The Feather Of Glory (1) Chapter one Madut Kuol was the only boy among the girls. The rest of the boys had died in their infancies. Under these mournful circumstances, his father Kuol Madut (in the Riet Clan tradition, the son is named after his grand father) had entrusted him to the most powerful god in Akoi Village-the Spear of Melar or Ringdit in local mouth. The grand father Ringdit as he is sacredly known gave a divine order to the father and the mother of the boy that their son�s hair had never to be shaved all throughout his childhood. �Shave but leave three small rings of hair at three corners of his head� Ringdit recommended. �One at the left side corner, one at the right side corner and one in the middle. Bring him to my shrine when the new moon appears� Ringdit added. �By the snake bite, we shall obey your words� Akur Swore �Long live my grandfather Ringdit� the father of Madut acclaimed cheerfully as he looked down to avoid eye-to-eye contact with his god � if his cow is milked, the boy shall pour down some milk and he can drink his milk� Ringdit said �Do as I say, the boy will stay well and grow well� Ringdit assured his ants (the people in the village are ants before Ringdit). �You boy if you are leaving, you shall pick fifteen pieces of an elephant grass from my hut, every morning you shall throw one piece away. When all the grass pieces will have finished, that is a time to come back� the god explained as he tapped the boys head. �You my wife (all women in the village are Ringdit�s Wives) you must shave the boys head and smear with white sorghum flour before he will come back� Ringdit advised. �Long live my grand father!� Akur Wel, the mother of the boy said in a cheerful way �Long live Mayom Piny! Long live our chief, long live our protector! Long live the rain bringer! Anything you said is what you said, Kuol chanted many names of the god-Ringdit. �I have brought for you a small long tailed one� Kuol announced to Ringdit. He described the big bull he had offered to Ringdit as a small one because Ringdit is the one who has big things and is the one who gives big gifts either. Ringdit was satisfied with the bull and he expressed his gratitude by giving a lasso to Kuol meaning that his cattle would increase in number. Ringdit sent his service-ant to collect the bull that was haltered out side the shrine. Kuol, his wife and son left in amazing mood. In their home, both Kuol and Akur were deeply concerned with social conditions and physical health of their son. They had to remind him to return to the shrine for the ritual he was entrusted for. If he arrives at the shrine he would run around the hut many times and he would pass between the legs of service-ant or the magician of Ringdit under Ringdit, the grand father holly shadow Madut had been growing up healthily and had become strong in the flesh, in the bone and in the muscle. In this cattle-rearing community, if a boy had grown up like that, he had defined duties-these duties included collecting, crushing, drying and burning cow-dung to give out smoke as repellent of mosquitoes, flies, and other insects that would bite cattle. He must know each cow lasso and stick for tying it on in there herd of probably more than a hundred cattle. He must learn cleaning gourd and milking cows. He must perform women�s duties before achieving a status of being initiated to adulthood. Madut learnt these tasks instantly. He was principled boy. Whenever he was playing the �Don�t laugh game� with his friends he would never have a victim until the game finished. In the game, a humorous boy could narrate the finniest story and no body should laugh, if you laugh, you have broken the rules of game and you are punished by scratching with fingers until you cry. If Madut is asked why he didn�t laugh during the game, �what I think and I intend to do it, I just do it� Madut replied. �How do you control in your feeling� his friend inquired. �Leave your talk like the talk of women, the characteristic inside the man is not easily understood� Madut scared away his friend. His friends started fearing him so much. One day Madut stepped on the toe of a girl, the girl said �Why has he stepped on my toe this bad boy whose teeth like the teeth of crocodile�. �Why do you abuse me, I am beating you now�. Madut threatened �Go away, you coward who feared his teeth being removed� The girl said. On the following Morning Madut with his friend went to the one who removed teeth. Their teeth were removed. One boy cried in their group. One afternoon Madut and his group were grazing calves; it had happened that Madut wrestled with one of the boys, he threw down the boy, the boy�s arm fractured instantly. The boy Malek Lim ran quickly to his parents crying terribly. �What is it?� His mother questioned him. �Madut� he said �What has he done?� �We were wrestling with him, my arm is broken�. �Dog! What do you say we shall do?