Zaloo-Loo Ruled Her Tribe Zaalo-loo and her Ancient Tribes Zaalo-loo was born on the foothills of the Abreetik Mountains. She Had earned her place to be the strongest woman in her Tribe. She was 5ft 6 and was fairy slim with dark long hair.. As a child she lived amongst the animals learning to hunt for food while her mother was expected to look after the house Cooking and washing etc. Zaalo-loo preferred to go hunting with her father. They hunted for deer and mongooses and often set traps for animals. As she was the only child, her father allowed her to follow in his footsteps. Occasionally, Zaalo-loo would follow her mother in picking flowers for her hair. Her mother wore plenty of flowers in her hair and she wore a gold ornament on her forehead that was given to her when she got married. Zaalo-loo loved a warm hug from her mother and often played with the necklace on her mother�s neck. It was given to her for ownership of marriage. At the time her mother had an elaborate secret ritual at the tender age of 15. Zaalo-loo�s mother had one bone ornament that was added to her necklace when Zaalo-lo was born. Other woman in the village had 5 or more ornaments, Each for the number of children that a woman has in her family. The Gold ornament regarding a boy and the ones made out of bone Was given when a girl was born. Zaalo-loo�s mother also wore a larger necklace with about seven large ornaments made out of gold. This necklace represented Monopoly, her role in the trading business. Most women worked In the furnace house where pottery was made. Each piece on her Necklace was a token of her hard working life. It was her wages. She had seven solid geometric shaped ornaments with ends that are equal and Parallel all neatly resting on her stomach. One shape represented Liturgy the second represented her achievement in learning mix mortar that was used to build their huts. The rest were earned in Employment as the years rolled on. Zaalo-loo wanted to be clever just like her Mother and Father but She had a passion to win the Mostodon Horns. So far only the man Could do this. Their leader always wore the Mostodon Horns which he had won when he was just 16. So far nobody has ever won them off him to become the next ruling leader of their tribe. . Zaalo-loo was a brave hunter, she was born a hunter and had no time to help her mother but her mother was happy when Zaalo-loo came home with a deer. She mastered the hunting skill well. Mar-loo had a liking to Zaalo-loo, he found her attractive. The boys in her Tribe was allowed to choose their partners at an early Age of 15. All the village would gather for a limbo dance where the boys could choose a girl and get engaged . Zaalo-loo receive her engagement necklace. This necklace was to be the ownership of one�s future partner. She was not ready for marriage she wanted to win the crown and become a ruler. She had climbed nearly all the trees in the forest. She had jumped from the waterfall to catching fishes But she wanted more. She often watched the man setting traps to catch the Mostodons. At night she would try to figure out a plan into how she was to catch one. To catch one was the biggest task for anyone. They were very difficult to catch. �� She had to carefully plan ahead, competition was amongst the male Tribe members. Each family male member was allowed to enter. Zaalo-loo�s father had to persuade the leader to allow his daughter to enter. He said that it was unfair that his family was not allowed to enter just because he did not have a son, besides he was now confident to say that his daughter had proved to be a true hunter as she had presented the village with 20 deer�s, which uptil yet no one has ever accomplished. It was accepted! But the Leader laughed at the thought. There was excitement amongst the villagers as it was the first time that a girl was going to prove her strength. It was going to be the biggest event this year. The only person that was not happy was her own mother. For she thought that this was a dangerous sport and She refused to attend. Now Zaalo-loo had to prove her point right and knew that she had the confidence to win, for she had drunk plenty of Buffalo milk which made her physically fit and strong. Buffalo milk was the best milk in town. The goodness from it made her hair grow below her waist. . The competition was on, the villagers gathered at the bottom of The foot shill drums ready for the welcome of the winner but it was going to take days for each contest. Moo-goo was the first contestant, he took his spear and his rope and was seen setting of towards the other side of the Mountain where the Mastodon roamed. The villagers waited until evening thinking that he was dead and gone. But he emerged defeated and crying. The Mastodon had defeated him. Moo-goo was a loser. Joo-jo was the tallest of all. He could be a fine leader if he could win his way through. So he too was seen heading off to the other side of the Mountain. He came back by the evening feeling very tired. No drums for Joo-oo. He was seen dragged by his father by the ear