My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (5 page)

O
ne night at about two o’clock, I saw many ghosts who came to me and put me inside a big bag which they brought. After that one of them put me on his head and then from there to their town which was under a big river, because they are “River-Ghosts”. Which means they stole me from this centre of the roads to their town. Having reached their town they took me to their chief ancestor who sat down on an idle chair before a fearful god which they supposed to be the most powerful among their gods which they were worshipping in this town. Then they put me down before him as he was the one who ordered them to go and steal me from the centre of the roads when they heard information about me. Immediately I was presented to him he sent for a ram, then he killed it before me and poured its blood on to my big head which was as big as an elephant’s head and also fearful to look at. After, they cooked the flesh of this ram and put the best fleshy parts of it before me to eat. But as I started to eat it the whole of them were very surprised and were also exceedingly glad as all their gods that I met there could not eat, breathe, or make any sign. But as these river ghosts or sceptical ghosts hate the
heavenly God most and love earthly gods most, anything they wanted to do the chief ancestor would ask me first and if I made a sign with my head which would show him that the request should be done then he would tell the rest that I favoured them to do the requests, but if the sign showed that their requests should not be done then he would tell the rest that the requests are not granted by me, so therefore the requests would be cancelled at the same time. The chief ancestor was my interpreter as he only was permitted by his highest title to approach me at any time.

As I was so highly recognized by these river ghosts or sceptical ghosts so they built a one-roomed house and put me inside it and all of them were coming there to worship and sacrifice to me there as well. I was feeding on any sacrifice that I wanted and drinking the blood of the animals which they were killing and pouring on me as water, because they were not giving me water to drink. But as the blood was always pouring on me, so it was attracting flies which were covering me totally all the time and I had no hands to drive them away. Even sometime if the chief ancestor came in to visit me, he would not be able to discover me among these flies unless he first drove them away with a broom before he could see me.

When it was a week that they had brought me to their town the whole of them gathered together. First of all they opened the room in which they put me, after that the chief ancestor who only is permitted to approach me or to talk to me washed my head with my long stiff neck as only both appeared out from the pitcher, after this,
he put a small red hand sewn cloth on the long neck which made it more ugly; after this, he put a kind of ghost’s face cap on this my big head which made it more fearful to see. After that he put a kind of smoking pipe which was about six feet long into my mouth. This smoking pipe could contain half a ton of tobacco at a time, then he chose one ghost to be loading this pipe with tobacco whenever it discharged fire. When he lit the pipe with fire then the whole of the ghosts and ghostesses were dancing round me set by set. They were singing, clapping hands, ringing bells and their ancestral drummers were beating the drums in such a way that all the dancers were jumping up with gladness. But whenever the smoke of the pipe was rushing out from my mouth as if smoke is rushing from a big boiler, then all of them would laugh at me so that a person two miles away would hear them clearly, and whenever the tobacco inside the pipe is near to finish then the ghost who was chosen to be loading it would load it again with fresh tobacco as it was about three feet deep and four feet diameter.

After some hours that I was smoking this pipe I was intoxicated by the gas of the tobacco as if I drank much hard drink, because it was only ghosts could smoke such tobacco and it was only in the “Bush of Ghosts” such tobacco could be found.

So at this time I forgot all my sorrow and started to sing the earthly songs which sorrow prevented me from singing about since I entered this bush. But when all these ghosts were hearing the song, they were dancing from me to a distance of about five thousand feet and then dancing back to me again as they were much
appreciating the song and also to hear my voice was curious to them. After a while all of them surrounded me closely, opened their mouths downward and looked at me with surprise. But as I was more intoxicated by the gas of the tobacco and also as the pipe was loaded continuously with fresh tobacco by the ghost who was specially chosen to be loading it, so by that I could not stop or tire of singing, and again my town’s songs were then rushing to my heart at that time. So as they bent, their mouths which opened with great surprise downward onto my head the spit of these mouths was dropping on me and wet me as if I bathed with water, the spit was smelling so badly so that it was hard for me to breathe out or in.

