| Author |
 Topic  |
|
Momodou
Denmark
11829 Posts |
 Posted - 14 Nov 2016 : 10:06:54
|
Smiling Forest Revisited - 1
By Baba Galleh Jallow
Chapter One
A brief historical background of Smiling Forest, Talkmuch Dolittle and other famous characters
Smiling Forest stood in the middle of the continent of Toro, the land of the black animals. Years ago, Smiling Forest was ruled by Mansa Talkmuch Dolittle, king of all the animals. The descendant of a lineage of leatherworkers, Talkmuch Dolittle rose to prominence by the sweetness of his tongue, the sharpness of his wit, the sheer size of his muscles, and the sharpness of his teeth. Having talked or clawed to submission all his major rivals for the throne, Talkmuch Dolittle “chased away” the former vassal chief of Smiling Forest, who served a great alien white queen in the distant forest of the red animals, and assumed leadership of Smiling Forest. He was hailed as a great warrior and savior – the great peace that had brought freedom to the animals of Smiling Forest!
For many years, Talkmuch Dolittle ruled Smiling Forest with a benign smile. Like the envoy of the great queen of the red animals, Talkmuch Dolittle made sure that absolute discipline reigned within the confines of Smiling Forest, so that generally speaking, life on Smiling Forest remained serene and peaceful throughout his long reign. His greatest weakness was that Talkmuch Dolittle talked too much, did too little and paid too little attention to the most ardent desires of his subjects. In general, however, his reign was one of peacefulness, relative security and a relatively high level of prosperity and dignity for the animals of Smiling Forest. For while he maintained strict discipline in the land, he did so with a philosophy of do nothing, suffer nothing.
Smiling Forest was a land of great social variety. There were very troublesome folks like Buki the hyena whose favorite past time was to ambush lesser animals and strike them dead or frighten them out of their wits; the likes of Nice Boy the monkey, who specialized in stealing the hard-earned food of other animals; his friend Nopa the hare, who enjoyed playing dirty pranks on bigger folks like Samo the elephant and Toothy the boar, who were rather slow of wit. Nopa particularly liked pretending that he was Talkmuch Dolittle himself by hiding behind some tree and making fearful noises to frighten lesser animals. There were the likes of Skimpy the giraffe, who bore everyone with his endless bragging over his ability to eat from tree tops; the likes of Saa the snake, who was such a notorious liar that all the animals disappeared whenever they saw him coming. He had caused many an untold misery to many an innocent animal by his crafty tales of deceit and scheming. The animals never forgot that Saa was responsible for the expulsion of Adama and Awa from the blissful garden of Ajana. And there were Spotty the tiger and Blackie the panther, who were widely rumored to have kingship ambitions and were said to be constantly plotting against Talkmuch Dolittle. Indeed, so persistent did the rumors grow that Talkmuch Dolittle banished Spotty and Blackie to a remote corner of Smiling Forest.
And there was the notorious Cheku the parrot, the most unpopular animal in Smiling. Cheku was reputed to have a very slippery tongue that just could not stay in one place for one single minute. He was always rattling his tongue about one thing or the other and when he had nothing to rattle his tongue about, he cooked up some phony tale which he loudly parroted to all who cared to listen. If he had no one to listen, Cheku the parrot would sit on top of a tree and chatter loudly away, mostly complaining about jealous folks who thought they were clever. And since there was supposed to be freedom of speech and expression in Smiling Forest, no one ventured to stop the garrulous parrot from having his noisy say.
Source: Gambia-L
|
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
|
|
Momodou
Denmark
11829 Posts |
Posted - 14 Nov 2016 : 10:08:10
|
Smiling Forest Revisited - 2
By Baba Galleh Jallow
Chapter Two
How Loony the fox came into Smiling Forest
Loony the fox was a refugee in Smiling Forest. He and his family having suffered some strange misfortune in their forest of origin, Loony had abandoned his dying parents and crept stealthily into Smiling Forest in search of greener pastures.
When he managed to slip into the borders of Smiling Forest, Loony had to stay in total hiding. To avoid detection by the ever vigilant immigration police, Loony sometimes covered himself in green leaves and posed like a bush when any animal passed him by. Sometimes he stood erect on his hind legs and froze, posing as a rock to avoid detection. When he felt in real danger of being detected, Loony smeared his entire body with red mud and froze at the slightest movement, pretending to be an anthill.
Ever the shady figure, Loony the fox spent most of those early days slinking on the dark fringes of Smiling Forest. As much as possible, he avoided detection and only went hunting during the nights. During the days, he crept stealthily around or slept under the protective cover of some thick bush.
Elsewhere in Smiling Forest, life went on as usual. Cheku the parrot told his endless tales. Buki the hyena stole other people’s food. Nopa the hare endlessly played his unpleasant tricks on innocent folks and sometimes pretended to be Talkmuch Dolittle. Nice Boy the monkey was always on the look-out for some mischief to make. Saa the snake, ever the celebrated liar, wove fantastic tales of pulp fiction and continued to wreck havoc on the stable relationships of unwary folks. Momba the tortoise, famous for his lackadaisical attitude, was mainly concerned with stuffing his shell with delicious food and sleeping under the cool shades of big trees. Samo the elephant, who was so dull of wit that he often forgot his own name, wandered aimlessly around, going to great pains not to crush tiny animals under his massive feet. For stupid though he was, Samo had a kind heart. Toothy the boar, hardly cleverer than Samo, continued to be a co-victim of the vicious Nopa’s ugly tricks. Skimpy the giraffe, ever-proud of his great height and his magical ability to eat from tree tops, gamboled gaily around, boasting of his height. The banished animals, poor old Spotty the tiger and Blackie the panther, quietly nursed their wounded egos in a remote corner of Smiling Forest. There they laid their plans and waited for an opportunity to pounce on the pompous Talkmuch Dolittle, tear him to pieces and assume leadership of Smiling Forest. Every dog has its day, they often consoled each other. Cheku the parrot kept his busy tongue wagging, trying to throw verbal spanners into the works of whatever worthy projects were going on in Smiling Forest, while Mbota the old frog hopped and croaked dully away.
At the onset of every cold season, when the rains had completely stopped, Talkmuch Dolittle called a general council of all the animals in Smiling Forest. At such a conference, under the wise guidance of Chokie the bushfowl, Talkmuch Dolittle gave a state of the forest address, reviewed developments, highlighted achievements and pointed out failures. It was here too that the animals expressed their opinions and views on burning issues in Smiling Forest. It was here that new arrivals who wanted to be accepted into the Smiling Forest community publicly stated their cases. This was a rather risky business because if Talkmuch Dolittle was not satisfied with an animal’s explanation, that animal was immediately pounced upon and forcefully thrown out of Smiling Forest. It was to this annual conference that Loony the fox came weeping and wailing, limping on all four legs, his long tail sadly drooping, a haggard and mournful look on his gaunt face, totally awash with baleful tears of extreme remorse.
A few meters away from the large gathering of animals, Loony the fox suddenly started weeping and wailing, attracting all eyes towards his direction. All the animals were mighty amazed when they saw the poor stranger dragging himself from behind some bushes and painfully staggering towards them. “Help him, help him!” Cheku the parrot shrieked, not able to hold his tongue at the sorry sight of the staggering stranger. “Give him a hand! Give him a hand!” Cheku loudly shrieked, frantically flapping his wings, swaying this way and that, performing all those concerned antics at which he was a great expert, prompting a few strong animals to run to Loony’s aid and carry him moaning, groaning and wailing into the ring of animals. They gently placed him before the incredulous Talkmuch Dolittle, who repeatedly asked, “Who are you? What’s wrong with you?” Bending over, Chokie the bush fowl whispered something into Talkmuch Dolittle’s ear, while casting a suspicious glance at the moaning and groaning fox, who looked as if he was going to die any moment.
Source: Gambia-L |
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
 |
|
|
Momodou
Denmark
11829 Posts |
Posted - 17 Nov 2016 : 09:23:02
|
Smiling Forest Revisited - 3
By Baba Galleh Jallow
Chapter Three
Loony tells a strange tale of ingratitude and deceit
At Talkmuch Dolittle’s bidding, Ostrich the doctor was about to call for an ambulance to transport Loony to the hospital when the wily fox suddenly dragged himself up and begged to be allowed to stay. Cheku the parrot, never missing an opportunity to display his legendary kindness, shrieked and cooed and said “no, no sir, you must be hospitalized, you must be hospitalized.” Loony, however, knowing that this was his best opportunity to seek acceptance into Smiling Forest, stoutly insisted that he was “okay, I’m cool, it’s fine.”
“Pray then, what brings you to our land?” Talkmuch Dolittle asked, making sure that his voice carried an unmistakable note of authority. “I want you to show reason why you should not be deported forthwith or charged with illegal entry into our beloved forest,” he said. At which point Loony the fox flung himself at the great monarch’s feet and loudly wailed and banged his snout against the ground and chewed the dust. “Stop that! stop that!” Cheku the parrot shrieked, dismayed at Loony’s strange behavior. ”You can’t do that!!”
“I will be brief my lord,” Loony wept. “When you hear my story, your heart will cry and you will see how ungrateful folks are. Please lend me your ears. I came to beg for shelter and not to play fool. The evil that men do dies after them, the good often interferes with their bones. So let it be with me.”
Having got the green light from Talkmuch Dolittle, a tearful Loony proceeded to narrate the most amazing story the animals had ever heard. He explained that he had come from the distant forest of Paf, where he was lord and master of a bunch of ungrateful animals. “For nine long years, your majesty, I toiled and soiled for the ungrateful brats. When the rains did not come and they were starving I built them grass. And what do you think they did? CRITICIZE!! When they had no air to breath I built them wind. And what did they do? CRITICIZE!! For nine long years, I single handedly protected them for the harsh weather and external enemies. And what did they do? CRITICIZE!! I worked my butt serving their lowly interests. And what did they do? CRITICIZE!!” At this point, Loony grew so agitated that he burst into heart-rending sobs. Cheku the parrot and Nice Boy the monkey, greatly moved by Loony’s sad tale of ingratitude, quickly moved to his side and consoled him, saying “don’t weep, don’t weep; ‘tis indeed a woeful tale.”
“’Nough tears! Let’s hear the rest!” Talkmuch Dolittle ordered, getting impatient. Loony wiped his tears and loudly sniffing, resumed his tale.
“In nine short years,” he whimpered, “I, as the great leader of Paf forest, did for those miserable animals what no one had done for them in one hundred years. And what did they do? CRITICIZE!! They were a bunch of good for nothings who could only criticize and criticize and criticize. Some of them pretended to be famous and some wore strange hats to demonstrate their wisdom. But it was me, me, who saved them from the clutches of the evil forces of Paf forest. And what did they do? CRITICIZE!! Now tell me or you good folks of Smiling Forest, do you think those wretched animals were grateful?” A universal moan and cocktail of voices greeted this pertinent question. “The ungrateful brats had nothing to do but CRITICIZE!!” Loony lamented, eliciting loud shrieks of disbelief from Cheku the parrot and some grunts from Toothy the boar. “And what did they eventually do? They secretly formed an evil coalition and, in evil collaboration with my evil enemies, they drove me and my family out of my very own forest. My very own God-given forest! But they will see who will now build them grass when they starve or give them air when they want to breathe. Was it not the great philosopher Totle who said what thorns surround, thorns surround? Those evil folks whose only work is to criticize will soon come face to face with reality – the red hot reality. And then they will remember what I used to tell them – that one bad turn serves another.”
