By Maureen Rampertab
A MISTY morning, portrait of white from nature’s collection of stunning natural scenes in the Hinterland. The awesome Pakaraima mountains, the amazing waterfalls and gushing clear streams, the rich forest with its flora and fauna, were for the natives a world of their own, a hidden paradise.
For one native boy, it was a world of adventures, mysteries and mythical beings. The forest was his home from dawn until the sun sets in its ageless, splendor of hues. The animals and birds were his special friends and as he ran, the bow and arrow slung across his shoulders, his bare feet were as swift as the wings of his feathered friends, the Goldena and the Continga. He was on his way to a place deep in the forest, where grew a garden of rare orchids, so rare, the scent had a healing power. The secret garden hidden by wild impassable shrubs had for a long time been guarded by the hideous King Toad, who had been living under a curse, broken by Kupono and his friend, the Golden Nightingale. a curse that had restored the glistening lake, beautiful swans and rare orchids that were like a garden with a touch of heaven, unique on its own.
Now, he could visit the garden anytime and pluck any flower whenever its healing power is needed. It was now desperately needed, as the boy ran, for the Chief’s daughter was struck by a strange illness that only the healing power of the orchid could cure. It was a long journey and Kupono stopped to drink the cool, refreshing water from the stream, when a sudden chopping sound, followed by a loud crash, startled him. He ran towards the sound and saw a strange man, standing by a fallen tree, shaking his head in distress. Kupono looked at him for a long moment, not sure if he should talk to him, when the man threw down his axe, sat on the trunk of the fallen tree and moaned,
“Oh when do I find the gold so I can see my family again?”
Kupono sensed the strange man’s deep distress and stepping out cautiously from behind the trees, “What is your distress, strange man?”
The man jumped up and picked up his axe in one swift motion then stopped when he saw it was a native boy.
“Who are you? What are you doing here?”
“I’m Kupono, of the forest and I was just passing by when I heard the crashing sound.”
“You’re a spirit form?”
“No, just an ordinary boy.”
The man sighed deeply and sat down again,
“No one can help me, I’m doomed.”
“Why? Have you been cursed?”
“By bad luck, yes,” the man said wryly, “Bad luck to be a poor woodsman living in a neglected village, to have my only brother living a bad life, always in trouble.”
He stopped and sighed deeply again, truly a distressed soul.
“His latest bad deed may cause me to lose my family.”
“How’s that?”
“He stole a cache of gold pieces from the miner he was working with and disappeared. No one heard from him for months and one day a letter, old and faded, arrived at my home, with a strange diagram and some scrambled words that said,
“Yours to keep if you can find it, for all the troubles I’ve caused you, the miner does not deserve this gold, he’s evil. He has killed my best friend and if you find this gold, please help his family and forgive me if you can.”
“What did you do?” the boy asked, intrigued.
“Nothing. I put the letter away, until the gold miner found me. He wanted his gold back at any cost, accusing me of hiding my brother. I told him I know nothing, but he burnt my house down and took away my wife and daughter. He said if I didn’t find and return his gold, my family would die!”
The man handed a badly crumbled diagram to Kupono and said desperately,
“I’ve been searching the forest for weeks, but cannot find this place.”
Kupono looked at the diagram from all angles, mystified himself, but he couldn’t delay too long, for the Chief’s daughter was too ill, so he went on his way for the orchid, promising the woodman to help him in the morn.
It was truly a mystery and summoning the King of swans, Kupono told him of the woodsman’s quest.
“When I served the evil wizard,” the swan said, “I saw this rock formation in the black lake, where the most menacing of reptiles live. How did the woodsman brother find his way to such a forbidden place?”
“A deeper mystery,” Kupono said, “How do I help the woodsman to retrieve the gold?”
“You’ll have to wait on the full moon when a mysterious force drains the water from the lake and the reptiles find refugee elsewhere, then you can reach the rock.”
Kupuno related to the man what the King of Swans had told him and on the full moon, he and the woodsman went to the lake. They watched increduously as the water drained and the serpents slithered away in the forest. In a deep hollow in the rock formation, they found the hidden gold. The woodsman held the cache with trembling hands, remembering his brother’s words to keep the gold, but thinking of his family held hostage by the evil miner.
“I will have to return the gold,” he said quietly, “Because my family’s lives are more important.” Not far from the miner’s camp though, there was the sound of angry voices and gunshots. The woodsman and Kupono hid behind a thicket of trees and watched the scene of gunplay between two rival camps.
“What has happened to my wife and daughter?” he asked fearfully.
“It is not safe here, I think you should return to your village,” Kupono told him.
The woodsman returned to his village, hoping and praying in his mind, his family was safe and true enough, they were there, having escaped, traumatized but safe.
The miner had been killed so the woodsman now had nothing to fear, he was now a rich man. He thanked Kupono for his help for the one great good of his brother would have remained a mystery if it wasn’t for the native boy and his my