tale 56 the excluded majority
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The excluded majority
Once upon a time in the valley of banana land,
there was a very little but beautiful settlement. The monkeys there lived on
fishing, fruit planting and collecting. They didn’t believe in anything special,
just in the beauty of life and solidarity towards each other.
However one day, a big noise could be heard
coming from the river. The fishing monkeys there had caught a very special
fish. Big and small, old and young hurried to the shore to see what had
happened.
They made a circle around the monkeys who brought
their catch on land. “We found him in a small boat floating in the middle of
the river and first thought he was dead. But as we came closer and examined
him, we discovered that he was still alive, so we poured a bit of clean water
into his mouth and he slowly recovered.”
Everybody from the settlement observed him with
great interest. Newcomers were very rare, normally there were only some
traders from down the river coming up from time to time.
This monkey was special; he had his head shaved
completely bald and protruding eyes. Probably, he hadn’t eaten for days,
therefore being weakened and exhausted. He was put on a stretcher and carried
into the village. The strongest monkey readily gave him his hut and
immediately began to build a new one for himself just some meters far away
from his old. Others brought cooked food and drink.
He soon recovered completely and asked for a
sharp knife to shave the short hair on his head and face, which had begun to
cover it.
Then, in the evening, every member of the
settlement gathered around the big fire in the central square to hear his
story.
The monkeys of the valley didn’t wear clothes as
it was always warm, so they didn’t see the need to wear any. However, this
monkey covered every part of his body, except his hands, feet and head. Did
he have any hair on his body like other monkeys? they asked each other.
“My dear brothers and sisters!” he began, “god
has sent me to you and you have received me well.” All monkeys looked at each
other. What was he talking about? Who was god? How did that god or the
newcomer himself know about them? “God is very grateful for it and will make
you rich and happy,” the bald monkey continued. “Oh! We are very happy and
always help each other,” some of the monkeys replied, “we are satisfied with
what we have.” A malicious smile could be seen in the bald’s face, “still,
there is something missing in your lives.” Everybody listened with open mouth
and ears. Something was missing in their lives?
“Have you never heard of the great god. This
superior spirit which created everybody of you and everything around you.”
Children looked at their mothers with shock in their faces, pointing at each
other, “you are not my mother?” and the fishermen, “aren’t the fish of
spawn?” and others, “aren’t the fruit from the trees?”
The bald monkey was very satisfied with himself;
in no time at all, he had managed to plant doubts into the heart of these simple
but honest souls.
From then on every evening, everybody gathered
around the big fire in the central square to hear the bald talking about god.
“You must build a house for god, a temple, and praise him there. He also
needs food. You must bring him food.” he continued.
The next day, all the inhabitants of the
settlement helped to build a temple under the instructions of the bald.
Although it wasn’t a big building but it was the biggest and finest, towering
over the whole settlement. Then, they brought food for their new neighbour,
the god, and the bald told them that they had to wear clothes entering the
temple. “Clothes make real monkeys out of you,” he told them and slowly the
whole settlement was ‘civilized’. All went well for some time and the bald
grew fatter and fatter establishing more and more rules not only for the
temple and its ceremonies but as well for the whole settlement.
However one day, one of the smallest females came
home from the forest loaded with freshly collected fruit on her back but
without clothes because it was just too warm and to wear clothes at the same
time. When the bald saw her coming, he shouted at her angrily. Everybody came
out of their houses or from other places to see what had happened because
they had never heard angry shouting before. “You are insulting god and the
settlement,” he screamed, “you can’t be member of this community anymore.”
She was very frightened and looked at him with big gentle eyes. “Leave the
settlement at once!” he told her. The poor female was so shocked that she
dropped the load from her back and began to cry. But the tears did not soften
the bald’s heart. Again and again, he ordered her to leave the settlement.
With her head inclined and sobbing, she left the community.
She walked for a long time by random upwards
along the river and could not see much because her eyes were filled with
tears. What should she do now?
Then, she came a clearing of the forest and as
she was very tired she lay down and fell asleep. When she woke up again, it
was already getting dark, therefore, she prepared a smaller shelter and made
a fire.
Actually, she had never been so far from her
settlement and didn’t know this it but it was a nice place. The clearing was
more or less as large as her old settlement with fruit trees, the river
bordered it on one side. She decided that this would be her new home.
She had not lived there for a month alone but in
peace when one of her former playmates arrived. “This bald is a tyrant,” she
declared and told the other what had happened to her. “Never mind,” she said
to the newcomer, “this is a very nice place and tomorrow, I will show you
everything.” They began to smile at the prospect of living together in peace
and without the bald.
After a certain time, the settlement grew bigger
and bigger because more and more of her former companions arrived looking for
refuge and at the end, they only counted who might still missing of the old
settlement.
A year having passed, they were all happily
united again. It was a very little but beautiful settlement. The monkeys
lived on fishing, fruit planting and collecting. They didn’t believe in
anything special, just in the beauty of life and solidarity towards each
other.
However one day, a big noise could be heard
coming from the river. The fishing monkeys there had caught a very special
fish. Big and small, old and young hurried to the shore to see what had
happened.
They made a circle around the monkeys who brought
their catch on land. “We found him in a small boat floating in the middle of
the river and first thought he was dead. But as we came closer and examined
him, we discovered that he was still alive, so we poured a bit of clean water
into his mouth and he slowly recovered.”
Everybody from the settlement observed him with
great interest. It was the bald with protruding eyes. Probably, he hadn’t
eaten for days, therefore being weakened and exhausted.
My dear readers! What were the inhabitants of the
new settlement going to do? Did they have to send the bald away or look for a
new settlement for themselves or had they finally understood that they had to
teach these balds talking about god all the time that the beauty of life and
solidarity towards each other was all they needed in their life?
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Mittwoch, 8. Juli 2020
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