“Now that we have heard your story, what do you have to say for yourself?” Talkmuch Dolittle asked.
“Your majesty, I just want you to please let me be your humble servant,” Loony begged. “Let me join the humble group of my fellow foxes who guard your eminent palace. Having had so many years experience in matters of forest security, I will serve Your Lordship with outstanding distinction. Having fallen from grace by the evil designs of those evil folks, I now accept my fate and seek neither recognition nor promotion. I ask only that I be allowed to feed with the other foxes so that I can cure my anemia, which as you can see has painted the corners of mouth white and turned me into a bundle of creaking bones. I pray Your Lordship’s kind indulgence!” So saying, Loony repeatedly banged his snout on the ground and raised and lowered his front paws in total submission and pleading.
“Your wish is granted,” said Talkmuch Dolittle. “I only expect that you abide by the laws and high standards of this noble forest.” So saying, Talkmuch Dolittle waved Loony aside and proceeded to give his state of the forest address in which he extolled the glorious achievements of his government and his abiding loyalty to the principles of animal rights and the rule of law. He dwelt at length on his famous philosophy of Sweaty-Sweaty, which called upon all the animals to tie their waists and work hard for the eternal prosperity of Smiling Forest. He preached the virtue of obedience and reverence to leaders, who he reminded the animals, were viceroys of the great God Yallah. As no ordinary animal could pretend to know why the great God Yallah chose certain animals to rule over others, it was sacrilegious not to pay due reverence to he whom the divine power had made the ruler. Nii mang koo keh, koo tayla, he admonished. Do nothing, suffer nothing.
So it was that Loony took his place alongside the armed foxes guarding Talkmuch Dolittle, his hungry eyes already on the big prize.
For many years, Loony the fox faithfully served Talkmuch Dolittle. He quickly rose among the ranks of security foxes on account of his extreme zealotry and professed loyalty to the monarch. From a mere recruit, he soon rose to become commander of the Red Hat Branch of the security foxes. This highly trained branch was responsible for the king’s personal security and enjoyed special benefits and access not available to the other foxes.
|
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
|
|
|
Momodou
Denmark
11829 Posts |
Posted - 17 Nov 2016 : 09:24:55
|
Smiling Forest Revisited - 4
By Baba Galleh Jallow
Chapter Four
What Talkmuch Dolittle failed to see and how he administered a historic test of loyalty
Meanwhile, Talkmuch Dolittle nonchalantly ruled on. As the years dragged by, the aging monarch got increasingly divorced from the realities of the ordinary animals of Smiling Forest. A thick wall of sycophants surrounded and shielded him from the harsh realities on the ground and fed him with multi-colored layers of convenient truths about the state of the common animals. Everything, they told him, was fine and dandy and that in fact, all the animals were ecstatic about the qualities of his great leadership. Some animals, they reported, had gone so far as to erect monuments in his honor to which they paid daily homage. He was now a god, ever right, above error. They narrated fictional stories about how some animals were so well fed and happy that they went around Smiling Forest singing Tesiti yeh doku bakeh, Talkimuchi lemu na kaira ti! (Tie your waist and work hard, Talkmuch is our peace!)
The reality on the ground, however, was far from rosy. Living standards were falling at an alarming rate and government corruption and redundancy were rocketing at breakneck speed. Discontent over Talkmuch Dolittle’s apparent condoning of corruption among top government officials bred ever-increasing bitterness among the lower animals. Even traditionally quiet and apolitical animals like Toothy the boar, Samo the elephant and Momba the tortoise became disenchanted with what they saw as the corruption-condoning policies of Talkmuch Dolittle. The fact that top officials that stole and were found guilty of public theft were simply re-deployed to other lucrative posts within the Smiling Forest administration greatly angered the animals. A thick cloud of resentment shrouded the bright landscape of Smiling Forest. A dark foreboding cast its ominous shadow across the land, presaging an era of even greater discontent whose seed had already been planted with the coming of Loony the fox into Smiling Forest.
Also, Talkmuch Dolittle had grown old and had been in power for far too long. The animals wanted a change of leadership and loudly gossiped about the fabled king who developed a sweet tooth for power and forgot his duties. And in spite of the fact that Talkmuch Dolittle became aware of talk about change of leadership, thanks to the likes of Cheku the parrot and Chokie the bush fowl, he nevertheless turned a blind eye and blind ear to all such noises and convinced himself that he knew what he was doing and that only the jealous animals were talking and all they could do anyway was simply talk.
One year, to test the loyalty of the senior members of his government, Talkmuch Dolittle declared in one of his state of the forest addresses that he was going to step down in a few months. He had, he said, served Smiling Forest long enough and it was time to pass the baton of leadership on to a new younger generation of leaders. He had no doubt, he declared, that Smiling Forest had great animals who could take on the heavy mantle of leadership from his tired shoulders.
While this historic announcement was greeted with applause from the majority of common animals and a few top government officials, the greatest show was put up by a number of animals who declared that they were totally opposed to any such thing as retirement for the glorious leader. This pack, led by Chokie the bush fowl, loudly wept and wailed and pulled their hair and begged the great leader never to say such a thing again. Taking the stage, Chokie the bush fowl loudly wept and called Talkmuch Dolittle father. He dropped on his knees and begged the Great God Yallah to please change the great king’s mind. Saa the snake frantically hissed and wiggled and twisted and turned and loudly wept and cried “my lord, my lord, please lord don’t go!” Jumbo the peacock, generally quiet on account of his slow mind and overly preoccupied with oiling and brushing his beautiful feathers, plunged into a stinking pool of dirt and loudly wailed and dragged himself around, eventually falling into a frightening swoon that could not fail to catch the attention of the great king himself. Cheku the parrot wept so hard that he also swooned and had to be carried off the grounds for urgent medical attention. Tan the vulture, Barr the alligator, Njogi the owl, Bahi the crow and Sindah the lizard all loudly wept and blew their noses and pulled their hair to demonstrate their grief at the monstrous prospect of the great king’s planned retirement. The myth that only Talkmuch Dolittle was capable of ruling Smiling Forest had long been propagated in the land, but that was the first time it was so strongly expressed. It was clear that many of the animals feared change. Change would mean they might lose their jobs, and would cease enjoying all the juicy perks that came with being close to Talkmuch Dolittle. In the light of such an outburst of passion, Talkmuch Dolittle announced that well, he had no choice but to succumb to the wishes of the patriotic animals of Smiling Forest to stay on and lead them unto more power and glory. “Eh,” he sighed. “If your own animals beg you to stay, you must accept because the will of one animal is the will of all animals. Nii mang koo keh koo tayla. Therefore, I am not stepping down anymore.”
A few days later, most of the animals who wept and begged Talkmuch Dolittle to stay on, including Chokie the bush fowl, Saa the snake and Jumbo the peacock were given big promotions while those animals that did not cry or that applauded his planned exit were demoted, marginalized or listed in the fabled Black Book of Smiling Forest as opponents of the great king’s infallible philosophy of Sweaty-Sweaty.
|
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
|
|
|
Momodou
Denmark
11829 Posts |
Posted - 18 Nov 2016 : 12:26:54
|
Smiling Forest Revisited - 5
By Baba Galleh Jallow
Chapter Five
The Supreme Council of the Angry and Talkmuch Dolittle’s sad miscalculations
Ten years before Talkmuch Dolittle conducted his historic test of loyalty, some disgruntled animals had taken up arms in a bid to forcefully overthrow the fabled king and drive him out of Smiling Forest. The animals, who called themselves the Supreme Council of the Angry, actually succeeded in taking over power in Smiling Forest. Talkmuch Dolittle had gone on a long journey overseas to attend a wedding ceremony in the court of one of his fellow kings and to play golf. It was while he was there that the Supreme Council of the Angry declared that they had seized power and that Talkmuch Dolittle should never step foot in Smiling Forest again. It was a tragic event that left many animals dead and traumatized many others.
The Supreme Council of the Angry, little schooled in the art of politics and professing great revolutionary zeal, angrily grabbed any former official of the Talkmuch Dolittle administration they could lay hands on and threw them into jail. They also threw wide open the gates of all the major jails in Smiling Forest and declared an amnesty to all who were imprisoned under the overthrown disposition. Not only that, they indiscriminately dished out arms and ammunition to any former convict who wanted to fight on the side of the revolution against the pockets of loyalist foxes who tried to defend the crown. The result was that the Supreme Council of the Angry lost total control of the situation and Smiling Forest became one great sea of bloody anarchy. Thus armed with guns, angry convicts, criminals and other aggrieved parties embarked on bloody personal vendettas. Jilted lovers went for their former wives and girlfriends and shot them dead; angry convicts went for lawyers and judges and police officers, while other folks saw the anarchy as an opportunity to go for their enemies. Looting was rampant in Smiling Forest and a state of anarchy prevailed. Within the space of a few days, the streets of Smiling Forest were lined with rotting corpses and food had grown scarce. Rampant raping, looting and killing became the order of the day in what was once a serene and peaceful forest.
However, after one week of bloody anarchy, foxes from the neighboring forest of Sunulep, whose king was afraid the uprising could spread to his own territory, backed by the powerful foxes of the red forests, who feared that the great plague of ‘munism, which the Supreme Council of the Angry openly professed, would take root in Smiling Forest and spread into their spheres of influence in the region, succeeded in re-installing Talkmuch Dolittle. He was smuggled into Smiling Forest wrapped in dry fox skins that made him an object of a buzzing colony of curious flies. Fox skins or no fox skins, flies or no flies, Talkmuch Dolittle was happy to be back in power. Ten years later, many animals felt that his historic test of loyalty invited yet another version of the Supreme Council of the Angry. And they were right.
As soon as he was back in power, Talkmuch Dolittle entered into a quasi-union with Sunulep forest to forestall any future uprisings in Smiling Forest. This union required that Smiling Forest, which hitherto had only a quasi form of armed foxes, now form its own corps of professional armed foxes, which Talkmuch Dolittle promptly hastened to do. In the absence of his own professional armed foxes, Talkmuch Dolittle could not possibly hold the title of king of the new union and commander in chief of the joint armed foxes of Sunulep and Smiling Forest. Sadly, after he created the armed foxes and when the time came for him to assume kingship of the union, the Sunulep animals would not have a word of it. How could such a puny little fellow like Talkmuch Dolittle assume the grand title of commander in chief of the great Sunulep armed foxes? So, without so much as a nice word, the great king of Sunulep forest promptly recalled his armed foxes and Talkmuch Dolittle was left to his own devices.
While this union lasted, Talkmuch Dolittle had Sunulep foxes as his personal bodyguards because he did not trust his own Smiling foxes. When the Sunulep foxes suddenly left after the collapse of the union, Talkmuch Dolittle promptly imported more foreign foxes from the neighboring forest of Nigiri to serve as his personal bodyguards. These foxes –mostly hardened and unscrupulous - were given the best positions among the security foxes and enjoyed all the best service conditions. They were paid fat salaries, drove around in flashy cars, had the most beautiful women, enjoyed the choicest wines and generally treated the Smiling Forest foxes with contempt and condescension. It was thus that by the time Loony joined the Smiling security foxes, discontent was running very high among them. Rumors were also rife that Cockerel Sir Messiah, the elusive leader of the Supreme Council of the Angry, who mysteriously flew out of Smiling Forest, was on the verge of coming back with a huge army.
