A long way down the road, out of the forest and across the mountains, coming upon a bridge, Two-Handed Baboon began to tire. He had not counted on the men living so far away. He was thirsty and the bridge seemed like a nice place to stop and grab a drink, so he walked down beside the bridge, toward the narrow but deep stream that ran beneath the bridge and squiggled off over the horizon and out of sight. There he dipped his face and drank deep of the clear running water. After drinking his fill, Two-Handed Baboon sat back against the bank, under a shade tree and watched the flies dip down to the stream. The warm wind blew, the flies buzzed, and, tired from travel, Two-Handed Baboon drifted into a light afternoon nap.
While he slept, he dreamed he was floating on a river. The river was long and straight and passed through many strange lands filled with strange creatures. He watched as each land one sailed by, more marvelous and fantastic than the last, until, far ahead he saw the land of the men. Closer and closer the river pushed him to his destination. He was almost there when a blur and a splash brought him back to his body. A long, large green snout poked out of the water onto the bank, and from behind it deep slitted eyes stared at him. Half of a recently dead frog hung from its jaws. It tilted back its head and swallowed the frog before re-fixing Two-Handed Baboon with its stare.
"Hello" Two-Handed Baboon said as he waved to the creature, "what is your name?"
The creature blinked with two eyelids. Slowly then he said "Frog...Eater."
"I am Two-Handed Baboon" he said the the creature.
The Frog Eater blinked. Two-Handed Baboon scratched his head. A fly Buzzed. The stream ran. The Frog Eater blinked.
"So, I'm traveling to find the home of the men. What do you do here?" Two-Handed Baboon said.
"Eat....Frogs".
The Frog Eater blinked.
Brilliant, thought Two-Handed Baboon, This creature is a scholar! He understands things so deeply, that his every action transforms his identity. He transcends his old self each moment!
Two-Handed Baboon became self-conscious, having only transcended once. He was certainly not ready to hear the wisdom of The Frog Eater, not until he was wiser. Embarrassment filled Two-Handed Baboon, he mumbled about getting on with his travels, grabbed his deer leg-bone and went off in a hurry across the bridge. As Two-Handed Baboon disappeared around a bend in the road, The Frog Eater watched him, and blinked.
Monday, April 12, 2010
The Journey of Two-Handed Baboon: The Baboon with Two Hands
This is a work in progress - more to come
Two-Handed Baboon began life as any baboon begins life: a baboon pregnancy followed by baboon birth. By all accounts, Two-Handed Baboon was a regular baboon, with - as his name suggests - two hands, which is normal for baboons. It would seem to follow then that the name Two-Handed Baboon is meaningless, without a regular context for baboons with a number of hands different than two, and that he should simply be called baboon, like all other baboons, but making that assumption requires the observer to overlook one key detail: one day, while eating a mouse, Two-Handed Baboon came to realize he had two hands. After this realization, he tried to share his knowledge with his baboon gang. Not one of the other baboons cared or understood what it meant to have two hands. Two-Handed Baboon tried to go back to his everyday life, but in everything he did he was constantly reminded that he had two hands. He felt disconnected, and knew that the other baboons were not like him, and that he could not be happy as a baboon. Remembering from long ago, Two-Handed Baboon thought of the men who had walked through the forest. They had been different than baboons, and also had two hands. They wore coverings over their bodies, and carried objects of power. They knew many secrets. Two-Handed Baboon decided to find where the men lived, and to join them, so that he might know secrets also, and so that he would have the company of equals.
Two-Handed Baboon fashioned a skirt from leaves and picked up a leg-bone from a deer skeleton, to use as a cane, before leaving his home. He did these things because he knew that finding the men would only be half of the journey - between his old life and his future, and that when he found the men, he would need to be more than a baboon. The road was long and Two-Handed Baboon began walking.
Two-Handed Baboon began life as any baboon begins life: a baboon pregnancy followed by baboon birth. By all accounts, Two-Handed Baboon was a regular baboon, with - as his name suggests - two hands, which is normal for baboons. It would seem to follow then that the name Two-Handed Baboon is meaningless, without a regular context for baboons with a number of hands different than two, and that he should simply be called baboon, like all other baboons, but making that assumption requires the observer to overlook one key detail: one day, while eating a mouse, Two-Handed Baboon came to realize he had two hands. After this realization, he tried to share his knowledge with his baboon gang. Not one of the other baboons cared or understood what it meant to have two hands. Two-Handed Baboon tried to go back to his everyday life, but in everything he did he was constantly reminded that he had two hands. He felt disconnected, and knew that the other baboons were not like him, and that he could not be happy as a baboon. Remembering from long ago, Two-Handed Baboon thought of the men who had walked through the forest. They had been different than baboons, and also had two hands. They wore coverings over their bodies, and carried objects of power. They knew many secrets. Two-Handed Baboon decided to find where the men lived, and to join them, so that he might know secrets also, and so that he would have the company of equals.
Two-Handed Baboon fashioned a skirt from leaves and picked up a leg-bone from a deer skeleton, to use as a cane, before leaving his home. He did these things because he knew that finding the men would only be half of the journey - between his old life and his future, and that when he found the men, he would need to be more than a baboon. The road was long and Two-Handed Baboon began walking.
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