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| Twi and the Trickster God | |
| By Asferthecat | ||||||||||||||||||
| 03 July 2007 | ||||||||||||||||||
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I had to keep this one to 900 words. I hope it doesn't read like a quart in a pint pot Eugene Kruger was fencing his new farm when he came across a cluster of mounds beside a baobab tree. At first he didn’t recognise the mounds as huts – they were made from latticed branches and blended into the scene almost as if they were part of nature. Then a small child emerged from a narrow opening in one of the mounds. It gazed at Eugene with a comical expression of horror, and then dashed back into the safety of the hut. Eugene retreated quickly, determined to return with reinforcements and drive the Hottentots off his land. **** That night Eugene and four of his friends piled into his jeep and roared up to the baobab tree shouting and firing their guns. The terrified Bushmen emerged from their huts and ran away from the approaching maelstrom. Only one Bushman, their bravest hunter, Twi, did not run away. He stood in front of the huts and the monster stopped before him, bathing him in the glare from its eyes. In his harsh, clicking tongue, Twi told the monster to go away and leave them in peace. Eugene, his brain addled with whisky and excitement, leapt down from the jeep and advanced towards the little Bushman. “Get off my land,” he roared. Even though the ugly, white giant frightened Twi, he stood his ground. His defiance infuriated Eugene, who lifted his rifle and shot him in the chest. While Twi lay dying on the ground, Eugene and his friends set fire to the huts. The blaze was fierce and soon there was nothing left but ashes. Eugene checked Twi’s body. ”He came at me – you saw didn’t you?” He appealed to his friends. They assured him that he had acted in self-defence. Even so, it might be better to keep the whole affair secret. So, by the light of the headlamps of the jeep, they dug a shallow grave beside the ashes of the village and buried Twi’s body. **** Dawn broke over the Kalahari to reveal the elders of Twi’s tribe chanting and dancing, as if in a trance. They were summoning their god, Kaggen, the Master of All Things. When they felt his presence, they begged him to return Twi’s soul to his body. Kaggen is a trickster god and although he is prepared to grant men’s wishes he also likes to play pranks. So Kaggen returned Twi’s soul to his body - but instead of returning to his tribe, his body remained dead! **** In his grave beside the baobab tree, Twi became aware that he was surrounded by sand and darkness. Worms were eating his flesh but, because he was dead, he felt neither pain nor fear. The soul of Twi entered the body of a worm and made it wriggle up towards the daylight. A bustard saw the movement among the grasses and stabbed down and ate the worm. Now Twi’s soul was in the bustard. He was thirsty so he made the bustard go to the waterhole. When he got there he saw that the giant was fencing off the water so wild animals could not use it. Twi stared at him aghast. The waterhole belonged to everybody. Birds, animals, Bushmen - everybody needed water for survival. When Eugene saw the bustard staring at him so strangely, he picked up his rifle and shot it dead. Poor Twi, once more his soul was trapped in a dead body. But the god Kaggen had not finished with his joke, for Eugene took the bustard back to his hut and cooked and ate it. Twi’s soul entered the body of the giant and was surprised to find that the giant’s soul was a poor, weak thing. It was frightened that its home had been invaded and begged Twi to leave it in peace. But Twi had learnt two things from the giant. He had learnt that squatters have no rights and he had learnt to kill another human without mercy. **** A month later Twi’s tribe returned to their village and saw, to their amazement, that the fences had disappeared and their huts had been rebuilt. The ugly, white giant was sitting under the baobab tree. They turned to run but he called out to them in the Kloisan tongue. “I’ve been waiting for you.” “Twi?” They came towards him hesitantly. He held out his arms to embrace his family, but they kept their distance, frightened by the strangeness of Twi’s spirit in the giant’s body. Twi gathered the elders around him. “The giant has a deed to this land in a chest beside his bed. I can transfer this deed to the tribe and you can live here forever.” Although the elders did not understand the strange words, they trusted Twi and agreed to accompany him to town the next morning to arrange the transfer. “There’s one thing I beg of you,” said Twi. “Please ask Kaggen to allow my soul to return to the otherworld when the giant dies. I’ve no wish to inhabit a worm again.” So the village elders performed their trance-like dance and Kaggen agreed to their request. But the cruel trickster had one last trick to play upon the tribe. That night, while the giant lay sleeping in bed, Kaggen reached into his chest and stopped his heart. Next day, when the elders arrived at the hut, excited that the future of the tribe would be secured, they found the giant dead and Twi gone. Far away, like thunder over the desert, they heard the sound of Kaggen’s laughter.
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