In addition to this grievance, and especially after his historic test of loyalty, the number of corruption scandals involving senior officials of the Talkmuch Dolittle administration increased at an alarming rate while the monarch continued turning a blind eye to repeated public outcries. Officials found guilty of fraud were simply asked to go on temporary leave and soon thereafter given other highly lucrative positions particularly in the diplomatic corps. The baffled animals of Smiling Forest could not understand what had happened to Talkmuch Dolittle. Many whispered that the aging monarch was under the powerful spells of these corrupt officials. His mouth and free will, the animals said, were tied, so that he could neither say nor do anything. Others felt that Talkmuch Dolittle was trying to eat his cake and have it as well, by appearing to punish corrupt officials while appeasing them so he could be seen as a kind and forgiving fellow.
The great bombshell exploded when one Talkmuch Dolittle’s new employees Jumbo the peacock, notoriously dishonest and crafty, was accused of massive fraud by one of the lower animals. Jumbo had flown into a blew rage and not only plunged into a stinking pool of dirt, but flew madly around Smiling Forest, bumping into trees and bushes, plucking out his feathers and throwing them this way and that to indicate his rage, swearing that he would deal with the impudent little brat that accused him of fraud. Angrily puffing, panting and ranting, Jumbo took legal action against the impudent bloke. Unfortunately, the evidence against him was overwhelming and a disgraced Jumbo was declared guilty of fraud by one of the higher courts of Smiling Forest.
All the animals believed that Jumbo the peacock would be sacked and even charged with fraud by Talkmuch Dolittle’s administration. They were to be sorely disappointed for, contrary to all expectations and to their utter dismay, Talkmuch Dolittle instead promoted Jumbo the peacock to the second highest office in the land: the office of Possible Successor To The Throne. The deafening public outcry that greeted this incomprehensible royal action fell on deaf ears. It was simply inconceivable that an animal found guilty of theft in a public court of law could be named Possible Successor To The Throne. Talkmuch Dolittle seemed, by this action, to be expressing utmost scorn for the opinions of the great majority of the animals of Smiling Forest. But well, what was royal prerogative all about anyway? Many animals now greatly doubted the principle of nii mang koo keh koo tayla because some of those who koo keh something really bad did not suffer for their crimes as long as they were in the good books of Talkmuch Dolittle.
|
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
|
|
|
Momodou
Denmark
11829 Posts |
Posted - 21 Nov 2016 : 09:19:08
|
Smiling Forest Revisited - 6
By Baba Galleh Jallow
Chapter Six
Jumbo the peacock, Chamil the buzzard and the rival factions of Smiling Forest
From the day he appointed Jumbo the peacock Possible Successor To The Throne, the proverbial clock ticked faster for Talkmuch Dolittle. The strange event generated an unprecedented tide of gossip in the agitated forest, as the animals wondered just what had become of the ailing monarch. His appointment of Jumbo was either an act of madness or lack of control over his senses and willpower. Some of the more astute and observant animals smelt trouble in the air and knew that somehow, something bad was bound to happen in the not too distant future.
For some time, nothing happened. Jumbo the peacock, who now walked around with his nose turned up to the skies and his feathers more oily and more shiny than ever before, basked in his newfound power and prestige. He grew more flamboyant by the hour, regularly oiling and brushing his ever-bright feathers and loudly hailing Talkmuch Dolittle’s philosophy of Sweaty-Sweaty. Rather than discourage the unhealthy competition between the wives of the higher animals as to who visited distant lands more often, who had the greatest number of cars and hoards of dazzling jewelry, Jumbo the peacock gleefully encouraged the culture of flamboyance and corruption in Smiling Forest. His sudden rocketing to the number two position in Smiling Forest greatly increased the influence of the notorious Terifo faction within the government over the rival Mayifo faction, some of whose leaders had fallen from grace for cheering Talkmuch Dolittle’s declaration of intent to step down.
Over the years Terifo and Mayifo, the two wealthy factions within the Smiling Forest government had vigorously competed for the favors of the ailing monarch and their competition extended to their wives, friends and families. One of the biggest arenas of the competition was the weekly drumming and dancing sessions at the exclusive Horses Nightclub, where every Friday evening, the legendary drummer Chamil the buzzard entertained the cream of Smiling high society. The wives and concubines of Smiling government officials religiously thronged to the Horses Nightclub, clad in colorful robes of expensive fabric, their fingers and necks decked with dazzling pieces of jewelry and the smell of expensive exotic perfumes imported from overseas filling the air with an intoxicating aura that almost filled the whole of Smiling Forest. As soon as Chamil the buzzard started beating his talking drum and extolling the virtues of one wealthy wife or the other, the well-fed women would frantically dash onto the dancing floor, seductively wriggle their waists, shake their butts in the famous yengal style, and thrust wads of brand new bank notes at the crafty buzzard, who soon grew fat and wealthy. They openly competed as to who gave more money to Chamil the buzzard and who had her praises sang more often. On either side of the floor, male members of the rival factions stood grinning with ready supplies of more bank notes to their wives and concubines and threw mocking anecdotes at each other in the guise of sophisticated pleasantries, as befitted a civilized and well read community.
Once in a while, to add sugar to the spice, one of the more happy men would suddenly rush onto the floor, grab a partner, and perform a couple of teyakh moves, before rushing back to the sidelines amid a great uproar, clapping and much laughter. The teyakh move, which required a nimble agility of the waist, was considered an unmistakable sign of virility. Older members of the rival factions, to prove that they still had not gone njigirr, were frequent performers of the teyakh move. And then later, at their separate vous, their meeting places, members of the two rival factions would slap each other on the back and say, “Boy that was a really good teyakh!! Boy, did you see how that ndo did the yengal!! Boy that jeg was really good!!” They never failed to hilariously recall how poor old Koto Kay slipped quietly out to take a rest after his lousy teyakh moves!! Na gayi dem toge! they would boast. Ye taa sii! Ala bi nkoyo mome! Paa bi suhn paa la! Sir Talkmuch is our nakebba, whether they like it or not! Yeah, golo amna almet! They all used to have ratatoi!
Chamil the buzzard, the crafty mastermind of seductive lyrics always added more and more sugar and spice to his string of taasu songs and woi sa maams, which always brought more and more banknotes falling to his feet and sticking from his copati hat. The weekly partying at the Horses Night Club went far into the early morning hours when the famous bigwigs and their partners jumped into their luxury cars and sped off to their cozy homes. Meanwhile, the poor and not so lucky majority animals of Smiling Forest drank the hot dry air and made do with not so available timber. At the weekends, they wore their best outfits and did the famous tobal tanka dances at the less prestigious but good enough baal puuserr get togethers. "Ratatoi or no ratatoi, we will have our kurus ak jaasi," the lower animals would gaily sing as they moved back and forth, back and forth in their famous tobal tanka dances.
Source: Gambia-L
|
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
|
|
|
Momodou
Denmark
11829 Posts |
Posted - 21 Nov 2016 : 09:21:43
|
Smiling Forest Revisited - 7
By Baba Galleh Jallow
Chapter Seven
The visit of the Miriki Forest foxes and how Talkmuch Dolittle sailed into exile
The announcement over Smiling Forest radio that some red security foxes from the distant and powerful forest of Miriki had arrived in Smiling Forest for joint security maneuvers with the local foxes elicited little surprise. It was an annual custom for Miriki foxes to come give some training to Smiling foxes and so there was nothing strange about it. The ship in which the Miriki foxes sailed could be seen anchored off the coast of Smiling, awaiting the time to discharge its fox cargo for the exercise. So that when the animals of Smiling Forest woke up to the specter of hordes of heavily armed foxes marching down the streets towards the royal palace, there was little alarm at first. They were simply preparing for the joint exercise, the animals thought. But it soon dawned upon them that the joint Miriki-Smiling security foxes exercise was still two days away. And waves of fear and anxiety swept the four corners of Smiling Forest.
That fateful day became known in the annals of Smiling Forest history as the Tragic Day of the Foxes. The day when the self-declared gallant and patriotic foxes of Smiling Forest decided that since they had the guns and machetes, they were more entitled to wielding power than the increasingly corrupt, inefficient and unpopular Talkmuch Dolittle administration, or any of the other animals who had no guns or machetes. On that fateful tragic day of the foxes, something died in Smiling Forest and something - dark and sinister - was born. It was to haunt Smiling Forest for more than two decades.
As the armed foxes marched towards the royal palace, word of the strange spectacle somehow reached Talkmuch Dolittle and members of his government who were having an early morning meeting. It was as if a bombshell had been dropped in the middle of the august assembly. All the great officials, including his Royal Highness, scrambled off for dear life. Talkmuch Dolittle, with help from Andi Smoothy, the Miriki Forest envoy, who by some strange coincidence, happened to be present, quickly herded his family into a canoe that rowed out to the waiting Miriki foxes ship, which sailed further away from the shore and later proceeded to Sunulu forest. Here, Talkmuch Dolittle and his entourage were granted temporary asylum. Reports had it that on board the Miriki ship, one of Talkmuch Dolittle’s two wives had fallen upon Jumbo the peacock and severely clobbered him with her high heeled shoe, cussing and accusing him of bringing the evil misfortune on the royal family. A few months later, a crestfallen Talkmuch Dolittle traveled to the distant forest of the red animals where he sought refuge. Jumbo the peacock, having craftily stashed some of his wealth abroad, set up shop in Sunulep Forest and became a businessman.
As Talkmuch Dolittle sadly sailed away into exile, speculations abounded as to what role Andi Smoothy and the Miriki Forest government played in the ousting of Talkmuch Dolittle. Miriki Forest was notorious for helping oust leaders around the world, especially if they were seen as having too cozy a relationship with the forests of the yellow animals and their ‘munism ideology. The speculations soared to the sky when it was discovered that six days before the Smiling Forest foxes seized power, Andi Smoothy had met with the six foxes who later emerged as the lead conspirators in the overthrow of Talkmuch Dolittle. Many years later, some animals still suspected that the Miriki Forest government had something to do with Talkmuch Dolittle’s ouster. Since that information remained classified, some animals impatiently waited for the day when they would lay their hands on documents explaining the nature of the Miriki-Smiling Forest relationship during Talkmuch Dolittle’s last days in office.
After the flight into exile of Talkmuch Dolittle, Jumbo the peacock and other members of the ousted government, the armed foxes consolidated their iron grip on power in Smiling Forest. Having flown and dashed frantically into hiding, senior officials of the ousted administration were ordered to come out and hand themselves over to security stations around the forest for their own safety. A few ventured to obey the orders, but the majority had to be hunted down, fished out and thrown into jail, charged with the plunder of Smiling Forest resources. In those strange early days of the foxes, it was common to see the powerful animals of yesterday being shamefully hounded and paraded around Smiling Forest, from pillar to post, post to pillar, severally denounced as traitors and thieves who had plundered the resources of Smiling Forest and had lived flamboyant lifestyles while the great majority of animals lived in abject poverty. Captured members of the Terifo and Mayifo factions were driven around in the backs of trucks, guarded by heavily armed foxes. For the next few days, no one knew who the leader of the foxes was.
