Mina and the honey badger
A story
One morning, Mina woke up, thinking of her mother and her brothers. She decided to go and visit them. All day she walked and, when Eshtu was high in the sky, Mina heard a shrill voice from high up in a tree.
“Tya, tya, tya,” came the chattering of the honeybird. Looking up, Mina could just see the rounded belly, through the branches. The honeybird fanned out her tail feathers, showing the white spots underneath. “Tya, tya, tya,” she said again. Mina listened carefully and, sure enough, she began to hear the faint humming of the bees.
‘How good it would be to take honey to my mother and my brothers,’ thought Mina.
The honeybird fluttered from branch to branch and Mina followed where she led, till they reached the tree. The angry noise of the bees came down to them from high above.
Half way up, Mina fell to the ground and the hand on the same side as her heart was broken. Mina thought of the sweet honey and began to climb again. This time she almost reached the top of the tree before she fell, breaking the foot on the other side of her body. But still the honeybird called — “tya, tya, tya” — and still came the humming of the bees. She climbed once more and, this time, she reached the top. With her digging stick in her good hand, she poked inside the tree trunk. The bees buzzed around Mina’s face and stung her, but she hooked out a big piece of honeycomb, thanked the bees, and slithered down the tree.
Mina limped on her way, leaving a trail of blood on the path. Once, twice, three times, she thought she heard the sound of someone behind her, following. When she stopped to look, there was no-one.
It was winter and Mina began to grow cold. She was tired and her mother’s people were still far off. The sound came again and Mina turned quickly. There, behind a rock, she spied a white head with a blunt black snout and a pair of small eyes. It was fierce Askone, who loves to steal honey. He began to growl and to scrape at the ground with his sharp claws.
Mina looked around and saw brushwood to make a fire that would keep Askone away. She went to pick up the wood and stopped dead in her tracks. What should she do? She had only one good hand. To pick up the wood, she would have to lay the honey down.
Mina heard Askone growling, right behind her, and felt his strong body curling round her legs. He began to paw at her. His sharp claws were tearing her skin, his jaws snapping at the honey. Mina cried out but she held tight to the honeycomb and lifted it up above her head.
Way up in the heavens, the Skymother sneezed and stars flew from her nostrils, shooting out into the darkness. Then, hearing Mina’s cry and seeing the gift held up towards her, the Skymother at once began to journey through the sky, stopping only to throw over herself the coat of a she-leopard.
Mina caught sight of the leopard, loping towards her through the darkness. She screamed and dropped the honeycomb on the ground. As everyone knows, Askone is not frightened of anything, not even of leopard. He snatched up the honey at once and sauntered away, behind a rock, to eat it.
Mina cried out again. She wanted to run but one foot was useless so she could only hop along, waiting for the she-leopard to pounce. She could almost feel the hot breath on her back, the claws, the sharp teeth tearing her skin.
But now imagine her surprise when instead of pain she felt something soft on her head, her shoulders, brushing her cheek. The Skymother had taken off her leopard coat and was wrapping Mina in it to keep her warm. The Skymother settled herself on the ground and, taking Mina in her arms, she rocked her to and fro till she fell asleep.
END NOTE
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