When the Tiger Roars

by Graeme Cann

  From the moment that Alofa would sit down in his tiny house, Muralu would begin to share stories that came from a lifelong journey in what was to him an exciting world of learning. Alofa loved this old man deeply, and the more that he listened to him, the more he hungered for this great one’s wisdom and knowledge. At first, all that he wanted was for Muralu to come back to Sampa and be their Mother-Father, but he knew that this was impossible. The Council of Elders would undoubtedly reject him and possibly even kill him. Gradually, however, it began to dawn on him that Muralu had chosen him to be the keeper of Sampian knowledge and wisdom, and although this realisation frightened him, such was his love for Sampa that he willingly embraced whatever responsibilities and dangers that would bring.

  In his heart, Alofa knew that if Muralu had lived in an earlier time, he would have been one of Sampa’s great ones. One of the foundational customs of the Sampians until eight decades before Alofa was born was that there was always one person chosen by the people of Sampa to be their Mother-Father. This person could either be a man or woman, whose primary role was to be the keeper of the collective wisdom of the Sampians. He or she was chosen, not elected, by a process that will be revealed later, that singled them out as a person who had learned to master fear. The Elders, who served the people rather than governed them, would consult the Mother-Father when wisdom was needed, and matters that required mediation or judgment would be referred to him or her. The men and women who had filled this position over the centuries were deeply revered and loved by all the people of their time.

  Things had changed now. There was no Mother-Father to watch over and nurture the people, and Muralu, living in a sort of self- imposed exile in Towin, was the only remaining keeper of traditional Sampian knowledge and wisdom. Alofa was greatly inspired by Muralu’s stories of great Sampians from the past. These were men and women of enormous courage and wisdom, who had built safe and prosperous communities in which people lived without fear of the things that they could not personally control. All of them were men and women of great knowledge and grace who understood the truths that undergirded the core values to which they were committed. Among those truths to which they were firmly committed was that this world of abundance in which they lived had a Great Creator whose will and purposes could be known by those who sought after such knowledge. Alofa hungered after that knowledge.

  Muralu set out to teach Alofa to read. It was an ambitious task, but Alofa was a good student and a quick learner. Often the old man would say, “You must learn to read, Alofa, and then you must teach others. My son, never forget the things I have taught you. Store my words in your heart. If you do this, you will live for many years and your life will be satisfying. Never let loyalty and kindness leave you! Tie them around your neck as a reminder. Write them deep within your heart. Then you will find favour with both the Creator and your people.”

  When Alofa returned from each of his trips to Towin, he excitedly shared with Misha, his wife, all he had learned. She listened intently and asked many questions. “Muralu says such magnificent things,” he once told her. “Yesterday he said ‘Joyful is the person who finds wisdom, for wisdom is more profitable than silver or gold.’”

  “That’s beautiful,” said Misha as she rested in Alofa’s strong arms. One day she said to him, “I want to seek after wisdom also. Will you teach me to read?”

  Misha was one of the most beautiful girls in Sampa. Her slim figure, luxurious long black, curly hair and the darkest of dark brown eyes made her the envy of all the other girls and the desire of all the young men. But she had had eyes only for Alofa ever since she was twelve years old. She had announced then, to all who would listen, that one day she would marry Alofa, who was four years her senior. It would be six very difficult years before that happened, but for her as a twelve-year-old, it was never in doubt.

  Like all the girls of her age she was uneducated, and had often been abused and mistreated by her parents and members of her family, but unlike many of the others she was confident, headstrong, and very hungry to learn everything she could. So when Alofa returned from his visits to the town and his conversations with Muralu she drank in his stories, and with him helping her began the challenging task of learning to read. This put her at odds with many of the other women in Sampa, and of course with the Elders, who saw her as a bad example to the other girls. It is difficult to know what her expectations of marriage had been, for all the wives that she knew were often treated harshly by their husbands, but in Alofa, she had found a gentle man who treated her and other women as equals. When she was upset or afraid, he would hold her in his strong arms and speak to her of love, forgiveness, and courage. She loved him dearly and would be eternally grateful for the influence of Muralu on her husband.

  ***

  In order to fully comprehend the struggle in which Alofa and his followers were engaged, it is important that we seek to penetrate the mind of Kaluba and understand what manner of man he was, because as the chief of Elders he exercised supreme power over the people. He had inherited the leadership of Sampa from his father, Rubin. Rubin had taken the leadership of Sampa by force, replacing the last of the great Mother-Fathers, Marita. He was the first leader of Sampa to establish an army which became then, and was still under Kaluba, the primary instrument of governance.