Over the years, there had been many cases of armed foxes seizing power in near and distant forests around the continent of Toro. Chilling accounts of the horrendous crimes committed by these foxes in power reached the animals of Smiling Forest and made them shudder at the very idea of foxes in power. Horrendous tales of murder, injustice, wanton destruction of lives and property, the near deification of power drunk foxes characterized the fate of forests taken over by armed foxes. In all cases, a mad fox seemed to have been the leader. There were the stories of Corporal Idim (the cannibal) of Ugidi forest, who promoted himself to General, declared himself emperor of the red fox empire, killed thousands of innocent animals including some of his friends whose wives he seized, and kept chunks of animal flesh in his fridge; of Corporal Bikisi (the clown) of Cenetu forest, who also promoted himself to General, crowned himself emperor and wore a crown worth over thirty six million dollars; of Sergeant Sado (the sadist) of Bareyu forest, who butchered all members of the government he overthrew, declared himself General, and went for a weekly hairdo worth thousands of dollars in the distant forest of Miriki; of Sabacha (the butcher) of Nigiri forest, whose killing squads gunned down countless opponents to his brutal regime; and of the maddest of them all, General Motusi Sicko (the vampire) of Ziyiri forest, who, though a fox, insisted that he was a leopard, built a castle on the sea, and demanded to be worshipped by the animals. Motusi Sicko liked to have the blood of his victims drained into a glass and drank it so he could become invincible. The list was endless.
In spite of all these frightening and horrendous tales of brutality and madness about armed foxes who seized power around the continent of Toro, the majority of Smiling Forest animals brushed aside all possibilities of such an aberration in their own dear motherland. “Smiling Forest is a blessed forest,” they convinced themselves. “We are not like other animals and other forests," they reasoned. “We are simple, honest and hardworking folks. The great God Yallah loves us and will not allow what happened in other forests to happen here. What about all the prayers we say, all the sacrifices we make to the great God Yallah? Surely He will not allow us to go down the path of those other miserable forests, whose animals are ungodly and treacherous and ungrateful to the great God Yallah?”
The ugly reality, as the animals were soon forced to acknowledge, was that Smiling Forest had indeed joined the list of the raped forests; the miserable club of depraved forests where truth becomes lies and lies truth; the sad forests where justice becomes injustice, and freedom slavery; where truth becomes lies, and lies truth. Smiling Forest would soon become worse than those forests where only the wicked and the mediocre thrive and the truthful and the good are relegated to the status of unwanted pariahs - jailed, beaten up, shot dead, sent scrambling for dear life into distant hostile lands where they are considered third class citizens and have to endure all manner of shameful and degrading treatment.
And so while some of the less sober animals celebrated and danced in the streets, the more sober animals cried and wailed and hit their heads against the earth, and threw a thousand questions up to heaven, hoping that the great God Yallah would send them a clue, help them understand just what had happened, where they had gone wrong. All they got in reply was silence, a deep silence that threatened to burst their tortured ear drums. The Great God Yallah was not in the habit of talking back to His creatures. He had stopped that long ago, when the world was still young…. Smiling Forest was in deep, deep trouble. Its animals were destined to suffer one of the longest and most brutal experiences of armed foxes rule not only within the continent of Toro, but throughout the whole big wide world. |
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
|
|
|
Momodou
Denmark
11829 Posts |
Posted - 22 Nov 2016 : 13:36:07
|
Smiling Forest Revisited - 8
By Baba Galleh
Chapter Eight
How the armed foxes consolidated their power and how the animals learned who their new ruler was
The overthrow of Talkmuch Dolittle’s government elicited loud protests from other forests far and wide. The whole world was filled with a universal cry of foul and there were persistent calls for the foxes to allow Talkmuch Dolittle back into power. The powerful forests of the red animals, who considered Talkmuch Dolittle a paragon of virtue, threatened to isolate and take punitive measures against Smiling Forest if the foxes did not hand power back and return immediately to barracks. But of course they were wasting their bullets on the rocks. It was clear that the foxes would never do such a thing. And they said as much. “Over our dead bodies,” they declared. “Talkmuch Dolittle will never be allowed to rule Smiling Forest again! We are now the by force lords and masters of this forest and if you don’t like it you can go to hell.” This was a mantra Smiling Forest animals were doomed to hear for the next twenty-something years!
The Smiling Forest animals tried in vain to understand what was going on. The greater part of the Tragic Day of the Foxes was shrouded in mystery. The animals knew that Talkmuch Dolittle had been overthrown by the foxes; but they did not know which particular foxes were involved. They glued their ears to their transistors, listening to the endless ominous drone of fox music that played on national radio. Small groups of animals crowded around the available transistors, quietly listening, holding their mouths and shaking their heads in wonder. It was a strange spectacle indeed, as if some strange aliens had descended into Smiling Forest and mystified the very environment itself. The air was filled with an ominous foreboding. Even the trees seemed to bend their heads in sadness.
Towards late afternoon of that tragic day, the guttural voice of a fox came on the air. The fox, whose name had hitherto been unheard of in Smiling Forest, declared that he was Sgt. Taba Sumbu Nyinkiling, the one-toothed fox. The government of Talkmuch Dolittle he declared, was no more. The patriotic armed foxes had decided to rid Smiling Forest of the corrupt monarch and his decadent cohorts. For thirty years, he barked, Talkmuch Dolittle and his decadent cohorts had pillaged and plundered the resources of Smiling Forest. They had stolen all the money and sucked the coffers dry. They had lied and cheated the poor animals of their God-given resources, forced them to live in abject poverty and hunger while they lived flamboyant lifestyles of ease and plenty. From now on, no more flamboyant lifestyles! No more teyakh and yengal! No more talk of Sweaty-Sweaty or any other similar nonsense like koo keh koo tayla! This was the era of reality and hard work! Down with Talkmuch Dolittle! Down with corruption! Long live the glorious armed foxes of Smiling Forest! Long live the patriotic animals of Smiling Forest! Free at last! Free at last! Never again!
Having angrily spoken at great length, Sgt. Taba Sumbu Nyinkiling asked all the animals to remain calm and to report for their various duties as usual. Within the next few days, he said, a new government would be announced. But meanwhile, all institutions of government had been suspended and all political activity banned. Any animal that dared engage in political activity would be severely, mercilessly and brutally dealt with. And so began the systematic proscription of the inalienable rights, privileges and immunities of the animals that was to become a hallmark of Smiling Forest life. From now on, the foxes claimed full and total control and ownership of Smiling Forest and bullied the animals left, right and center.
The following day, Sgt. Taba Sumbu Nyinkiling, who appeared to be the armed foxes’ spokesman, was on the air again. This time he announced that the Armed Foxes Potential Roasting Cabal had been formed, under the leadership of the gallant Captain Drymouth Bow Wow Wow Loony, who henceforth was to be referred to as His Supreme Lordship, Savior, Grand Lord and Master of Smiling Forest, Sole Owner and Guardian of the Lower Animals. The Grand Lord and Master, Sgt. Nyinkiling announced, will now address the animals. A moment later, the metallic voice of the gallant Drymouth Bow Wow Wow Loony came on the air. The animals were surprised at how dry his English was. Some even thought he was speaking through a metallic pipe.
“Fellow animals,” he cracked, “the corrupt government of Talkmuch Dolittle is no more. From now on, we the patriotic armed foxes of Smiling Forest are your lords and masters. We are not only your lords and masters but also your owners. For thirty years, Talkmuch Dolittle and his gang of thieves plundered your resources. For thirty years they built big mansions, owned landed properties and lived flamboyant lifestyles while you the poor and toiling animals of this our dear Smiling Forest were left to sweat and scratch the dry earth and chew the dust for a living. Aye, we were all left to do the tobal tanka dance and chew the dry dust while Talkmuch Dolittle and his corrupt cohorts did the yengal style, lived on eggs, meat, butter and cheese and grew fat and lazy. In fact, some of us grew so hungry that we developed the ratatoi while the so-called bigwigs drank all the milk, ate all the apples and oranges and bananas; and you poor animals were left to live on the rotten tomatoes. That era is no more. We the patriotic armed foxes have decided to risk our lives to save you from the tentacles of greed and corruption. We have risked our lives to make sure that Smiling Forest does not become like the crying forests in our sub-region.” He paused for breath and let out a mournful whimper and gnashed his teeth, then continued.
“But we want to assure you that we are not here to stay. I swear by the Great God Yallah that we will be here for only two years and then we will hand over to civilian animals and go back to barracks. We are foxes and we know that a fox’s place is in the barracks. We promise you that we are not politicians like Talkmuch Dolittle and his bunch of thieves. We are not interested in luxury cars or big mansions or private planes or flamboyant lifestyles. No more flamboyant lifestyles in Smiling Forest! We are here to right the wrongs of that wicked Talkmuch Dolittle and his corrupt cohorts and then we will allow you to decide who you want to be your ruler. From now on, our slogan is accountability, transparency and probity!! But you must remember that we risked our lives to save you and so we own you right now and you must not raise a question! Anyone who tries to challenge us will go six feet deep! If Talkmuch Dolittle used to say nii mang koo keh koo tayla I am saying whether you koo keh or not if you challenge us you are going to hell! And that is warning before wounded.
“We are aware that some of you are afraid of us and what we might do to you because we have the guns,” he continued in his metallic voice. “We are aware of the wicked things that armed foxes that have seized power in other forests have done to the animals living under them. But I want to assure you that we are foxes with a difference. Our motto and guiding principles are respect, equality and justice. We shall defend and uphold all your God-given rights, serve you with all our energy!! Criticize us when we go wrong. For we are here to be your servants, not your masters even though my title is Lord and Master of all the animals! But when I say servants I just mean servants in a metaphorical sense and you must not get excited and start making funny noises. Fellow animals. For thirty years you have been robbed and cheated. All of us have been robbed of cheated and some of us even have the ratatoi! Look at my mouth and tell me if this is not the real ratatoi! But today I say unto you, no more ratatoi! The day of liberty and freedom has arrived.
As Loony rattled on and on, his metallic voice rang like creaking corrugate iron sheets in the ears of the bewildered animals. He repeated over and over again that they were not there to stay, that they had come merely to clean the Smiling Forest house, that their motto was accountability, transparency and probity with truth, equality and justice; that they were foxes with a difference, that they were there to be the animals’ servants, even though all the animals must now consider him – Captain Drymouth Bow Wow Wow Loony - , the one and only Grand Lord and Master of all the animals of Smiling Forest – dead, alive and unborn! Finally, he ended his lengthy rant with a sudden crack and cackle of “Long live Smiling Forest! Long live the Armed Foxes Potential Roasting Cabal!”
|
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
|
|
|
Momodou
Denmark
11829 Posts |
Posted - 23 Nov 2016 : 09:20:42
|
Smiling Forest Revisited - 9
By Baba Galleh Jallow
Chapter Nine
Other members of the Armed Foxes Potential Roasting Cabal and how Loony promoted himself to General
The early days and weeks of the foxes were exciting times for the bewildered animals of Smiling Forest. It was like an action thriller in which the self-imposed forces of good – the armed foxes – routed the forces of evil – the Talkmuch Dolittle administration. Loony, alongside a number of hitherto unknown foxes now loomed larger than life and took on legendary proportions.
