The Adventures of God in His Search for the Black Girl Read Online Free Page A

greater quantities.’
    ‘Blood doesn’t last’, Alexis said.
    ‘No, but the women do,’ Corydon replied. ‘You only have to wait till next month.’
    Strephon came suddenly round the side of the pagoda, still giggling but now panting as well, the disputed yellow leaf flapping on his head, his pursuers giggling and panting close after him.
    Alexis and Corydon moved quickly out of the way, Alexis clenching his fist tight round his find.
    Strephon stumbled on a blue pineapple, and Chloe, his nearest pursuer, took the opportunity to launch herself at him. They both fell flat on the grass, setting blue pineapples rolling all over the glade, and the other pursuers, unable to stop short, tumbled on top of them.
    Afraid that he had hurt Alexis’s feelings by making too little of his discovery, Corydon strode over to the pile of people,burrowed inside it and came up bearing Strephon’s hat. ‘This is wasted both as a plate and as a hat,’ he said. The pile of people sorted themselves upright, while Corydon went on: ‘Alexis has found something as beautiful as blood, but hard. However, it’s very tiny and might easily get lost. So we’d better fashion this leaf into a bag to hold it.’
    Instead of being pleased, Alexis advanced on Corydon, snatched the large leaf and threw it down, meanwhile whispering fiercely: ‘I didn’t give you permission to tell the others.’
    He pushed past Corydon, waved off the others, who were asking to see the object he had discovered, and made for the pagoda. There he turned to face the group, but he kept one hand on the pagoda wall as if alert to dodge behind it and run. His other hand still made a tight fist.
    The group looked at him uncertainly. Then Amaryllis retrieved one of the blue pineapples and split it open, handing round the pieces. Thirsty after so much running, giggling and uneasiness, everyone sucked the blue juice gratefully.
    ‘Don’t you want yours, Alexis?’ Amaryllis called. ‘It’s very cooling.’
    ‘No’, Alexis said.
    ‘Why won’t you shew us this tiny rock that’s like blood?’
    ‘There’s no such thing,’ Alexis said. ‘It’s just Corydon’s teasing .’
    ‘Liar,’ Corydon called, flinging aside his piece of pineapple and running towards Alexis.
    When he reached the pagoda, he snatched out of its structure a branch which Corinna had not yet completely woven in. With it, he hit Alexis as hard as he could.
    Alexis fell down.
    After a moment, as he lay on the ground, a few of the small, blood-coloured rocks issued from Alexis’s mouth.
    ‘Look, everybody,’ Corydon called. ‘I wasn’t teasing. Red rocks are coming out of his mouth. He must have eaten some of them. Perhaps they’re a sort of berry.’
    Everyone ran forward to look.
    ‘How beautiful,’ Chloe said, and stooped to touch the little red objects on the ground. ‘But they’re not hard,’ she added, standing up again quickly. ‘They’re liquid.’
    ‘They must be blood,’ Strephon said.
    A stream of it now came out from Alexis’s mouth.
    ‘Only women can provide blood,’ Corydon said.
    ‘But they don’t have to lie still on the ground in order to do it,’ said Corinna. ‘Get up, Alexis.’
    Alexis didn’t.
    Corydon knelt beside him for a moment and took something out of his still-clenched fist.
    ‘Why doesn’t he move?’ Amaryllis demanded. ‘What have you done, Corydon?’
    ‘I’ve proved that men contain blood, just as women do,’ Corydon said defiantly. ‘It’s a great discovery. We were all living in abysmal ignorance.’
    But no one congratulated him.
    He began to edge his way through the group until he reached the entrance to the pagoda, when he dodged unexpectedly inside and slammed the door.
    ‘Let us in, Corydon,’ they cried, hammering.
    But he pushed all his weight against them and, thanks to the sound principles and craft Corinna had employed in designing the door and its surround, they couldn’t break in.
    ‘Go away,’ Corydon shouted from