|
Mongoose
|
|
01-11-2010, 04:13 AM
Story by Jinxeh
Sacred power fills the jungle.
An ancient power that ripens on the heavy vines. It courses through the warm air on heady days, shivers on the sticky sap of magnificent trees, seeps through the earth itself and into the stones of the great Temple of the B’alam.
Here, young b’alam tumble upon the sunlit steps leading into the temple. Others hunt and seek within the jungle world overgrowing their own. One day, they will be old enough to challenge each other in the game of Pitz, but for now, they are all lively abandon, their tails swishing playfully in the jungle heat.
This is the height of the Mayan civilization. The people look to the great jaguars known as b'alam for protection and strength. The young king, Yaxun Balam, rules wisely and well. But it was not always so…
Before the temple was built, before the b’alam took upon themselves their role as the people’s protectors, there was bloodshed between the people and the animals and the jungle thrived brutal and wild. How many lost their sons and daughters? How many lost their nestlings and cubs? It seemed the war would never end, and the people shouted in the night and the animals howled under the light of the stars.
What was it that they fought over?
They fought over shelter.
They fought over food.
They fought over water.
They fought over the essence of the jungle, and many suffered and died.
Then one day it happened. A young girl was lost in the jungle. She did not know how to find her way home and she wandered lost beneath the drooping vines. On that same day a young b’alam cub was lost in the jungle. He, too, did not know how to find his way home. Each wandered separately, but as night fell, they sought shelter beneath the tangled branches of a tree-
Only to find the other there.
“This tree is mine!” the girl cried, seizing a heavy stick from the ground.
“I found the tree first,” the cub growled and he flexed his claws.
“Leave or I’ll hit you!”
“I will bite you!”
The two began to fight, but neither was experienced in the ways of their elders. The girl’s attacks did not leave any bruises and the cub’s bites would not go through clothing.
How long they fought they did not know, but at last, their strength wore out. Each sank into the lush moss growing at the base of the tree, unable to fight anymore.
The girl was the first to speak. “I’m hungry. It’s your fault I’m too tired to find food.”
The cub growled. “If you hadn’t got in my way, I’d have been able to hunt.”
Both of them foraged feebly for food, but there was little to be found around the base of the tree. Exhausted and hungry, the two of them prepared to wait out the night, but they quickly fell asleep.
The next morning, the girl went looking for water.
She found it pooling in the centre of a beautiful flower. She was about to drink when the cub leapt up from behind. He tried to reach the water before her, but as he pushed her away, the petals of the flower broke. The water drained away, quickly seeping into the soil.
“Look what you’ve done!” the girl cried.
“It’s your fault! You were in the way!” the cub growled.
Hungry and thirsty, the two of them fought again, but just as before, they were not very good at fighting.
This is how it continued for the next day and the next and the next. Each would try to find water and food, but before they could take it, the other would disturb them. By the end of the fourth day, they were exhausted and starving, and each felt they could not take it anymore.
It was then that they found the stone idol. It was not food and it was not water, but as they passed it, its jewels gleamed in the sunlight.
“What is it doing here?” the girl asked out loud, unable to resist its beauty.
“What is it doing here?” the cub wondered, amazed at how the idol resembled his people.
In that moment, they forgot how much they hated each other, and the cub was the first to notice the fruit growing on the tree high above them. He leapt up high but was too small to reach it. The girl, when she noticed it, reached up, but was too short to reach it. Each continued like this for some time without success.
And then the girl had the idea: what if she stood upon the idol? She tried this but the fruit was still too far away. Yet if she could only reach a little bit further…
The girl looked down at the jaguar.
He might be the right height.
Neither of them said anything at first.
Then the girl spoke. “Will you-“
“I could-“ the cub said at the same time, then stopped.
Each looked at the other.
Then the girl tried again: “Will you jump and get the fruit if I hold you?”
The cub hesitated. Then he nodded. He allowed himself to be picked up by the girl, and he was able to reach the fruit. He pulled it down but then he hesitated. Should he share it? He looked at the girl again, then took a bite from the fruit. He gave her the other half. This, the girl devoured in an instant. Still hungry and thirsty, both of them looked up at the fruit that remained.
“Will you help me again?” the girl asked.
“I will,” the cub said.
In this way, and with the help of the idol, they were able to reach enough fruit to fill their bellies. And when they were done, each looked at the other, and wondered why they should fight. Both of them were still lost, but if they put their heads together, perhaps they would find their way home.
The cub was the one who suggested it.
The girl hesitated, and then agreed.
And in this way, they managed to find their way out of the deepest part of the jungle, and they carried with them the idol that had saved them.
But the people and the animals were still fighting. It would be many years before the girl and the cub were old enough to make peace between their people. This they eventually did, and used the idol as a symbol to unite their people, but this tale, along with the tale of the building of the Temple of B’alam, is another story.
|
|
|
|