In those early days of the takeover, Loony and his new team of ruling foxes routinely marched in the streets of Smiling Forest, their hands held high up, to the rapturous cheers of the excited Smiling rabble. It reminded some animals of the commoners of the ancient forest of Romulus and Remus, who were as easily swayed as the wind. How Loony, his dry face oily with excitement and tears of pride streaming down his hollow cheeks, enjoyed the rapture of those glorious moments!! He would widely grin and wag his tail and sniff and snort as he did what soon became his trademark V for Victory sign. And when he spoke to the roaring crowds, Loony never failed to reassure them that he and his fellow patriotic armed foxes were “not here to stay”, that they were foxes with a difference and that they were all for truth, equality and justice, transparency, accountability and probity!! How the animals loved those reassuring words! These are indeed foxes with a difference, they assured each other, hoping against all hope that they were right.
Alongside Loony in the Armed Foxes Potential Roasting Cabal were other prominent foxes. There was Smaller Longtail, who soon emerged as a potential contender for attention within the ranks of the armed foxes. There was Sadface Slowy, Smaller Longtail’s closest ally among the foxes. There was Stewart the brown fox, Fatty the mouthy and Jacob the fat-eyed, who soon became notorious on account of his verbal dexterity and volubility. Jacob the fat-eyed soon entered the whispering channels of Smiling Forest as Jacob the fibster on account of the fabulous fibs he wove. How he wove juicy tales in praise of Loony’s prowess! How Jacob jumped the bushes to please Loony!!
To further reassure the skeptical animals of Smiling Forest that they were indeed foxes with a difference, the Armed Foxes Potential Roasting Cabal invited other animals to join their ranks in the new administration. Some of these animals had fallen foul of the former administration and were quite eager for vindication. By this action, Loony and his Armed Foxes Potential Roasting Cabal succeeded in winning a degree of trust from both the animals of Smiling Forest and the powerful forests of the red animals. Some of these co-opted animals commanded a lot of respect from the Smiling Forest community while others had public records of dubious quality. “See?” Loony was wont to declare; “We told you we are foxes with a difference. From now on all the animals of Smiling Forest are equal. Those of you who lived flamboyant lifestyles will now suffer while those of us who suffered will now enjoy. This is the dawn of a new era of equality and justice!! And as I always tell you, we are not here to stay. We are here to serve you, to correct a corrupt system, hand over power and return to our rightful place – the barracks.” And then he would add a threat: “But we the patriotic armed foxes have sacrificed our lives to save you lower animals from the clutches of the evil regime of Talkmuch Dolittle. Be therefore warned that whoever tries to derail our glorious and patriotic revolution will be buried deep, deep, deep. You have been warned and no one will say Loony has not told me so!!”
And then to really clean house and purge Smiling Forest of all corrupt elements, the Armed Foxes Potential Roasting Cabal set up a number of Hunting Groups to search the forest and question animals with properties of dubious origin. Most of those questioned by these Hunting Groups were members of the ousted Talkmuch Dolittle administration. But the Hunting Groups also wandered and probed into the territory of smaller fry among the Smiling Forest community. Hundreds of wealthy animals were jailed and hundreds of expensive properties seized. Most of these seized properties – land, houses and cars in particular - were distributed among members of the Armed Foxes Potential Roasting Cabal. Then in order to effectively oversee the all important affairs of the Hunting Groups, and in order to grow more deserving of the elevated station of king of all the animals, Loony the fox promoted himself to General and assumed the learned title of Chief the Honorable Doyen, Guru and Doctor of Numbers, Letters, Phrases and Sentences. This was just the beginning of a tradition of title-taking that would make the Loony the animal with the longest string of titles in the whole big wide world.
|
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
|
|
|
Momodou
Denmark
11829 Posts |
Posted - 28 Nov 2016 : 09:43:45
|
Smiling Forest Revisited - 10
By Baba Galleh Jallow
Chapter Ten
How some animals switched sides and General Loony’s radical philosophy of Me-Alone
For a while after the Tragic Day of the Foxes, some of the animals who were not top officials in the former government but were closely associated with Talkmuch Dolittle kept a low profile, afraid that the foxes would hunt them down and lock them up or kill them. Prominent among these were Jege the hen, Nice Boy the monkey and Cheku the parrot. Jege the hen kept close to home and made it known that she had a dream that she was going to lay eggs soon. Nice Boy pretended that he had caught the flu and constantly coughed and spluttered and loudly blew his nose, while Cheku claimed that he had high fever. His wings and head drooped ominously and his entire body continuously shook and he constantly croaked “I sweat, I sweat, I’m cold.”
Soon however, Jege the hen, Nice Boy the monkey, and Cheku the parrot started making public statements in praise of Loony the fox and his infinite wisdom. Jege the hen who used to call Talkmuch Dolittle father and his two wives mother, publicly denounced and renounced the ousted royal family and declared her undying love for Loony. She made a great hue and cry and loudly declared that she could give every single one of her feathers to Loony if the new king demanded them right there. She would wipe his shoes and sweep his palace without pay and she would plunge into a fire if that was required to show her love for Loony. Nice Boy the monkey, never to be outdone, declared that Talkmuch Dolittle was an evil king who deserved his evil fate. The animals of Smiling Forest, he preached, should thank the Great God Yallah and pay humble homage to General Loony for saving them from what could otherwise have been a horrible fate. The chorus was picked up by Cheku the parrot, who now specialized in singing loud songs of praise for the Great Leader and his gallant cabal of armed foxes. Cheku, also reputed to have called Talkmuch Dolittle father and his wives mother, now declared that the former king was in fact a cheat and a liar and that he had so much love and respect for General Loony that he could willingly become his slave. The eventual effect of these profuse compliments was that Jege the hen, Nice Boy the monkey and Cheku the parrot were soon declared national patriots, awarded the highest national honors – the national honor of the lips - and co-opted into the new ring of die-hard Loony loyalists. They were given new jobs and held up as shining examples of the new revolutionary creed and disposition of unquestioning patriotism.
Meanwhile, the ordinary animals of Smiling Forest regarded their new king with dreadful awe and wonder. A web of fantastic tales and myths was woven around the Great Leader’s person, which soon made him larger than life in the minds of the less imaginative animals. All manner of tall tales were told about him. Word soon spread that General Loony had great supernatural powers and could even turn himself into a donkey. Rumor had it that the General was actually all-knowing and all-seeing and could turn himself into a chameleon if he was in the mood. Some said that he could make one of his eyes red and the other eye green; and that if he looked at you with the red eye, you dropped dead and if he looked at you with the green eye, you immediately turned to stone. Some even argued that General Loony was a reincarnation of the great prophet Moosaa, sent by the Great God Yallah to save His people from the clutches of the evil Firr-Awoon and lead them on to the Promised Land. Some whispered that he was in fact a reincarnation of the legendary Yadicone of the numerous tails, king of the cats. At their most dramatic, the rumors had it that Loony was in fact the mythical Yappa Yakh, king of the squirrels.
Still other tales had it that General Loony had great healing powers. The General himself declared that he came from a great lineage of healers and that he was himself a great witchdoctor. He claimed that he could heal all manner of illnesses ranging from leprosy, to hapati, to poverty. Through the rattling beaks of Cheku the parrot and Jege the hen, now his most vocal spokespersons, General Loony spread the word that he could heal any disease with a single tap of the hand. When Toothy the boar heard that one, he loudly groaned and blew his nose. Sindah the lizard instantly had a running stomach! Mbota the frog loudly croaked and plunged into the pond for his annual hibernation, even though the time was not yet ripe. Momba the tortoise quietly withdrew into his shell to avoid, he said, the fantastic hailstorm from breaking his fragile head.
But General Loony’s greatest renown came in the field of philosophy. He soon made it known that he was a great thinker with a unique mind and baffling thought processes. His personal philosophy of life, he declared, was the infallible philosophy of Me-Alone, which showed the general’s profound understanding of the workings of not only the animal mind, but also this mortal world whose cardinal characteristics were past, present and future plus one, two, three. At every possible opportunity General Loony would delve into a learned exposition of his erudite philosophy of Me-Alone. He would explain to his faithful cronies and to the entire Smiling Forest community how any animal would drown in hell who did not know that everyday was divided into morning, afternoon and evening. “You cannot come to afternoon if you do not pass through morning and there would be no evening without afternoon”, he would loudly squeak, his head titled to one side, a distant look in his eyes. He would proceed to indicate that it was thanks to his personal wisdom that he was able to discover this brand new philosophy of life which hundreds of generations of wise animals had tried in vain to discover, namely, that life is divided into yesterday, today and tomorrow.
“My personal philosophy of Me-Alone,” he would squeak, “is no simple philosophy and can only be understood by animals whose eyes, ears and noses are in their right places. But those of you whose eyes are where your mouths should be will never understand that one sunrise follows another, just as yesterday was followed by today, not tomorrow.” Another favorite line of exposition for the wise general, who now insisted on being also called Chief Londibali, was that in counting, one must always start with one, two, three. Everything in life, he preached, was based on one, two, three, which were also the basic principles of his erudite philosophy of Me-Alone.
Indeed, such was the great depth of the Great Leader’s wisdom that apart from Chief Londibali, he was soon called Chief Jahasay, Kidunnit, and Monteh. Some of the more modest animals called him WaSenagi, MoiTurugi, and Kanjagi. Loony gleefully basked in the light of these new titles which, he insisted, had come into existence as a direct result of the boundless wisdom of his philosophy of Me-Alone, which would now define his ruling of all the animals and land of Smiling Forest.
|
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
|
|
|
Momodou
Denmark
11829 Posts |
Posted - 30 Nov 2016 : 09:09:16
|
Smiling Forest Revisited - 11
By Baba Galleh Jallow
Chapter Eleven
How spiritual leaders became Loony’s goat-holders and widespread fears of the end of times
These were strange times in Smiling Forest, everyone agreed. There was little doubt that these were the end of times. It seemed as if the world as the animals knew it for a long time was ending. There had been talk of the end of times many times before, when times looked strange and unnatural. But all those times had come to pass. Now, there was little doubt about it because some very strange things were happening before the naked eyes of the bewildered animals of Smiling Forest.
Seeing how Jege the hen, Nice Boy the monkey and Cheku the parrot started growing fat from the generous largess of Loony the fox, some spiritual leaders in Smiling Forest soon found a way of attracting similar favors from the new seat of power. The very same spiritual leaders who prayed that Talkmuch Dolittle stayed in power forever were now quick to curse any animal that dared to think well of the ousted king. Instead, they now made their way to Loony’s palace, their heads bowed, wearing their most generous boubous, their faces generously oiled and shiny as a mark of piety, and their beards come stiff and straight in reverence to General Loony, whom they now declared was indeed the one and only choice of the Great God Yallah to lead Smiling Forest for the next one thousand years. Prominent among this group of spiritual leaders were Sheek Foofy the monkey, who soon became Loony’s personal spiritual adviser and head of Loony’s palace shrine, Sheek Tan the vulture and Sheek Saaji the sheep. Saaji the sheep sharpened his voice so much that when Loony heard him bleat, he immediately appointed him chairman of the High Animal Spiritual Council, which oversaw all spiritual matters in Smiling Forest under the supreme leadership of Loony the fox. From now on, these former spiritual mentors and protégés of Talkmuch Dolittle disowned their former master and became the most ardent supporters of General Loony. Every now and then, they thronged to the royal palace where they offered generous prayers for Loony, had sumptuous meals with the new king, and received bulging envelops stuffed with brand new banknotes from the king’s own hands. “May you rule us forever,” they always prayed as they bowed and kowtowed in obeisance to their new benefactor.