in disappointment. All the boys in the villagers were tested and failed. On day five it was Zaalo-loo�s turn. She left the house giving her mum a hug. Her mother cried thinking that this could be the last she would see of her daughter. Her mother just did not want Zaalo-loo to hunt the Mastodon, she did not care about the horns she just wanted her only daughter. But Zaalo-loo was stubborn and there was not turning back to her mother�s words. The villagers were gathered as usual to watch the days outcome. No boys had won, how can a girl win? They gossiped amongst themselves. Zaalo-loo left at 10 O�Clock. She was equipped with a tool that she had made herself. It was the same tool that she used to hunt the deer�s with. She made a special cooking recipe which makes one dozy. (It was her only secret, she had found a herb � when eaten it made one sleep for hours) She used it made a Couple of large biscuits for the Mastodon. She climbed over to the other side of the Mountain. It took her an hour. She had watched the group of Mastodon glazing here over the past couple of years. She remembered the last one was killed by a group of her village Tribe. Often the skin was kept and dried and divided amongst the Tribe. It was often exchanged for household goods and used to cover up the lower Part of the body to cover up the private parts. Because the climate was hot In her region children walked around almost bear until they reached puberty. Zaalo-loo was wearing her deer skin around her waist. . Zaalo-loo knew the right time that the Mastodon wondered on this part of the mountain for their lunch. She was just about in time, hiding behind some bushes she throw some biscuits, a good four to five hoping that a Mastodon would soon be eating them. She sat quietly, the grass high up to her waist. There was about Three Mastodons with large horns. They were huge creatures. She often heard Stories of how one had picked up a baby and chucked it six yards and than ran and thumped on it and killed it.. Than there was a story about how one Mastodon had got hold of a young man and curled him around his trunk only to Squashed him to death. Anyone who had managed to kill and fought with these Creatures was to rule their Tribe. Zaalo-loo lay there dreaming and waiting. She could hear their loud noises. Suddenly she heard a thump, it worked one had eaten her homemade biscuit. She watched as the other two Mastodons tried to move and shake the one that had fallen to the ground. They hurled their large trunks in the air with grief and after about half an hour they decided that they could not do anything. So they both turned and went their way. It was so large, the horns were massive. She knew that it was just sleeping. and that he would get up in another couple of hours. She climbed up to the top of its body, still warm and breathing. She could have well hugged and slept on it. Buts he had a job to prove that she had hunted a Mastodon all by herself. She got hold of her horn and blew it as loud as she could and she waited for the villager to come and see her bait. She sat waiting cross legged. She could hear them approaching. She blow her horn again and in no time they were all gathered amazed at seeing the giant creature on the ground. Zaalo-loo stood up and knew that she was going to be the Queen, the new future ruler.. The Leader of the Tribe still wearing his head dress with the previous horns was Now very jealous and made it clear that his crown should only go to a male person. Zaalo-loo was not going to tell anyone her secret into how she had hunted down a Mastodon, she was going to teach the Leader a lesson. She had her spear ready in her hand to kill it but when she heard the Leaders speech, she changed her mind. Nobody knew what they where in for. The Mastodon was not dead and Zaalo-lo patted his head gently and whispered in his ears to get up. She was not going to pierce his vein. The doziness wore off and the Mastodon jumped up. Zaalo-loo could not believe it; she was high up on this Mastodon already feeling like a Queen. Everyone ran like little ants as fast as they could. The Mastodon only had his eyes on one thing. It was the horns that the Leader was wearing. He was running as fast as he could but the Mastodon picked him up and curled him around his trunk. �Tell him to let go� Cried the Leader. �You are our new leader, you can have the Horns�. He shouted. The Mastodon hurled the leader a good 20 yards and he made his way home. It was Zaalo-loo�s turn now, she saw his trunk hurl up in the air over his head and towards her. She had one biscuit left and he sucked it like a hose and eat it and in no time was he back on the ground asleep. She slide down to the ground and made her way home. Everyone thought that the Mastodon had killed her. They celebrated with the beating of the drums and she was crowned with the pair of Mastodons. Horns. For the first time in their tribe history had a girl shown her true strength equal to a man. She had won the horns of the Mastodon and became their Queen.
Copyright © 2007 Amarjit Bhambra |