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THE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
June, 1941
Junior King's Business By MARTHA S. HOOKER Member of Faculty , Bible Institute of Los Angeles
stand what he said. But Tino’s face brightened as he said, “I think I know what he wants,” and he disappeared behind the little hut. Soon he came back with Uncle Eusebio, who could speak some Spanish as well as Mazateco. “ Hello,” said Uhcle Eusebio. '“Hello,” said the Mexican driver. “ I have with me two American ladies who would like to find a hut in which to live.” .... ' “W hy'do they want to live here?” asked Uncle Eusebio- “They have a good Book with them. They want to live here and learn to speak your language so that they can tell you what is in the Book,” explained the' driver. “Will they harm y s?” asked Uncle Eusebio. “No,” assured the Mexican, "they .are good women. They want to be your friends.” . During the conversation Tino and his aunts, had thoroughly examined the lady missionaries who were still sitting on their burros. One was quite short, and had blue eyes and very blonde hair. The other was tall, and slender, and her hair was brown. Tino had never seen people like these before, but he was sure thaft such kind-looking ladies must have something good to tell him. Aunt Camila and Uncle Eusebio trusted them, too, for they offered their very own home to the missionaries. They them selves would move to another hut not far away. The moving in of the two “people from the other side” caused a great deal of excitement in the little Maza teco village, especially among the chil dren. Rows of little black, beady Indian eyes peered into Tino’s old home which
TINO
B y E thel B OOM! Boom! C r - r - r - a - a - s h ! ” What a loud peal of thunder! And see that jagged lightning, striking so near the little village of thatched huts! Tino’s bright black eyes were large and shining with excitement now. He knew that the Thunder-god was angry, and that he must hurry home before this angry one’s big hand broke through the black clouds just above his head and struck him to the ground. “Run fast, Tino!” Aunt Maria called frantically as Tino leaped like_ a little brown deer over the mounds of newly plowed earth and dashed through the open door of the hut. Aunt •Maria quickly scooped up a daub of coarse com dough which she was mixing for supper and slapped it on Tino’s fore head, forming it into the shape of a cross. She worked nervously, for she must finish it before the Thunder-god struck their home. “Is there no Being greater or kinder than the growling thunder which shakes our little hut?” thought Tino as he peered through a crack of the adobe into the blackness of the stormy sky,
W allis
earth to die on a cro ss for their sins. One day soon after the thunderstorm, Tino happened to look up from his play in time to see several burros with heavy loads coming down the mountain trail into his village. “Aunt Maria! Aunt Camila! Who is that coming into our village?” called Tino as his aunts came running to see the unusual sight. Yes, there were sev eral burros loaded with all sorts of queer-shaped bundles. At the head of the procession rode a dark-skinned man, evidently a Mexican. “But who are the other two people on burros?” asked Tino as the burro caravan eame near enough for him to see that there were also two women whose hair and faces were far too light- colored for natives. “They aYe ‘people from the other side,’ ” said Aunt Maria; staring Cu riously at the foreigners. In a few minutes the travelers stopped in front of Tino’s home. "Can any one of you speak Spanish ?” greeted the Mexican who rode ahead of the others. Maria and Camila looked helpless, because they could not under-
was being filled with m a n y curious, for eign bundles. “How long will it be before the strange ladies can t a l k to us ?” T i n o a s k e d Aunt Camila one day. “It will be several moons,”-she answered thoughtfully, “t o r you see, we must help them to learn words and s o u n d s which they have nev-. er heard before. We have no good Book in our language as they have in theirs.” And Aunt Camila and Aunt Maria, as well as Tino and all his playmates, d id help the new mis sionaries, whom they soon learned to love. Gradually the name “people f r o m t h e o t h e r side” was
which was as dark and gloomy as his little heart. Tino belongs to a tribe of I n d i a n s c a l l e d Mazatecos who live in a little village tucked away in the mountains of s o u t h e r n Mexico, where little news of the o u t s i d e world ever trickles through. Tino and his aunts and uncle who have a d o p t e d him live much as did the an cient A z t e c s who lived there long be fore the Spanish con quered Mexico. Until five years ago they did not know that God has spoken to men in a Book which we call the Bible. They had never heard of His Son Jesus Christ, who came to
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