� His mother protested with a long jeering. �Weak, go back, make revenge, and wrestle� �My step wife, why are you doing that? Do you see the boy is dying said the neighbour who intervened and persuaded the mother who was angry to stop the revenging tone. �Console your son first� The woman continued. Lim, the father of arm fractured son came and attacked Kuol Madut, but the community elders stopped him. �Don�t fight, we are one people� one of the elders said. �Don�t involve in children affairs� he advised Kuol and Lim. �The boys are from family branches of one tree� Another elder said. The case was brought the clan chief. The chief said that it was a children affair no much to be discussed. It is only Lim who have a great part in the problem. �I will just say one comment and Lim will look into it. It is an accident Lim so there is no fine-no compensation� The chief said. �No, no, this is not an accident� Lim refused. As a result, a chief passed the fine verdict. The chief fined Madut with six cows as compensation for an arm breaking. Kuol Madut had many beautiful daughters who were married by rich men that had given him dozens of cattle herds. On the account of this great wealth of cattle, he behaved arrogantly. Because of six cow fine on his son he composed the following song. Madut my son You�re wise You�re a son of fox Madut my only son You�re brave, You�re a son of cheetah or Leopard Madut my only son You�re strong You�re a son of Lion Madut my only son Do whatever Good or bad, foolish or wise Any responsibility I fully take Cattle I have Giving out, I will do! For about month Madut didn�t go to play with his friends. Community elders asked him and Madut said that his father warned him not to play with the Riet clan boys any more. His uncle said how he would stay away from the community; he should go and play with them. Madut started playing. When the boys requested him to play, �You are the ones who wants to play with me and if any thing happens later, the community would blame that I am the one who troubled you� Madut complained. Some of the boy says �we are witnesses, if anything went wrong we shall defend your back�. So Madut agreed and went into the game. The game was a spearing of one another. The boys divided themselves into two groups and they started spearing with long shrub sticks. Madut was very sharp and accurate in spearing. He didn�t spear earth. Immediately during the game, he speared one of the boy�s eyes. An eye of the boy dropped down like a broken egg. All the boys ran away. An eye-fallen boy ran to his father �What gored your eye?� the father of the boy asked. �Madut�, the boy answered. �Good. His father will not forget. I will do to him what a he-goat kid never does to its mother� Ajong the father of the boy said. Ajong moved secretly and silently to Kuol the father of Madut and gored out his eye. The case was taken to the chief and the elders. It was found from witnesses that Madut was not guilty, because he was persuaded by other boys. There was no good game without Madut one of the boys said. The chief said all the boys who were playing would contribute cows to compensate of Ajong's son, and Ajong would compensate Kuol�s eye. Kuol said that he did want bloody-cattle among his herd, and walked away with his son Madut. CHAPTER TWO It was the beginning of the rainy season. Kuol was sitting with his son Madut on the hearth. They were discussing a wide range of issues. He realized that his son Madut was now matured and he said that he was no longer a boy but rather a man in his heart. He judged him according to the way he responded to some of the issues. Before he went to sleep that evening, he had told him in the coming season when the sorghum, beans, simsim, and groundnuts will have yielded, you would be initiated. Four months had just passed-by and the season came. Madut went and informed his age mates about his eminent initiation. After two days, the boy had assembled in Luak of the oldest man in Akoi village. The boys lined up the next day before the oldest woman to shave except Madut. On the same day, Madut was taken by his father to Ringdit�s shrine in order to be given permission for shaving his hair. Ringdit gave him a go ahead. He returned shaved lastly shaved with his generation of youth. The boy stayed in Luak for three months. Their food was supplied to them. They were not allowed to have contact with nursing mothers and girls for fear that they may contract the thiang sickness. At the end of three months, Madut brought a bull that was slaughtered for the boys released from Luak. The bull was Mabior. They were named Mabior after the bull�s color. Some of the poor boys brought goats and chickens that were slaughtered. Girls beat to death goats to show they were also initiated alongside the boys into womanhood. All the fathers, the mothers, uncles, aunties, brothers