Bear Bob's Story as told to Edward Summer

Chapter Six
The Secret Name
 

Now I was surrounded by the men. They stood looking down at me. Through their long legs I could see the other boys staring, staring, staring at me.

    The tall man reached down his hand. I took it in mine, and he pulled me to my feet.

    Now I was led to a log with a long hollowed out bowl cut into the wood. Someone handed me the fruits. The tall man pointed to the bowl. I placed the fruits into it.

    Ka Boom! A heavy stick beat down upon the fruits! Ka Boom! The first one split open. Ka Boom Boom! The next two split and the white, fragrant pulp spilled out.

    The tall man reached into the thick white juices and pulled out some small, shiny brown seeds from each. These he handed to me.
 One… two… three… four… five… six… seven…. I counted each one carefully as he placed them, sticky and wet, on my hands.

     Ka Boom Boom Boom! The heavy stick pounded the fruits over and over and over again.

    Now they were a white thick juice in the dark wooden bowl. Now there was water splashing into the juices, thinning them to a white milk. Where had the water come from? I do not know. Where does water ever come from, I thought, before the streams, before the clouds, before the skies? Perhaps this was no different.

    “Stand there!” The tall man pointed. I walked near to the bowl.
 The tall man held a gourd. It was cut in half and made a strange, green spoon.

    He dipped into the bowl and scooped out the baobab milk.

    "You have gone into the night a boy," the tall man said so that all the world could hear, "You have gone into the night a boy, and you have come back to the daytime as a man!"

    He poured the white baobab milk onto my black hair, my black head, and it ran in shining white streams down my black body.

    "I pour the life of the baobab upon you! Now drink!"

    He held the gourd to my lips and I drank. It was strange. Not sweet, not sour. Smooth. White. Slippery. Cool. It ran down my throat into the darkness of my stomach. "Drink! If the juices reach your heart, it will make you strong! It will protect you from any creature! It will protect you from any man in any battle! When you fight, the juices will be there to help you always! Drink!"

    Two of the men began to rub the white juice all over my body.  It felt strange and cool and tickled. Then it began to dry. It dried in white sheets with tiny cracks in them. My skin felt strong and hard!

    "One man will always find a way," said the tall man turning to me. "One man -- and yet all men -- find the way together. We share our knowledge, we share our mistakes, we share our food, and we share our caring…in silence. Others do more for us than we know. We cannot really act alone. But sometimes, it is easier to see ourselves in someone else. We recognize our own silent actions in the other one. He walks when we are lame. He talks when we cannot. He acts when we are tied. But if he were us, we would do the same as him.  That is why one man seems to stand alone, but never really is....”

    All eyes were on me.

    "We are, none of us, alone. Never, never, never alone. Never be impressed with yourself, for you have done nothing alone. Fame is nothing. Nothing." said the tall man.

    "Be faithful to one another! Be faithful!" the tall man said loudly. "That is where your strength will always come from."

    He walked over to me. I was covered with the dry baobab milk.

    "You came here called Masa! But you leave with a different name. You all leave with a different name." He turned for a moment to the other boys and looked at them. Then he turned back to me.

    Now his lips were right next to my left ear.

    Now he whispered.

    Now he told me my name.

     "Kaa de Gedepoo-mee-de sein koin," he whispered so that only I could hear. "Kaa de Gedepoo-mee-de sein koin.  Prince of nature," he whispered, he whispered. "Prince of nature," he whispered only to me.

    Now he spoke loudly. "This is your secret name! Never tell this name! Never tell this name, for you give a special power to those who know it. Only those who you love and who love you in return can be trusted. And there is no way for me to tell you what that love is or whom to trust.  You must find that for yourself in a darkness yet to come."

    "Drink!" said the tall man. He carried the gourd to each boy in turn and let him drink.

    "The baobab comes from before the beginning of all time. It will be here when man is gone and time has stopped. From nothingness and death it brings forth this fruit full of life! Drink!"

    As the other boys sipped at the gourd, the tall man whispered in their ears. Each boy, one at a time. I could see their eyes opening wide and white as he told them. What did he say? What were their names? Would they ever tell me? Would I ever know?

    "Kaa de Gedepoo-mee-de sein koin.  Prince of nature," It was in my ears, in my head, in my heartbeat.
 

     Now we were marching back to the village. Marching along in single file. Our hearts were lighter, our heads full of triumph!

     The baobab was huge behind us. Huge! Towering high, higher into the sky as we marched away between the two rows of men.

    The sun was behind us, the tree was behind us, the dust rose under our feet. There was no drum now, just the rhythm of our feet. There was no talking now, only the echo in all of our ears. The echo of our new names.

    There was no time. There was no distance. Suddenly, the light of the cooking fires lit the darkness that was all around us. We were home at the village.

    My family was there, silent, waiting for me. All the families were there. My father, my mother, my sisters, my younger brothers, all the fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers stood silent.

    I walked to my mother. She reached out her arms for me, then stopped. Her mouth turned up in a smile that reached the corners of her eyes. Then her mouth turned down, serious, but the smile stayed in her eyes.

    My sisters giggled. My father looked at me sternly. Then he turned and gestured toward our cooking fire. He waited, and then I led the way to the fire and the dinner.

    While we ate, I watched the sparks rising high into the sky where they would become the stars for the night which was now black all around us

    The tall man was nowhere to be seen. Where did he go? Where did he go?
 

This page 03/07/99