By Patricia McGerr (1917-1985) (adapted from her short story published in the November 1965 Woman’s Day) (Just the story today– my thoughts on the story, and its application to faith and life, will be tomorrow.)
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My trip to Kiniwata Island in the Pacific was a memorable one. Although the island was beautiful and I had an enjoyable time, the thing I remember most about my trip was the fact that “Johnny Lingo gave eight cows for his wife.” I’m reminded of it every time I see a woman belittle her husband or a wife wither under her husband’s scorn. I want to say to them, “You should know why Johnny Lingo gave eight cows for his wife.”
These islanders have one foot in the old days, still living by the customs of their ancestors; and, one foot in modern times, working jobs in the tourist industry. Johnny Lingo is the best with the tourists, known throughout the islands for his skills, intelligence, and savvy. If you hire him as a guide, he will show you the best fishing spots and the best places to get pearls. He will take you to the best places to eat. Johnny is also one of the sharpest traders in the islands. He can get you the best possible deals. The people of Kiniwata all speak highly of Johnny Lingo. Yet, when they spoke of him, they always smiled just a little mockingly.
A couple days after my arrival to Kiniwata, I went to the manager of the guesthouse to see who he thought would be a good fishing guide. “Johnny Lingo,” said the manager. “He’s the best around. And when you go shopping, let him do the bargaining. Johnny knows how to make a deal.”
“Johnny Lingo!” hooted a nearby boy. The boy rocked with laughter as he said, “Yea, Johnny can make a deal alright!”
“What’s going on?” I demanded. “Everybody tells me to get in touch with Johnny Lingo and then they start laughing. Please, let me in on the joke.”
“Oh, the people like to laugh,” the manager said, shrugging. “Johnny’s the brightest and strongest young man in the islands. He’s also the richest for his age.”
I said, “But if he’s all you say he is, why does everyone laugh at him behind his back?”
“Well, there is one thing. Five months ago, at fall festival, Johnny came to Kiniwata and found himself a wife. He gave her father eight cows!”
I knew enough about island customs to be impressed. A dowry of two or three cows would get you an average wife, four or five cows would win you the very best, and even a six-cow wife was rare. “Wow!” I said. “Eight cows! She must have beauty that takes your breath away.”
“Sarita is not ugly,” he conceded with a little smile, “but calling her ‘plain’ would definitely be a compliment. Sam Karoo, her father, was afraid he wouldn’t be able to marry her off. Instead of being stuck with her, he got eight cows for her. Isn’t that extraordinary? This price has never been paid before.”
“Yet, you called Johnny’s wife ‘plain?’”
“I said it would be a compliment to call her plain. She was skinny and she walked with her shoulders hunched and her head down low. Her cheeks had no color, her eyes never opened beyond a slit, and her hair was a tangled mess half over her face. She was afraid to speak up or laugh in public. She was scared of her own shadow. She was a one-cow wife if I ever saw one.”
“Well,” I said, “I guess there’s just no accounting for love.”
“True enough,” agreed the man. “That’s why the villagers grin when they talk about Johnny. They get special satisfaction from the fact the sharpest trader in the islands was bested by dull old Sam Karoo.”
“But how?”
“No one knows and everyone wonders. All of the cousins urged Sam to ask for three cows and hold out for two until he was sure Johnny would pay only one. To their surprise Johnny came to Sam Karoo and said, ‘Father of Sarita, I offer eight cows for your daughter.’”
“Eight cows.” I murmured. “I’d like to meet this Johnny Lingo.”
I wanted fish and I wanted pearls, so the next afternoon I went to the island of Nurabandi. As I asked directions to Johnny’s house, I noticed Johnny’s neighbors were also amused at the mention of his name. When I met the slim, serious young man I could see immediately why everyone respected his skills. However, this only reinforced my confusion over him.
As we sat in his house, Johnny asked me, “You come here from Kiniwata?”
“Yes.”
“They speak of me on that island?”
“Yes. They say you can provide me anything I need. They say you’re intelligent, resourceful, and the sharpest trader in the islands.”
He smiled gently. “My wife is from Kiniwata.”
“Yes, I know.”
“They speak of her?”
“A little.”
“What do they say?”
“Why, just …” The question caught me off balance. “They told me you were married at festival time.”
“Nothing more?” The curve of his eyebrows told me he knew there had to be more.
“They also say the marriage settlement was eight cows.” I paused. “They wonder why.”
“They ask that?” His eyes lighted with pleasure. “Everyone in Kiniwata knows about the eight cows?” I nodded. “And in Nurabandi, everyone knows it too?” I again nodded. His chest expanded with satisfaction. “Always and forever, when they speak of marriage settlements, it will be remembered that Johnny Lingo paid eight cows for Sarita.”
So that’s the answer, I thought with disappointment: only for vanity. Just then Sarita entered the room to place flowers on the table. She stood still for a moment to smile at her husband and then left. She was beautiful. The lift of her shoulders, the tilt of her chin, and the sparkle in her eyes all spelled self-confidence and pride. Not an arrogant and haughty pride, but a confident inner beauty that radiated in her every movement.
I turned back to Johnny and found him looking at me. “You admire her?” he murmured.
“She’s gorgeous,” I said. “Obviously, this is not the one everyone is talking about. She can’t be the Sarita you married on Kiniwata.”
“There’s only one Sarita. Perhaps, she doesn’t look the way the others described her.”
“She doesn’t. I heard she was homely. They all make fun of you because you let yourself be cheated by Sam Karoo.”
“You think eight cows was too many?” A smile slid over his lips.
“No, but how can she be so different from the way they described her?”
Johnny said, “Think about how it must make a girl feel to know her husband bargained for the lowest possible dowry for her. It must be insulting to her to know he places such little value on her. Think about how she must feel when the other women boast about the high prices their husbands paid for them. It must be embarrassing for her, and everyone will remember that for her whole life. I would not let this happen to my Sarita.”
“So, you paid eight cows just to make your wife happy?”
“Well, of course I wanted Sarita to be happy, but there’s more to it than that. You say she is different from the way they remember her back on the other island. This is true. Many things can change a woman. There are things that happen on the inside and things that happen on the outside. However, the thing that matters most is what she thinks about herself. In Kiniwata, Sarita believed she was worth nothing because that is what other people thought of her; so that is how she looked with her head down and fear in her eyes. But now she believes what I say about her. I wanted her to hold her head high, so from now on she is known as an eight-cow wife, and she looks like it. I wasn’t looking for a good deal; I was looking for a good wife.”
“Then you wanted …”
“I wanted to marry Sarita. She is the only woman I love.”
“But …” I was close to understanding.
“But,” he finished softly, “I wanted an eight-cow wife.”
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