the bright side, Iâd still like to have a laugh now and then, to show laughterâs not just for humans, for porcupineâs sake
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I donât know if you noticed a remarkable thing this morning, when I began talking to you, I didnât want to draw your attention to the fact, but I noticed a rather elderly lizard coming towards
me, he stopped a few metres away, looked behind him, put out his tongue, waved his tail, I saw his eyes staring in amazement, as though heâd been turned into a statue of salt, terrified at the sight of me chatting away to myself, he took a risk and darted off down a rat hole, I laughed like a hyena, because I hadnât had a good laugh like that for a long time, but I quickly put a lid on it because there are people in our village whoâve died of laughing, and when I think of that poor lizard I wonder if perhaps it was the first time heâd ever come across an animal acting like a human being, speaking coherently, nodding in approval, waving one of his paws in the air to swear an oath, I felt quite sorry for the poor reptile, even though our governor had often said that when I was small I was scared stiff of lizards, the one this morning must have thought he was dreaming, I just went on talking to you, as though it was all quite normal.
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it wasnât by chance I came to hide beneath you, I decided the moment I saw you, while making my way along the riverâs edge, I thought, Iâll go and shelter there, the fact is, I want the benefit of your ancestral experience, just from the folds around your trunk itâs clear you must have had to learn to live with the changing seasons, even your roots spread wide and deep in the belly of the earth, and every now and then you move your branches to change the direction of the wind, and remind all nature that a long life like yours comes from keeping silent, and here I am, for porcupineâs sake, chattering away, startled by the slightest leaf that flutters from your crown, just let me take a few breaths before I carry on, Iâm panting a little, ideas rush and crowd my mind, I think since this morning Iâve been talking too fast, Iâd
like to drink a little water, Iâll just take a few sips of the dew around me on the grass, Iâm not going to risk wandering away from you, believe me
how I left the animal world
how long ago it seems, that time when I left my own habitat, and drew close to the boy child I knew affectionately as âlittle Kibandiâ, itâs been many years since then, but memories remain, as clear as if it was yesterday, at that time Kibandi and his parents lived in the north of the country, far from here, in Mossaka, a wet region, with giant trees, crocodiles, and turtles as big as mountains, the time had come for me to leave the animal world, and embark on my existence as a double, I had to reveal myself to my young master, and little Kibandi sensed I was there, from the moment I started to make him feel my presence, trying to throw a little light on his existence, I donât know what would have happened if we hadnât bonded almost immediately, I came at just the right moment, he was ten years old, the required age for receiving a harmful double, and when I arrived at the gates of his village in the North, I saw the little pup, standing behind his father, like his shadow, I felt sorry for the child, heâd just had his initiation, he couldnât control the drunkenness brought on by the mayamvumbi, his father had just put him through a great test, a new world lay before him, he had become a new creature, the fragile thing the villagers of Mossaka could see behind Papa Kibandi was only a puppet now, a kind of hollow container, the contents of which had
evaporated, he was just biding his time, till he met his double, when the two would merge and become one, he couldnât sleep, poor little Kibandi, he was so busy struggling with the effects of