Xanth’ua was hunting the day the monster came to the Village. He and the other men were excited by the number of the wild boar they had killed; there would be enough meat for weeks! They weren’t expecting the women to be more excited than they were.
“Xanth’ua!” A’chu’ai, his mate, exclaimed when he entered the mud hut. “There’s a monster in the Village!”
Xanth’ua dropped his catch. “A monster?”
“Come. Look.” A’chu’ai took him by the arm and led him to the edge of the Village. The monster stood in a small clearing strewn with the remains of destroyed trees. It was twice as tall as one of The People, its skin shining in the dying light. It had huge, sharp, protruding teeth.
“It’s not moving,” Xanth’ua whispered from their vantage point behind some bushes.
“It’s asleep,” A’chu’ai told him, adding: “It came with a terrible roar!”
Xanth’ua nodded thoughtfully. “What happened to the trees?” he asked. The area had not been a clearing when he had left the Village that morning.
“The monster ate them.”
So. Crouched low to the ground, Xanth’ua cautiously crept out from his hiding place and approached the monster. Hesitantly, he touched it (its skin was hard and cold – like a rock made smooth by running water) and scampered back to where his mate was waiting.
“It sleeps deeply, this monster,” Xanth’ua commented.
They returned to the hut and feasted. The next day, the monster awoke early with a frightening noise. The men of the Village watched from the brush as it chewed up trees and spit them out. This monster has a tremendous appetite! Xanth’ua thought.
A couple of hours later, a remarkable thing happened: the monster started purring and a man came out of it!
At least, it looked like a man. It had a body and arms and legs and a head with a face just like any of The People. But, it was not one of The People. For one thing, it was much taller; for another, it was paler than anyone they had ever seen. At the Village Council that evening, The People agreed that the tall, pale man – if it was a man – must be some sort of shaman; after all, he appeared to have the ability to tame the monster.
The next day, the monster was gone, but there were half a dozen tall, pale men like the shaman. They were building a structure unlike any The People had ever seen. It was made of wood, for a start. Not only that, but it stood erect; it wasn’t part of a dwelling, and even as shelter it would be useless.
The Council that night agreed that it must be some kind of religious totem, but nobody could figure out what it was for. A tribe that could tame monsters must have powerful magic. Xanth’ua was chosen to approach the tall, pale men and, if possible, find out what they were doing.
Two of them appeared the next day. They had some thin, colourful material that magically stuck to the wooden structure. It was a picture of a tall, pale man and woman standing over another, smaller monster with a snubbier nose and no teeth. They were smiling and, for some reason, holding small, thin sticks that appeared to be on fire. There was also, impossibly, a large box in one corner, and a lot of writing none of The People could understand.
Before the tall, pale men could leave, Xanth’ua timidly walked into the clearing and approached them. They talked for many hours.
“They are done and will not return,” Xanth’ua reported at the Council that evening.
“What are they doing?”
“They’re growing…something…” Xanth’ua unhelpfully explained, light from the fire casting uncertain shadows on his face. The People had no words for “expanding” or “markets.” They did not know that they lived on the African sub-continent, or that they were part of the developing world, or that developed world economics demanded constant growth.
They had never even seen a cigarette.
“One of the tall, pale men gave me this,” Xanth’ua said, putting a small box like the one on the totem next to the fire. The men of the Council took out thin sticks and looked them over with awe and suspicion. “You put them in your mouth, set fire to the end and breath,” Xanth’ua explained.
The Council decided that the sticks were too powerful for The People and had them buried next to the totem.