Chapter 23 Summary

Many things occupy Nhamo's mind: finding food, building her shelter, making a boat, and planting a garden. It's as if she plans to live on this island forever. First she must gather some immediate food supplies, so she finds wild vegetables and berries. She eats roasted grasshoppers. Once she is fed, she sets up traps to catch small birds, baskets to catch fish. Next she works on her platform shelter in the lucky-bean trees. It is much more comfortable than the cold, damp floor of the cave.

She begins making rope for a ladder up to the platform. While she does, she tells her mother's picture a story. It is about a young woman whose parents are very picky about choosing a husband for her. They tell her not to talk to any suitors. One day a boy comes near her house. He...