303 tale 22
Learn languages (via Skype): Rainer: + 36 20 549 52 97 or + 36 20 334
79 74
|
------------------------------
|
Think before acting!
Once upon a time, there
was a big valley with two empires and a large river in the middle served as
border for them. On one side of the water, there were the monkeys believing
in the banana god and on the other side the believers of the coconut god. For
a long time, they had been in war with each other, then both exhausted, war
activity ended. The ancestors in both camps still remembered the fighting and
told their progenies frightening stories about their former enemies. Therefore,
when they saw the other on the opposite shore, they screamed and shouted at them
and swore revenge for alleged grievances. Some even threw stones, spears or
fired their arrows, but the river was just too large so that the projectiles
always landed somewhere in the middle of the river without causing any harm.
In these cases, those on the other side used to laugh loudly, “you could
never kill me. Come over and you will get what you deserve!”
The monkey is an
inquisitive being and after many generations, there were some young monkeys,
who built small boats and paddled over to the other side. Of course, they
didn’t tell their elders about it because they knew that elders hadn’t
forgotten the very old feud.
Nevertheless, after a
certain time, the elders discovered that their grandsons and granddaughters
wore new clothes and jewellery that had not been known before. First, the
elders forbade their youngsters to wear them, but without much success. Then,
they created laws against it so that the youngsters only wore the new fashion
when the elders were not there.
Of course, the elders
felt that their influence on their grandchildren weakened but they thought it
was undermined by the enemy from the other side of the river. Wilder and
wilder, the elders called for revenge of the old and new alleged grievances
and at the end for war.
Many of the young monkeys
on both sides of the river knew that all this propaganda against the people
of the other side were just pure nonsense but they didn’t dare to contradict
their elders.
A general assembly of all
the people was convened to announce the decision of the Council of Elders.
“We have considered all possibilities and we, the elders, came to the
conclusion that there is no other way than war against our ancient enemy, the
people of the empire on the other side of the water. We must preserve and
defend our culture, our people.” Many of the young monkeys were very sad and
hung their heads because they knew that on the other side of the river, the
young monkeys there were as sad as they were. “Tomorrow, we will manufacture
weapons and boats in order to begin the war within ten days.”
Everybody in the assembly
was very silent.
Suddenly, a young female
monkey stood up, “I don’t want that war. The monkeys on the other side of the
river are my friends.”
Everybody looked at the
female monkey, the youngers watched her with admiration and fear for her, the
elders observed her with suspicion and hate.
“Are you a spy?” asked
the speaker of the elders. “Do you call those dogs on the other side of the
river your friends?” “Yes, the monkeys on the other side of the river are my
friends,” replied the female monkey emphatically. “Don’t you remember who
gave you birth who nourished and clothed you? Don’t you have any respect for
the tradition of your ancestor? For our culture? For our values? For us, the
older generation?” the elder seemed exhausted. He had not expected anything
like that. “How dare you to contradict us?” he gasped, “you eat our bananas
and coconuts. Don’t you feel ashamed? If you don’t change your mind you can’t
be member of our tribe anymore.”
Quietly but audible for
everybody in the assembly, she said, “I love my parents and my ancestors. I
have friends amongst this tribe and amongst the other tribe. I don’t want my
friends to fight against each other in a senseless war.”
The elder nearly fell of
the pulpit, “you are not our child anymore. Go! Leave our assembly! You have
two hours to leave our lands. Maybe, you will find refuge in the camp of our
enemies.”
The young female monkey
had tears in her eyes but slowly she turned and slowly went away. Shortly
after that, the assembly was dissolved.
The female went to her
house to get her few possessions in order to leave her homeland.
Her parents, brothers and
sisters were very sad and tried to convince her to change her mind, “where do
you want to go? What do you want to do?” “If my tribe forces me to choose
between them and my friends, they can’t be a good tribe,” she replied.
At the end of the
settlement, there were members of the war party spitting at her and calling
her traitor.
She went up into the
mountains and found a large cave where she settled down. At night, she lit a
fire and watched the stars. First, she felt very lonely but then, she
observed a fire somewhere on the opposite side of the valley on the other
side of the river. She knew that somebody from the other tribe had made the
same decision as her.
During the day, she could
see her tribe building a big ship in order to ferry across the river but the
construction went very slowly as shipbuilding had not been exercised for a
long time.
She had been in the
mountains for two nights, when she heard some rustle in between the trees. She
listened carefully and suddenly the saw one of her girlfriends coming out of
the forest.
This female informed her
about everything what was happening in the settlement, that the ship was not
really ready for shipping, that the warriors would probably drown in the
river and that most of the young monkeys in the tribe had the same opinion as
her. “We must contact our friends at the other side of the river and inform
them about what’s happening here.”
So, they went down to the
river a bit away from the settlement, took out their small boats hidden in
the reeds and paddled over to the other side. In the middle of the water,
they suddenly saw another boat coming towards them. First, they thought that
those were warriors from the other tribe, but then, they recognized their
friends. They all were happy to meet.
They agreed that the
elders of both sides were a bit crazy, that they wanted to make war across
the water but were not even able to build a normal ship to cross the river.
Furthermore, they consented that something had to be done to save the elders
and their warriors from drowning.
For the next days, while
the elders and warriors were working on their useless ship on both sides of
the river, the young rebels pulled a liana with many tree trunks hanging on
it across the water.
Then, the big day
arrived; Elders and warriors on both sides of the river got on their ships to
ferry across the water. Drums were beaten, horns were blown and shouts of war
could be heard.
If it hadn’t been so sad,
one would have laughed. The ships had not even reached the middle of the
river when both vehicles capsized and the elders and their warriors were in
danger of drowning. The fast-flowing water carried them to the liana with
tree trunks.
Quickly, the young rebels
of both sides came with their small boats and rescued the wet monkeys one by
one to the secure shore.
There, female monkeys lit
fires to prepare banana soup and coconut tea to warm the sodden heroes of the
failed war.
Still for many
generations to come, the young rebels could not convince the elders to live
in peace with the other tribe on the other side of the river.
But one day, the young monkeys built a bridge ……….
|
-----------------------------------------------
|
--------------------------------------------------
|
-------------------------------------------------
|
---------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
Friday, 29 November 2019
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment