again
with more zeal, since the cousin had seen him set for town. He had
gone for a day’s pleasure, doubtless, flinging himself off for the day
to revenge himself on her. It was what he would do with his new
gown and that brass ring of his scrubbed bright and clean and his
hair covered with oil. She nursed her anger somewhat at the
thought. But her anger was dead, and she could not make it live
again, because it was mingled with some strange anxiety still, for all
the cousin’s words.
The afternoon wore on long and hot. The old woman woke and cried
that her mouth was dry as bark and the mother rose and fetched her
tea to drink, and the children woke and rolled in the dust a while and
rose at last to play, and the babe woke and lay merry in his basket,
happy with his sleep.
Still the mother could not rest. If she could have slept she would
have, and on any common day she could have dropped easily into
sleep even as she worked, since she was so sound and robust that
sleep came on her deep and sweet and without her seeking it. But
there was some gnawing in her heart today that held her wide awake
and as though she listened for some sound that must come.
She rose at last impatient with her waiting and weary of the empty
street that was empty for her so long as she did not see the one she
sought, and she took up the babe and set him on her thigh and she
took her hoe and went to the field, and she called to the old woman,
“I go to weed the corn on the south hillside.” And as she went she
thought to herself that it would be easier if she were not at the
house, and the hours would pass more quickly if she pushed her
body to some hard labor.
So through the afternoon she worked in the corn field, her face
shielded from the sun’s heat with a blue cotton kerchief, and up and
down she moved her hoe unceasingly among the green young corn.
It was but a small, ragged field, for all of their land which could bear
it they put into rice, terracing even the hillsides as high as water
could be forced, because rice is a more dainty food than corn and
sells for higher price.
The sun poured down upon the shadeless hill and beat upon her and
soon her coat was wet and dark with her sweat. But she would not
rest at all except sometimes to suckle the babe when he cried, and
then she sat flat on the earth and suckled him and wiped her hot
face and stared across the brilliant summer land, seeing nothing.
When he was satisfied she put him down again to work once more
and she worked until her body ached and her mind was numb and
she thought of nothing now except of those weeds falling under the
point of her hoe and withering in the dry hot sunshine. At last the sun
rested on the edge of the land and the valley fell into sudden
shadow. Then she straightened herself and wiped her wet face with
her coat and she muttered aloud, “Surely he will be home waiting—I
must go to make his food.” And picking up the child from the bed of
soft earth where she had laid him she went home.
But he was not there. When she turned the corner of the house he
was not there. The old woman was peering anxiously toward the
field, and the two children sat upon the doorstep waiting and weary
and they cried out when they saw her and she said bewildered,
“Your father—is he not come yet?”
“He has not come and we are hungry,” cried the boy, and the girl
echoed in her broken, childish way, “Not come, and we are hungry!”
and sat with her eyes fast shut against the piercing last golden rays
of the sun. And the old mother rose and hobbled to the edge of the
threshing-floor and called out shrilly to the cousin coming home,
“Saw you my son anywhere?”
But the mother cried out in sudden impatience, “Let be, old mother!
Do not tell all he is not come!”
“Well, but he does not,” said the old woman, peering, troubled.
But the mother said no more. She fetched cold rice for the children
and heated a little water and poured it over the rice for the old
woman and found a morsel of some old food for the dog, and while
they ate she went down the street, the babe upon her arm, to the
wayside inn. There were but few guests there now, and only a
scattered one or two on his way home to some near village, for it
was the hour when men are in their homes and the day’s work done.
If he were there, she thought, he would be sitting at a table nearest
the street where he could hear and see whatever passed, or at a
table with a guest, for he would not be alone if he could help it, or if
there was a game going on, he would be in the middle of it. But
although she stared as she came there was no glint of a new blue
robe and no clatter of gambling upon a table. She went and looked
within the door then, but he was not there. Only the innkeeper stood
resting himself after the evening meal and he leaned against the wall
by his stove, his face black with the smoke and grease of many
days, for in such a blackish trade as his it seemed to him but little
use to wash himself, seeing he was black again so soon.
“Have you seen the father of my children?” the mother called.
But the innkeeper picked at his teeth with his black fingernail and
sucked and called back idly, “He sat here a while in that new blue
robe of his this morning and then he went townward for the day.” And
smelling some new gossip he cried afresh, “What—has aught
happened, goodwife?”
