Chapter 1
© The School of Truth
Source p. 18, May / Jun 2009 - The Path of Truth (Young Ideas)
Senjaan was sitting drowsily day-dreaming in the sun with his back resting comfortably against the side of a warm boulder near his home.
The ground sloped away steeply for about twenty paces and then suddenly disappeared in a yawning chasm with precipitous sides carved out of solid rock at some prehistoric time, by an agency unknown to present-day man.
The space between Senjaan and the lip of the Gorge was strewn with jagged rocks, with here and there a stunted thorn bush struggling for an existence on this barren sun-scorched hillside. A tall aloe with its roots wedged between two very big boulders, spread its thorny-edged leaves to guard the flower stems with their heavy, pointed buds that were already beginning to show at the top of the plant.
A small bird, the Bulbul, commonly known as a "Toppie" on account of his black top knot that stands up like a crest when he is surprised, sat on the rim of one of the aloe leaves and sipped on a small spoonful of water that had collected in the saucer-like surface.
He was a very lively chap and kept up his call of "tiptol! tiptol!" from which whistling note he is sometimes called a "Tiptol" or "Pietmajol" in Afrikaans. He is a very common bird in almost any part of southern Africa. Apart from the bush lands his call is to be heard on any farms or in any garden where fruit is ripening. Even in the towns where the gardens are large enough to boast a couple of fruit trees, a strawberry bed or tomato patch, our friend will be found bathing in the bird bath or calling from the trees while he keeps a bright eye open for a morsel of food.
"The iPotwe (Zulu name) are noisy birds for their size, too," said Mukombe. "Yesterday, I picked up a nice ripe paw-paw and put it on a flat stone under the wild fig tree near the hut. I forgot all about the pair of iPotwe who were busily building their nest in the thicket. At sundown when I went to get my paw-paw, two greedy birds flew up from the stone and sat in the branches of the wild fig tree shouting at me, "Piet-majol!" as though I were an intruder. And do you know, there on the flat stone only the skin of my paw-paw was left.
All the lads joined in the laugh against Mukombe, whose paw-paw had been eaten by the Bulbul, and seemed to be rather pleased at the exploit of their feathered friends.
[To be continued.]
Note: Senjaan is the leader of his group and teaches them to love wild birds and animals.
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