  Historians would describe Kaluba as a dark figure in the history of Sampa, who in his lifetime was responsible for the most horrific atrocities against his own people; but in truth he might simply have been the most fearful Sampian leader of all time. It was not that he was cowardly, not in the slightest. He was a brave and courageous hunter and military leader, afraid it would seem of no man or animal. No, when history describes him as a fearful man, it will be speaking of what drove him in every decision he made and everything he did as chief of the Elders. His self-concept was predicated on the position he held, the possessions that he owned, and the power that he wielded. He knew that there were very few Sampians who loved him, and that indeed most either feared or hated him. This was of little concern to him, however, because his deepest felt need was not to be loved but to be in total control. Whenever he felt that his authority and control was being challenged, he became very afraid. His fear would cause him to be angry, and his bursts of rage and violence would terrify everybody around him. He ruled Sampa through the imposition of draconian laws. He saw tolerance of lawbreakers and the extending of mercy to those who pleaded for it as a “weak and dangerous policy.”

  He understood that the cost of using his personal and political power to exercise absolute control over his subjects was that he would never be loved and admired, but he never lost a moment’s sleep over that. Far more important to him was that every threat was quashed and every dangerous challenger was neutralised. Although in public speeches he would often pledge his commitment to protecting his people and his community, frequently reminding his listeners of his “love” for them, the real truth was that if he was dedicated to anything at all, it was to quieten his nagging anxiety by exercising ruthless control over the Elders, the military, and the ordinary people.

  His wife, who like him was in her eighties, was rarely ever seen in public. Indeed, for the fifty years of Kaluba’s harsh reign in Sampa, she had almost been invisible. At first, as a young mother, she had protested strongly against the harsh treatment of women and children that became a hallmark of his leadership. Her own father had been a loving and caring man who had respected all women, and had made her feel very special and valued. Soon after her marriage to Kaluba, however, she realised that her life was destined to be painful and lonely. In their marriage there was sex but no intimacy, and in their home, for her, there was hard labour but no sharing of tasks. Her protests were quickly silenced by harsh beatings and frequent haranguing. She spent her whole married life living in fear of his next violent attack on her.

  She was one of the first women in Sampa to be confronted by the arrival of a second wife into the family home. The new arrival was a ver
y frightened teenage girl taken by force from one of the mountain villages. Like herself, the new wife was subjected to marital rape and verbal and emotional abuse. When after several months she took her own life, Kaluba blamed his wife for the girl’s death, and subjected her to further horrendous punishment.

  As Alofa and his friends had become more vocal in their concern about life in Sampa and the need to return to the beliefs and values that had undergirded traditional Sampian life, Kaluba had become even more tyrannical, and the active persecution of Alofa and those who followed him marked an intensifying of the darkness and an escalation of the fear that enveloped Sampa.

  CHAPTER THREE

  THE FIRST OF THE FOUR GREAT SAMPIAN STORIES: ABELE AND THE COVENANT

  “Creation implies authority in the sense of an originator. The possibility that the created would reject the Creator is implied in a covenant, insofar as the idea of a covenant implies the possibility of its being violated.”

  Muralu was the Keeper of the Four Great Stories that were no longer told among the Sampians and, over almost five generations, had basically been forgotten. Sampian history had up to this time not been recorded, and over hundreds of years the unfolding story of this people had been passed on orally from one generation to another. Undergirding the whole of Sampian history were the Four Great Stories that explained everything there was to know about their culture. To guard against these stories ever being contaminated by exaggeration or imagination, every generation had a Keeper of the Four Great Stories, and before they died he or she would pass the honour and responsibility to another.

  Alofa would never forget the evening when Muralu had said, after the evening meal, “It is time, my son, for you to begin to hear the Four Great Stories. Each one takes many hours to tell and you must listen well. Tonight we will begin the first story. It is the story of Abele and the Covenant.” The two men settled themselves into two large chairs, and Muralu began to speak .

  “A very long time ago, the Great Creator chose a large valley with high rugged mountains on one side and a deep mysterious rainforest on the other. A large river flowed along the full length of the valley at the foot of the mountain, and the land was more fertile than any other land on the earth. He called the valley Sampa, and he placed a man and a woman there. The man’s name was Alpha and his wife’s name was Maria, and in time she gave birth to a baby boy who they named Abele. The valley was so beautiful and so fertile that soon many other people from nearby villages came to join them, and a loving and peaceful community began to grow. They tilled the land and grew crops. They planted and tended vineyards, orchards, and productive vegetable gardens. They began to farm cattle, goats, pigs, and poultry. They kept horses and donkeys to pull their farm implements and their carts. However, despite the beauty and richness of Sampa, a great threat soon appeared.

  “The rainforest that ran alongside the whole length of the valley was home to numerous animals, and the greatest and most terrifying of them all was the tiger. Tigers soon began to enter the valley with the purpose of killing and carrying away the Sampians’ livestock. The people, of course, struck back. They hunted the tiger with spears, set traps in the forest, and built fences to protect their livestock. The tigers, however, fearful that they would be wiped out and afraid that man would invade their territory, began to raid the villages at night killing people and carrying them off to feed their cubs. So afraid did many of the people become that they left Sampa, never to return. Those who stayed lived in great fear. The tiger became a symbol of everything that was frighteningly dangerous, and even the mere mention of this animal filled them with terror.

  Abele grew to be a strong and compassionate young man who was recognised by many as the rightful leader of Sampa. He was a man of great wisdom and integrity, and although he was deeply saddened by the fact that his own child had been taken by a tiger, he had refused to harbour either fear or hostility toward the beast.

