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Gecko
Except for a characteristic clicking sound, it would have been impossible to locate the intruder, but by focusing on the noise and peering intently, Meredith finally saw a yellow and brown banded gecko lying motionless on a upright stone near the ant hill.
"Look!" she whispered.
The gecko perched as if frozen. Only the clicking of its tongue continued unabated. Meredith and the shaman watched and listened for many minutes.
Now the gecko was silent. It advanced one foot and then another, as it stealthily descended the vertical stone face, head down and tail flat against the rock.
Once on the ground, it inched forward toward the ants' nest, seeming to move according to a premeditated plan. Effortlessly it scaled the walls of the nest and positioned itself next to one of the pupae hatching chambers.
Suddenly the gecko attacked. Digging furiously with forearms and snout, the creature penetrated the nest before the ants had any warning. Once it had gained entry, the voracious lizard swept hundreds of white cocoons into its mouth with its long broad tongue.
Retreat
The ants, responding to the threat, marshaled an army to fend off the intruder. Mobbed by soldier ants spraying poisonous chemicals, the gecko beat his retreat, but not without felling a line of ants with one sweep of his tail.
As the gecko left the nest, a courageous worker ant aimed a highly potent sting from her hind quarters at the lizard's back and caught him near the end of his tail. The marauder was evidently wounded, but not seriously, for he escaped to the far reaches of the cave where he lay recovering from his wound and digesting his bounty. A piece of his tail was left on the battleground.
Meredith couldn't help laughing. "That robber will think twice about attacking the ants' nest again. But, you know, it's a good thing the ants have some natural enemies. Otherwise they would prosper and multiply with no checks or balances, and they would eat up everything!" She picked up the gecko's tail and a few dead ant bodies. After a brief examination, she placed them in her beaded pouch. The ants were already busy repairing the breach in their nest.
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Ant People "Here is their story," said the shaman said, pointing to the stone walls of the cave where pictographs of spidery white figures appeared to dance upon the terra cotta surface. The painted figures stood upright on two legs and gestured with stick-like arms. Their wide triangular bodies and tiny heads were topped with furry feelers with double and triple crossbars. "They look just like the ants here in the cave," said Meredith, pointing in surprise at the ancient rock paintings. "They are our ancestors, the Ant People," said the shaman. |
Decipher
Meredith traced one of the images with her finger. "My mother would have been able to decipher this. Can you read it?"
"The cave paintings tell the story of the Ant People," the shaman said. "They were the First People and lived deep in the dark earth. They were happy in their life, for Mother Earth provided them with shelter and plenty of seeds to eat.
"They dug tunnels everywhere. They nourished their young and multiplied and formed new colonies. For long ages they dominated the earth."
"But you are humans, you are not ants," said the shaman. "You have an awareness that was not given to the ants, and so you have a choice. You may choose to destroy Mother Earth or to save her. But before you can heal your world, you must heal your soul. Before you can heal your soul, you must find your soul. Then you will make your choice."
Earthquake
"What happened to the Ant People to bring about their downfall?" Meredith asked.
"Ah, you see, they were too many and too successful," said the shaman, pointing again to the pictograph. "They multiplied so rapidly that they took almost all the food in the world for themselves, forgetting the balance of nature and destroying their own land. They scavenged so much that they undermined the earth and loosened landslides. Many were killed, yet still they kept increasing and devastating the earth. Finally earthquakes came and destroyed their world. Only a few escaped to the next world, those who were able to change."
"So much like our human story," said Meredith. "We seem to have conquered the world but we may well destroy it."