Level: Intermediate
THEY almost finished with the loading. Outside the
ship stood a local called Optus, a hunter,
with a sad face. Captain Franco walked slowly down the ramp, smiling.
"What's the matter?" he said. "You're getting
paid for all this."
Optus said nothing. He moved away. The Captain stopped Optus
"Just a minute. Don't go off. I'm not finished."
"Oh?" Optus said. "I am going back to the
village." He looked at the animals and birds being led up the ramp into
the spaceship. "I must organize
new hunts."
Franco lit a
cigarette. "Why not? You can go into the forest and get animals again. But
when we have no more animals to eat halfway between Mars and Earth—"
Optus went away, wordless. Franco joined the second in command at the bottom of the
ramp.
"How's it coming?" he said. He looked at his watch.
"We got a good deal here."
The mate looked at him sharply. "How do you explain
that?"
"What's the matter with you? We need it more than they
do."
"I'll see you later, Captain." The mate his way up the ramp, between the long-legged Martian birds, into the ship. Franco
watched him go. He was just starting up after him, up the ramp toward the port,
when he saw it.
"My God!" He stood staring. Peterson was walking on
the path, his face red, leading it by a rope.
"I'm sorry, Captain," he said, pulling at the rope.
Franco walked toward him.
"What is it?"
The wub stood. It
had a big, fat body. It was sitting down, its eyes half closed. A few flies
flew around it, and it used its tail to keep them away.
It sat. There was silence.
"It's a wub," Peterson said. "I got it from a
local for fifty cents. He said it was a very unusual animal. Very
respected."
"This?" Franco pressed
his finger into the great fat
side of the wub. "It's a pig! A big dirty pig!"
"Yes sir, it's a pig. The locals call it a wub."
"A huge pig. It must weigh
four hundred pounds." Franco
grabbed some of the rough hair. The wub made a sound. Its eyes opened, small and wet.
Then its great mouth moved quickly.
A tear fell down
the wub's cheek and hit the floor.
"Maybe it's good to eat," Peterson said nervously.
"We'll soon see," Franco said.
THE wub seem to be fine after the ship left the planet. It was
asleep in the cargo room of the
ship. When they were out in space and everything was running smoothly, Captain
Franco told his men to fetch the wub
so that he might understand what type of animal it was.
The wub moved with difficulty, and went slowly through the
halls of the ship.
"Come on," Jones said, pulling at the rope. The wub turned,
and moved against the walls. It went into the room, falling down. The men
jumped up.
"My God," French said. "What is it?"
"Peterson says it's a wub," Jones said. "It belongs to him." He kicked at the
wub. The wub stood up breathing heavily.
"What's the matter with it?" French came over.
"Is it going to be sick?"
They watched. The wub moved its eyes sadly. It looked around
at the men.
"I think it's thirsty," Peterson said. He went to
get some water. French shook his head.
Peterson came back with the water. The wub began to drink
gratefully.
Captain Franco appeared at the door.
"Let's look at
it." He moved forward, looking carefully. "You got this for fifty
cents?"
"Yes, sir," Peterson said. "It eats almost
anything. I fed it on grain and it liked that. And then
potatoes, and piece of food from the table, and milk. It seems to enjoy eating.
After it eats it lies down and goes to sleep."
"I see," Captain Franco said. "Now, as to its
taste. That's the real question. I doubt if there's much point in fattening it
up any more. It seems fat enough to me already. Where's the cook? I want him
here. I want to find out—"
The wub stopped drinking and looked up at the Captain.
"Really, Captain," the wub said. "I suggest we
talk of other matters."
The room was silent.
"What was that?" Franco said. "Just now."
"The wub, sir," Peterson said. "It spoke."
They all looked at the wub.
"What did it say? What did it say?"
"It suggested we talk about other things."
Franco walked toward the wub. He went all around it, examining it from every side. Then he
came back over and stood with the men.
"I wonder if there's a local inside it," he said thoughtfully. "Maybe we should
open it up and have a look."
"Oh, goodness!" the wub cried. "Is that all you
people can think of, killing and cutting?"
Franco closed his hands tightly. "Come out of there!
Whoever you are, come out!"
Nothing moved. The men stood together, their faces blank,
looking at the wub. The wub moved its tail.
"Excuse me," the wub said.
"I don't think there's anyone in there," Jones said
in a low voice. They all looked at each other.