The great consternation and resounding hue and cry in Smiling Forest bounced back from the skies and drove all the small birds from Smiling Forest. The trees now stood naked and leafless, the rivers devoid of fish and crabs. Even the toads in the swamps and ponds hopped away from the deafening noise raised by the distraught inhabitants of Smiling Forest. Scenes of animals beating their heads against walls and tree trunks and pulling their hair in the streets became common sights in Smiling Forest. The more religious of the spiritual leaders of Smiling Forest – those who maintained their dignity and refused to support Loony – sought refuge in endless prayer, raising their hands to heaven, and banging their foreheads on the ground, repenting for their sins before the sound of the great bugle boomed, announcing the end of days, before the cackling great fire from the east came and consumed them. Any spiritual leader who dared criticize Loony was promptly seized and thrown into jail, tortured, killed or forced into exile. Some spiritual leaders were grabbed in the middle of the night and locked away indefinitely, denied any contacts with their families. Terrified folks gazed at the skies with tear-filled eyes, wet faces, and running noses, looking for the first signs of the skies beginning to fold, as they must at the end of days.
The animals were horrified that their spiritual guardians, the venerable sheeks of the land upon whose shoulders the moral edifice of their forest rested had been willfully reduced to mere goat holders for General Loony. The now enormously wealthy General, who had long lots his ratatoi, recruited more and more prominent sheeks and paid them fortunes to abandon their traditional roles as guardians of the animals and become instead his royal goat-holders. The sheeks now spent their days and nights holding still the goats of the land, as their generous patron indulged in his favorite and most hallowed pastime – goat-milking. General Loony now spent his entire days and nights milking goats. The pious sheeks of Animal Forest likewise spent their entire days and nights holding goat. It was a strange spectacle.
Every goat in Smiling Forest was now milked by Loony, whether it was a male goat or female goat, for the goats of Smiling Forest were all milkable. But what most shocked the animals of Smiling Forest was not General Loony’s fanatic goat-milking per se, but the enthusiasm with which the pious sheeks plunged into their roles as goat holders for the General. At every milking session, five to six sheeks, their boubous firmly wrapped and securely tucked around their waists, vigorously pounced upon the goats and pinned them down so that General Loony could milk them to his milky satisfaction. Another couple of sheeks would roughly grab the mouths of the noisy goats so that their bleating would not violate the gentle sensibilities of the great general. Yet another sheek or two would spread their palms or hold their pious caps just under the goats’ backside to make sure that their droppings did not roll anywhere near the venerable person of the spotlessly clad General Loony.
When the business of goat holding and goat milking reached a fever pitch and General Loony gently grunted and repeatedly belched with satisfaction at the barrels of milk safely stowed away in his enormous milk tanks, his excitement inevitably rubbed off on the loyal sheeks. At such moments, to make sure that their share of the milk would be particularly generous and their envelopes particularly bulky and smiley, the sheeks would break out into General Loony’s favorite song about the kind and gentle caliph whom God loved so much that He gave him enormous herds of willing goats that he could milk all his life and even beyond. General Loony particularly loved hearing that part of the song that told how God loved this caliph so much that He appointed the best among his animals to be his loyal goat-holders. Sometimes, during short breaks when General Loony’s fingers got tired of forcing the milk out of the goats, one or another of the sheeks would suddenly improvise a heroic poem which he then recited in a pious and melodious tone amid unfailing ululations and shrieks of passion from his fellow sheeks. Sometimes, a sheek or two would suddenly see the light, feel the spirit, prance up, and swirl round and round like the brown dervishes of Irani Forest to the utter satisfaction of the cool-eyed general and the utter amazement of the ordinary onlookers of Smiling Forest. Those sheeks who fell ill and did not have enough energy to physically hold the goats nevertheless dragged themselves to the goat-milking sessions to recite specially composed poetry or sing General Loony’s favorite song about the great caliph whom God loved so much that He gave him the best among his animals to be his loyal goat-holders.
It was this strange spectacle of the goat-holding sheeks that convinced the animals of Smiling Forest that the end of days had really come. It was this strange spectacle of the guardians of the animals, the custodians of their great traditions of truth and nobility turned into singing and dancing goat-holders for the callous General Loony that convinced the animals of Smiling Forest that the sound of the feared bugle would soon boom, that the roaring of the great fire would soon cackle in from the east, and that one of these days, a corner of the sky would start rolling and folding like a carpet over their heads, and all the dead of the distant ages would rise from their graves, and the final judgment would be held before the mighty throne of the Great God Yallah.
Yet, the sheeks, so engrossed in their lucrative business of goat-holding seemed totally oblivious of what was going on around them. They were totally consumed by the delightful specter of General Loony milking the goats of Smiling Forest, by the mouth-watering prospect of getting a generous share of the milk, and the even more delightful prospect of holding those bristling smiley checks in their pious fingers, or stuffing those bulging wads of new smiley bank notes into the great pockets of their generous boubous. For such delightful prospects, yes, they will grab and hold all the goats down so General Loony would cheerfully milk them to his milky satisfaction. And yes, they would sing and compose pious poetry for General Loony, and they would gladly sing and dance the days and nights away. Were they not God’s pious favorites? How could they enjoy the great honor of being the great general’s loyal goat-holders if the Great God Yallah was not pleased with them? No more koo keh koo tayla, they would gleefully say, happily munching their cheeks and stroking their pious goatees.
|
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
|
|
|
Momodou
Denmark
11829 Posts |
Posted - 06 Dec 2016 : 14:22:44
|
Smiling Forest Revisited - 12
By Baba Galleh,
Chapter Twelve
General Loony's worst nightmare and how he hides under the executive bed
General Loony ran! Along the endless empty space he ran as he had never run before, his tail flying in the wind, his ears flat on the back of his head, his tongue clenched firmly between his teeth. Behind him he heard the roaring of angry animals - a ragged, bloodthirsty mob with canines that stood out from their blood-soaked lips and the red claws of hungry vampires! They wanted his blood! The General knew if that mob caught up with him that would be the end of his life. And so he flew like the wind in space, yelping and yelling, feeling neither pain nor fatigue, only the cold fingers of fear gripping his heart which, it seemed, had stopped beating long ago!
Just as he thought he was out of harm's reach, the great general felt sharp claws digging into his shoulders and jerking him harshly back. He yelled as he had never yelled before, twisting his body to break free of the evil claws, some of which now gripped his tail. With one last desperate pull, he broke loose, flew into space, landed with a thud and rolled into a dark hole to safety. Slowly, the dazed general realized that he was under his own bed. He hurriedly squeezed himself out and for a moment sat on the floor, leaning against the expensive executive bed, shivering all over. He frantically glanced around to make sure no one had seen him dash under the bed like a frightened little rat.
General Loony felt his rage rise and bubble like a volcano in his chest. He felt like killing someone just then! Why was the world so evil? Why was everybody trying to destroy him? Why was everybody so jealous of him just because he was His Excellency the President, Head of State and Commander-in-chief of the Armed Foxes Potential Roasting Cabal, Nowit di Masta? Why did all those evil animals now rudely intrude into his peaceful slumber and give him all those awful nightmares? He would let them know that he, General Loony, was no ordinary fox! That he was as constant as the northern sun! He would show them why he was called Shela, the dog that bit without a bark! And Munku, the fire that burnt without a flame!!
Loony agonized long and hard over why all the animals now hated him. He could see it in their eyes - scorn, hate, a desire to kill! He could hear it in the endless tales of conspiracy reported daily by his network of spies, liars, sycophants and moles! No more tales of blind admiration! No more tales of General Loony the great patriot! No more tales of Loony, conqueror of rivers! Only tales of Loony the tyrant and Loony the despot! Of Loony the wicked and Loony the monster! Of malignant forces prowling and lurking in every dark nook and cranny of Smiling Forest and beyond, waiting for an opportunity to pounce upon him and rip him apart! He could see it on the nauseating pages of so-called newspapers that pretended to be pious! He could see it in the lean and hungry looks of the throngs of poor, starving, helpless, frightened animals who stared at his tinted-glass, siren-ridden convoys, escorted by fierce, gun-totting foxes as it sped at breakneck speed through the pot-hole ridden streets of the God-forsaken cities of Smiling Forest! And he saw it every night in his gruesome nightmares - ragged devils with long, forked tongues and protruding canines, long emaciated limbs and razor sharp claws reaching out to grab his throat and suck his blood!
Loony shivered. He felt that Sikundeek himself, the dreadful jinneh jomal nala was out to get him. He felt frightened, extremely frightened. He had, over the past few months, become a bundle of shaking, crippling fear, although he made a great show of being a fearless dragon. Standing in his jeep, escorted on all sides by his fierce-looking armed foxes, the mighty general would raise both hands to heaven, make the V-for-Victory sign, and stiffly grin as his convoy sped through the streets of Smiling Forest. But deep down, he was frightened and shaken. He felt insulted and belittled by the fact that he was afraid, that members of his own armed foxes were now his arch enemies and that some animals dared to say bad things behind his back, even conspiring to form a coalition and throw him out. And the more he thought of this, the stronger his resolve never to let go of power and to crush any signs of dissent mercilessly and remorselessly. To hell with all promises he made! Were promises not meant to be broken? Were promises not mere ladders by which to deceive stupid animals in order to climb up to one’s dreams? “I have sacrificed my precious life to save these wretched animals,” he would say to himself. “Anyone who wants to derail me will be buried deep, deep, deep.” And then he would quote his favorite local philosopher Mokali Veli who once said the knife justifies the stab.
Deep down, the troubled general wished that things were what they used to be at the dawn of what he liked to call his “glorious revolution”, when he led his gallant foxes against the corrupt and unpopular regime of Talkmuch Dolittle. He remembered with heart-breaking nostalgia how he used to ride on the lofty crest of popular sentiment both among the ordinary animals and among his fellow armed foxes. How he used to relish that endless chorus of praise and admiration for getting rid of an inept and redundant political class! He remembered the pleasant nights when his dreams were full of stars and blue skies and sweet smelling roses and images of himself floating above the world, as if he had been elevated to the status of angel by a God happy with his glorious saving of the wretched animals of Smiling Forest! How he used to wake up every morning with a smile on his lips and a song in his heart! Eager to go meet the happy faces of the adoring animals who thought they had been saved!
