“Tara?”
She heard the old
pride mistress call her name. But when she searched for the lioness, her eyes
only found an intensely bright light. “They’ve killed me.”
“No, Tara, this
isn’t the end of your hunt. Just an in-between moment. You can choose to go
back. Or you can choose differently.”
“Your voice,
Mistress,” Tara said, wondering why she couldn’t figure out where the old pride
mistress’s voice was coming from. “Your voice is—”
“My voice sounds different,
distant, disembodied. You see, Tara, survival—true survival—often requires
sacrifice and change.”
“We are dying out,
Mistress, the land too. I don’t know if we can survive for much longer. Not all of us.”
Tara told the old pride mistress of the shortage of food and water, of cubs that
weren’t more than pelt and bone, of their growling guts, of the two-legged
taking and taking while giving back nothing but pain. Everyone said that the
old pride mistress let herself die, so that her cubs could eat. “If I could
change like you did, Mistress, I would do it. I want to do it. For them.”
“So be it,” the old pride
mistress said, the power of her pronouncement lingering, even after the light began
to wane.
“So be it,” Tara echoed, closing her eyes slowly, slipping willingly into the dark, hoping her flesh would nourish cubs, and her bones would enrich soil.
detail from a photo by David Law, on Unsplash
- the title echoes a favorite quote from
Firefly: “No power in the ‘verse can stop me!”
-
for Poets and Storytellers United--Weekly Scribblings #70: Listmania and Writers’ Pantry #71: The Turtle
Moves.
Powerful! My favourite bits of writing -- the term "pride mistress," these two sentences: "survival—true survival—often requires sacrifice and change” and "the two-legged taking and taking while giving back nothing but pain."
ReplyDeleteThank you, Debra. So glad you like it.
DeleteAlso, you quoted some of my favorite bits to write.
DeleteOhhhh, I cried! One of the reasons I became a vegetarian when my last child was one, is because we had another mouth to feed and wanted I everyone to get there meat fill and boy he turned into quite a carnivore.
ReplyDeleteWhat a true motherly thing for you to do. You rock, Holly.
DeletePart One was so tragic, I'm vastly relieved that Tara has survived in this way.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you're relieved!
DeleteThe wisdom of self sacrifice often goes unseen XXX
ReplyDeleteThat is so true. And often sad.
DeleteThis is so touching, Magaly. We all need an old pride mistress to help us through the in-between moments.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree with you more.
DeleteThe idea of it being her choice was profoundly beautiful to me.
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot of beauty (and power) in choice.
DeleteHumanity should be totally ashamed in allowing so much wildlife to suffer and be eliminated because we want to make a profit from digging, felling trees and harvesting the land and sea where wild animals live. Humans see nothing but ourselves on the plant
ReplyDeleteYou are right, Robin. We need to do better. Or we won't be.
DeleteOops! Planet instread of plant.
ReplyDeleteđŸ˜‰
DeleteThis is wonderfully poignant, Magaly. I agree with Kim, we all need an old pride mistress in our lives!
ReplyDeleteI hope we all get her.
DeleteI wanted to know more. I wanted to know if she could have escaped from the net, survived the "stone". I wanted her to fight. I wanted her to tear the two legged ones to pieces, and let her cubs feed on them instead. Sigh. Life is not fair at times. But the love of mother/child, even in nature, is ever strong.
ReplyDeleteI started writing this story after I saw one of those horrible images of a "hunter" posing with his foot on top of a lioness he murdered. I was so angry. I wanted the same things you wanted. Heck, I wanted to help her tear him to pieces. And I almost wrote that story. Then I looked at that picture for a very long time, and I wanted the lioness to have a better ending. And I wanted the end of the story to do something better. Instincts to be--and to write--are very strong, but nurture--like mothers--can be so much stronger.
DeleteStill, one of these days, I will probably stick that worthless hunter in a story where he can feel tooth and claw.
This produced chills that will last a while, a tear or two as well. Magaly, this is simply beautiful writing. Never stop.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Helen. I never will.
DeleteSometimes change is scary but necessary. A movement in many forms. I was also hit by the pride of mothers that give up all of themselves to nourish the next generation. But it is a choice, a sacrifice, they willing make for themselves. It isn't forced but granted.
ReplyDeleteWhen choice is taken away and force comes into the life equation, everything good gets bastardized.
DeleteI could see these scenes scroll by as I read. Very powerful, Magaly
ReplyDeleteThank you, Debi.
DeleteThis is so moving and so powerful! I want her to fight and have her cubs feed on the two legged ones!!!
ReplyDeleteBig Hugs!
As do I.
DeleteLeaving yet giving BRAVO. That's what good poets do
ReplyDeleteHappy Sunday Magaly
(✿◠‿◠)
much love...
Thank you, Gillena.
DeleteA new savoir myth? Feels appropriate that it is a mother.
ReplyDeleteYou know? I did not think about it when I wrote it. But now that you've said it, I can totally see it.
Delete