After they listened to my songs for about half an hour, the chief ancestor took me out of this room which was specially built for me, then he rooted out a tall coconut tree which was about three hundred feet long, after that he put me on the top of this tree, then another ghost who was next in rank to him put the tree on his head upright which means I was on the topmost of it, after that he jumped together with the tree on to the chief ancestor’s head so the chief ancestor, the one on his head who was next in rank to him, the tree and myself on this tree with all the rest ghosts and ghostesses were dancing together. But as I was intoxicated more and more by the gas of the tobacco which I was smoking in the pipe and also as the ghost who was loading it with fresh tobacco was so busy in loading it so that he could not see or talk to anybody at all at that time, so I was singing other earthly melodious songs which sorrow prevented me singing since
I entered into this bush, in such a way that all the ghosts or every creature of this town were dancing, singing and shouting with joy and running warmly up and down in the town.

But as this “Gala-day” was so highly recognized with the new earthly songs which I was singing, so the King of the Bush of Ghosts whose seat is at the 20th town of ghosts, which is the capital for all the towns of ghosts sent an invisible message to the chief ancestor to bring me to him when he heard the information. But as the 20th town was very far away and again the invisible message was very urgent, so as all of these ghosts, together with the coconut tree were dancing up and down in the town as a crazy man, there I saw unexpectedly that one quill appeared on each side of the pitcher in which I was on the top of the coconut tree, after that one quill appeared on each side of the coconut tree as well, then ordinary feathers appeared on both arms of the ghosts, but the quills which appeared on the chief ancestor’s arms were the largest and strongest because he would be the one who would carry the coconut tree together with me.

After that the whole of us flew by air to the 20th town the seat of H.M. the King of the Bush of Ghosts.

W
ithin two hours in the air we reached the 20th town, but before we reached there millions of ghosts have been waiting and looking in the air for us. Immediately we appeared to them and they saw me at the front with the long pipe in my mouth with the smoke which was rushing out as from a big boiler, then the whole of them were shouting at me, pointing their hands at me and then rushing here and there to the King’s palace. But when the palace could not contain all of them, then they rushed to their field which was about nine miles in diameter, then we landed on the centre of the field. It was very surprising to see over twenty thousand children smashed to death before we reached the field. Immediately we landed I started to sing and dance together with the tree, the ghost who carried the tree and the chief ancestor who carried us. When all the ghosts of this 20th town with H.M. the King could not bear to hear my earthly songs and also see my dance and sit down or to stand up motionless, then they joined us to dance, and again the smoke of the pipe was rushing out of my mouth continuously, because the ghost who was specially chosen to be loading it with the fresh tobacco did not neglect his duty at all.

But after the whole of them danced with me till the late hour in the night, then the chief ancestor commanded that the whole of us should stop and we did so but hardly as none of us were tired or satisfied. After that he commanded the coconut tree to stand still on the ground with a magical commandment, and at the same moment it stood on the ground as if it was planted there, then he commanded it again to bend down and it did so at once, after that he took me from the top of it and put me on the ground, again he commanded it to stand upright as it was and it did so.

They took me from this field to the palace. Having reached there they built a special doorless house which had only one room in this palace for me and put me inside it so that other kinds of ghosts might not steal me away before the day would break, because it was that day they specially arranged for “Gala-day” in the 20th town as the first one was a hint. After they put me inside this doorless house they also put uncut roasted sheep before me to eat, after that everyone went to his or her house to be preparing for tomorrow on which the “Gala-day” would be celebrated throughout.

Immediately they put this roasted sheep before me I was eating it greedily as I was very hungry in respect of the smoke of the tobacco which was intoxicating me like hard drink. But as I was eating it greedily and when it was one o’clock midnight the wall of this house split into two suddenly and there I saw another kind of ghost enter through that space. I looked at him with fear as he was not a native of the 20th town, then he came to me cautiously with a big coil of rags of cloth on his head.
The first thing he did, he sat down and started to eat the meat and within a minute he finished it. For this reason I was so frightened and also his exceedingly fearful appearance with his harmful attitude, so I tried to run away but the pitcher did not allow me at all.

Having finished the meat, without hesitation he put me on his head, he got out of the palace cautiously and then kept going in the town to an unknown place. But as this 20th town is a large town he travelled for about two hours before he reached the gate of the town. As the gate is watched both day and night so he met the gate-keeper at the gate. When the gate-keeper saw me on his head he challenged him that where he was carrying me to, but instead of answering the gate-keeper’s question he was only telling him to open the gate for him to pass. But when the gate-keeper insisted and after both argued for a few minutes, then he put me down closely to him, after that both were fighting fiercely so that all the other creatures who were living at the back of the gate woke up from sleep and came nearer to the scene, they were looking and laughing at them, as the gate-keeper was struggling to take me from him and return me to the palace and the ghost who was carrying me away was also struggling violently to take me away to his town.