“Nothing—nothing—” replied the mother in haste. “He had business
in the town and it kept him late, I dare swear, and it may be he will
spend the night somewhere and come home tomorrow.”
“And what business?” asked the innkeeper suddenly curious.
“How can I know, being but a woman?” she answered and turned
away.
But on the way home while her lips called answer back to those who
called to her as she passed, she thought of something. When she
reached the house she went in and went to that cranny and felt in it.
It was empty. Well she knew there had been a precious small store
of copper coins there, and a small silver bit, too, because he had
sold the rice straw for a good price a day or two ago, being clever at
such things, and he brought a good part of the money back. She had
taken it from him and counted it and put it into the cranny and there it
should be. But it was not there.
Then she knew indeed that he was gone. It came over her in a daze
that he was truly gone. She sat down suddenly there in the earthen
house upon the earthen floor and holding the babe in her arms she
rocked herself back and forth slowly and in silence. Well, he was
gone! Here was she with the three children and the old woman, and
he gone!
The babe began to fret suddenly and without knowing what she did
she opened her bosom to him. The two children came in, the girl
whimpering and rubbing her eyes, and the old woman came in
leaning on her staff and saying over and over, “I do wonder where is
my son. Daughter, did my son say where he was? A very strange
thing where my son is gone—”
Then the mother rose and said, “He will be back tomorrow,
doubtless, old mother. Lie you down now and sleep. He will be back
tomorrow.”
The old mother listened and echoed, comforted, “Oh, aye, back
tomorrow doubtless,” and went to her pallet, feeling through the dim
room.
Then the mother led the two children into the dooryard and washed
them as her wont was on a summer’s night before they slept, and
she poured a gourdful of water over each of them, rubbing their
smooth brown flesh clean with her palm as she poured. But she did
not hear what they said, nor did she heed the girl’s moaning of her
eyes. Only when they went to the bed and the boy cried, astonished
that his father was not come, “And where does my father sleep,
then?”—only then did the mother answer out of her daze, “Doubtless
in the town, for he will come home tomorrow or in a day or so,” and
she added in sudden anger, “Doubtless when that bit of money is
gone he will be home again,” and she added again and most bitterly,
“And that new blue robe will be filthy and ready for me to wash
already, doubtless!”
And she was somehow glad she could be angry at him, and she held
her anger, clinging to it, because it made him seem more near, and
she clung to it while she led in the beast and barred the door against
the night and she muttered, “I dare swear I shall be just asleep when
he comes pounding at the door, even tonight!”
But in the dark night, in the still, hot night, in the silence of the closed
room, her anger went out of her and she was afraid. If he did not
come back what would she do, a lone woman and young?... The bed
was enormous, empty. She need take no care tonight, she might
spread her arms and legs out as she would. He was gone. Suddenly
there fell upon her the hottest longing for that man of hers. These six
years she had lain against him. Angry she might be with him in the
day, but at night she was near to him again and she forgot his idle
ways and his childishness. She remembered now how good and fair
he was to look upon, not coarse in the mouth and foul of breath as
most men are, but a very fair young man to see, and his teeth as
white as rice. So she lay longing for him, and all her anger was gone
out of her and only longing left.
When the morning came she rose weary with her sleeplessness, and
again she could be hard. When she rose and he did not come and
she had turned the beasts out and fed the children and the old
woman, she hardened herself and over and over she muttered half
aloud, “He will come when his money is gone—very well I know he
will come then!”
When the boy stared at the emptiness of the bed and when he asked
astonished, “Where is my father still?” she replied sharply and in a
sudden loud voice, “I say he is away a day or two, and if any asks
you on the street you are to say he is away a day or so.”
Nevertheless on that day when the children were off to play here and
there she did not go to the fields. No, she set her stool so that she
could see through the short single street of the hamlet if any came
that way, and while she made answer somehow to the old mother’s
prattling she thought to herself that the blue robe was so clear a blue
she could see it a long way off and she set herself to spinning, and
with every twist she gave to the spindle she looked secretly down the
road. And she counted over in her mind the money he had taken and
how many days it might last, and it seemed to her it could not last
more than six or seven days, except he had those nimble lucky
fingers of his to game with and so he might make more and stay a
little longer, too, before he must come back. Times there were as the
morning wore on when she thought she could not bear the old
mother’s prattling voice any more, but she bore it still for the hope of
seeing the man come home perhaps.