and sisters had assembled for the releasing ceremony. One of the elders rose up. He cleared his throat and began giving the laws, the rules and regulations that govern an adult in the community. You have been initiated into adulthood, manhood or womanhood. You young men, the first thing you must obey and observe is crying and waving of tears like a woman whether it is tears of joy or pain. You must not cry whether you are burning on fire, whether you are hacked by spear. When your father, mother, brother and sister die, you must not cry like a woman. If you hear a war drums being beaten, take your spear and join the men. Some clans initiate their boys into manhood by cutting their faces with knives to see whether they can endure pain or not. But for us we do not do that. We have much confidence in our boy. This elder sat down. Another elder stood up, and put a song, and the song was sung. And he began talking. �Children, children. During our time, our village was feared, our cattle camp was feared. We used to say if a man does not respect, he must fear you. We were well known for three things that included war, dance, and wisdom. If war came, we fought bravely. If dance came, we danced gloriously. If law came, we judged wisely� and the elder sat down. One woman came forward and said �Please, my son, you do not look after your sisters. A man without a sister is like a village without seashore. The villagers of such a village without water are always thirsty. The same to a man without sisters is always a poor man. Your sisters are now impregnated by poor men. This happened because of your carelessness. You must know who engaged your sister. Is he a poor man, if he is a poor man, stop him from your sister. Madut stood up. He told his parent that they would not say that we should do this or that. He said they had understood their parents� advice and their grievances. He returned to his place on the mat they were sitting on, and the meat of their bull and more beer was brought. They ate the meat. Before they were dispersed, they were presented with a big stick and a wooden log that they must use to intercept a stick for a man who may intend to beat their head. They were also given a spear and a shield for fighting tribal enemies. They were dispersed. After the initiation Madut went to the cattle camp. CHAPTER THREE It was the beginning of another year and a beginning of dry season. All the cattle camps of the clans were driven to the toc along the great river. The pastures were very excellent. The cattle grew fatter. Madut and his Mabior generation were now struggling with older generation who were initiated three years ago. If a cow dies, Madut�s group was sent to skin the cow and roasted for the elders and other young men. It was bad season for them. It appeared as though cattle camps could not go back to the villages and it appeared as though Madut and his group could not grow strong like their elder brothers. The rain came and the cattle were returned to the villages. The first option Madut suggested to his friend was the spearing of cattle, �If we spear cattle, we may get bit of recognition and respect as an adult�. One night, Madut speared to death very fat bull. Other five men from his group speared to death cows too. There was big celebration on the following afternoon. The cattle were skinned and ate with great happiness. �Now, you look like men, because you did some thing little� One man remarked. It has remained one that you should fully be recognized as men and adults. If is the spearing of an elephant, buffalo, lion, or rhinoceros, if you do that there would be no man to talk with you again with a humiliating glances. After four days, a man came and said let us the people from the cattle camp came. We Mabior have killed an elephant, they should go and eat the meat since they could not eat what they had been spearing. It was now the middle of rain season, the crops are being harvested and the cows are being milked too much. Madut had now a colored bull to drive to the dance. At one night he persuaded his friend to go to the neighbouring cattle camp. They stole one of the big bulls of a man by name Awar. It was a custom, if you admired another man�s bull, you just stole. In the morning, he sent a messenger with a message �don�t look for your bull it is with me Madut�. The owner of the bull came with the red eyes as fire. He would prefer fighting Madut but was controlled by his accomplices. They were told that they should bring their father, the father of Awar because Madut would love to buy the bull with cattle. However, the owner of the bull rejected that idea. He was convinced by his brothers. So they left and in the morning they returned for the buying of the bull was made. The owners of the bull chose six cows from Madut�s herd as the price for buying his bull. That very month, Madut pierced the horn