Fiction: The Honourable Papa Bois

V. Ramsamooj Gosine

One month before the village celebrated Christmas, Ramnath died from drinking a poisonous substance. As far as the villagers knew, Ramnath was never sick. So what caused him to drink that liquid?  Many spoke of it secretly and said what they thought.

    ‘You know Leela is a saapin?’ A few nodded to one another with knitted eyebrows. ‘All you remember how she other husband dead?’

    ‘One drink poison and the one before hang himself.’

    ‘Oh God, yes.’

   ‘Six of them dead, you know,’ one person said.  ’She must be damn well kill the six of them. A saapin is like that.’ 

    ‘That what I trying to tell all you all the time.’

     The villagers heaped scorn and shouted ‘murderer’ in front of her. The panchayat was quickly revived and Leela was driven out of the village. 

      But I must live, she said to herself. Saapin or no saapin. If I was born so, is not my fault.

     For days Leela wandered from place to place. She wanted to start afresh where no one knew her. She did not want to live among people because of her beauty. She feared a romantic male would fall in love with her and she would reciprocate. Months later, he would be found dead, accidental death, hanged or poisoned.  Leela was not comfortable with this.

      So she walk and walk, she walk and walk until she found a thick dark forest more than a hundred miles away. She did not know where she was. One thing was sure. As far as she knew, there were no houses nearby and if there were, she would be resolute… no man must enter her life. Tired and exhausted, she sat exhausted on the roots of a silk-cotton tree and fell asleep.

       Now Papa Bois, from among the spirits and inhabitants of the bushy world, was considered the King and Protector of the Forest. No one dared enter his domain without his permission. And this was exactly what Leela did. Papa Bois with his leaves of beard was a nocturnal creature who could change into a deer if he chose to mislead hunters. Age, however, caught up with him and he slowed down and was now less of a nightmare to many.

   On this night when Leela fell asleep, a lagahoo stumbled upon her but he did not take advantage of her. Instead, the lagahoo showed her the trick in which she could change herself into another being, stay in disguise and sleep peacefully in a dark obscure corner anywhere.  Leela applied the trick. Now fast asleep and at short distance away from a thick forest, Leela slept unprotected.

    Continuing her search for accommodation somewhere, this should have worked for her in Papa Bois’ forest, but sleepiness and tiredness were too much for her. When she fell asleep without using her powers, her beauty was displayed as though she was entering a beauty contest.

       It was in this vulnerable situation that Papa Bois with a hoofed foot found her. Startled at first, he was taken aback and asked himself, Now what am I seeing here? Who is this? Papa Bois was feeling hungry and took two steps closer to her. He was going to seize her by her neck and have a good meal but her serene and beautiful face and her long flowing black hair stopped him. She looked very much like a human but Papa Bois found something strange. She was extraordinarily too beautiful for a woman. Quietly he began walking around her, intending to tie her and later eat her slowly. Then something caught his attention while he was tightening the liana around her back. He saw an iguana or something like that imprinted there, its head nearer her neck while the tail stretched to her waist. An iguana on her back? Why? He stretched his right hand to touch it but just at this time, she turned around and Papa Bois thought she got up from her sleep. Quickly he tried to tighten the liana and secure both ends in a knot. Not wanting to be discovered, he changed himself into a deer and fled the scene, leaving a bit of crackling sounds behind. He stood behind a balata tree waiting to see her next move.

      Needless to say, those sounds awoke Leela. She thought something disturbed her, did not know what but began rubbing her eyes. She winked many times and peered into the darkness. She saw nothing. She knew she heard something but what did she hear? The wind whirring through the trees? A hunter chasing a fattened deer? Not sure about anything, she decided to get up from her half-sitting position and examine the surrounding.

   In the disguise, Papa Bois was staggered by Leela’s dazzling beauty once more. He saw how slim she was. In particular he loved her thin lips and her almond shaped eyes. Papa Bois was moved by her olive complexion. He found her irresistible, and knowing she was no match to his strength, he threw off his disguise. Leela was looking around when Papa Bois appeared in front of her. Shocked, she stared at him without winking. Papa Bois saw her fixed eyes and that expression enraged him for never in this forest would anyone stare deeply into him.  

    Creatures of the forest always bowed to him and said, ‘Bon Jour’. Leela was unaware of this curtseying and did no such thing. Disrespectful, and this prompted him to ask, ‘And who are you?’

   ‘Me? I am a woman.’

    ‘I am Papa Bois, King of the Forest, and you must bow to me. You are in my property.’

