Badgers

A fairly obvious fable.


by James Teitelbaum
©2004 All Rights Reserved
v.1.1


It all happened many years ago, in a village far, far from where we live now.
The people of the village were more or less content.  They had enough food to eat, but were not fat.  They had shelter, but their lodgings were far from opulent.  Their kings were lying to them, but getting away with it, so there was no unrest or revolution.  Sometimes there would be wars with the neighboring villages, and this kept the population under control.

The people worshiped gods, mighty and all-powerful gods who were the creators of all and the protectors of the just.  Deep in the jungle, high in the mountains, and several miles from the village, was a clear parcel of land.  This is where the edifice of worship was built.  It was a beautiful palace of stone, a structure far larger and more lavish than any in the village itself.  All of the villagers came here once a week to leave a great offering of food for their gods.

There would be a ceremony of chanting, dancing, and prostration.  After stroking the egos of the gods, the people would beg for prosperity and health.  Sometimes they got it, but sometimes they didn’t.  Sometimes there were wars and unhappiness.  So the people left bigger and bigger offerings, until they were on the verge of starvation.

The gods were pleased with the food, and always ate it all.  It was forbidden to remain in the place of worship after the ceremony was over, for looking upon the gods as they feasted was kapu.  No one could be allowed to see the gods, or terrible things would happen.  No one knew exactly what these terrible things were, but so far no one had ever even dared to try to glimpse  the gods, so these catastrophes rarely came to pass.

One day a young girl was with her family at the weekly ceremony.  She loved the jungle, and loitered behind the villagers as they made their way home.  She fell asleep under a big ancient tree and woke up at midnight.  She heard the noises of animals in the woods.  The young girl looked around carefully, and then she saw a badger creeping into the altar of the offerings!  It was strictly forbidden to enter the place of worship at night, lest the gods feast be interrupted, but she could not allow the badgers to ruin the feast.  Who knows what sort of disasters might befall the village if the gods did not get their feast!

She ran at the badger with a stick, and scared it away.  But then she saw another badger, and then a few more.  There must have been a dozen of them, and they were all coming out of the jungle towards the food of the gods! 

Careful not to look at the altar, lest she see the gods approach, she ran about on the ancient stone plaza, beating back the badger invasion.  After many hours, it was dawn, and they stopped coming.  She made her way home to the village.  Everyone was worried for her, because she had been away all night.  They thought that perhaps a large cat had eaten her.  She told everyone of how she had saved the feast by beating off the badgers.  The priests all looked worried, so they hiked up into the mountains, and gazed upon the altar.  All of the food was still there.  Instead of being eaten by the gods, it was being eaten by flies and maggots.


The priests were very angry.  The Gods could take care of a few badgers by themselves.  All the gods had to do, if the badgers were interrupting their feast, was uncreate them.  The girl should not have disrupted their feast by running about, yelling and waving a stick.  And now, the gods had missed their weekly offering.  A flood or a fire or an earthquake could happen on any day now.  Disease or famine.  Perhaps a war with the people of the east.

It was thought best to be proactive about the situation.  With great ceremony, the girl was burned at the stake, and then the villagers attacked the people of the east, slaughtering them in their sleep before the easterners could possibly mount an attack of their own.

The gods did not strike the village, and the villagers were relieved.

For many years, things resumed as normal, and the gods continued to eat their weekly meal in private, under the cover of night.  Each week, the offering was made, and each week, the priests went back the morning after to find it devoured.

The people were happy. 

Or so they were told.
 One man was unhappy though.  He was the little brother of the girl who had frightened off the badgers.  He was very young when his sister died, but now he was almost a full grown man.

He was sad that his sister had angered the gods and made them go hungry, but he also knew that she had been trying to do the right thing.  He thought that maybe if he did the unthinkable - if he went to explain to the gods that she had been trying to help - that they might bring her back to life.

So after the priests and kings and common people left the altar after the next ceremony, the boy stayed behind.  He hid among the trees, and listened to the birds and the reptiles and the bugs.  Then night fell.

The boy watched the altar carefully.  He was terrified.  No one had ever seen the gods before.  The priests said that the prophets said that the ancients said that the gods said that if people needed proof that the gods were out there, then their faith was impure, and they’d be sent to the gulag in the desert for being disbelievers.  So everyone believed.

The night wore on and the boy heard noises.  At first, he thought the gods were arriving.  But then he saw that badgers were coming out of the jungle.  Now the boy was even more confused and frightened.  Should he scare the badgers off and end up dead like his sister, not to mention all the people who died in the war she started?  No, the priests were right. The gods could fend off the badgers themselves.  The boy would have to wait for the gods to arrive, make the badgers vanish, and eat.  Then, after their bellies were full, he’d ask them to forgive his sister.

The boy waited and waited, but the gods never came.  Something terrible happened next.  The badgers ate all of the food of the gods.  There must have been twenty badgers, and they ate all night.  The boy dared not interfere.  When the sun came up, the boy headed home.  On the way, he heard the priests coming up the path.  He hid in the trees, and they did not see him.  He snuck back into the village and into his bed.

The priests went to the altar, and once again saw that the gods had feasted.  They were pleased, and upon their return to the village, they told the villagers, once again, that the gods were happy.

The boy had stayed in bed all morning, thinking of what he had seen.  By the time the priests made their announcement, the same announcement they made every week, the boy’s eyes were wide open, just as they had been all night.


There was only one thing to do.

He packed his bags and left the village forever.
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