The cook came in.
"You wanted me, Captain?" he said. "What's this
thing?"
"This is a wub," Franco said. "It's to be
eaten. Will you measure it and
figure out—"
"I think we should have a talk," the wub said.
"I'd like to discuss this with you, Captain, if I might. I can see that
you and I do not agree on some basic issues."
The Captain took a long time to answer. The wub waited good-naturedly.
"Come into my office," the Captain said at last. He turned
and walked out of the room. The wub rose and went slowly after him. The men
watched it go out. They heard it climbing
the stairs.
"I wonder what the outcome
will be," the cook said. "Well, I'll be in the kitchen. Let me know
as soon as you hear."
"Sure," Jones said. "Sure."
THE wub walked down the hall slowly. "You must forgive me," it said. "I'm
afraid I love various forms of relaxation
too much. When one is as large as I—"
The Captain sat down at his desk and looked serious.
"All right," he said. "Let's get started. You're
a wub? Is that correct?"
"I guess so.
That's what they call us, the locals, I mean. We have our own name."
"And you speak English? You've been in contact with
humans before?"
"No."
"Then how do you do it?"
"Speak English? Am I speaking English? I'm not aware of speaking anything especially.
I examined your mind—"
"My mind?"
"I studied the contents, especially the parts that hold
words—"
"I see," the Captain said. "You read minds. Of course."
"We are a very old race," the wub said. "Very
old and very slow. It is difficult
for us to move around. You can appreciate
that anything so slow and heavy would be able to be attacked by other forms of
life. There was no use in our relying
on physical defenses. How could we win? Too heavy to run, too soft to fight, too
to hunt—"
"How do you live?"
"Plants. Vegetables. We can eat almost anything. We can
very open. Tolerant, open. We live and
let live. That's how we've survived."
The wub looked at the Captain.
"And that's why I so seriously disagree to this business
about having me eaten. I could see the image in your mind—most of me in the
freezer, some of me in the refrigerator, a bit for your cat—"
"So you read minds?" the Captain said. "How
interesting. Anything else? I mean, what else can you do?"
"A few other things," the wub said, staring around
the room. "A nice room you have here, Captain. You keep it quite neat. I respect life that are tidy.
Some Martian birds are quite tidy.
"Indeed."
The Captain nodded. "But to get back to the problem—"
"Yes. You spoke of eating on me. The taste, I am told, is
good. A little fatty, but soft. But how can any strong contact be made between
your people and mine if you have such barbaric
views? Eat me? Instead you should discuss questions with me, philosophy, the arts—"
The Captain stood up. "Philosophy. It might interest you
to know that it will be hard to find something to eat for the next month. We
lost some of the food--"
"I know." The wub nodded. "But wouldn't it agree
more with your ideas of democracy if we all voted, or something like that? After all, democracy is to protect
the minority. Now, if each of us has
one vote—"
The Captain walked to the door.
"No
way,"
he said. He opened the door. He opened his mouth.
He stood frozen, his mouth open, his eyes staring, his fingers
still on the door.
The wub watched him, and then walked out of the room, moving
past the Captain. It went down the hall, deep in thought.
THE room was quiet.
"So you see," the wub said, "we have a common
myth. Your mind has many of the same myth symbols. Ishtar, Odysseus—"
Peterson sat silently, staring at the floor. He moved in his
chair.
"go on,"
he said. "Please continue."
"Your Odysseus hero is common to the mythology of most advanced races. As I understand it,
Odysseus travels as an individual, aware
of himself. This is the idea of separation,
of separation from family and country. In this process he becomes an individual."
"But Odysseus returns to his home." Peterson staring
out the window, at the stars, endless stars, shining in the empty universe. "Finally he goes
home."
"As must all people. The moment of separation is temporary, a short journey. It begins, it ends. The hero returns to his people and
country...."
The door opened. The wub stopped, and turned its great head.
Captain Franco came into the room, the men behind him. They
waited at the door.
"Are you all right?" French said.
"Do you mean me?" Peterson said, surprised.
"Why me?"
Franco lowered his gun. "Come over here," he said to
Peterson. "Get up and come here."
There was silence.
"Go ahead," the wub said. "It doesn't
matter."
Peterson stood up. "What for?"
"It's an order."
Peterson walked to the door. French took his arm.
"What's going on?" Peterson moved away. "What's
the matter with you?"