of the bull. On the piercing day ceremony, Madut speared to death forty cows and bulls. He had killed cattle from his relatives� herds. He became sick because of the numbers of cattle he killed. At night he could have a nightmare; cattle were bellowing and lowing from his throat at night. After he recovered from spearing fever, he bought a bundle of giraffe tails, a bundle of buffalo tails, and a bundle horse tail with four cattle that could be fastened and hanged at top of pierced horns of his bull when he would be going out for singing and dancing. He also bought an elephant horn ring to wear on his arms with one bull. He bought a very gigantic gong for calling cattle in the forest when the cattle get lost. He composed brilliant songs about his bull and his gong. His songs were sung pleasantly in the dances. CHAPTER FOUR The dry season came. The cattle camps were driven to toc. There was nothing heard around and inside the cattle camps but the songs and the name of Madut Kuol. Thon Maditt, thon was an arrogant young man who had always learned about Madut�s behaviour and activities. Thon traveled where the cattle were grazed, he took the bull of Madut to his cattle camp. He tied very big gong on the neck of his bull. Madut received the news of his bull being mistreated by Thon. Madut and his brothers went to Thon�s cattle camp, they asked for the bull but Thon refused to give them the bull. When he was asked what his intention about the bull, Thon could not tell whether he want to buy the bull or not. Thon just replied that �I don�t exchange or buy ugly bull like this, what I have done I have done�. The other part of the matter will be finished by the youthfulness and strength. Madut forced his brothers to go back because they were out numbered by Thon brothers, the Thon cattle camp elders tried to mediate but they failed because of Thon arrogance and pride Madut returned the following morning with his cousin. He speared to death the colored bull of Thon. This provoked Thon�s brother to a physical fight between the two sides. They fought with stick, teeth of some men were broken down, eyes were injured, some men�s heads were beaten up to the /breaking of skulls. Madut�s group chased Thon�s group out of their cattle camps. Madut�s group composed defeat and victory songs. That incident had just happened when the cattle camps were about to leave toc. Immediately, the cattle were brought to the village camps. That was after fourth year of initiation. Madut called his group for Duel festival. Dueel if a feeding festival that the youth moved out from cattle camp with cows and bulls. They allocate forty cattle for Duel festival so every morning one cow is slaughter and eaten. Milk is brought from the camp. This is a chance for each man to see how fat he may grow. During this Duel, Madut sent his bell to Mac Kur, one of the lead wrestlers. Mac agreed to wrestle with him. In the morning, Mac came wearing a leopard skin and his sisters escorting him with ululation. On the other hand, Madut advised his people not to escort him with any sign. He said, he should wrestle with him first. They wrestled, Madut thrown him down, Madut sister, brothers and parents and the whole clan brought a drum on the wrestling ground and started dancing in some amazement. He sung praising wrestler. The follower of Madut in wrestling came and threw the man too. As soon as wrestling finished, a messenger arrived with news that the cattle were raided by the neighbouring tribesmen. Madut and his second-fellow wrestler ran out to rescue the cattle. The second fellow wrestler Ayolor was killed. When Madut saw his friend whom they were wrestling, singing, dancing and drinking milk together. Madut tried to run into the enemy line in order to avenge his friend or to be killed like his friend. He was stopped by his brothers. His friend Ayor said �I am not a coward, I have not died a bad death I died for my people, my name, my father, my mother�s name will go round the village, the stories of my bravery or cowardice will be told� and he died. After this, Madut mourned his friend bitterly. He made his ash-treated hair curly. He never danced or sung for a year. CHAPTER FIVE Before the dry season came, Kuol Madut last born daughter was eloped by a young man called Pac. Kuol, his son Madut and the whole Riet clan followed the girl. It was found that the husband of their daughter Acueu was a poor man who had no single cow. His relatives refused to get bride price through contribution. �You guests of my daughter, can�t you help your son� Kuol asked. �You start with your goat so that other should follow you with their cattle as bride price� the uncle of Pac said. � is this your position all the guests of my daughter� Kuol asked again. �yes we have no cattle to give� �Okay, I will take my daughter, I will let her be married by another man, but tell your son, don�t, don�t and don�t let him come to my home again. If he comes I will let him be killed� Kuol said angrily and he told his clan that they should leave and they left immediately. After sometimes, Pac started lobbying for his uncle to support that his marriage. His uncle should go to his father-in-law kuol and make a marriage agreement. �How are we going to make it?