Everything seems a ruinous outburst. It is just like an outburst emanating from a deep silence. The mother ape and its baby were strolling in the shade of a tree in the heart of a jungle, only the winds whistle around their ears was audible.
They both were oblivious of the cautions they must carefully abide by to survive, for in that vicinity death stalks feeble preys. Hence death by itself could be unplanned and untimely. Life in the jungle obligates conscious movement. Always one has to be on the toes. One needs to be conscious each time. He has to run away from predators.
The little ape was in a deep sleep clinging on her mom’s bosom .Wherever they are, mothers are the best protectors of their babies, the best mentors to know and the best feeders for hungry babies. When such delicate creatures rest in the shade of a tree, predators scoop down on them to end their lives. The little ape was trying to run God knows where unconsciously. But her mother was under the grip of the big beast’s teeth. She was dangling from there.
The little ape tried to run as far as her leg could carry her, but where? Willy-nilly she returned back to her mother, the predator beast continued strolling with an air of a victor griping the mother ape by its neck. The little ape clung to her mother’s belly in panic. Six months old, death was not registered in the dictionary of her life. Hopping, Jumping from one branch to another along with her mother was daily routines for the little apes.
Every creature comes to this world free. But in the process they experience hunger, then fear and finally death.
“Where are we going mama?” the little ape uttered to get answer, but her mom was not responding. But there was some movement. So she felt a sense of relief.
The tiger thought of disciplining the little ape murmuring in a disturbing manner.
Preys are created to fill predator’s belly in the universe of jungles, this rule has been there for a million years.
“We are created to eat bananas but the tigers, lions, hyenas what have you are created to devour us, nature is not fair for apes,” this message of the mother ape didn’t sink well in the daughter ape’s mind a month ago.
“Mom… Where are we going?” The little ape continued murmuring. Only the tiger’s footfall was audible. A pinching by way of a warning could not separate the baby ape from her mother. So the petty ape was going unto death hand to hand with her mom.
The little ape became brief like her mom. The times they lived, the resources they tapped and the stories they created remain not chronicled unlike humans. From start to finish the jungle was the backdrop of their lives.
Haunted by predators the poor creatures have no inkling of their fate. They just eat, rest and run, and enjoy the moment. These are all they knew. Some incidents are merciless in the animal’s world. The predators are predatory, and their world is their stomachs. They never build villas, nor do they deposit money. The cheetah, the hyena, the lion are on rampages simply to fill their bellies.
Before her death the poor little ape was breathing heavily not knowing how long the tragic episode lasts.
BY DESALEGN DAGNEW
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SATURDAY 25 NOVEMBER 2023
