copyright 2003 by Linda "Sweetwind" Tam
Contents:Last issue's article about dreamberries was missing an important reference: the story "Phantom of the Berry Patch," (in Blood of Ten Chiefs #2, reprinted in the Reader's Collection Book 9b: Blood of Ten Chiefs). This is the legendary story from Mantricker's time about how Bearclaw sat by a single dreamberry bush through a full change of the Mother Moon, waiting to catch the thief that was "stealing" the dreamberries. The story tells us that birds, bears and foxes will eat the berries. The prose version of the story, in the short story collection Winds of Change, gives further details about the bushes' distribution in the forest and how to harvest them. Here is a particularly pertinent quote:
The dreamberry bush was a solitary plant, growing where it would; they were scattered far and wide throughout the Holt. The berries, too, appeared and ripened at different times on different bushes, so there was no way to predict when the fruits would be ready. The only way to harvest dreamberries -- if harvesting it could be called -- was to patiently and painstakingly go from bush to bush, checking each day, taking those few berries that were ripe, and leaving the rest for another time.
The story takes place over two months in late spring, but it's unclear whether there is a berry season, or if the "different times" mentioned in the quoted passage can mean any time at all.
Another thing I missed in the original article was any consideration of the aftereffects of dreamberries. Everyone is familiar with the concept of a hangover from drinking too much alcohol (by reputation if not by direct experience!). A number of other drugs also have a day-after effect. For example, MDMA (ecstasy) is noted for leaving users feeling run down and tired out the following day. Do dreamberries impose any ill effects on their users? There is only one time in the comics that this topic has come up. In Kings of the Broken Wheel #4 (reprinted in RC Book 7: The Cry From Beyond), just before the Palace appears in Sorrow's End, Shenshen is shown awakening. She doesn't look too good, and she moans, "I'll never forgive the Wolfriders for planting those dreamberries here!" The Sun Folk use alcohol (the Journey to Sorrow's End novel describes how they brew cider from the juice of the squatneedle cactus), so it's possible this could just be an alcohol hangover; but she specifically blames dreamberries, so perhaps we should take her at her word.
That's all for this time -- I apologize that I didn't finish "The Intoxicants of Abode, Part 2" in time for this issue, but I'll finish it eventually! Meanwhile, shade and sweet water to you all and a happy New Year.
© 2004
linda_tam@alumni.hmc.edu
Initially posted on December 12, 2004
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