THE ELEPHANT SONG

by Henry Mututa

I knew nothing about the Elephant Dance, until that afternoon! Such an afternoon that was. When there I saw a cloud of dust. It covered the whole northern horizon. It was evident that it would cover me soon. I didn't think I could breathe in that. I couldn't run. I stood transfixed. Yet I had a feeling deep inside me that this cloud, just the dust would kill me. Yet I was curious. What was happening? Should I be part of it? Can I afford not to be a part of it? Can I, being so small, pretend that I was really at heart an elephant? Can I run? Where to? Looks like the whole horizon is covered and no bit of space remained.

I saw the elephants first. They say light travels faster than sound. Then I heard the sound of trumpeting, and the rumbling of massive feet. It sounded like the whole world marching. Because sound travels slower than light, from afar, Where I stood they appeared to be out of step, out of tune with the beautiful sound they made.

I began to tremble. So these were elephants! I trembled with fright. And I thought to myself: so this is what they do to people! Like me?

In this life there are some things you know being told. It is as if you lived this life before. I knew then as I stood transfixed that this day was like no other day. It was the eve of the Elephant Dance. It is described as the Elephant Rush.

Elephants when they are at it they make beautiful sounds. Now I heard the Elephant Rush dance song. And I saw clouds of dust being blown away by the Winds of Change. It was the Northern Winds that had brought the dust, so I thought. So the elephant path was without dust. It was clear. The road that elephant travel on is called a Trail. I can't believe it! Big as they are, it is said they can only make a trail with their tracks!

I felt the tremor of the earth at such times.

Then I quizzed myself over things. Simple things. What did I know? About anything? What is this Elephant Dance? I knew nothing about elephants. What were their hopes and aspirations? What could they do for me? The Elephant Song had by now developed a tempo I could identify with. Yet still I knew nothing whatsoever about the song.

I knew nothing of the Elephant Rush. The orderly stampede of the largest mammal on land. You can't ignore it, when those elephants run!

The Elephant Dance is a ritual. It is like elephants have gone crazy. They dance and dance. I saw them turn as one and head for the watering hole. Every elephant was on its feet. Some on two. Ever seen an elephant on two? Every trunk went up in the air. Swiveling to the dance tune. It is a dance of joy. The biggest of the lot went up front. Chanting a fellow me mellow tune to the sound of dancing feet. Then the beast seemed to me to be coming from every direction The hills echoed their sound.

The rush of the creatures was swift. So picturesque. It remined one of the global dance around the sun. The ritual of the dance so I am told goes back eons of years and the African elephant has been dancing to the same tune. It's now called tradition!

Then I saw a bull wooing a Queen. I wished I could trumpet. They have Queens you know! and Kings!

A bunch of old kings, comrades of long, long years. (Mind, elephants live a wholesome life and live to be a hundred!) Cluster to stamp and trumpet to their own song. Their huge hearts in it. Keeping something of a crude line in their dance formation. They trumpeted loud and louder. It was a beautiful song.

Some of the times the wind was on their huges faces as they danced, and their huge ears covered their big eyes, such that I wondered how they could see each other, let alone any other thing be it small or large. It was a wonder they still followed the trail. They kicked up a lot of dust, because they were so old it rose in the dusk light like mist at dawn and dispersed almost as quickly like mist at sunrise.

The thorn trees, feed of the elepahnt stood so still as if watching the dance and listening to that song with a keen interest. The elephant created rings around friendships, that lasted no more than movement from tree to tree. They are called dance rings or dancing rings. They were like constellations, moving. Great universes rushing at billions of miles per second.

Voices in the night, travel far so I was once warned. So it is with trumpeting. In the night the stamping sounded like a thousand African drums beating.

The ritual of the dance is for warming hearts and warn of coming rains. Good times ahead. Plenty to harvest in the life of this great mammal. That I can vouch!

Paths of the elephant trail if you can unravel them properly lead nowhere, but at times to an elephant graveyard and untold wealth.

During this dance everything is done in an elephant way. All sorts of things are done. These leave a record in the minds of the greatest of the beasts. This is why say say they have a long memory.

Rapt, they swerved side to side. Their great heads nodding in time to the beat.

I thought, well, this is simple. It is only dancing. In the short time I saw all this charade I thought well I kow everything. All the ways of the elephants. I thought I could walk any of their trails and never be lost. Touch an elephant tusk and never be hurt. Carry even a whole elephant in my arms. All the things I may have missed out, about these creatures I could guess. I thought whatever they did behind me, I would know somehow. I had the power of brains. I thought I knew all!

How wrong can a man be! The whole truth is when elephant trumpets it is probably the greatest sound ever made. When a whole herd does so it is the greatest song ever sung, by beast, man or bird! Beware, join the dance.

The elephant song warn of the coming rains. Now I heard the tremble of thunder. It sounded like footsteps of an invisible giant coming up to where I stood. Fading into a far distance I cannot comprehend. I said to myself, still trembling: this is what elephants do, to people!

When the dance was over...

The grass had disappeared, only the thorn trees, branches done, roots exposed remained. The marks on the Elephant Trail looked like they will be there forever or until the next dance...

Then I talked to people about my experience. I had never heard so much talk about anything, until the day I met someone who had seen the dance. They said that nothing interest you compared to this. Know the Elephant road or trail as they call it. Be in it for a while...