After they were fighting fiercely for about two hours so as the gate-keeper has seven of the same kind of juju which he could use to change the night to day seven times, because he has no power at night but only in the day, and again the ghost who was taking me away has eight jujus which could change the day to the night as well because he has no power in the day, so the gate-keeper
first threw down one of his seven jujus on the ground and at the same moment night changed to the day, so he become more powerful than the one who was carrying me away as he has no power in the day. Then he too threw one of his eight jujus on the ground and that day became night at once and then he became more powerful than the gate-keeper. Both of them were using their juju like this until the gate-keeper had used all his own, but the ghost who was carrying me away still had one. At last he used the one which still remained with him, it changed that day to the night at the same time, so he had more power, then he started to fight the gate-keeper who had been already powerless. But as the gate-keeper received heavy blows from him, so he fell down suddenly, but the ghost who carried me to that place laid down on the gate-keeper and beat him greedily. So the ghost who carried me to that gate kicked the pitcher in which I was unnoticed and it broke into pieces, so immediately my body touched the ground then I changed at once to my former form before they put me in the pitcher. But as both of them were still fighting fiercely and did not know that the pitcher had been broken and I have come out of it, so without hesitation I took to my heels and left them there.

Immediately I came out from the pitcher, and then running away in the bush at that night uncountable flies which were following me along nearly made me suspected, because all the blood of all the animals which were poured on me as sacrifice was rotten on my body as black paint and was smelling so bad so that it collected these flies from the hidden place that they slept, even the
cloth which my mother wove for me before I entered this Bush of Ghosts had torn into rags by the rotten blood.

Of course as I did not stop once so I ran far away from that gate before the dawn so that I might not be recaptured by the ghosts of the 20th town. When it was dawn I stopped and rested for some hours. After that I started to wander about searching for the way to my home town as usual. But as I was wandering about in this bush I saw a dead animal’s skin which had been killed for long time by an unknown creature, so I took its skin and still went on, because it was very stiff to wear at that time. A few hours later I travelled to a pond, the water of this pond was as clean as if it was filtering every hour, it was under a bush which was not thick but big trees covered it like a roof and prevented the sun shining on it, so by that its water was always as cool as ice. I met many pieces of the ghost’s soap at the bank nearly falling inside the water, so this showed me that the users of this pond were not so far from that place.

Immediately I discovered it, first I listened attentively for some minutes perhaps I would hear the noises of the creatures or ghosts who might be coming to draw water at that time or perhaps a town of ghosts would be near there, but when there was no noise or voice of any creature heard, even a bird did not cry near that place at all, then I put the skin down at the bank and entered this pond. I drank the water to my satisfaction as I never tasted either fresh or dirty water since I was in the pitcher, except the blood of the animals poured on me as sacrifice with the spit of their mouths which was dropping
on to my head when opening them and looking at me with much surprise as I was singing the earthly songs which were newly born into the town of the aquatic ghosts and also in the 20th town which is the capital.

After that I washed away the rotten blood off my body, then I washed the skin of the animal as a cloth, after that I looked round this pond and saw a place where the sun reached the ground, so I went there and spread this skin there to dry, having done that I went to a thick bush which was as a roof, I hid under it and hastily looked at my back, my front, my left and right and also up and down with a doubtful mind perhaps a ghost or a harmful creature might be coming at that time to catch me.

But as the bush which surrounded this pond was very quiet without any noise of a creature whatever it might be so I began to feel much cold without being cold, and when my heart was not at rest for the quietness of that place then I went to the place that I spread the skin in the sun and began to warm myself in this sun perhaps my body would be at rest, but when there was no change at all until the skin was dried then I took it and left that area as quickly as possible. So I wore it as a cloth, of course, it could only reach from my knees to the waist, so I was going on with it like that. It was on this day I believed that if there is no noise of a creature in a bush or if a bush is too quiet there would be fear without seeing a fearful creature.