When the children wandered home at noon hungry and the boy
spied the cabbage bowl set aside for his father and asked for some,
she would not let him have it. She cuffed him soundly when he
asked again and she answered loudly, “No, it is for your father. If he
comes home tonight he will be hungry and want it all for himself.”
The long still summer’s afternoon wore on, and he did not come, and
the sun set in its old way, heavy and full of golden light, and the
valley was filled with the light for a little while, and the night came
and it was deep and dark and now she refused no more. She set the
bowl before the children and she said, “Eat what you will, for it will
spoil if it is left until another day, and who knows—” and she dipped
up some of the sweet and sour sauce and gave it to the old woman
saying, “Eat it, and I will make fresh if he comes tomorrow.”
“Will he come tomorrow then?” the old woman asked, and the
mother answered sombrely, “Aye, tomorrow perhaps.”
That night she laid herself down most sorrowful and afraid upon her
bed and this night she said openly to her own heart that none knew if
he would ever come back again.

Nevertheless, there was the hope of the seven days when his money
might be gone. One by one the seven days came, and in each one it
seemed to her in the midst of her waiting as though the day was
come for his return. She had never been a woman to gad about the
little hamlet or chatter overmuch with the other women there. But
now one after another of these twenty or so came by to see and ask,
and they asked where her man was, and they cried, “We are all one
house in this hamlet and all somehow related to him and kin,” and at
last in her pride the mother made a tale of her own and she
answered boldly, from a sudden thought in her head, “He has a
friend in a far city, and the friend said there was a place there he
could work and the wage is good so that we need not wear
ourselves upon the land. If the work is not suited to him he will come
home soon, but if it be such work as he thinks fit to him, he will not
come home until his master gives him holiday.”
This she said as calmly as she ever spoke a truth, and the old
woman was astounded and she cried, “And why did you not tell me
so good a lucky thing, seeing I am his mother?”
And the mother made a further tale and she answered, “He told me
not to speak, old mother, because he said your tongue was as loose
in your mouth as any pebble and all the street would know more than
he did, and if he did not like it he would not have them know it.”
“Did he so, then!” cackled the old mother, leaning forward on her
staff to peer at her daughter’s face, her old empty jaws hanging, and
she said half hurt, “It is true I ever was a good talker, daughter, but
not so loose as any pebble!”
Again and again the mother told the tale and once told she added to
it now and then to make it seem more perfect in its truth.
Now there was one woman who came often past her house, a widow
woman who lived in an elder brother’s house, and she had not
overmuch to do, being widowed and childless, and she sat all day
making little silken flowers upon a shoe she made for herself, and
she could ponder long on any little curious thing she heard. So she
pondered on this strange thing of a man gone, and one day she
thought of something and she ran down the street as fast as she
could on her little feet and she cried shrewdly to the mother, “But
there has no letter come a long time to this hamlet and I have not
heard of any letter coming to that man of yours!”
She went secretly to the only man who knew how to read in the
hamlet, and he wrote such few letters as any needed to have written
and read such as came for any, and so added a little to his
livelihood. This man the widow asked secretly, “Did any letter come
for Li The First, who was son to Li The Third in the last generation?”
And when the man said no, the gossip cried out, “But there was a
letter, or so his wife says, and but a few days ago.”
Then the man grew jealous lest they had taken the letter to some
other village writer and he denied again and again, and he said,
“Very well I know there was no letter, nor any answering letter, nor
has anyone come to me to read or write or to buy a stamp to put on
any letter and I am the only one who has such stamps. And there
has not come so much as a letter carrier this way for twenty days or
more.”
Then the widow smelled some strange thing and she told
everywhere, whispering that the wife of Li The First lied and there
had been no letter and doubtless the husband had run away and left
his wife. Had there not been a great quarrel over the new robe, so
that the whole hamlet heard them cursing each other, and the man
had pushed her down and struck her even? Or so the children said.
But when the talk leaked through to the mother she answered stoutly
that what she said was true and that she had made the new blue
robe on purpose for the man to go to the far town, and that the
quarrel was for another thing. As for the letter, there was no letter but
the news had come by word of mouth from a traveling pedlar who
had come in from the coast.
