His head and ears were no longer alert, and his curiosity was gone.

He was not only stomach hungry: mother hunger rose above his physical yearning for something to eat.

He wanted his mother as he had never wanted her before in his life.

He wanted to snuggle his shivering little body close up to her and feel the warm caressing of her tongue and listen to the mothering whine of her voice.

And he wanted Kazan, and the old windfall, and that big blue spot that was in the sky right over it.