Odyssey From Africa 6b

CHAPTER 6 b (continued...) Glowing insects and night-crawlers Shuffling on the ground below them Moments later they were sleeping Near their hominid companions In our present day, gorillas Tend to sleep near to ground level But their Pleistocene forefathers Nested higher in the branches Keeping safe from forest hunters Sabertooths and others like them Han and Kwona and the Children Soundly slept high in their tree-house When they finally awakened Morning sun had long since risen By their nest a few gorillas Had a pile of hard-shelled berries Balanced on some leaves and branches; With their teeth they cracked them open Gathered up the opened kernels Held them out toward the children Matto and her sister Lisa Took and ate the proffered items Disregarding thoughts of hygiene For the reason of politeness Han and Kwona then did likewise So they feasted on the berries Their gorilla hosts provided And felt much the better for it To the business of the daytime Now the troop turned their attention As the silverback group leader Beckoned Han and Matto forward To accompanied the leader And a chosen group of menfolk On patrol, to check for danger Round the border of their kingdom Thus dividing as to gender Kwona and her daughter Lisa Were recruited by the females Foraging for nuts and berries Each group journeyed through the forest On the ground or in the branches Sometimes swinging from the foliage Strength and skill were greatly tested Then some younger male gorillas Turned their curious attention To the items Han was carrying Boomerang and stone-edged hatchet As they walked into a clearing Han gave them a demonstration Launched the boomerang flat-spinning So it swiftly skimmed the grass-stems Then inflected sharply upwards Banking sideways and returning To the rapt, astonished gazes Of their giant ape companions Grunts and mutters of approval Broke out from the watching primates One young male retrieved the wing-form, Curiously he felt and weighed it Then he tried to swing and throw it Imitating Han's delivery But the wing was facing downward And it crashed into the bushes Han now gave the ape instruction In the method of the launching So not many minutes later He achieved a fair trajectory Then across the grassy clearing There arrived another party Of the females and the infants Almost all the troop was gathered