Captain Franco moved toward the wub. The wub looked up from
where it lay in the corner against the wall.
"It is interesting," the wub said, "that you
are thinking so much about the idea of eating me. I wonder why."
"Get up," Franco said.
"If you want." The wub rose. "Be patient. It is
difficult for me." It stood, breathing heavily, its tongue going out of
its mouth.
"Shoot it
now," French said.
"For God's sake!"
Peterson exclaimed. Jones turned to him quickly, his eyes full of fear.
"You didn't see him—the like a statue, standing there,
his mouth open. If we didn’t come down, he would still be there."
"Who? The Captain?" Peterson looked at the Captain.
"But he's all right now."
They stared at the
wub, standing in the middle of the room. "Come on," Franco said.
" move away."
The men move toward the door.
"You are very afraid, aren't you?" the wub said.
"Have I done anything to you? I am against the idea of hurting. All I have
done is try defend myself. Can you expect me to run happily to my death? I am sensible like yourselves. I was curious to see your ship, learn about you.
I suggested to the local—"
The gun moved suddenly.
"See," Franco said. "I thought so."
The wub sat down, it seemed tired. It put its legs out, and
put its tail around them.
"It is very warm," the wub said. "I understand
that we are close to the engine. Atomic
power. You have done many wonderful things with it—technically. But, your science is still not able to solve
moral, ethical problems"
Franco turned to the men, behind him, with big open eyes,
silent.
"I'll do it. You can watch."
French nodded. "Try to hit the brain. It's no good for
eating. Don't hit the chest. If it breaks, we'll have to pick bones out."
"Listen," Peterson said. "Has it done anything?
What harm has it done? I'm asking you. And anyhow, it's still mine. You have no
right to shoot it. It doesn't belong to you."
Franco raised his gun.
"I'm going out," Jones said, his face white and sick.
"I don't want to see it."
"Me, too," French said. The men went out. Peterson
stopped at the door.
"It was talking to me about myths," he said.
"It wouldn't hurt anyone."
He went outside.
Franco walked toward the wub. The wub looked up slowly.
"A very foolish thing," it said. "I am sorry
that you want to do it. There was a story
that your Christ related—"
It stopped, staring at the gun.
"Can you look me in the eye and do it?" the wub
said. "Can you do that?"
The Captain looked down. "I can look you in the
eye," he said. "Back on the farm we had pigs, dirty pigs. I can do
it."
Staring down at the wub, into the bright, wet eyes, he shot
the gun.
THE taste was excellent.
They sat unhappily around the table, some of them hardly
eating at all. The only one who seemed to be enjoying himself was Captain
Franco.
"More?" he said, looking around. "More? And
some wine, perhaps."
"Not me," French said. "I think I'll go back to
the other room."
"Me, too." Jones stood up, pushing his chair back.
"I'll see you later."
The Captain watched them go. Some of the others excused themselves.
"What’s the matter?" the Captain said. He turned to
Peterson. Peterson sat staring down at his plate, at the potatoes, the green
peas, and at the thick piece of soft, warm meat.
He opened his mouth. No sound came.
The Captain put his hand on Peterson's shoulder.
"It is only organic
matter, now," he said. "The life is gone." He ate some with bread.
"I, myself, love to eat. It is one of the greatest things that a living
creature can enjoy. Eating, resting, thinking, discussing things."
Peterson nodded. Two more men got up and went out. The Captain
drank some water.
"Well," he said. "I must say that this was a
very enjoyable meal. All the reports I had heard were quite true—the taste of
wub. Very fine. But I was stopped from enjoying this pleasure earlier."
He put his napkin to his lips and sat back in his chair. Peterson
stared sadly at the table.
The Captain watched him closely. He moved nearer to him.
"Don’t worry," he said. "Cheer up! Let's discuss things."
He smiled.
"As I was saying before I was interrupted, the role of Odysseus in the myths—"
Peterson looked up suddenly, and stared at the Captain with
surprise.
"To go on," the Captain said. "Odysseus, as I
understand him—"
Vocabulary: To help learners fully understand the audio
and transcript, most vocabulary that might be unknown for this lesson’s level
is provided. Vocab in bold
is more useful for learners at the lesson’s target level. Try to choose 8
to 10 new words to learn from the story (in general, it’s best to try to learn
no more than 8-10 new words a day).
