Meanwhile, Tamba’s father was just burning to know how his son always caught so much fish, when neither he nor any of this other sons could catch enough to feed themselves, let alone the entire compound. So one day, when Tamba was a teenager, he asked him yet again:
“Tamba, where do these fish come from?” “Don’t worry where they come from,” replied the son. “Just eat them.” But the father couldn’t just leave it at that—his curiosity was making him sick. So the next morning, he rose before dawn, waited for Tamba to leave with his net, and then took off secretly after him. In due course, they came to the Devil’s Cove, just on the edge of the jinnoo’s land, and the boy immediately set to work. But then his father came out from behind a tree and shouted: “Ah hah! Now I know your secret and won’t have to rely on my son to provide for my family!” Tamba dropped his net and hurried to his father. “You shouldn’t have come. Now, you are in terrible danger,” said the son. “Quick, get up that tree and don’t make a sound, they’ll be here any second.” The father’s eyes grew large and round, and he did as he was told. A few blinks later, two gnarled, twisted Spirits walked out of thin air and joined Tamba at the shore. Their bodies, which were generally human in shape, looked anything but human—their legs were like the exposed roots of the mangroves they lived in, and their arms, the flowering branches. Only their faces were dark and fleshy. Tamba just smiled at them, and the three set to work on the net. Up in the tree, however, the father was so terrified that he was shaking violently, and he eventually shook so hard that his hat lifted up off his head and went tumbling down to the ground below. The jinoo looked up and saw the hat, then walked over and picked it up. “Tamba,” said the Spirit, “I found a hat. A human’s hat.” “O, wonderful, you found my hat,” cried Tamba. “I left it here a couple of days ago and must have forgot about it,” and he took the hat from the Spirit, stuffed it in his shirt, and returned to work, never once looking up at his father. |
Meanwhile, the father was shaking harder than ever. Eventually he shook so hard that his sandals lifted up off his feet and went falling to the ground. Again, the jinoo looked up and called out for Tamba.
“O, I am so forgetful,” said Tamba. “Leaving my shoes and my hat just laying around. Thank you,” and they set back to work. But the father was more terrified than ever and could not stop shaking. He shook so hard that he eventually lost his balance and went tumbling out of the tree with a crash. The Spirits jumped at the sound, then leapt to the fallen man’s side and pinned him down. “Tamba! Tamba!” they cried. “We’ve captured a human! Should we eat him?” “Lift him up and let me see him,” said Tamba very calmly. So the two jinoo lifted the father up by the arms and held him out for Tamba. “O, my God,” the boy cried. “That’s my father’s most bitter enemy. He must have followed me out here because he saw how much fish I brought back.” “Any enemy of Tamba is an enemy of ours!” cried one of the Spirits. “Let’s eat him!” The father’s eyes grew as large as mandarins, and he looked desperately at his son, who continued to ignore him. “What a wonderful idea,” said Tamba. “But why not invite the whole village? Take him out to the Devil’s Flat and make an event of it, like they used to do in the olden days!” “O Tamba, Tamba,” cried the Spirits, “this is why we love you!” |
The boy acknowledged them, then grabbed a rope from his bag and tied up his father.
“You two go to the village and tell everyone to come,” said Tamba. “And I’ll take this thing out to the Flats.” So they agreed, and the Spirits left in the direction of the Point, while Tamba led his father away up the rocky slope toward the Flats. When they got to the top of the rock, Tamba untied his father and said, “Now, hit me!” But the father just stood there blinking. “We don’t have much time,” said Tamba. “I said hit me! Or else we’ll both be dead in a couple minutes! Now hit me!” The father looked searchingly at his son, then drew back his fist and hit him square in the eye. “Again!” the boy cried. “Again. Again.” Once he felt sufficiently bloodied, Tamba held out his hand and said to his father, “Now run! Run as fast as you possibly can. And should you manage to get away, don’t ever speak of this place, or of what happened here, to anyone. Ever. Now run!” So the father turned and ran, and Tamba sank to the ground. A few minutes passed and the band of jovial jinnoo came over the rise and saw Tamba lying bloodied in the dirt. A cry went up and the village elders rushed to Tamba’s side. |
“Tamba, what happened?” asked the Chief.
“That man, my father’s bitter enemy, he got loose and beat me, then ran like a coward!” cried Tamba. “Which way?” “O, I can’t say for sure,” said Tamba, lifting a hand to his head. “I had just been beaten, you know, so I wasn’t thinking too clearly. But, if I had to guess, I’d say he probably took that path,”—here Tamba pointed at the path down to the Cove—“go the same way he came. But I can’t say for sure.” And the beaten and bloodied boy fell back into the dirt. Taking action, the Chief cried out, “We split up. You two, take this path, and you two, that path. I’m going as straight as I can to the village. Now, go get him—for Tamba!” And a small battalion of Spirit Warriors took off into the bush after the father. The Spirit-doctor kept Tamba until she was convinced he was well enough to make the journey, and then walked him halfway home herself. When Tamba eventually arrived back at the compound, he was terrified his father had been eaten, but then saw him sitting in his normal chair and breathed easy. After his mother had fussed over Tamba’s wounds, the father came up to him. “I’m sorry for not listening to you, and for following you,” he said. “And I thank you, Son. I owe you my life, in more ways than one.” Tamba smiled, and then left to get some sleep. In the morning, he woke as he usually did (before the sun was up), grabbed his neat, and headed out to the Point. |