  “One day, as the men and women of Sampa worked in their gardens, a great stillness fell upon them. The gentle breeze that had been caressing the trees ceased. The birds stopped their singing and the livestock quit grazing. The people discontinued their work as their eyes were drawn toward the edge of the forest near where Abele was standing. Great fear overwhelmed them as they realised that a huge tiger had emerged from the forest and was standing one giant spring away from Abele. They hastily withdrew toward the village, some to safety and others to arm themselves with their weapons. Abele, however, did not move and the tiger did not attack him. The people halted their panicky retreat and watched. Later they would say that although the tiger did not appear to speak, a deep voice like rolling thunder invaded every mind and seemed to fill the whole valley.

  “‘I have come today,’ said the voice, ‘because the Great Creator has compelled me to come. I am not afraid of humans although some of you have killed my kind, and there is one among you who is not afraid of the tiger, even though one has killed his daughter.’ The tiger’s entire gaze was on Abele. The voice continued. ‘Because you and I have not yielded to the mastery of fear and bitterness, we have been chosen to establish a covenant that will forever bring peace to the people of Sampa and to the tigers in the forest.’ Some of the people had fallen to their knees in awe and reverence as the tiger had spoken, whist others had actually moved a little closer to where the giant tiger stood.

  “The voice began again: ‘For a long time we have been afraid of each other. You Sampians have built fences around your pastures and your houses, you have set traps designed to capture and kill us, and you have sent men with spears into the forest to hunt us. You have been driven by a fear and a hatred that not only spelt danger for us, but was also diminishing you as a people and as a community. As for us, we also are full of fear and anger, and we have indeed killed your livestock and taken and eaten your children. Now the Great Creator wants us to understand that the fear and hatred that both the man and the tiger feel toward the other will destroy us both. It is the will of the Great Creator who created us that we dwell side by side in harmony.’

  “For the first time since the tiger appeared, Abele now spoke. The people were astounded because no matter where they were standing in the vast valley, they could hear his voice. It was calm and powerful. He chose his words carefully, but he was clearly not intimidated by this glorious yet fearful animal. ‘I am grateful that you have come, and I am humbled that the Great Creator has chosen me to meet with you. I carry much pain in my heart. I weep for my daughter everyday and for the parents of other children who have been killed by your kind, but I have chosen not to be afraid or bitter. I have not built fences around my house or my heart. I have not set traps nor have I hunted the tiger with my spear. I understand that you are not my enemy. My enemy is one that I cannot see but has the power to destroy me. My enemy is the fear of what I cannot control, and I have refused to bow at his feet. On behalf of my people I would earnestly seek a covenant with you that would neutralise this enemy and drive him from our community.’

  “It was at this time something remarkable occurred. The people began to weep, softly at first and then the sound of sobbing grew louder until it echoed back from the mountain behind them. There was also another sound which, had it occurred in any other context, would have been very alarming indeed. It was as if every animal in the forest had joined in the outpouring of grief. Abele sank to his knees, his head in his hands and his shoulders shaking uncontrollably. From the mouth of the great golden and black tiger before him came the most heart-rending cry that you can possibly imagine. This went on for a very long time. Gradually the noise subsided, and the same silence that had fallen on the valley when the tiger had first appeared descended on them again. As the people looked around them they realised that on each side of the valley thousands of animals had gathered, and had become part of the great audience that were waiting for the voice to begin again.”

  “Abele stood and walked slowly forward until he stood at the shoulder of the Great Tiger facing t
he people. Neither the man nor the animal seemed to speak, but the thunderous voice that each person and each animal heard in their minds seemed to simultaneously come from both Abele and the tiger. ‘This is the covenant that we make with each other today. The people belong to the valley, and they are free to inhabit it in any way that promotes peace and fulfils the perfect will of the Great Creator. Each generation will be served by a wise and compassionate man or woman who from now on will be known as the Mother-Father of Sampa.

  “‘The rainforest will be the realm of the animals and the behaviour of them all will be governed by the twin laws of nature and instinct. In the forest, the custodian of the Covenant will be the Great Tiger, and in the valley the custodian of the Covenant will be the Mother-Father. The Mother-Father will, by his or her life, show the people they serve the true nature of the Great Creator. Humankind may enter the rainforest for rest and recreation. They will not hunt or in any way harm the animals or plants that reside there. They will share their valley with grass-eating animals. The tiger and all predatory animals will remain in the forest. We will live without fear of each other for as long as the Covenant is unbroken.’”

  Muralu paused and Alofa leant forward, eager not to miss a word of what the old man said. The rest of the story, told over the next two nights, centred on Abele and his life and leadership as the first Mother-Father of Sampa. He was a wise and peaceful man who moved among his people like a father among his children. He encouraged them, counselled them, and sometimes rebuked them. At times he mediated in disputes between them. The core values of Sampa, to believe in the Great Creator and to be keepers of the Covenant, resulted in great importance being given to love, truth, and mercy, and Abele demonstrated that all these three core values could be achieved at the same time.