Definitions
are written with the help of various sources including Merriam-Webster’s Learner’s Dictionary
Wub: A word that the author created for the alien animal in
the story. See picture here.
Loading: The
process of lifting and carrying something.
Outside: The area
or place not inside a building or other object.
Hunter: A person
who finds and kills (wild animals) for food or pleasure.
Ramp: An object
that goes from lower to higher height to make it easier to walk to a higher
level.
Spaceship:
Transport
that is used for travel in space.
Lit: Past
tense and past participle of “to light”.
Command: the power
that someone (such as a military officer) has to control a group of people.
Second in command: someone who is ranked second in a group or
organization.
Martian: an imaginary creature in books, movies, etc., that
lives on or comes from the planet Mars.
To press:
to
push (something) with strong or steady force.
To weigh:
to
find how heavy (someone or something) is : to measure the weight of (someone or
something).
Pound: a unit of
weight that is equal to 16 ounces or 0.4536 kilograms.
Rough:
having
a surface that is not even.
Cargo: something
that is carried from one place to another by boat, airplane, etc.
To fetch:
to
go after and bring back (someone or something).
Belong: to be the
property of (someone) : to be owned by (someone).
Fed: (past
tense); to give food to (someone or something).
Grain: the seeds
of plants (such as wheat, corn, and rice) that are used for food.
To examine:
to
look at (something) closely and carefully in order to learn more about it, to
find problems, etc.
Thoughtful:
serious
and quiet because you are thinking.
To measure:
to
find out the size, length, or amount of (something).
To climb:
to
move or go up (something) using your feet and often your hands.
Outcome: something
that happens as a result of an activity or process : result.
To forgive:
to
stop feeling anger toward (someone who has done something wrong) : to stop
blaming (someone).
To guess: to form
an opinion or give an answer about something when you do not know much or
anything about it.
Aware: knowing
that something (such as a situation, condition, or problem) exists.
To read
minds: To be able to know another person's thoughts without being
told what they are.
To appreciate:
to
be aware of (something) : to recognize or understand (something).
To rely
(on): to need (someone or something) for support, help, etc. : to
depend on (someone or something).
To
survive: to remain alive : to continue to live.
Indeed: without
any question — used to stress the truth of a statement.
Barbaric:
Uncivilized;
rude, cruel, and violent.
Philosophy:
the
study of ideas about knowledge, truth, the nature and meaning of life, etc.
To vote: to make
an official choice for or against someone or something by casting a ballot,
raising your hand, speaking your choice aloud, etc.
Minority:
a
number or amount that is less than half of a total.
No way: used to
say that you will definitely not do something.
Ishtar and Odysseus: Ishtar was a god in the ancient religions
of what is now the area in and around Iraq. Odysseus was a hero in ancient
Greek mythology.
To go on:
to
continue.
Advanced:
far
along in a course of progress or development.
Individual:
a
single person : a person who is considered separate from the rest of a group.
Separation:
the
act of separating people or things or the state of being separated.
Universe:
all
of space and everything in it including stars, planets, galaxies, etc.
Journey: an act of
traveling from one place to another : trip.
Order: a
statement made by a person with authority that tells someone to do something :
an instruction or direction that must be obeyed.
To wonder:
to
have interest in knowing or learning something : to think about something with
curiosity.
To shoot:
to
cause a bullet, arrow, etc., to move forward with great force from a weapon.
For god's sake: used in phrases with for to
express anger, annoyance, surprise, etc.
To stare:
to
look at someone or something for a long time often with your eyes wide open.
Sensible:
having
or showing good sense or judgment : reasonable.
Curious: having a
desire to learn or know more about something or someone.
Atomic power: the energy that is produced when atoms are
split apart.
Christ: the man who Christians believe is the son of God
and whose life, death, and resurrection as reported in the New Testament of the
Bible are the basis of the Christian religion.
Science: knowledge
about or study of the natural world based on facts learned through experiments
and observation.
To excuse:
to
say that (someone) is not required to do something.
Organic matter: Physical
material from living things.
To cheer
up: to
become happier or to make (someone) happier.
To interrupt:
to
ask questions or say things while another person is speaking : to do or say
something that causes someone to stop speaking.
Discussion
questions:
1. What happened to the wub at the end of the story?
2. What does this story try to say about humans and human
society?
3. How do you think humans would react to meeting life from
another planet?
4. Do you think what the wub did at the end of the story was right?