� one of the elders asked �You just go� Pac argued to them. �Should we go and make it with our tongue?� one man asked. �Yes, just your tongue please� Pac said The daughter of kuol can not be married by cunning eyes and flattering tongues. �You just go and make your alone with your tongue and we shall see if you will real have a wife with your red tongue without a cow support�. One of the elders explained to Pac. Pac went to his father-in-law�s home alone. When his brother-in-law Madut saw him, ha attacked him but his father stopped him. �Let him come and say why he came to our home� Kuol said. �Pac, why have you come here?� Pac started crying, when his wife Acueu saw him crying, she started crying also. Madut insisted and he wanted to beat him but his father said �look he is in your home and the community will blame you if you harm him, it will give a bad proverb to you if you kill him. Why did you say last time if he come he would be killed �I was just threatening him� �Why have you come to my home Pac?� His father-in-law asked. Pac didn�t talk but howled like a dog without saying any word. His wife Acueu was also crying. Kuol called his son Madut and said �My son, there is hunger that will kill us if we give Pac your sister� you see your sister is crying because she loves him. At that time, the dry season had just come and Madut took cattle to toc. Kuol was now with his wife Akur at home. They were to spend the dry season at their homestead. The homestead had Luak the largest circular grass-thatched hut for cows, mainly the milked cows for elderly people and children who couldn�t bear the harsh condition of hotness in dry season and coldness in rain season; luak is divided up into cows, calves, goats and sheep. Fire places parts by ropes and poles. Upon the poles, swings the calabashes of fried sorghum, butter, and dried powder of meat mixed with fat for gods to eat from and bundles of root and bucks for treating cattle. At the entrance, it is a bed, where the herdsman and his dog sleep in order to detect early the in-coming enemy and near it is the dung hearth; where it is set on fire to give out smoke, smoke is the eye-biting and throat-shocking air for all dangerous insects like mosquitoes at night. A cow dung ash is powder for grooming the cows to remove tick. In front at Luak is a circle of poles with small trunk on them. Around them are clubs for tying down the cows and calves in the morning to get sunshine. In the centre of the pole is the fire place. Next to Luak is hotdit, the second largest grass-thatched hut with a small hut attached to it, from where the mother cook and keeps pots, calabashes for serving food and milking cows. The large part is for daughters and their men who come to engage them. There is Kuduk, where the father and the mother sleep, the granaries and the small plot of land for sowing maize, sorghum, simsim, and ground nuts. CHAPTER SIX Kuol Madut was the oldest man on Akoi Village. All his age mates had died. Even his follower�s age-mates died also. At night his dead age mates came. The dead men woke Kuol up. The dead men asked him what he was doing among the children. Kuol didn�t answer them. At last the dead said, they had given him four days to prepare. In saying his will to his son therefore, they would come back to take him and the dead left. Kuol was really up set in morning. �I wish I would not die and be buried like them� Kuol said to his wife. �Why are you thinking like that?� His wife Akur asked. �There are foolish dead man-Maluk Alier and Mathiang Kuol came to me last night, they said they wanted me to go to them�. �I don�t want to die� �No one wants to die but death is inescapable fate for all�. �Why if I don�t want to die?� �You must die� His wife advised him that you go to Ringdit if you wish you would not die. Kuol went to Ringdit. �Ringdit my grand father, I don�t want to die.� Ringdit laughed, who ever have not die it is Ringdit who cannot die?� �I am god, I am spirit� �You make me god�. �Don�t talk like that, I will kill you now� Ringdit threatened. �Okay my father, don�t kill me but save me�. �I will save once and if death came I will not save you.� And �Go� said Ringdit, �But don�t sleep in one room for more than two days. Kuol went and slept in different rooms. �If he sleep in his homestead one day in one hut and the next day he may sleep in another homestead. Meanwhile the dead were looking for him. One day they found him sleeping at his Uncle�s son�s hut.
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