Tears Of A Crocodile And Laughter Of A Hyena - EPISODE II

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TROUBLE IN PARADISE

PREVIOUS: EPISODE I

“There is trouble in paradise. Big bad trouble, nothing but trouble,” the little bird told her friends. Rosah, a canary, notorious for exaggerating the most ordinary news into extraordinary bulletins was the first to bring the news to Utanko. She gathered her flying friends and said to them, “humans are digging a big well upstream, in the middle of Ghawa, close to the village of Barbag, the town of the fisher folk. They are using strange animals on four legs that move the earth and make loud, strange humming sounds. The well is so big that by the time they finish, Ghawa will stop flowing to our part; they are building a rock wall to stop Ghawa from flowing to Utanko, we are all going to die of thirst and hunger in the coming year!.

“Our paradise is in trouble! I tell you it is nothing but trouble!”

But very few believed her, Ahq, the young melodious red factor canary rolled her eyes and resumed singing. Soli the young raven cheekily asked, “how much pepper did you eat today Rosah, your head must be spinning, given the way you are concocting stories. Who dares trouble Ghawa and her beloved paradise?”

Most of the birds present at the little gathering agreed this was a rather long tale; farfetched and ridiculous. To them Ghawa was too mighty a river whose flow even humans could not block. Ghawa was impregnable. Ey, the mother Raven was however slow to dismiss Rosah, the story rang a bell and when she noticed the fear and concern etched in Rosah’s brows, she reasoned there had to be some sort of truth behind her story.

Ey arranged for Soli, the beautiful, youthful and kind hearted raven to babysit her chicks. She and Rosah flew north towards the village of Barbag, she wanted to ascertain the truth for herself. It was a beautiful harmattan morning, the sun shone bright and yellow from its abode; flying over the forest, Ey couldn’t help but notice the beauty and splendor of Utanko, the place she had called home for so many years.

The leaves on the trees were browning in response to the harmattan season, and occasionally, the trees would dance in unison to the winds. Vapor arose from the forest and formed a fog around the surrounding mountains, making visibility poor, the air humid and the flight dangerous. The two birds were however not deterred, each for their own reasons.

Rosah wanted to prove a point but Ey had another reason, she wanted to see if this was the making of another man-made catastrophe, where humans tinker with nature for their selfish gain and leave animals to pay the price.

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Over mountains and forests and along the banks of mighty Ghawa they flew. Rosah chirped and chatted excitedly but Ey was quiet; she couldn’t shake the feeling of trepidation; she silently prayed in her heart, “Gods of the air please let not this thing Rosah speaks of be the making of a dam. Our poor, poor, beautiful paradise. What will become of it?

With Babone gone, the hyenas ruled Utanko. They tried to keep everybody in check and ensured Utanko worked just as it had when Babone was there. Among the rulers however, there was neither unity nor peace.

Three eldest hyenas each fancied themselves worthy of being the overall ruler, the ultimate, the king, to be worshipped and served, to be given the best part of a catch and to do nothing but rule.

Pem, a matriarch with many children and grandchildren considered herself the best option by virtue of being a direct offspring of one of the original females brought to the island by Babone, royal blood flowed through her veins – a queen by birth.

Cabuk , a patriarch, virile and proud thought himself suitable, after all he was male, testosterone flowed in his veins, he was father of many young hyenas, he was the rightful king.

Cjon was a much younger, strong female. The hyena community loved her; she was a fearless, no nonsense personality, she had the young hyenas behind her. Cjon felt the leadership of Utanko should be hers, she had the energy and love for the job.

And thus the hyenas struggled for power among themselves, oblivious to much bigger enemies headed their way. And the dangers their paradise was about to contend with.

One fine evening, Pem and Cabuk got into an argument over a piece of buffalo carcass, and before long, it escalated into a full blown physical fight and Cabuk took the beating of his life. He slid into his den to lick his bite wounds and nurse his sore balls – his precious balls had taken a deadly blow from Pem’s fore legs. The biggest wound though was the blow to his ego, Pem had embarrassed him to no end.

As he nursed his wounded balls, he cursed under his breath, “how dare that wench! I will teach her an unforgettable lesson. I will declare my support for Cjon and together we will push her out. Oh what trouble we are about to unleash in paradise!”. He laughed ‘heeeeheeeheeehee’ not because he found the situation amusing, it was a warning to the younger hyenas in the den to leave him alone. And alone he was, hatching his plan and waiting for the crack of dawn to make his move.

Elsewhere, Pem called her sons Sidfe, Moa and Edan to a secret meeting and together hatched a deadly plan intended to drive Cjon from the cackle and ultimately kill her. Mother and sons unanimously agreed it was good plan, one that will benefit the peace of the entire Utanko, and so they spent the entire night going over the fine details of their plot.

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As greed and hatred brewed, the unity and solidarity with which the hyenas had ruled for years crumbled beyond repair. But that was only the beginning of their troubles.

On the far east side of Ghawa lay Udemma, a massive grassland, home to varied animals including the notorious pride of lions, The Kuntis led by King Kunti. Udemma had been hard hit by the harmattan and wildfires, causing many animals to die of thirst and others to migrate elsewhere. It was time for The Kuntis to migrate too. Food had become scarce. King Kunti sat on his hind legs, raised his head, closed his eyes and sniffed the air for a good one minute. When he opened his eyes, he said, “We go West”.

The notorious Kuntis headed westward, towards Ghawa, destined for Utanko.

READ NEXT: EPISODE III

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Adwoa Danso

I am a connoisseur of life stories, and writing is my first love. I believe we can empower, educate and uplift by telling our stories. Writing is my happy place.

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