NO FEAR IN THE FOREST

Gathering the sea weeds on the stream
above the place where the three big rivers meet
Hidden deep in the bushes is the sweet berry where bears and deer could not find it
It was close to dusk
We had come to the stream at early dawn
And both of us were weary
almost too weary to talk

"Have you heard the squirrels chattering in that big tree?,' said my cousin
'Not the other tree, the cotton tree''
Now I responded "Yes, ever since the sun left us. How?"
"Do you hear them now?"
I listened hard, dropping the seaweeds on the ground.
"Not a sound". I replied
"They must hear something"
"Squirrels hear a lot of things. They have better ears than we do,
and hear more things than we could."
"Yeh! Something just flew out from that hole"
"Why, it must be an owl"
"Don't you think it's time to go?"
I got down on my knees
I picked faster
My cousin did not help me
The squirrels had started to chatter
Suddenly the squirrels were silent
It was very quiet
Alone in the meadow
I heard nothing save the fuzzy drone of moisquitoes
Then I heard a different sound
the high drawn-out cry of a wolf
Cousin cried out, "Wolves, many of them!"
"Only one, but one can sound like many"
Two men emerged through the trees
"Who are they?" my cousin whispered
"They went out on long hunts,
to plunder their neighbours
To kill men
and to capture women and children."
One of the men was very tall
And he had some ashes smeard to his head
a sign that he was in mourning
for someone dead
"Follow me" I said
She started to say something
But over her mouth
I held my hand..
Just then, a shrill sound woke me up from my reverie.

There's no fear in the forest, save the phenomenon of the partridge.

By: Olaleye Doyin Sunshine