The world of the great forest

by Paul B. Du Chaillu

These eggs hatched from the heat, and then the little tiny nchellelays, which were of a milky white color, were taken to different cells by the big ones, and in the course of time became large themselves. When the colony became too large, the nchellelays said to one another: “Now we are living too many together. Our structure is too small, and we must build a new addition to our dwelling.” So the workers went down to the clay and built a short stem, as they had done before, and then made another mushroom-like cap. They also built many cells, and the surplus population took possession of these new ones.

But the colony kept increasing, and another mushroom-like structure was added, and built on the top of the second cap. At last a fourth one was needed and then the nchellelays said, “We cannot add to our structure, for it would be too high and become top heavy.”

While the mushroom nchellelays were enjoying quietly the comforts of the house they had built with so much care and skill, the following event took place.

Another kind of nchellelays, that were lazy and lived as much as they could on the labors of others, said to one another: “Let us make our abode in the structure of the mushroom nchellelay. We must be very cunning, for it is not an easy matter to build cells and tunnels in their house without being discovered; still we are accustomed to do this, and can succeed if we want to. But if we are found out, we shall have a hard time, for they are much stronger and more powerful than we are.”

These intruders were very small, mere pigmies in size compared with the mushroom nchellelay. They also had chiefs, officers or overseers, and workers. They went forthwith to work, and with their nippers dug into the thick walls of the mushroom nchellelays from the bottom, carrying away the débris of the material they demolished and depositing it in the earth. They took good care to make no mistake, and their small cells and tunnels were built between the original cells.

They were extremely intelligent, and could tell when they were getting dangerously near the tunnels or cells of their bigger neighbors. They succeeded at last in building their cells and corridors throughout the structure. These were coated with a black gluey matter, and consequently were different in color from those of their neighbors, which were yellow.

So two colonies of different nchellelays lived in the same buildings, the big ones not knowing that intruders were in their abode. These little dwarf nchellelays lived happy and contented, and often laughed at their big neighbors, saying, “They do not know that we have made our home in their house.”

One day the njokoos (elephants) happened to come into the country of the mushroom nchellelays, and several bulls getting into a fight among themselves, they demolished many of the buildings of the mushroom nchellelays, treading upon them with their big feet, often crushing a great part of their structures, and thus also killing many nchellelays, and wounding many others.

The nchellelays were very much excited, and those who had escaped with their lives and heard the crash, went into all the cells to tell of what had happened. None could tell the cause of the catastrophe, for such a thing had never happened to them before.

This was indeed a great and sudden misfortune. The officers made their appearance immediately at the opening of every cell or tunnel that had been damaged, put their heads out of the entrances to see what was the cause of this sudden smash, and then disappeared inside and reported to their chiefs.