Congo River, jbdodane. source.
At the edge of a rainforest, there lived a man who made his hut a little further away from the village by the river. Every morning, a wild boar would visit the riverbank and make a splendid mess rummaging through the villagers' waste in search of scraps to eat. Day by day, the man saw the pig visit the riverbank and get more and more plump.
A particular morning when the man's stomach was a bit hungrier than usual, he decided to go out and kill the boar and eat it. When the boar saw the man coming, it cried out in alarm, "My brother! I beg you please do not attack me!"
Surprised at such an exclamation, the man lowered his arm and the boar took this chance to disappear back into lush safety of the greenery. Scowling to himself, the man returned to his hut.
"How can I be a brother to such a creature? She lives her life in a cave or under a bush, I live on land in a dry home. She rummages through my waste for his meals, I hunt and cook on my own."
Unable to sleep that night, the troubled man awoke as soon as the hen croaked in response to the morning light. He set off into the humid forest in search of some clarity from the troubles swimming around his head, and it wasn't long until he ran across his friend, Zumbaa. Perched in the treetops all day, the large parrot observes much, and the man often sought her for advice.
"Oh Zumbaa!" he cried, "I am terribly at ends with this boar. Every morning she pads in front of my window, looking more succulent everyday. I want to kill her and feed on her, but she surprises me by calling me her brother. No longer will I pay attention to her cries, for she is a beast and I am meant to feast on her!"
"You shall do no such thing!" croaked the parrot. "Why is it so hard for you to regard this boar as your sister? Don't you know that one day she will disappear into her cave to give birth to her little piglets, and emerge with her progeny? The leopard does the same, and so does your kind, my silly friend. Look, you engage in conversation easily with me. But am I, who lays eggs in a nest, not more of a stranger to you than the boar is? Return hurm and do no harm to your sister".
Understanding this, the man returned to his hut and no longer made any advances on the boar. Instead, he shared part of his meal with her when she visited the riverbank, and in this way greeted his new sister every morning.
Red River Hogs found in the Congo. source.
R.E. Dennett, Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort. 1989. Web Source.
Author's Note: This was inspired by one of the few stories in the Congo unit that did not revolve around the brutal killing and dismembering of another creature. In the reading, the setting never played a huge role, and most of the stories were plot driven. I tried to keep the background sparce in this story as well, focusing on the whimsical interactions between human and animal. The original story was about an alligator and a hen, and instead of live births, the alligator was informed that he was the hen's brother because both their species reproduced from an egg. I thought it would be a fun twist to change it to a human and a pig and keep the reasoning the same. As a vegetarian of almost three years, I was humorously inspired to write this (as I disliked anything pork even when I did eat meat) and insert a glimmer of my own personality into this. Props to you if you can figure out where I got the inspiration for the parrot's name from.
Moriah,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your story. It was captivating and well written. I also liked the way you changed things. I didn’t read that unit, so it was surprising to me how much you adapted. I wouldn’t have guessed at all. I also really do not like pork, although I am not a vegetarian, however, I know a lot of people who don’t like boars just because of how much they can ruin land. Great job on the story, I look forward to reading more.
-Elyse
Hi Moriah!
ReplyDeleteI thought your story was well written in every way. You stuck to the original themes closely and the way it flowed made reading it effortless. And while we don't adhere to the same dietary philosophies, I really liked how you made the story personal. Great work! I can't wait to read more of your stories.
Hey Moriah!
ReplyDeleteGreat job with this story! I was engaged the whole time and am so glad that the hunter did not kill the boar! I am guessing that Zumbaa's name comes from Pumbaa of The Lion King, but that is just a guess! Just a few things--"Suprised" should be "Surprised" and you use both female and male pronouns for the boar in the beginning, which kind of made it confusing until I got to the part where the parrot tells the man she is having piglets! Other than that, great work! I really enjoyed this story!
Hi Moriah!
ReplyDeleteI really liked this story. It had such a good message about seeing animals as your brethren instead of treating them poorly. I have also seen that in a lot of stories animals are treated really poorly (beating was much more common back then) so I liked that you chose a story to highlight more positive relationships between people and animals.