But gone were those days of easy slumber. Gone the days of adoring looks and unquestioned loyalty. Gone the days when crowds of animals lined the streets to see him past and sent a million cheers up to heaven. Now the animals jeered rather than cheered and there were some elements among the ordinary animals and within the ranks of the armed foxes that wanted his head. It was General Loony’s worst nightmare.
|
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
|
|
|
Momodou
Denmark
11829 Posts |
Posted - 06 Dec 2016 : 14:27:20
|
Smiling Forest Revisited - 13
By Baba Galleh Jallow,
Chapter Thirteen
The end of the honeymoon and how trouble broke out among the armed foxes
Loony’s fears were justified. The unity among the armed foxes of Smiling Forest was short-lived. The foxes, who had always been rather invisible during the reign of Talkmuch Dolittle, now woke up every morning not believing that they had become the unquestioned wielders of power in Smiling Forest. Some of the more powerful foxes like Smaller Longtail got literally power drunk and staggered everywhere shouting “power! Yeah, power! we got power!” He soon grew notorious on account of his tendency to throw his weight around. When he drove around Smiling Forest, all oncoming traffic had to get off the road to let him pass. Those drivers who failed to do so were given the beating of their lives. His convoy of armed foxes would promptly stop the offending vehicles, drag their occupants out, and slap, punch and kick the hell out of them. Similar treatment was meted to drivers who dared overtake his convoy or to any animal that wittingly or unwittingly offended Smaller Longtail. He particularly enjoyed slapping offending folks and shooting at the tires of offending vehicles.
In addition to Smaller Longtail, some junior armed foxes conducted a reign of terror in Smiling Forest. Each armed fox soon became a king unto himself. There were frequent reports of fox brutality against innocent unarmed animals and a few cases of foxes shooting or stabbing other animals to death. Smiling Forest became a state of fear where armed foxes, feeling that they now owned the land, broke the law with impunity and went unpunished for their crimes. The fox uniform and the gun became the most feared symbols of power as the foxes swaggered and bragged that Smiling Forest now belonged to them. One armed fox was overheard saying, “when I wear this uniform, I feel like God.”
Soon, however, serious infighting started among the armed foxes. Though they tried hard to hide it, reports filtered out to the animals that there existed a bitter power struggle within the Armed Foxes Potential Roasting Cabal. General Loony’s authority was being challenged and the Armed Foxes Potential Roasting Cabal had broken up into two rival factions – one pro-Loony and one anti-Loony. Before long, it became general public knowledge that trouble was indeed brewing within the ranks of the armed foxes.
The trouble erupted into the open one dark night when gunshots started ringing from one of the armed foxes camps. Intense shooting continued into the early hours of the morning and then died down. Later that morning, Smaller Longtail went on national Smiling radio to say that a group of treacherous foxes had, under cover of darkness, attempted to overthrow the Armed Foxes Potential Roasting Cabal. He said their ignoble plan had failed and that the Armed Foxes Potential Roasting Cabal was firmly in control of the situation. The details emerging from the bloody incident revealed that a large number of the foxes involved in the alleged plot had been killed and buried in mass unmarked graves. Some of them had fled under cover of darkness and a search had been launched for them. That was the last that was heard of the bloody incident, at thoughts of which the other animals of Smiling Forest still shudder.
One fine morning a few months after that bloody incident, an announcer on national radio informed the animals in a shocking bombshell that Smaller Longtail and Sadface Slowy, two senior members of the Armed Foxes Potential Roasting Cabal had been arrested. The announcer said the duo had made an attempt to kill General Loony. Several months later, Smaller Longtail and Sadface Slowy were arraigned before a kangaroo court, found guilty of treason and sentenced to long prison terms. Sadface Slowy died in jail a few months later under mysterious circumstances. Official reports said he had died of high blood pressure but that could never be verified. Smaller Longtail languished in jail for many, many years. Local lore had it that the once all-powerful fox became a philosopher during the long period of his incarceration. No one ever knew what exactly happened.
Smaller Longtail’s arrest and detention elicited an audible sigh of relief from many of the animals on account of his brutality. Rumor had it that less than a week before his arrest, the arrogant fox had insulted a group of religious elders over a dispute involving a prayer house in a remote part of Smiling Forest. He was reported to have publicly called the elders kaffirs and asked them to go dumb their religious books in the river. The story goes that one of the elders had said to him, “you insult us, but go, you will soon see.
The two incidents involving the aborted uprising, Smaller Longtail and Sadface Slowy were ample evidence that unity among the armed foxes had become a thing of the past. From now on, Loony knew that some of the armed foxes would try to remove him from power. And he was not ready to get out of power, not just yet, not as long as he was alive! He knew that some of his fellow armed foxes were extremely mad at him for giving all the power to himself. There were at least three more attempts at removing him from power by members of the armed foxes. Some of the foxes that had fled after the first mutiny slipped back into Smiling Forest and attacked one of the fox camps, killing one loyal fox. They seized a jeep and headed for the capital. But they were only five in number and poorly armed. So when they met the general’s reinforcements, they were easily routed. One of the invading foxes was killed, one fled and three were captured alive. Those captured alive were paraded before national Smiling TV, sent to court and sentenced to death.
On yet another occasion, a group of six angry animals attacked an armed foxes camp. They killed at least three foxes and captured the commander of the camp whom they held hostage for several days before they were hunted down by the general’s reinforcements and routed. The commander escaped with his life. The tragedy for the animals was that the more threatened he felt, the more brutal General Loony became. His armed foxes grew increasingly repressive and the once peaceful Smiling Forest was turned into a state of terror. From then on, the animals lived in mortal fear of civil war. They had seen it happen in other forests. They knew it could happen in Smiling Forest. The scary red writings had started forming on the wall. Some of the animals started missing the good old days of Talkmuch Dolittle.
|
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
|
|
|
Momodou
Denmark
11829 Posts |
Posted - 07 Dec 2016 : 08:12:31
|
Smiling Forest Revisited - 14
By Baba Galleh Jallow
Chapter 14
The birth of the Mental Surveillance Unit and how the animals mourned their lost freedom, security and honesty
The more insecure Loony felt, the more power hungry he grew, and the more paranoid he grew. The desire to know what was going on in every nook and cranny of Smiling Forest, in every unit and department of the Smiling government became a maddening obsession with Loony. On many a night, he would stay awake, his head massively wired with thoughts of just how to make sure that he knew everything that went on in Smiling Forest. He imagined how he would surprise his enemies and opponents by suddenly revealing some of their greatest secrets. How they would then fear and tremble and look at him with horror-filled eyes! How he would smile and nod and ask how now?
On one such sleepless night, as he stared into the empty darkness of his room, a brilliant idea struck Loony’s mind: He would set up a special information unit in Smiling Forest! He would personally recruit and train its members in the art of general information gathering and spying, make them directly answerable to himself and unleash them into Smiling Forest! He would have all the members of this special unit swear their strongest oaths of secrecy and allegiance to him and him alone. They would be his personal special shadow police. He would offer them a juicy combination of the fabled carrot and the stick. Those who did well would be rewarded by rapid promotions and nearness to the Great Leader himself, which meant, among other special privileges, a bigger and growing pay check and a greater opportunity to listen to the classy lectures of the philosopher king. Those who failed to deliver would be dealt such a blow as they would never recover from! Thus was born the notorious Mental Surveillance Unit that was to cause so much pain and anguish to the animals of Smiling Forest for so many years.
Like a monster octopus, the Mental Surveillance Unit soon spread its tentacles into all nooks and crannies of Smiling Forest, monitoring every aspect of the animals’ lives. Mental Surveillance moles - thousands of them - were planted everywhere: on street corners, in police stations, schools, markets, local clubs, barber shops, movie theaters, bars, restaurants, business outfits, public offices, local leadership councils, media houses, mosques, churches, families – wherever there was any animal activity in Smiling Forest. Everywhere, the mentally programmed moles listened and watched out for any anti-Loony words or signs of hostility to the Great Leader. Hundreds of culprits were identified and effectively neutralized through arrests, detentions, demotions, dismissals, tortures and other repressive means gradually perfected by the self-righteous system. Some of those considered really dangerous simply disappeared into thin air or were openly killed. Loony made sure that members of the notorious unit were well fed with roasted beef and chicken even as they carried out their bloody work of beating animals to death and their notorious MUS headquarters.
Soon enough, the animals of Smiling Forest were forced to accept the cruel reality that what Loony touted as a “glorious revolution”, the dawn of a new era of liberty, truth and plenty, was just another seizure of power by an irresponsible bunch of armed foxes, led by another mad fox. It was just another abduction and monopolization of the animals’ birthrights. The myth of foxes with a difference was a cruel hoax and a fraud, no longer uttered by even Loony himself. There was no more talk of transparency, accountability and probity, or any such things as freedom, justice and equal rights. It was now all about power, power and more power for General Loony who soon became known as Kobolaka, the famous dry fish that could still swim in the river. “If you don’t know me I am Kobolaka,” Loony liked to boast, beating his chest. “I can even swim in the air and will rule this forest for a billion years and if you don’t like it you can go to hell.”
The animals realized that what had befallen other forests of the bleeding continent of the black animals had befallen their dear Smiling Forest. They realized that the next logical step in the sequence, as is always the case in all faked revolutions, would be the arrogant assumption of infallibility by the self-imposed savior, the total criminalization of speech and dissent, brutal repression, political assassinations, disappearances, a litany of treason allegations, kangaroo trials of perceived opponents of Loony’s “glorious revolution”, the raping and ******ization of justice, the institutionalization of unbridled corruption, blatant nepotism and self-righteous mediocrity of the highest order strutting proudly around as ideals of knowledge and wisdom, paragons of truth and virtue! The animals were forced to acknowledge the loss of national innocence, the first unsteady steps toward the total collapse of the failed state and the dawn of an era of acute poverty, hunger, oppression, and bloody anarchy. The sad animals saw that the head that was Loony could not carry the burden of state; yet, it was a head now so full of power that any talk of Loony’s departure was literally pulled out by the tongue and smashed on the rocks of oppression.
The animals knew that Loony and the armed foxes had kicked His Former Excellency out of power in the holy name of freedom and liberty only to become even more corrupt and repressive than Talkmuch Dolittle ever was or could ever become. They saw that their beautiful forest had become a state of fear, a repressive state in which the great leader had eyes and ears and guns and jails everywhere. The Mental Surveillance Unit arrested and jailed animals for harboring treasonable thoughts against the Great Leader or even for casting what they called “bad eyes” at the now ubiquitous portraits of a grinning Loony looming large on every nook and cranny of the land. Smiling Forest soon became a land in which there were official definitions of what constituted truth, justice, liberty, crime, good and evil by which all subjects - no more citizens - must abide or be grabbed and thrown into dark, stinking, airless, rat and mosquito infested cells, bludgeoned and kicked, electric devices applied to their genitals, even killed and buried in mass unmarked graves or dumbed into old wells. The Mental Surveillance Unit ensured that any jealous midgets harboring treasonable thoughts against the Great Leader were promptly discovered and neutralized.