Thus did the mother lie steadfastly and well, and the old woman
believed the tale heartily and cried out often of her son and how rich
he would be, and the mother kept her face calm and smooth and she
did not weep as women do when their men run away and shame
them. At last the tale seemed true to all, and even the gossip was
silenced somewhat and could only mutter darkly over her silken
flowers, “We will see—as time comes, we will see if there is money
sent or any letter written, or if he comes home ever and again.”
So the little stir in the hamlet died down and the minds of people
turned to other things and they forgot the mother and her tale.

Then did the mother set herself steadfastly to her life. The seven
days were long past and the man did not come and the rice ripened
through the days and hung heavy and yellow and ready for the
harvest and he did not come. The woman reaped it alone then
except for two days when the cousin came and helped her when his
own rice was cut and bound in sheaves. She was glad of his help
and yet she feared him too, for he was a man of few words, honest
and few, and his questions were simple and hard not to answer
truthfully. But he worked silently and asked her nothing and he said
nothing except the few necessary words he must until he went away,
and then he said, “If he is not come when the time is here to divide
the grain with the landlord, I will help you then, for the new agent is a
wily, clever man, and of a sort ill for a woman to do with alone.”
She thanked him quietly, glad of his help, for she knew the agent but
a little, since he was new in the last years to those parts, and a
townsman who had a false heartiness in all he did and said.
So day had passed into month, and day after day the woman had
risen before the dawn and she left the children and the old woman
sleeping, and she set their food ready for them to eat when they
woke, and taking the babe with her in one arm and in her other hand
the short curved sickle she must use in reaping she set out to the
fields. The babe was large now and he could sit alone and she set
him down upon the earth and let him play as he would, and he filled
his hands with earth and put it to his mouth and ate of it and spat it
out hating it and yet he forgot and ate of it again until he was
covered with the muddy spew. But whatever he did the mother could
not heed him. She must work for two and work she did, and if the
child cried he must cry until she was weary and could sit down to
rest and then she could put her breast to his earthy mouth and let
him drink and she was too weary to care for the stains he left upon
her.
Handful by handful she reaped the stiff yellow grain, bending to
every handful, and she heaped it into sheaves. When gleaners came
to her field to glean what she might drop, as beggars and gleaners
do at harvest time, she turned on them, her face dark with sweat and
earth, and drawn with the bitterness of labor, and she screamed
curses at them, and she cried, “Will you glean from a lone woman
who has no man to help her? I am poorer than you, you beggars,
and you cursed thieves!” And she cursed them so heartily and she
so cursed the mothers that bore them and the sons they had
themselves that at last they let her fields be, because they were
afraid of such powerful cursing.
Then sheaf by sheaf she carried the rice to the threshing-floor and
there she threshed it, yoking the buffalo to the rude stone roller they
had, and she drove the beast all through the hot still days of autumn,
and she drove herself, too. When the grain was threshed, she
gathered the empty straw and heaped it and tossed the grain up and
winnowed it in the winds that came sometimes.
Now she pressed the boy into labor too and if he lagged or longed to
play she cuffed him out of her sheer weariness and the despair of
her driven body. But she could not make the ricks. She could not
heap the sheaves into the ricks, for this the man had always done,
since it was a labor he hated less than some, and he did it always
neatly and well and plastered the tops smooth with mud. So she
asked the cousin to teach her this one year and she could do it
thenceforth with the boy if the man stayed longer than a year, and
the cousin came and showed her how and she bent her body to the
task and stretched and threw the grass to him as he sat on top of the
rick and spread it, and so the rice was harvested.
She was bone-thin now with her labor and with being too often
weary, and every ounce of flesh was gone from her, and her skin
was burnt a dark brown except the red of cheeks and lips. Only the
milk stayed in her breasts rich and full. Some women there are
whose food goes all to their own fat and none to child or food for
child, but this woman was made for children, and her motherhood
would rob her own body ruthlessly if there was any need for child.
Then came the day set for measuring out the landlord’s share of all
the harvest. Now this landlord of the hamlet and the fields about it
never came himself to fetch his share. He lived an idle rich man in
some far city or other, since the land was his from his fathers, and he
sent in his place his agent, and this year it was a new agent, for his
old agent had left him the last year, being rich enough after twenty
years to cease his labors. This new agent came now and he came to
every farmer in that hamlet, and the mother waited at her own door,
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