     ‘Bow to you? Me? You are a Monster?’ Immediately she recalled her triumph over seven who died tragically after a short love-life. ‘So who are you with leaves and hair for clothes?’

    ‘Tell me about you.’

    ‘You’ll die if you try to get close to me.’ The saapin paused. ‘Oh, hairy one.’

     Papa Bois continued to look at her with loving eyes. ‘You are a beauty.’

     She knew what those words meant and she also knew they spelt death to him. ‘Just you stop it. Stop it.’

    ‘I am falling….’

     ‘I can’t love you. You are shoeless and having a hood that appeared unwashed for years. Who are you, Monster? I got rid of seven men and you look like a walk over. I walk in here minding my business and you want me bow at your hoof foot?’ As she was letting him know her reaction, she was feeling good that he was ugly…she would not fall in love with him.

      Papa Bois was never rejected by anyone.  Papa Bois never allowed anyone to lecture him. But Leela, the saapin, did to the King of the Forest, Protector of all Trees, a creature at large.

     In his attempt to continue the conversation, he asked not for the first time, ‘But who are you? Do I know you?’ He was getting angry at her responses and he felt like eating her head first so she would stop babbling. And slowly he would devour the rest with a smile.

    Bold as she appeared to be, there was a deep fear in her mind. She recognized that he was not human, not totally, and therefore fell in the category of spirits. Not totally. Perhaps in between. Half and quarter of different things. A lopsided mix. Quickly she thought, she should have used a soft approach. Now she was facing a confrontation when all she wanted was a place to stay. While all these thoughts were racing through her mind, Papa Bois, hurt, disrespected and humiliated, said, ‘And anyone who enters my jungle must bow to me. I insist. You are my subject.’

        ‘You are bringing up that story again. Bow to you? A creature?’

       ‘Yes. Bow to me for I am the Honourable Papa Bois.’

       ‘You? Ha. Leafy head.’

      ‘Yes. I am King …’  

       Leela, the saapin, equally arrogant, said, ‘You are just fallen leaves and unkempt hair. And I must bow to you? Not in this life.’

     Papa Bois ground his teeth. ‘I’ll eat you then. As my next meal.’ 

     In the wink of an eye, a huge deer, the size of a horse, charged at her. ‘Watch me bring you down. You rude nincompoop.’

     One step and Papa Bois missed and flew directly into a tree where he hurt himself but not enough to stall him. ‘You must bow to me, human. Bow to me.’

   Leela, the saapin, acknowledged she was no match for Papa Bois. With his energy and anger and roaring voice, he would surely annihilate her. And suddenly Leela recalled. Gosh, I could be a lizard and escape in a hole. She blurted out to him, ‘Never will I bow to you. Not to an ugly creature like you.’ Papa Bois, King of the Trees pulled himself together and was about to charge at her again but suddenly he could see her nowhere.    

     ‘I have destroyed seven, do you want to be eight?’ a voice sang out. ‘Eight?’

    As Papa Bois looked around, only trees and waving leaves looked at him as if mocking him. ‘You human. Let me catch you.’ All in vain Papa Bois was fighting an empty forest-smelling air.

    Zoya, the tiger, looking on from close by, said, ‘Papa Bois, she is a real threat to you.’

    ‘Shut your mouth.’ He kicked Zoya and sent him flying in the air. He landed with a thud.

    And the voice said, ‘It’s nice to kick once in a while. Wait till you get yours. Nicely packaged on your behind.’

    ‘Oh gosh no,’ Zoya said and flew directly to Papa Bois.

    ‘What happen now? You want more kick?’

   ‘No, boss. I hear a voice saying, “It’s nice to feel a kick once in a while.” ’

    ‘It’s that saapin I tell you. That murderer saapin. Gosh, I will strangle her and drink her blood. No one disrespects me.’

    Rage and rant as much as he wanted, Papa Bois felt challenged for the first time. ‘I am Lord of Lords. King of the Forest. Once you enter here in this dark forest, recognize me.  I am the boss. You are my slave. Bow to me.’

    ‘Slave?  You too ambitious, Papa Bois.’ The saapin, hidden in the hole as a lizard, knew she was a bit scared of him but she was not going to harbour any weakness in her mind. At least Papa Bois must not know her weakness. And in this form of a lizard, she was even safer.

    ‘You are my slave.’ Papa Bois shot back. ‘You must surrender to me.’

     Papa Bois was speaking to the empty air. The saapin disappeared deeper underground and soon fell asleep. 

