| Boetie & The
Bloat
by Elizabeth Akers, Rescue Coordinator
When Mantis created all about him, he made sure
there were locusts and other beasties that helped destroy
vegetation at times, thereby causing famines. This was to
keep all beings on their toes so that they would not take
anything for granted. That is, all beings except the Ridgeback.
Boetie was the most dare-devil pup in his litter.
He was forever getting himself - and sometimes his relatives
- into trouble, but they usually escaped the wrath of Mantis.
On this fine day, however, Boetie wanted to go far afield
to chase the dassies just for fun. He did have such a mischievous
streak in him. He was setting out toward the kopjes when he
heard a strange shrill humming sound. He stopped and stood
very still and listened closely to this odd noise. It grew
louder and louder. It seemed to be coming closer to him and
he began to get a bit nervous. He turned around to see what
his family was doing about this noise. He was suddenly afraid
as he could not see his family. There was just a thick black
line where his home had been, but the black line was moving
and travelling toward where he stood. He growled and took
some steps backward but the line moved toward him faster than
he thought possible. He took several steps backwards and growled
louder, then he barked. The line continued to advance. The
humming grew louder.
Boetie turned and tried to run, but found that
there were creatures crawling up his sides, down his legs,
along his back and across his face. They were biting him and
they really hurt. He screamed his fury and ran headlong into
the river. There he sat, with his tail firmly planted in the
mud, his ears and eyes were all that remained visible above
the water. As much as he hated the wetness of the water, he
was glad that the creatures were drowning and not crawling
on him any more. He watched the black line move on and as
it moved he saw that there was not a blade of grass behind
the line. There was not a leaf on a bush nor on a tree, there
was nothing to show that this was the veld of Africa, except
broken twigs and branches and dust, lots of red dust. Boetie
was very frightened. His family was not where he thought they
should be, in fact there was not a trace of anythin except
the red dust. The locusts kept moving. They did not stop for
anything or anyone in their path.
He walked up the bank of the river toward where
his home had been. He decided to walk toward where the sun
went under the earth each day. He was cold, wet, and afraid,
but he bravely began his search for his family. He walked
for sunsets and moon sets. He found very little in the way
of food, and he chewed pieces of broken twig or tree branch
- they were dry and tough, but it kept his tummy from grumbling
too loudly. The sun was burning hot yet on he walked.
He woke up one morning to hear barks and growls.
Boetie raced up a hill and found his whole family at the bottom,
right near the river. He raced down barking with joy - he
was so happy to see everyone. As he got closer he saw that
they were all very thin and weak. They too, had been eating
twigs and bark, there was no meat to be found. Boetie joined
the scrounging family. He began to share in the daily hunt
for real food. Now and then one of the dogs would find a vole
or a small field mouse and this thin, but tasty, morsel would
be given to the weakest of the group. They all shared whatever
food they could scrounge.
Boetie found some tall grasses near a kopje
that the locusts had not eaten. They had several large seed
pods still attached. He tried chewing them and they were the
best food he had tasted for a long time. He carefully looked
about him, no one had seen him leave the pack and head for
the kopje. He thought if he were careful, he could eat the
seeds himself, making them last a few days, thereby regaining
some of his lost strength. That would then help him to go
farther out to look for food for the weaker members of his
pack. Boetie then went back to the pack without taking any
of the stalks of grain with him to share. The next day he
snuck back to the kopje to eat a few seeds. One of his brothers
watched where he went and followed at a distance.
When Boetie returned to the pack his brother
picked a fight with him - the pack was very angry about the
seeds Boetie was hiding. None of the dogs were willing to
listen to his belief that if one dog was strong, that dog
would be able to range farther out to look for food. The dogs
were very angry and wanted their share of the food. Boetie
ran to the kopje as fast as he could, and began to devour
the seeds. He wanted to get as far away from his family as
possible. If he found food quickly, they would be able to
eat and grow strong again and discord amongst them would be
a thing of their past.
With his back to the rocks of the kopje, Boetie
ate the last of the seeds, while his family barked furiously
at him. With his back protected, he had no fear of them fighting
with him. As he chewed the last mouthful, he quickly turned
tail and jumped over the rocks and ran out into the bare,
un-baked veld. His family trudged tiredly home. Only Jaapie,
unseen by his amily, followed Boetie.
Boetie ran hard and fast until he could no longer
see the kopje over his shoulder. As he slowed down he felt
his stomach give a lurch. He stood quietly for a moment and
felt his tummy rumble, then he heard his tummy gurgle loudly.
He decided to go on and that he was probably hungrier than
he thought he had been. He had not gone far when a sharp stabbing
pain seared through his tummy. He stopped and waited for the
pain to pass. He slowly continued on his way. Every few steps
he had to stop and wait for the pain to lessen. Finally he
found he had to lie down to stretch his body out to try to
stop the pain. He stretched, he lay flat on his side, he lay
on his tummy and stretched forward, but that made the pain
worse. He tried to roll over but he did not have the strength,
so he simply lay very still. He lolled his tongue out of his
mouth and tried to make his breathing even, it just rasped
out of his lungs as his body burned in fiery pain. He felt
like his stomach was going to burst like the orange poffer
mushrooms which grew in the vlei each winter. Boetie remembered
jumping on them just to see the thick yellow dusty innards
burst outward when they were broken. Then he remembered his
mother licking his face when a nasty bee stung him on the
cheek, and his sister snuggling up close when he was cold.
He remembered Jaapie calling his name when he was lost in
the bush, he thought he could hear Jaapie now as he lay in
the red dirt shaking with pain.
Jaapie was trying to rouse Boetie with little
success. Finally he prayed to Mantis for help and as he prayed
a small green insect flew down to settle in the red dust beside
Boetie's head. Jaapie bowed his head in reverence to the presence
of the Creator and asked humbly for help in healing Boetie.
Mantis explained that the food in Boetie's stomach was expanding
with the gases inside because Boetie had run so hard and so
far right after he had eaten. He laid his praying legs onto
Boetie and very soon Boetie seemed to lie more calmly and
not to writhe around so much. Jaapie sat close by waiting.
After a while Boetie sat up and Mantis began to question him
about the food he had eaten. Boetie explained about the locusts,
not having any home left, nor food, and then told about finding
his family and the seeds. He told of his hopes to help his
family, but the anger they showed and lack of understanding
made him run away as fast as he could.
Mantis understood that Boetie had truly meant
well, but what he did also showed greed and selfishness with
regard to the actual food. He therefore ruled that if a Ridgeback
ever ate food that others too would benefit from eating, then
that Ridgeback would bloat and be in a great deal of pain.
Only at the assistance of others would that dog be able to
get well again. Mantis would not abide selfish eating in the
future, even though Boetie had meant well, Mantis said there
was food enough for all to share and no one was to ever try
to keep food to one's self again, even if they thought it
would ultimately help others. He told Boetie that the only
reason he, Mantis, had helped Boetie to recover was because
he knew Boetie was trying to help and that neither he nor
the pack had the knowledge of what to do in times of need.
He told Boetie and Jaapie that this would serve to warn others
in the future. He then spread his gossamer wings and flew
away.
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The Boetie Stories
Boetie is the creation of Elizabeth Akers.
He is a brave young ridgeback who is at wonder at the world
around him. He has many adventures and is the originator of
many ridgeback characterics. He and his siblings will show
you what ridgebacks are all about.
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