Summary
Ada and Ruby walk into town. They observe and identify
different birds. Ruby expresses her admiration for the crow, approving
its cunning and ability to “relish what presents itself.” Ada feels gloomy
but explains her gloominess as a result of the manual work she’s
been doing, such as hay cutting, and the fact that it’s raining. The
women purchase supplies from the hardware store, and Ada buys Adam
Bede from the stationers. They eat lunch by the river, before
heading off to visit Mrs. McKennet, a local widow. Mrs. McKennet
amuses Ada by recounting sensationalized war stories that she insists
are true. Ada states that she finds war “degrading,” and Mrs. McKennet
affectionately calls her naïve. Ruby expresses her disinterest with
regard to the conflict and dismisses Northerners as people who only
worship money.
On the way home, Ada and Ruby pass the courthouse and
stop to hear a captive narrate his tale. The prisoner describes
how he was forcibly removed from his father’s farm by a team of
the Home Guard, led by the sadistic Teague. One of Teague’s men
killed the captive’s father by impaling him with a sword; then Teague’s
other men ran three outliers out of the fodder crib. The captive
was the only man to survive because he surrendered. Teague had considered hanging
him anyway, but Birch, one of Teague’s men, dissuaded him from doing
so, saying it would look better if they brought someone in occasionally.
The man concludes his tale by stating that the world
won’t last long. Ada and Ruby return home, arguing whether one should
take an optimistic or pessimistic view of the world. Ruby stops
talking when she sees a heron. The women disagree over the bird’s
intentions before it flies off, and Ada sketches it from memory.
Ruby tells Ada a story Stobrod told her, in which he suggested that
her real father was actually a heron. In running to get away from
the lusty bird, Ruby’s mother crawled under the bed, got stuck,
and was impregnated from behind. This story reminds Ada of Monroe’s
tale about how he wooed her mother, which she shares with Ruby.
Monroe had stopped to water his horse at a house outside
of Charleston. He had fallen in love with the beautiful woman who had
questioned him. He later found out that her name was Claire Dechutes
and that her father was French. Monroe wooed Claire with her father’s
permission, on the condition that they marry after she turned eighteen.
After a long wait, on the day he was due to propose, Monroe saw
her kissing another man. Claire married the man and went to live
in France while Monroe sought solace in England. However, Claire’s
marriage was unhappy, and she finally wed Monroe on her return from
France nineteen years later. Two years later, Claire died giving
birth to Ada. Despite his grief, Monroe had sworn to dedicate his
life to his daughter.
When Ada finishes her tale, a flock of birds fly past
the moon. Ada then correctly identifies the planet Venus, which
is about to set behind Cold Mountain.
Analysis
Ruby’s “source and root” is that of the environment around
Cold Mountain. Even if her father’s tale about the heron is untrue,
Ruby is a woman descended from the natural world who shares an affinity with
its creatures. Whereas images of predatory birds such as the crow
and buzzard overshadow Inman’s journey, the women focus on birds
attuned to their landscape as creatures of community and migration.
Ruby’s reassessment of the crow is important as it indicates the
different perspectives that people can take on nature. While previous
images of crows within the text have been shocking or disturbing,
Ruby’s frank assessment of the crow’s gifts paints the bird in a
different light, as a thing to be admired rather than feared. Throughout
this chapter, Ruby is shown reading the signs of nature, as she
speculates on a cardinal carrying a twig in its mouth and identifies
the time of day by the angle of the sun.