After I had travelled to a short distance from the pond I stopped under a tree as it was then in the evening, then I started to think what I could eat because there was
nothing more edible than the small fruits which had fallen down from this tree where I sat at its foot, although I did not know the name of the fruits or its tree as they belonged only to ghosts of that area. When I tasted them, they were very sour, though I ate them like that as there was no other food or any edible thing there for me again. Having finished these fruits at about eight o’clock I was looking for a safe place to sleep. After a few minutes I saw a large tree which was near that place and there was a huge hole in its body which could contain a person. Not knowing that this hole was the home of an armless ghost who had been expelled from his town which belonged only to all the armless ghosts. When I entered this hole I travelled to a part of it which contained me, but it still went further, so I laid down and fell asleep at the same time, because I had no chance to sleep or rest once for all the time that I spent inside that pitcher. But when it was about twelve o’clock in the midnight this armless ghost who was the owner of the hole wanted to go out, of course, I did not know that somebody was living there before I entered.

As he could only go out at night to fetch his food, so when he reached the place that I slept he stumbled on me and fell down unexpectedly, because he did not know that somebody was there already and also the hole was very dark, so some part of his body was wounded as he was armless to defend himself. I woke up unexpectedly as he fell down on me suddenly, after a few minutes he tried his best and got up with pain, then he asked with rage—“Who is that?” Of course, as my friend the young ghost in the town of the ghost burglars had taught me
some of the ghosts’ language, so I replied—“I am an earthly person.”

But when he heard the words of “earthly person” from me, he exclaimed—“Oh you are the one who is always coming here and stealing all my property whenever I go out, I will catch you this night, just hold on for a minute.” Having said so he cried out louder to the other ghosts who are his partners to come and help him to grip me as he is armless. But before his partners could reach there I jumped down from the hole to the outside, and without any ado I started to run away that night for my life. Immediately I jumped down and ran away I met over one thousand ghosts who were rushing to his hole to help him, but at the same time that they met me all of them did not go to him direct to hear what he called for, instead of that all were chasing me as I was running away as fast as I could. When they chased me to a short distance to catch me and failed then they got back from me to the armless ghost to hear what he called them for. But I was still running away, I did not stop, as I thought within myself that perhaps if I stop to rest for a few minutes they might come again to catch me, so by that I was still running away faster until I stepped into a part of the ground of this bush. But to my surprise at the same moment that I put my left foot on it to be still running away it was saying thus with a loud voice—“Don’t smash me! oh don’t smash me, don’t walk on me, go back to those who are chasing you to kill you, it is paining me too much as you are smashing me.”

When I heard this so suddenly, I was so frightened so that I withdrew my foot back at once and I heard no
voice again. After that I turned to another part and smashed it with the same foot as well, perhaps that part would not cry out—“don’t smash me.” But I heard the same caution suddenly with louder voice, so I withdrew my foot from it, then I stopped there and asked myself this question—“Can land talk like a human being, or can land feel pain if somebody smashes it?” After I asked myself this question with a dead voice, as there was nobody to ask and explain it to me, so I turned back at once to look for where is possible to travel or run in this bush without any noise, but I saw more than one thousand of the armless ghost’s partners that were hunting for me up and down in this bush to catch me and kill me, after they heard from the armless ghost what I had done to him. When they nearly traced me out and I believed that if they caught me no doubt they would kill me instantaneously, so without hesitation I jumped onto this “talking-land”, running away as fast as I could. Then it started to speak as before, of course, I did not listen to what it was saying, I was only running on faster to leave that “talking-area” in time to the “talkless-area” to hide myself in a safe “talkless-place”, because this “talking-land” was showing the place that I was reaching in the bush to these ghosts. But as I was still running on fiercely and with fear I did not know the time I mistakenly entered into another bush which was more dreadful than the “talking-land”.

Immediately I entered it every part of it was blowing alarm, which was very fearful to hear and remain there, because it was blowing as if enemies are approaching a town. Then I stopped suddenly behind a tree as the noises
of these alarms were so curious and too fearful for me. To my surprise immediately I stopped all the alarms stopped blowing at once, but there I saw a very young ghostess who hid herself under a small bush which covered the bottom of this tree. She ran out unexpectedly and when she ran out I saw her clearly that she was very ugly so that she could not live in any town of ghosts, except to be hiding herself about in the bush both day and night for her ugly appearance. But her ugly appearance was so curious to me that I was chasing her as she was running away to see her ugliness clearly to my satisfaction, because I had never seen such a very ugly creature as this since I was born and since entered the Bush of Ghosts.