Thus it was that Smiling Forest, the land of the happy smiling animals, became a land of tears, fear and suspicion, where brother could no longer trust brother, neighbor could no longer trust neighbor, and colleague could no longer trust colleague. And so the animals mourned the sad death of the age-old Smiling Forest tradition of mutual respect and trust, of healthy debate and mutual inspiration, of justice, freedom and liberty. The animals mourned the death of honesty and lamented the sad flowering of a culture of hypocrisy of the highest and most noxious sort; a culture in which seemingly respectable animals choose to shut their eyes tight to the truth for God knows what reason. Loony reveled in the sorry spectacle and promised to rule Smiling Forest for a billion years, whether the animals liked it or not.
|
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
|
|
|
Momodou
Denmark
11829 Posts |
Posted - 09 Dec 2016 : 11:02:19
|
Smiling Forest Revisited - 15
By Baba Galleh Jallow
Chapter Fifteen
How Loony retired from the Armed Foxes, imposed powercracy and formulated his famous Vision Weeny Weeny
The animals’ worst fears were soon justified. Sensing that there was bound to be an outcry against his breaking of his solemn promise not to stay indefinitely in power like his predecessor, Loony passed a decree proclaiming that from now on, he was to be regarded as the lifelong ruler of Smiling Forest. He decreed that as the chosen and anointed of the Great God Yallah, he would no longer tolerate any puny little fellows telling him what to do or what not to do with his God-given powers. Having promised that he was not there to stay, he now decreed that since all animals were equal and since foxes were also animals, foxes too had the right to stay in power. But, he decreed, as some of the animals were not in favor of armed foxes being in power, he would now retire from being an armed fox and become an ordinary fox, just like everyone else.
So it was that Loony and his fellow armed foxes in the Armed Foxes Potential Roasting Cabal all declared that they were no longer armed foxes. Loony painted his face black and his body white and no longer carried a gun, though he was widely believed to hide guns underneath his white skin. He took to wearing zebra skins and a zebra hood and carrying a cow horn in one hand and a monkey tail in the other. The Armed Foxes Potential Roasting Cabal was renamed the Pious Foxes Potential Roasting Cabal.
Having promised that no animal would be allowed to stay in power for as long as the ousted Talkmuch Dolittle, Loony now declared that he had never made any such promise. If the useless Talkmuch Dolittle could stay in power for forty years, why not his more sophisticated and erudite self? Of course he, Loony, with his famous philosophy of Me-Alone and his infallible principles of past, present and future, was much smarter than that old and tired Talkmuch Dolittle. So he, Loony, would stay in power for as long as he wanted and if the animals did not like it they could go to hell. And no animal must dare question his authority! “From now on there is no so-called democracy in this forest,” he declared. “We cannot tolerate any alien ideologies in this noble forest. From now on what we have here is my own personal ideology of Powercracy – a government of the powerful, for the powerful and by the powerful. All power belongs to the powerful. And if you don’t want to live under such a government, you can go to hell. All criticism is banned and we will not tolerate any so-called freedom of expression or of the so-called press, who are nothing but habitual liars and agents of foreign enemies who want to sabotage our glorious revolution and colonize us again. No more colonial mentality!”
Soon after this famous declaration of powercracy and the banning of democracy, Loony established a Think Tank to brainstorm and come up with what became known as his famous Vision Weeny Weeny. Reaching out to some of the intellectual giants of the Talkmuch Dolittle era, Loony recruited such luminaries as Nice Boy the monkey, Buki the Hyena, Mbeh the sheep and Nopa the hare to serve on the Think Tank. Cheku the parrot considered himself lucky to be appointed secretary and spokesperson for the newly formed Think Tank. Sa the snake was named as the committee’s resident adviser. Their brief was to produce a comprehensive document outlining Vision Weeny Weeny, a road map to development that embodied the great ideas of the learned and infallible Loony.
With great fanfare at a national Smiling feast, the fabled Think Tank was launched and set about its heroic task. For months on end, the small group of learned animals, under the close supervision of the philosopher king himself, crafted the document meant to direct the growth and development of Smiling Forest from a land of poverty and hunger to a land of peace and plenty. Under the distinguished and infallible guidance of the Great Leader, Vision Weeny Weeny envisioned a Smiling Forest where all the roads were paved with gold, where the trees bore fruits of gold, where the fish in the rivers were made of gold, where even the rain that fell from the skies was made of gold. The only absolute condition for the attainment of this state of gold was that Loony must forever be the unquestioned, unquestionable, undisputed and undisputable sovereign lord and master of Smiling Forest.
Meanwhile, conditions for the animals of Smiling Forest grew from bad to worse. As Loony grew fatter, the animals grew thinner. As Loony grew richer, the animals grew poorer. As Loony grew healthier, the animals grew sicklier. As Loony got better fed, the animals grew hungrier, to the extent that a few years down the glorious path of Vision Weeny Weeny, the children of Smiling Forest had to scratch for bits of rotten food in the rubbish heaps. They had to race and grab and compete with rabid dogs for scraps of discarded food, because Loony the fox had emptied all the granaries of the land and now commandeered all the good food for himself. The animals and their children were starving because Loony the pious fox had stolen all the money in the land and had grown fat on the blood and sweat of the poorest of the poor.
The animals knew that Vision Weeny Weeny was just another figment of Loony’s jaundiced imagination. Just another device, another excuse meant to further confuse the animals and grant legitimacy to the lunacy that was the tragic era of Loony - the greedy and paranoid fox who now perched majestically on the wailing throne of Smiling Forest. Loony, who now insisted that he must remain the one and only rightful ruler of Smiling Forest; Loony, the great founder and leader of the new breed of strangely submissive powercrats of Smiling Forest.
|
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
|
|
|
Momodou
Denmark
11829 Posts |
Posted - 23 Dec 2016 : 11:14:13
|
Smiling Forest Revisited - 16
By Baba Galleh Jallow
Chapter Sixteen
Animal resistance and the birth of the ‘Loony is Always Right Movement’
If Loony the fox thought he was going to have it easy in Smiling Forest, he was gravely mistaken. For while some of the animals simply retreated into their shells and cocoons and kept mute over his brutal regime’s numerous outrages, some of them constantly bombarded him with demands that he should respect their rights and fulfill his numerous promises. They poked serious fun at him and called him Kooky the crooked who thought he was straight and Faliba, the donkey who thought he was a saint.
The more brutal Loony became the more stubborn and resilient some of the animals grew. You are a mere public servant! they shouted to Loony at the top of their voices. You are merely a citizen like the rest of us! You have no right to ride roughshod over us! You must fulfill your promises to us! Your promise not to stay in power beyond ten years! Your promise to respect animal rights and the rule of law! Your promise not to be corrupt and live a flamboyant lifestyle! Your promise not to eat all the apples and leave us starving! You have broken all your promises Loony! You are a serial liar and you should not expect us to sit back, fold our arms and keep quiet! We refuse to be cowed by the repressive and evil activities of your shameless agents! Down with all corrupt powercrats! Down with powercracy! Long live popularcracy! Forward ever, backward never! No retreat, no surrender!
Hearing these protests made Loony very angry. He grew so extremely angry that he roughly plugged a cow horn in each of his two large ears, angrily clenched a piece of dry bone between his teeth, and marched angrily around Smiling Forest, fuming at the nose and mouth, and making guttural noises. Khukh, khukh, he loudly grunted. How dare those puny little things question my authority? How dare they write funny stories about me or purport to tell me what is right in my own personal forest? How dare they challenge me - the preferred choice of the Great God Yallah! I would make all of them pay for their impudence and insolence! I own this forest and I will rule this forest for a billion years and if they don’t like it they can go to hell! Aaaah!!
Being ever the vengeful and vindictive character, Loony set about exacting vengeance on all who spoke out against him with reckless abandon. All foreign journalists who dared ask questions about his regime were unceremoniously picked up by the Mental Surveillance Unit, tortured, locked up and thrown out of Smiling Forest. Those journalists who were citizens of Smiling Forest were subjected to persistent arrests, detentions, torture, and verbal abuse on national Smiling Forest radio and television. He called journalists illegitimate sons of Africa and threatened them with death if they did not stop writing bad things about him, the greatest ruler in all of history since the beginning of time. He ordered media houses to be set on fire by arsonists. He ordered some journalists to be shot by unknown assailants while others simply disappeared into thin air on Loony’s orders. Did they not know that the Great Leader was above criticism, above the law, above everything and everyone in Smiling Forest? But in spite of the brutal repression, the animals of Smiling Forest refused to keep quiet and caused Loony the worst trouble of his life. Some who were forced into exile started writing funny stories about him, giving him funny names, planting tails on his backside and likening him to an elephant on mosquito legs who would one day crumble under his own weight, never to rise again. Others called him Janakh the rat who thought he was an indomitable giant and challenged all the cats to a fight. He was even called Tunguneh, the hen who thought she was a giant and challenged Banko the giraffe to a height-measuring contest. Sometimes, they called him Potopoto, the famous muddy puddle who thought he was a river.
In spite of his naked oppression of innocent animals, Loony still found support among some greedy and selfish elements within the Smiling Forest community. Irresponsible thugs among the Smiling Forest community who had no education and were too lazy to do manual labor flocked en masse to join the newly created “Loony is Always Right Movement” - LARM. LARM thugs were given license to intimidate, harass, beat up, even kill perceived opponents of General Loony, alias Mbotagi. Often, LARM thugs set out in the middle of the night to set fire to the homes and offices of Loony critics. Though they generally operated under cover of darkness, LARM thugs were placed high above whatever shreds of law were still functional in the statute books of Smiling Forest. For Loony and these criminal thugs, there were no limits, no boundaries to how far they would go to maintain the brutal and corrupt powercracy. Loony could just not imagine himself as anything less than the supreme lord and master of Smiling Forest for as long as he was alive! Indeed, hearing him talk about his resolve to stay in power for a billion years, one would have thought it never crossed the arrogant fox’s mind that like all mortal beings, he would one day succumb to the cold hand of death. No! Never! No death for Loony the mighty fox! The Great Leader! The grand lord, master and personal owner of Smiling Forest and all its inhabitants, including the trees, rocks and bushes! All hail the mighty immortal lord Loony with the horse’s mouth!
Their extreme brutality notwithstanding, Loony and his LARM thugs were perpetually frustrated in their attempts to silence the animals of Smiling Forest. The more they attempted to silence them, the higher their resolve to tell Loony the truth and demand that he fulfill his promises to them! After every moment of persecution and repression, the critical animals resumed their campaign with renewed vigor. To Loony's "no limits, no boundaries” the animals responded "no retreat, no surrender". This frustrated Loony so much so that he routinely spent whole nights in his underground shrine weeping and wailing profusely, loudly blowing his mountain nose and beseeching his wooden gods and iron ancestors to strike those stubborn animals dead. For although Loony publicly pretended to be a loyal servant of the Great God Yallah and started every speech with “I am the greatest living believer in the Great God Yallah”, he spent whole nights worshipping wooden idols, animal skulls, dry lizards, snake skins and other strange objects in his dark underground shrine. But of course, he could not fool the Great God Yallah. The persecuted animals found solace in the unshakeable reality that someday someday, they will free themselves from the brutal clutches of the power-sick, paranoid and brutal fox. At some point they knew, Loony would have no choice but to drop into the infamous dustbin of history. The animals saw that he was already halfway in and waited impatiently for the day he would finally fall right into the dustbin of stinking history he was creating for himself. They often repeated the saying that Loony was a big fool with a long rope who would one day hang himself. History stood to prove them right.
|
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
|
|
|
Topic |
|
|
|
Smiling Forest Revisited
