The Alligator and the Sun
By Peter Halder
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About this ebook
The Alligator and the Sun and other rainforest tales
Nine captivating tales, which weave a tapestry of the unbelievable and fascinating ancient rainforest lore of the Amerindians of Guyana on South America's Caribbean coast.
In the title tale, the Alligator outwits the Sun and pays the price with scars on his body.
The two sons of the Sun find witchcraft and adventure in tales, "The Twins Revenge on the Tiger" and "Why the Forest Toad Has Bumps."
The Piai or Medicine Man plies his trade in the stories "The Dream" and "The Revenge of the Piai."
In the "The Yawarri and the Tortoise" the yawarri (an opossum) tries to outsmart a tortoise which it dislikes but finds itself outwitted in the end.
Peter Halder
Peter Halder is the pen name of Burnett Alexander Halder. He was born in Guyana, formerly British Guyana, and educated there, the United Kingdom and the University of the West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago.Peter worked as a journalist and later joined the Government Service. He served in District Administration, Licence Revenue and Foreign Affairs. As a diplomat, he was Deputy Head of Mission, Guyana Embassy, Washington D.C., U.S.A. and subsequently appointed High Commissioner to Canada. He resigned and accepted an appointment as a Consultant with the Government of Fiji. He later became a Consultant with the Fiji Embassy to the U.S.A. and after, with the Fiji Permanent Mission to the United Nations.Peter received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Guyana Cultural Association of New York, USA and Editor’s Awards from The National Library of Poetry, Maryland, USA. His first book, The Cat of Muritaro, was published in 2012. He has a blogsite at www.peterhalder.wordpress.com/ at which his nostalgias, articles, short stories, and poems can be read.He is now retired and lives with his family in Virginia, U.S.A.
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The Alligator and the Sun - Peter Halder
The Alligator and the Sun
And other rainforest tales
By Peter Halder
The Alligator and the Sun
Copyright © Peter Halder, 2014
First Published 2014
Smashwords Edition
eBook Edition published by
DCO Books
Proglen Trading Co., Ltd.
Bangkok Thailand
http://ebooks.dco.co.th
ISBN 978-616-7817-43-9
All Rights Reserved
This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and other elements of the story are either the product of the author's imagination or else are used only fictitiously. Any resemblance to real characters, living or dead, or to real incidents, is entirely coincidental.
This book is dedicated to my wife, children and grandchildren
Contents
The Alligator and the Sun
The Twins Revenge on the Tiger
Why the Forest Toad Has Bumps
How Fruit Trees Grew in the Forest
The Dream
The Honey Bee Son-in-Law
The Two Sisters
The Revenge of the Piai
The Yawarri and the Tortoise
About the Author
THE ALLIGATOR AND THE SUN
Water Lizard Watchman
The Sun owned a giant lake in the forest.
In it was a wide variety of fishes which he prized.
However, from day to day, the Sun observed that fishes were disappearing from his lake. He did not believe that the fishes were doing it on their own. Fishes were excellent swimmers but they could not walk, neither could they live on land. The Sun arrived at the conclusion that someone or something was stealing fishes from his lake on a daily basis, most probably at night when he had set and was not around.
He therefore decided to engage a watchman to keep an eye on the fishes and to report to him as to who inside the lake or on land was stealing the fishes.
The Sun took some time to observe several creatures in the forest and decided to make a water lizard the watchman. He knew that the lizard could live both in the lake and on land.
He shed a ray of his light on the water lizard who was swimming in the lake and said, As the Sun I give you life so you owe me. The fishes in my lake are my prized possessions. But something in the lake or someone or something on land is stealing my fishes. I would like you to be my watchman day and night and tell me what or who is doing it so I can put an end to it.
The water lizard replied, Oh mighty Sun. Thou sayest the truth. You give me and all living things life in one way or another. I am therefore beholden to you. Anything I can do for you I will certainly do it. I will be your watchman over the fishes.
Thank you,
replied the Sun, you will live long and prosper.
Alas, the water lizard was not as vigilant as he should have been. He had a female lizard friend living among a thick set of weeds on the bank of the lake and another on the limb of an oak tree. He failed in his promise and duty to watch constantly and intently over the fish in the lake.
Alligator Replaces the Lizard
Annoyed, the Sun fired the water lizard and looked around to find a new watchman. He decided on alligator. The alligator spent part of its time basking on the banks of the lake and the other part in the lake. It also spent its nights in the lake which is when the Sun believed most of the fishes were stolen. In those days, the alligator was smooth skinned. It had no marks on its head, its back or its tail.
The Sun approached the alligator and said, Alligator, as the Sun I give you life so you owe me. The fishes in my lake are my prized possession. But something in the lake or someone or something outside the lake is stealing my fishes daily. I would like you to be my watchman day and night and tell me who is doing it so that I can put an end to it.
Oh mighty Sun,
replied the alligator with a wry grin, thou speakest truly. Thou givest me and all living things life in one way or another. I am therefore deeply indebted to you. Anything I can do for you I will certainly do it. It will give me great pleasure to be your watchman. You can rely on me to keep both of my sharp eyes on your prized fishes. I will report to you who the thief is when I find out.
Thank you alligator, you will live long and prosper,
said the Sun.
Wrong Choice
Too late, the Sun found out to his horror that it was the alligator who was the predator stealing and eating his fishes in the lake to satisfy his appetite.
Filled with anger, the Sun grabbed a cutlass and attacked the greedy alligator on the bank of the lake. He slashed the alligator longways and sideways along the head, body and tail. The scars later became bumpy ridges.
Within an inch of losing his life, the alligator pitifully begged the Sun for mercy.
Please, Sir Sun, please,
pleaded the untruthful alligator, save my life, save my life. If you do I promise to give you my beautiful daughter to become your wife.
The Sun stopped slashing.
Okay then I will stop and save your thieving life but only if you keep your promise to give me your daughter as my wife in the next five days before the rainy season starts,
he said.
I do so hereby truly promise to give you my one and only beautiful daughter as your bride five days from now,
said the alligator grinning even though it was slashed up.
Alligator Tricks the Sun Again
Now alligator had no daughter. His offer to the Sun was only a lie to save his life. But he knew that if he did not keep his promise, the Sun would find a way to kill him.
That night, when the Sun had set, the alligator sat on the bank of the creek and gazed steadily at the moon. Eyes filled with the light of the moon, he cast his glance at a wild plum tree nearby. A brilliant idea formed in his mind.
The next day, the alligator approached the tree and using his sharp claws, sharp teeth and long, strong tail, trimmed the tree of all its branches and bark, leaving a trunk about five feet in height. He then proceeded to sculpt the trunk into the shape of a beautiful female.
Closely observing his handiwork when he was finished, he was not blind to the fact that he did not do a good job of sculpting. The next day, he visited his friend the woodpecker who was busy at work on a coconut tree which grew alongside the lake.
Mr Woodpecker,
shouted out the alligator, have you ever seen a beautiful young girl?
Sure I have,
the woodpecker replied, I have seen them often when I fly over the nearest village. But why do you ask?
"Well, to tell you the truth, I have never seen one. However, I am sculpting one so I need your kind and most valuable assistance to peck my feeble sculpture nearby into the shape and form of a beautiful young lady so that no one, except a human can tell