      In fairness to all, the saapin wanted a simple place to stay and wanted no questioning from any one. She saw Papa Bois raging and ranting and all this left her puzzled.  I don’t know him, she said to herself. He doesn’t know me. So what’s he fighting about? I thought everyone preaches peace?

     And now she’s gone. Gone without saying Bon jour to me who rules The Kingdom of this Forest. Papa Bois was further enraged.  Total. Total disrespect. He sat heavily on the fallen trunk of an immortelle tree and though the prickles pierced him, he felt nothing. I want no intruder in my place. Pretty or no pretty. She’s rude and for that I’ll destroy her. The king is a king. The boss.’ Papa Bois got so angry that he ripped off a patch of his beard, leaving a naked area.  From here he jumped off the log and shouted.

    ‘Zoya! Zoya!’ He was calling her whom he brought up over the years and trained her to be subservient to him alone. So Zoya grew up believing she should fear no one except Papa Bois. ‘Go find this saapin and destroy her. She’s a terror in my life. Kill her and get rid of her once and for all.’

    ‘Yes, Boss.’ To herself she said but you don’t have to shout so hard. I am not deaf but she said nothing.

    Zoya was the most ruthless one. If she were instructed to destroy the saapin, that was exactly what she would do.  But Zoya found her elusive. Perhaps she was hovering. Perhaps not. Perhaps she was playing hide and seek. Zoya had no idea and so decided to report to Papa Bois after a few days. 

    ‘And only one time I come close to her, Boss,’ she began her narration. ‘She was sleeping on her belly. So I creep up close and was going to hold she by she back and Boss, you know what I see. Boss, she have a big cobra print on she back. And he head watching me.’

    ‘A cobra or iguana? I thought I see an iguana.’

    ‘Maybe your hair bother your eye, Boss. Is a big big big cobra. And Boss, the cobra was watching me. I get scared and nearly run.’

    ‘What stupidness! You ‘fraid a cobra that print on someone. You joking.’  

      Zoya smiled and decided to provoke Papa Bois. ‘So Boss, you want to see the cobra on she back?’

     “Me? Me? Who tell you I want to see a cobra? You think I want to see cobra?  Is a damn iguana.’ Then Papa Bois caught himself. He should not lose his control over a report. It would be exposing himself to a commoner.  I am King of the Forest and afraid of no one.’ Quietly though he was saying if I let Zoya know my innermost weakness, you never know when she might use it against me. A leader must keep some things to himself.

   ‘And you know what again, Boss. I really must tell you this.'

    ‘Listen, Zoya. I am afraid of no one. ‘

    ‘But boss, is what I hear a lizard saying ‘bout she.’

     ‘A what? A lizard? 

    ‘Yes, Boss.’

    ‘What did a stupid magataso lizard say?’

    At this point Zoya felt she had said too much. I think Papa Bois will be mad at me but is the truth. So why hide it? Ent he self tell me I must always talk the truth?

      ‘Boss, this is what lizard say.’ Zoya was standing close by when she hear saapin and lagahoo in deep conversation. Saapin wanted help because she was moving into uncharted territory and was afraid someone would discover her. Lagahoo sympathized with her and he guided her on how to become invisible. 

    ‘What! She could become invisible?’

    ‘Yes, Boss.’  Zoya said. ‘That is why she go be hard to catch.’

     With those words, Papa Bois became silent. Thoughts were swirling through his mind and Papa Bois for all the powerful that he was, felt a sense of momentary powerlessness. 

    Driven by fear, he began to recapture his pluses. Was he good in this? Was he good in that? Can he escape this? Can he escape that?  Papa Bois, half his face now exposed, seemed challenged. For no matter how he viewed the present circumstances, he could not fight invisibility. He was in a no-win situation and Leela, the saapin, was exposing him to the world. 

    ‘Zoya! Zoya! Come here.  And call Monkey, too. And hurry up quick fast.’

    Within minutes Zoya and Monkey stood in front of him.

    ‘Go out in the world and find this lagahoo who gave this saapin power to be invisible. I understand saapin is good at getting a few husbands and killing them too. But to become invisible? But this saapin have more power than an ordinary saapin. Get her for me.’ Papa Bois hung his head, his hands fell at his sides and again he remained silent though his lips quivered. ‘I must get this lagahoo to reverse things. Tell him I am King of the Forests and he must obey me. Else is death in the morning.’

    The sudden change caused Zoya to get closer to him. ‘Boss, you okay? Something wrong?’

   Papa Bois jerked his head upwards. ‘Find the damn person who gave this saapin power to be invisible. I am the powerful one. Not she. I am King of the Forest and anyone who enters this forest must bow to me. Touch my hoof foot. Come back only when you find this lagahoo person or thing.’

