Hello there!! Let me entertain you with a story titled “Journey Through The Forest.” Sit back and relax as we follow Kaiga and Karanja on their journey in the forest. Enjoy!
On the morning of the journey; Kaiga was careful to note who the first person to knock on his door was. People from certain clans bring bad luck. These people are well known. If one of them knocks, you have to put off the whole journey. The first person who knocks was Wakonyo; this new girl who was taken on just the other day to wash clothes and scrub the floor. She is a girl, she is not yet married. She is bound to be a good omen…
Kaiga and Karanja were away early in the morning. People were still asleep but the milk boys were already at their job. There was a lot of dew on the grass and the cold air made the ears hard and painful. Travelers can walk fairly fast in the morning, but by noon the thigh muscles get tired. The soil on the path is hot and the sandals sink into it. Then you know it is time to take a rest. It is time to eat the bananas and drink sour milk.
Inside the Nyandarua forest, it is dark during the day and it is dark during the night. You do not know the time until you come out of the forest on the other side. The paths are very narrow. They wind themselves between huge trees, into great big gullies and out again into more trees. The ground is dark and humid. The falling leaves have formed a carpet on the ground. Sometimes, a little light filters through and this gives rise to some very weird shapes among the thick trees. You see what looks like a buffalo but it turns out to be a tree stump. You see an object moving in the distance but then you decide that it is not moving at all. But when Kaiga saw a white spots across the path, he began wondering “Karanja, do you see those white spots”? “Which one?”
“Those ones near the big podo tree?”
“Yes, now I see them. They look like black and white spots spread out across the path.”
“Do you see the head?”
“Which head? Where is it?”
“On one end of the black and white spots.”
“Yes. It is the head. It is the head of something.”
“Do you see the tail?”
“Which tail? Where is it?”
“Opposite the head.”
“Yes. Now, I see the tail. It is the tail of something.”
“Karanja, what does a head and a tail and lots of black spots in between add up to?”
“A leopard. We are finished!”
“Yes, we are. If we go into a hole, the leopard will find us there. If we run, it will run after us. If we climb a tree, it will also do the same.”
“And if we sit down.”?
“Just calm down Karanja. The most important thing with a leopard is not to sit down but to be careful not to step on its tail. We won’t sit down, we will keep going. We must go slowly past it.”
“Kaiga, you mean we must pass it on the head side?”
“Yes. That is what I mean.”
“Then you go in front.”
“No. If we change places the leopard will get frightened and jump on us. Keep going, Karanja.”
“I think we had better go back, Kaiga. That girl Wakonyo is not a girl for good luck.”
“Well, maybe.”
But you cannot blame Wakonyo for this. It is the light that is to blame. Without the light there would be no optical illusions. And this was one of them.
Kingsley Osajie 