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Elephant

      A long time ago, in Old Africa, before people walked, but after the Earth had first spoken, a big family herd of Elephants was slowly dusting its way across a wide, treeless plain. It had not rained for many days - and the ground was hard and baked dry. It was time to look for water.

       One mother elephant, Zumu, went out into the bush to find a Baobab tree - for where there's a Baobab, water is nearby. She went without her only child, Kanda, who was the baby of the family. By evening, she had reached the spot where the water hole had been, but all she found was a dried up earthy bowl beside a splintered Baobab stump. It was thirty years since she'd last been there. Now she knew she must seek further away.

      Before she went on, she sent a message to Kanda. Too far away to call, she got down on her two front knees and put her forehead down on the earth. She made low thundery tones and sent them out through her skull bones. The rumbling boom - so low, only an elephant could hear it - made the very ground hum. It resounded throughout the plains, crossing great expanses through the earth.

      But Kanda didn't get the message: he didn't understand it. He hadn't yet learned the language of the earth - the language of Elephant.
      "Where's my mommy?" he asked himself. He shook with fear.

      All the other elephants tried to comfort him, but he shook so much he sent tremors into the ground. Far beyond the horizon, Zumu's feet felt the ground trembling - and knew it was the sound of her own child's fearfulness.

    Later that day, when his mother still hadn't appeared, Kanda became angry. He blared crashing indignation from his pink mouth. He desperately wanted to beat his trunk against the ground, but he hadn't yet learned how to use it. Instead, he stamped his furious feet. Though others consoled him, his stamping surrounded them all with great clouds of dust. Far off, Zumu felt the earth's angry thudding and knew her own child's fury.

        She cast out more messages through her skull and through the earth.

     But when, on the second day, his mother still hadn't returned, Kanda became sad. He cried great Elephant tears, the size of ripe figs, which rolled down his furrowed cheeks and dripped to the parched ground. His sobs made a small pool grow in front of his flapping ears. Too tired to cry more, he turned away. And so he missed the tiny yellow and blue flowers that sprung up, thankful for their unexpected gift of water.

        Over the horizon, a breeze wafted the smell of water and then the smell of flowers - all mixed with the smell of her baby. Zumu knew Kanda was sad and sent her kneeling message home through the earth.

        And when, on the third day, Zumu was still not there, Kanda didn't know what to do. All day long, he pretended not to mind at all that his mother had left him. Then, exhausted by his efforts to hide his feelings, he fell asleep.

       He woke with a start. All the others had gathered around him, their long legs and trunks like a protecting forest, their creamy tusks like generous fruits. He looked up, suddenly hopeful, but when he couldn't see his mother amongst them, he flew into a tornado of torment. He shook with fear, he quivered with rage, quaked with grief and, finally, he slumped to the earth with empty resignation.

       Whilst his guardians gathered closer, still far away, mother Zumu heard the changing rhythm of the earth messages and thought her baby was doing a dance to celebrate her return, for now she was less than a day away, having found a watery Baobab.

          In the elephant circle, everyone knew Kanda was now ready to learn the truth. As he lay collapsed on the ground, they all slowly got down on their knees, like an elephant forest descending into the earth. The elders put their heads to the ground and hummed deep, underground sounds. Sounds so deep, no other beings could hear them. But Kanda heard them.

          The first sounds said: "You are Elephant". The next said: 'Elephant always listens to the Earth".

           Kanda leapt to his feet. Instantly, he heard another sound through his toes, which came from outside the circle. It said: "Mother has found water. Mother is coming home to you".

          Baby Kanda danced around and around. The others joined in, trumpeting that their baby was now a full member of the family. Kanda had learned that, no matter where any of them was, they would always be connected - through their Elephant voice and through the Earth.

©Ben Fairlight, Dec. 2000