     ‘Boss,’ Zoya said. ‘Where should I go? A lagahoo too does become invisible.’

    ‘Are you deaf? Are you?’

   That tone of his voice, hoarsy, uncontrollable, penetrating, sent a few blue jeans and corn bids fluttering in the air, and bulleted Zoya and Monkey from his presence and into the dark forest. It told Zoya and Monkey that Papa Bois was not listening. The days flowed, the fearful nights dragged on but enquire as much as they could neither one found the lagahoo or thing.

    

    In another place but near the gentle flowing river, that wound its way through this forest, the saapin sat contemplating her lonely life. She was totally unaware that others were searching for her. Her confrontation with Papa Bois left her scared and uneasy. Her one means of survival was to hide from him. Of necessity and by observing him when she was invisible, she found out many patterns of his behaviour. And while she gained in knowledge, none made him vulnerable as far as she saw except one but she was not sure.

     Zoya and Monkey understood Papa Bois’ pride was hurt when she disrespected him. Worst, Leela, the saapin, argued with him and that was unheard of.

     ‘What shall we do, Monkey?’

      ‘You are asking me? You are the Boss’ 

      ‘Remember how he got on one time? Remember?’

     ‘Yes. I remember.’

    ‘We have to get him back in a good mood. Even lie to him but make sure he is pleased.’

    Zoya thought for a second. ‘That really hard to do, you know. Really hard.’ She drifted into silence. ‘If I return without an answer, he’ll fly in a rage again and destroy everything in front of him.’

     ‘Oh, no,’ Monkey said. ‘Make up a lie and mix it with the truth.’

     ‘You want him eat me first or what?’

     ‘Just mix up the lie. Lie does be truth sometime.’

      ‘Hmm. Makes sense. Is a new world we dealing with.’

      Papa Bois ruled the forest for centuries but it was the first time he faced a challenge that someone wanted to take over his place. That was incorrect but Papa Bois saw it his way. It was clear to all around that that occasionally invisible saapin was a huge worry to him. He simply wasn’t used to sharing his space and being disrespected by anyone. Everyone bowed to him. And how his sleep time had now turned to wake time. Papa Bois thought of destroying her but as far as he knew, she was elusive. And when Zoya and Monkey returned with the most disturbing news, Papa Bois was further shattered. 

      Out of this situation, he said to Zoya and Monkey, ‘To destroy her we must first become her friend. That’s the next step.’

     Zoya and Monkey exchanged glances. Neither one wanted to be her friend but Papa Bois commanded Zoya, the smarter one, to befriend her. Not today but one day.

    Unexpectedly one day Zoya found Leela leaning against a balata tree resting her back.  Leela was not afraid of her and so remained sitting. 

     ‘Ha. I hear there is a new someone in the forest,’ Zoya said. ‘Is it you?

      Leela saw her standing at a distance and was not at all intimated by her.  The saapin sensed he was a long-standing resident of the forest that he thought she was an intruder who wanted to establish herself here and then bring in her followers.  He was simply judging her by Papa Bois’ standards. To them she seemed old, worn out and simply wanted a place to stay. There seemed to be no fight in her, the two concluded.

      And Zoya did ask herself was Papa Bois mistaken?  For the saapin was just a drifter. Perhaps someone who was chased out of her community and needed a shelter until she sought herself out.  

     After an hour or so, he joined Monkey who was close by listening attentively.

     Monkey said, ‘All Papa Bois want to know is that he’s King of the Forests.’

    ‘I agree. Let’s go and tell him that.’

     Papa Bois said after hearing their report, ‘One mistake and she dead. I mean it.’

     Away from Papa Bois, the two shared a brief conversation. 

    ‘Yea,’ Zoya said. ‘If you could fine she.’

     And Monkey added his piece too, ‘All the time you playing, Big Boss. Big pappie. Go play man for she na.’

     And the two laughed Ha Ha Ha and returned to the forest in search of food.

     Papa Bois was now left to himself. For all these years he ruled the forests unchallenged. Eh? Think about it. Suddenly lagahoo stepping in. Suddenly saapin stepping in. And they ganging up on me. Rather than lagahoo join with me, look what he do. Just look what he do. I always here like Lord but now my powers going. This saapin don’t even want to bow to me as if I is nothing. Imagine that na. Imagine that.  With those words, he stretched himself on the roots of an immortelle tree and fell into a deep sleep, his future as King of the Forest in doubt.

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Setu, January 2025