Rightwords... Prudent Conservatism

First Encounter


They started out from England to find a tract in Africa where they could build a compound for themselves. The fifty men were led by ten fully-sighted former soldiers, another ten who had imperfect sight -- one-eyed and near-sighted fellows – and the final group of thirty, who were either seriously impaired or totally blind. There were five wagons loaded with supplies, materials, and tools, each pulled by six mules in their train. Most of the men walked in the hot sun.

The compound’s architecture and plan they had paid for was designed to be easily built, and easy to live in by the blind, and would be completely self-sufficient, even though it was to be located not far from the Serengeti. The men were fed up with living in towns where they were looked upon as poor, unfortunate fellows in need of charity. Some were happy to escape the law as well.

They trekked for days into ever more sparse country, until they spotted a small range of hills in the distance. There was greenery on the hillsides, which offered the promise of water, trees and tillable land nearby. As they came near, they found a flat area close to the beginning hill rises that appeared to be quite suitable for a camp, and possibly their hoped for permanent site. So they set up the camp, cared for the mules, and fell into their tents, exhausted from the long journey.

At sunrise, the first soldier up came out of his tent and stretched before starting for the fire. His eyes finally focused on a huge animal standing in the plains area about a hundred yards away. He moved quietly back into his tent to wake up his mates and to pick up his rifle. They moved softly around to each tent awakening the group. Soon all the group were standing in a semicircle around the beast, with the soldiers and others that could still aim well-enough all armed and ready.

What is it? They cried. What sort of animal is this? The ten soldiers bravely advanced towards the animal, guns at the ready, and began to examine this phenomena.

“It is a marvelous beast!” exclaimed the Leader, “it has the body of a whale, legs like tree trunks, an extraordinary long nose, ears like stunted wings, and white horns on either side of a smiling mouth.

“It isn’t shy in the least, said the Leader, it is standing here letting us come near and look!: With that, the blind men walked up to the beast and began to touch it and rub their hands over its skin to build their own image of this thing. The Leader proceeded to describe every aspect of the beast he could see to his blind friends.
They all soon came to the inescapable fact that this was a very new and different kind of animal in their experience.

“We shall call it “Elephant” said one man, “it needs a name.” The Elephant, meanwhile, just stood there, eyeing the group, switching its tail, and occasionally flapping its big ears, as they went over him thoroughly. A few began to sit down around the Elephant at a respectful distance and continue to gaze at him, as if to memorize every inch of this wonderful specimen of African wildlife.

The Leader called the other soldiers aside and in a soft voice began to speculate about this Elephant that had sneaked up on them in the night.

“Where did he come from, asked the Leader. Did any of you hear something in the night?” I wonder why he is here now. Did we draw him to us? Are there more of them around? If so, where are they? The soldiers peered at the distant horizon intently all around, but could see no more elephants.
“It looks and acts friendly, I wonder if it is really friendly or are we being duped,” asked the Leader? No one answered. Still, the Elephant stood his ground and placidly swung his ears and tail at flies.

They began to ignore the Elephant and talk about the area and plan to look for water nearby, and to test the dirt with their farmer’s touch. The day wore on as they talked and talked about their plans.

“Let us rest today,” said the Leader, “we will start the explorations in the morning, ” as he curiously eyed the Elephant for a moment. The Elephant looked back.

So the group settled down, looking to reset the tents to make shady spots to rest in; they were soon drowsy and then overcome by sleep, including the Leader. An hour passed peacefully.

The Elephant suddenly raised its trunk to the sky and gave forth a tremendously loud trumpeting sound – then did it again and again!
The men came awake immediately, the soldiers fumbling with their guns and running to form a protective ring around the group.

“What could it mean, one asked? Is he hungry? Does he need water? Is it mad at us for something?”

“Should we shoot it,?” asked a soldier, alarmed by the mad sound of the trumpeting Elephant.

Then one soldier said: “Look! Look at the horizon!” Huge dust clouds rose in the afternoon sun as an enormous herd of elephants came from all directions at a running pace, trumpeting as they came, in response to the Elephant’s calls.

The soldiers took up defensive positions and started firing at the oncoming herd. One or two of the running elephants fell, but tens more came on in a rush to overwhelm the men, grab them with their trunks and throw them high in the air. When the men came down, the elephants would stomp them into the dirt. It was a dance of death from which all but one succumbed.

The survivor, one of the soldiers, who had luckily been thrown near a wagon and had hidden under it, struggled to his feet after the herd had gone. He knew he had to get away from that place quickly, and fortunately found that several mules and a wagon had not been harmed. He scouted around for the rifles and ammunition of the other soldiers, and all of the water bottles he could find, before starting his trek back. That was when he stumbled upon a sign down on the ground beyond the flat area where they hadn’t explored. It had been trampled almost to pieces.

The sign said: Beware! Animal Burial Grounds! A picture of an elephant had been drawn crudely on the sign. Cut into the sign was a further message:

These animals defend this site to the death! It is their holy place. Do not stay here! Leave now! They are watching!

# posted by Mannning @ 5:04 PM