Matriarch
Too crowded, too small, too many mouths to feed — everyone knew it, so she decided enough was enough. Her ancestors had found these lands; she would find new ones. Whoever wanted to follow could follow, whoever wanted to stay could stay.
She gathered her family together and announced in silence her intentions. Some swayed their trunks slowly, others stomped their feet softly, they all drooped their ears. In the end six, along with their young, decided to follow her into the unknown. Finally another five males joined the party.
The first task, before getting into the unknown, would be to get through the known. Humans surrounded them on all sides, with their structures and machinery, and reassuringly, their food.
This proved to be a slow and hungry business. She’d chosen a direction with the midday sun at their back, and they’d set off, along the human paths, making good progress at first.
Pretty soon, they were bogged down by obstacles on all sides. Not so long ago, she remembered, they could have walked through thin forest and meadows without having to pass through the human territory, but now there seemed to be tea and rubber growing everywhere. Why, and for what? thought The Matriarch. None of it was very edible.
They picked up the pace. On top of all the difficulties with the route, one of The Matriarch’s granddaughters was getting closer with every passing day to giving birth — very exciting, but it wouldn’t make their journey easier, so when they reached the edge of the territory of a sizeable human herd, with some forest and plenty of food around, they decided to settle in and try their luck.
These humans turned out to be quite fiercely territorial. They quickly became unfriendly, food became increasingly difficult to get, and it all came to a head when an angry band of them got too close and aggressive, and one human ended up dead. Very troubling.
They’d managed to find some food among all the rubber, only to be chased off by a bunch of humans shouting with frenzied gestures and banging large solid objects, causing a very loud din and confusing everyone in the herd. Tired, hungry and angry, it was simply too much for some, who decided to strike back, deliberately smashing up one of the human structures that sheltered various stores, and by the time The Matriarch came charging in to calm things down it was too late — a human had tried to stand in the way and got a tusk through the gut, and had to be trampled on.
Realising they’d outstayed their welcome, they set off again, with the immediate task being to find a safe place to tend to the newborn. Fortunately, as they headed still deeper into human territory, the humans became friendlier, and once again they settled into an area with plenty of food & water.
Five moons passed. The herd were unhappy and impatient — two of the males had already given up on the endeavour and turned back, and with the young one growing up fast, The Matriarch decided it was time to press on. She was confident that if they kept a steady course, they would get through this vast human colony and emerge back into the free and open country, and the new lands that awaited them.
Once again, they set off.
They were being played! No matter how much she tried to steer a steady course, the paths led them back in the direction they had come from. Humans controlled everything, they dominated. Food was plenty enough, humans were friendly enough, but they swarmed like ants around a nest and seemed to control every path and track. She watched anxiously over her family as their confusion first gave way to determination, then gave way to frustration, and finally apathy. She tried her best to hide her sense of failure and disappointment but it was obvious to everyone. Still they followed her, resting their trunks on her shoulders in support, expressing their empathy and loyalty.
As they were herded and cajoled back toward the midday sun it became clear that they finally had a destination — back home. New lands could not be found.
News of their return spread faster than the breeze through the grasslands and meadows of their familiar home. Even the birds seemed to react to their return with surprise and consternation. A new sense of unquiet befell the land, and lingered. An ominous unspoken acknowledgement of a new reality, one where they were no longer living in a boundless land, but rather penned in and helpless like the captive tame beasts of the world of humans. They had come to understand the concept of a cage.
The Northbound Wild Elephant Eating and Walking Tour!”
“Welcome back to XYZ news, we’ve just had reports about a stray herd of Elephants on the loose in China, we’re now cutting over to our correspondent Penny Wang, on the ground, reporting live from, let me see if I can say this right — ‘Zish-Wang-Banna-Dye’ Autonomous Prefecture in Southern China — Penny, what can you tell us?”
“Well Mike, local authorities are scrambling to contain a wild herd of elephants that are roaming around stealing food and causing general mayhem — you can see here behind me the absolute chaos unfolding here — No-one knows why these elephants have left their usual habitat and no-one seems to know how do deal with them but they are already becoming quite the sensation, social media has already dubbed this strange event ‘The Northbound Wild Elephant Eating and Walking Tour’ which describes more or less exactly what’s going on here — maybe they’ve gotten lost or maybe they’re just adventurous and having a good time; from what we can see — ”
“That was Penny Wong reporting live from Southern China and we’ll be back with more updates as they unfold. Here’s Tom with the weather — ”
I hope you enjoyed my story! It was inspired by real events occurring in 2020 and 2021 when a herd of elephants left their home in Southern China and trekked hundreds of kilometres north. It is believed by experts that this migration was “a purposeful trip” and that the cause was likely habitat loss and food shortages due to losing 62% of their habitat to rubber and tea plantations. Unfortunately the mass media during this time was more focused on hype, and portraying their voyage as a great mystery.
The elephants demonstrated better navigation skills than humans without navigation equipment, following the ‘best route’, while being aware of human crop cycles while planning their journey.
August 12 is observed as World Elephant Day
This story is part of a series of short stories exploring the concept of encounters between different groups/communities/cultures/civilisations:
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