A long time ago when the rocks were still wet with mist, people lived in harmony with their master, Soil. Master Soil was spread like a carpet throughout the whole kingdom and sustained life. He took care of his people, made sure they were well-fed and happy always. Though Master Soil could only speak with his actions, the people respected him and understood their obligations towards their master. They kept his body covered at all times except the small portion of land where they built their homesteads. So, Master Soil’s kingdom flourished.
One dark night, a piercing whistle was heard tearing through the forest. People woke up to a disturbing sight, trees were blown about, their leaves falling and sand getting into their ears and eyes. Wind galloped into their homesteads neighing like a horse, on his back was his rider, Drought. The people were not happy with Drought’s arrival because they could see the damage caused by his horse; Wind. One look at him and they felt pity for him. Drought was thin, dry and smelled like a rotten carcass. The people ignored Master Soil’s warning of falling leaves because they couldn’t believe frail Drought could harm them.
With Drought’s arrival, life changed drastically. Trees lost more leaves, animals started getting sick and died. Drought realized the people were not aware he is the cause of change in their kingdom so he took advantage of their ignorance and started making up stories. Drought told the people that his kingdom lost all life because of an unexplained occurrence that’s why he took his horse and ran away before he died, too. When the people believed him, Drought instigated them against their Master Soil by telling more lies. As a result, people were occupied with worry and fear such that they did not listen to Master Soil’s warnings anymore.
Taking Drought’s advice, the people cut trees and built big storages. They collected all the fruits, vegetables and herbs from their kingdom and stored them in their storages. They killed most of the animals that were left, dried the meat and kept it for future use. As far as the eyes could see, Master Soil’s body was left uncovered but no one cared because they were busy listening to Drought’s lies. Drought’s horse, Wind, would be seen galloping around blowing soil all overfilling the atmosphere with dust.
With each passing day, life became hard for the people and they started getting sick and dying of hunger with their food storages depleted. Drought had made himself King of their kingdom and anyone who opposed him was punished by hunger until death. Their kingdom looked exactly like Drought, dry, hot, bare and smelled of rotten carcasses. Great fear befell people because they realized Drought was the cause of their hardships. They started sneaking off when Drought was not watching and pleaded with Master Soil to rescue them. But Master Soil was too weak, he had a disease called soil erosion.
The people sat by the dry river bed and cried bitterly. When their tears wet the dry river bed, Master Soil regained a little bit of his strength. He pitied his people so he told them to gather all the dry seeds they could find and bury them deep in his body where Wind wouldn’t be able to blow them away. He told them they had to work fast before Drought turned their kingdom into a desert and stayed there permanently. People scattered all over and gathered as many seeds as they could find and secretly buried them. In the middle of the night when everyone was asleep, Master Soil, with all the strength he had left, stretched his arms to the heavens and called rain. That night it rained so hard Drought and his horse drowned in the flowing rivers while they tried to escape.
The people were so happy their Master defeated drought and saved their lives. They apologised to Master Soil and vowed never to disobey him again. Life returned to normal and they lived happily ever after.
Read – Mahube (A new dawn) A Children’s Story by Temani Nkalolang, Botswana
