“I help you? How can I help you?”
“ What, you mean you don’t know?”
“Know what?”
“That you’re special?”
“How do you know about it. When I don’t know?”
“Everyone can see it- can’t you?”
“See what?” Parijatham was getting worried.
“Your eyes- there;s a strange light.”
“Oh, so that’s why- we never had fires in our village and it was always light.” “Exactly, look around you- how did it look when you saw it from outside?” “The forest was dark.”
“And how does it look now?”
“Bright as usual.”
“Little girl, that’s not usual.” “Oh!”
“Yes, oho!”
“So I have this light! Big deal!”
“It is a big deal! Look at me! What do you see?”
Parijatham gazed at him, but she saw nothing except a tiny wizened monkey and she was too polite to make personal remarks, “you…uh..look bright?..” she managed.
“Now, look around you, what do you see?”
“It’s dark…?”
“Yes, so how do you see me?”
“The moonlight?”
“You just said its dark…” the Monkey King’s sidekick reminded her.
“ You have a power-you radiate light and it comes from your mind.”
“Oh so that’s why my mother never lit a fire. Oh, no one in my village had to”, she clapped her hand to her mouth.
“Ah, so why did they let you go?”
“The village elder said, that I was too bright…” she hung her head.
“Oh, don’t worry little girl, in this dark forest, we need all the light we can get. Look, lets go to the enemy’s camp and take a recce of the area. You’ll know why you should help us.”
“Hmm… but before I do that, I think I must know something of you as well.” “Spoken wisely!” The sidekick was admiring.
“My name is Alab. That is our King Idang.”
“Don’t you have a queen?”
“There are a number of females. They look after the young. Some do the food gathering and warn us of danger, and train the young.”
“That’s a lot of ands.”
“Sorry, my language is slipping. Must be tired.”
“Or, the females do so much that you had to keep adding on the jobs.” “Hmmm…as I said, you are smart. I will tell the King that you would like to stay with us and help us. You can decide what to do, after a few days. You’ll find we are a nice lot. Now, I must take you to the abandoned observation post that the humans have left. It will make you a nice place to stay.”
“Why was it abandoned?”
“Ah, that’s a long story and you must wait until I am less sleepy.”
To Be Continued…..
