"Here we are" chimed Quasimodo. "You remember the tower, don't you, little one?"
Anatefka certainly did. She ran up to one of the large bells and began to yank on it's rope.
"You want me to ring this one?"
Anatefka answered the young man's question with even stronger tugs. The bell was begining to sway, but it didn't make a sound.
"That one's very loud. It might hurt your ears" Nefaltia offered. "What about those little ones up there?"
"Oh yes" Quasimodo agreed. "She'll like those too."
As if she weighed nothing, the hunchback swung Anatefka over his shoulder and climbed up to where the little bells hung. Their sweet songs were like a babbling brook.
Anatefka broke out in hyena-like giggles as the bells sang. But in the middle of their peals, she tugged furiously at Quasimodo's collar.
"What is it? What do you see?"
Almost urgently Anatefka gestured to the bells and then over to a pair of roosting pigeons.
"What's going on up there?" Nefaltia called from below.
"I don't know. I think she's trying to tell me something."
By now the wild child was becoming frustrated. She would swipe at the bells to get them ringing again and point to the birds.
"Oh I see. You think the bells sound like the birds" Quasimodo declared, indicating both objects.
Anatefka did not know his words, but was pleased to see that the hunchback acknowledged her comparison.
And so Nefaltia began her study. It was obvious Anatefka still had some reservation about the stranger. But after a week of living in the tower, the healer's presence no longer bothered her.
When she was not engaging the wild child in a game, Nefaltia was busy teaching Anatefka words. She would place her hand on an object and say its name slowly and clearly. Her head cocked to the side, Anatefka would watch Nefaltia with confused curiosity.
"Do you think she understands?" Quasimodo asked.
"Well she's not an idiot, that's for sure" said Nefaltia. "Her mind is trying to make sense of it. I can see it in her eyes. But she's still missing something."
"Like what?"
Carefully Nefaltia laid out three small object on the floor. A key, a chisel and a nail.
"Watch this."
Nefaltia whistled to Anatefka and the child came bounding over.
"Key" Nefaltia annunciated. "Keeeeyyyy... Show me the key."
For what felt like hours, Anatefka sat before the three objects. Every so often she would pick up an item and examine its contours. Even mouthing them between her teeth.
Finally she came to a decision. With a look of confidence, she slid the nail towards Nefaltia.
"Nnnooo... That's not the key. Try again."
She pushed the scrap of metal back to Anatefka. But the wild girl refused to be corrected. Grunting urgently she thrust the nail at Nefaltia.
"No, little one. That's the nail. Find me the key."
By now Anatefka frustration was mounting to a peak. Unable to see the child so upset, Quasimodo knelt down and placed the desired object in her hand.
"Here. This is the key. See how its different from the nail?"
With a furrowed brow, Anatefka compared the key and the nail in each hand. For a brief moment of happiness Nefaltia thought the girl finally understood. But the feeling soon shattered when Anatefka threw down both the objects and ran out to the balcony. Quasimodo and Nefaltia did not feel the need to chase after her.
"I suppose we should have started off more simply." Nefaltia conceded.
"Perhaps" said Quasimodo. "Just give her some time to calm down. She'll get it eventually."
After the failure of their first lesson, Nefaltia returned to observing the girl. But it was her moods that concerned her the most.
Some days Anatefka appeared overwhelmed with euphoria. Her favorite game was twirling around in a shaft of sunlight, watching the skirt of her dress flutter. When she became too dizzy, the girl would collapse on the floor. But as soon as the symptom subsided, she went right back to her strange little dance.
But Anatefka's days of joy were also peppered with long periods of sorrow. She would sit curled up in a corner of the tower, rocking back and fourth. Her head lightly bumping against the stone wall. Even when Quasimodo held her in his arms, Anatefka's spirits showed no signs of lifting.
Taking a seat next to her charge Nefalita mimicked Anatefka's movement, then made a simple hand gesture.
"Sad" Nefaltia said slowly.
Slowly she repeated the motions repeated the motions several times. At first the wild girl was suspicious. But after several viewings, Anatefka's hand followed Nefaltia's sign. Her little finger sliding down her face in representation of a tear.
"Oh my!" Quasimodo gasped. "She did it! I think she understood you."
"I hope so. But even if she's just imitating, at least she's paying attention."