TWIN ELEPHANTS

by Ted Pontiflet, 2012

Little Salifu lived in a small and peaceful village in the north-west of Ghana, not very far from where the thick bush gives way to the high grass of the savanna. One day, Salifu was chasing a guinea fowl when he heard a commotion in a clearing just ahead of him. He peered through the high grass to see an elephant had just given birth. Suddenly there was more excitement with the other elephants surrounding the mother as she gave birth to a second baby. Twin elephants, a boy and a girl! Excited, Salifu ran home to tell his papa. This was a very strange thing and the village folk said nothing to outside people, thinking they might be cursed and bad things would happen to them.

The twin elephants grew up big and strong, as did Salifu, and every season of the high grass he would return to the spot where the elephants were born, hoping to see them. He did see them, and they were always together, playing and eating. And the elephants saw Salifu, but they never came into the village, and the people never bothered them. Somehow the word got out and the poachers came; they killed the female and injured the male before he trampled two of them, stomping them repeatedly and kicking them away from his sister. His ferocious trumpeting could be heard for miles. But the village people and other elephants came too late and watched helplessly as the male stood over his twin sister trying to raise her dead body. The village people kept their distance, and the elephants did not cast accusing eyes at them.

The elephant did not leave his twin sister’s body for many days; he circled her, nudged her and cried out in anguish. Village people brought him food, but he would not eat. The older elephants would come back now and then to comfort him and touch his sister’s decaying body. Eventually, the twin left his sister, but not before spending many hours circling her and raising his trunk in painful cries.

If you visit that village today, Salifu is an old, bearded storyteller. He will tell you that the village people buried the body of the twin, marking the grave with her tusks. Now every season of the high grass, the twin brother would visit her grave. The village people always knew when he was around, so loud and mournful was his sad song.

Old Salifu will also tell you that strange things began to happen to the crops in the area. They would grow in twos and threes; bananas and coconuts would be stuck together, likewise yams and potatoes. The village people had seen crops stuck together before, but never in such numbers. At the same time, all the flowers in and around the village bloomed with colors more vibrant and beautiful than had ever been seen, especially in the area of the dead twin. The elephants curiously sniffed the flowers but did not eat or trample them.

Most astonishing to the village people was the significant increase in the birth of boy and girl twins. The priest was consulted; he had no answer. The medicine man was also consulted; he had no answer, nor did the Juju man.

With the approval of the elders, some enterprising villagers decided to take advantage of the situation. They advertised that the village well-water was responsible for the increase of twin births and that the yams also had special medicinal gifts for the reproductive systems of both male and female. The water was bottled and the yams crushed to a powder and sold by weight. All labeling was twin elephants, trunks raised high and joined. Leather workers crafted beautiful bags, attaché cases and sandals, all adorned with the symbol of two elephants with their trunks raised and joined. Other items like pottery, tie-die and batik cloth, gold and brass ornaments - all bore the symbol of the twins. The village prospered and grew in wealth and fame. A new secondary school was built, and their logo was twin elephants.

In his special chair carved from a local tree, old Salifu sits regally in the shade of a huge acacia tree, his pipe filled with tobacco made from the leaves of a bush near the grave of the twin elephant. To his left is an old clay vase filled with brilliant red, yellow, white and purple flowers. To his right, artfully decorated with twin elephants and resting on a piece of faded leather, sits a chipped ceramic bowl used to collect donations. When Salifu sees in your eyes that you doubt what he says to be true, he slowly raises his pipe to the sky. When his hand comes down, young twins walk by, a boy and a girl. He lights his pipe and smiles.

THE END

Written in Jarretaderas, Nayirit, Mexico 2012