FIRST READ THE BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF

CHILDREN OF THE ENCHANTED JUNGLE

Children and animals join forces to save their jungle home.

Orphaned children live happily around a mysterious Power in an Indian jungle. Because of this power, they can communicate with all their friends and neighbours - animals, birds, reptiles and insects that inhabit their jungle. And, at times, make themselves invisible.

      The two main characters are an Indian boy, Coolclear, and a blonde European girl, Redflogren.

      Time and the passing seasons have no meaning for the children of the enchanted jungle who never age beyond fourteen. The local people believe the children are ghosts. Their wildlife friends, all with their distinctive characters, include tigers, elephants, monkeys, cobras, cheetal, bears, among many others.

      An evil witch, Varang, who has been searching for this mysterious Power to capture it and rule the world, finally discovers where it has hidden itself. But not exactly where in the jungle. She enlists the help of a real estate developer to raze the jungle, destroy all the wildlife and find the Power’s location.

      The children learn of her plans and, with the help of all the jungle’s wildlife, fight her and her army to save their jungle from destruction. It’s a bloody battle and they eventually win it. At the same time they also outwit Varang with the Power’s help.

      But the Power, knowing it to be only a temporary victory against man, takes the jungle, the children and all the wildlife away to another plane. All that remains in its place is a desert.

EXCERPT FROM

CHILDREN OF THE ENCHANTED JUNGLE

A SPY WATCHES

Coolclear heard Latrommi whisper in his head, ‘Look for a spy, someone who doesn’t belong among you.’

      In turn, he whispered the message to Stronston who passed the whisper on around to the other children. They each looked at their neighbours. Was it Perythala? Was it Saahoom? Was it the Karpoopoonai? Was it the Baaloo? They looked innocently familiar, they were not capable of such a betrayal, it wasn’t in their nature. As Coolclear looked up at the birds, a bird dropping missed him by a fraction.

      ‘Before we start, I’d prefer the birds sat on the ground,’ Baayyy, who’d also dodged a dropping, said. ‘We’ll all be splattered white and smelly before the meeting is over.’

      ‘We’re comfortable where we are,’ Keee said for all the birds. ‘And we will try to control our habits but don’t take too long.’

      ‘We will sit between those who are enemies,’ Coolclear announced. In that way, the children could keep looking out for the spy amongst them.

      The clearing was circular and the children scattered to sit between the tigers and Poineer, between Karpoopoonai and Grunt, between Snapsnap and Saahoom.

      Just then they heard a rush of hoof beats as someone crashed through the undergrowth towards them. They all turned in the direction of the sound. A long moment later, Gaaah, the gaur, ran through the bushes and skidded to a halt. He was a massive fellow, thrice the height of a child, with a brownish black coat and a white patch on his forehead. He was about the weight of a large boulder. He had powerful shoulders and on his head were curved horns. Perythala licked his lips, he’d never tasted buffalo in his life and he imagined what a tasty meal the gaur would make. Unfortunately, the gaur was too powerful even for a tiger. They moved in a herd and should a tiger think of attacking they would form a circle, their horns pointing outwards towards the tiger. Perythala turned away, sighing at such a missed pleasure.

      ‘Am I late? Is the meeting over? What was decided?’ He spoke quickly in a deep bass voice, still panting away.

      ‘We’re just about to start,’ Coolclear said. ‘Is there anyone else coming?’

      ‘I passed Loneorn. He was moving very slowly and had lost his way. So I told him to follow me but then he lost his way again. He’ll get here eventually.’

      ‘I’ll go and get him,’ Yellflo said, always wanting to be helpful. She jumped up and ran in the direction Gaaah had come. She knew rhinos were so near-sighted that once they were lost they could remain that way for days, and they were also forgetful, so probably Loneorn had forgotten why he was moving in this direction.

      ‘Now you all know why you are here,’ Saahoom continued, annoyed to have been interrupted by late arrivals. Every animal, bird and insect stayed silent to listen to him. He was the oldest and wisest of them all. ‘There’s a threat to us all from the man animals across the river. We will lose our homes, we will lose our feeding grounds, we will lose our freedom and we lose the right to live our lives as we always have. We will all die, which is what they want. None of us are afraid of death, this is part of the natural order in our world. But to be destroyed needlessly is not part of the natural order. When they wipe out the jungle they wipe out all the plants and herbs which cure us when we are not well. There will no longer be any trees to rest under or fruit to eat. The man animal will kill the trees, which have harmed no one. They will also kill the water that we drink and it then kills us, as if we are to blame for what the man animal did to it. We all know they have come before and stolen little pieces of us. We have been killed before, one at a time, not to feed them, which we understand, as that is how we all survive, but for the beauty we possess. I do not know what they do with my long teeth, I do not know what they do with the coat of a tiger, I do not know what they do with the skin of a snake. I do not know why we’re killed for these things we possess. Lucky are those who don’t possess anything that the man animal wants.’ Saahoom paused. ‘The man animal believes he is superior to us and that we, and everything in this jungle, are not necessary for his own survival. His only superiority to us is his ability to kill us from a long distance, or so I believe. Otherwise, he shows no other superiority though he believes he alone has the power of thought.’

THE WAR PLANS

It was the longest speech Saahoom had ever given. He fell silent, believing he had spoken for them all. The others remained silent too, nodding their heads, twitching their tails, fluttering their feathers as their signs of agreement.

      ‘So what do we do then?’ Keee asked.

      ‘Fight them,’ Perythala said, remembering how close he had been to losing his mate.

      ‘Yes, we’re going to fight them,’ Coolclear spoke for all the children. ‘We too are a part of the jungle, just like all of you. You are our neighbours and friends. We too will die when this jungle is destroyed, because we have no other home.’

      ‘But you can go and live with the man animals in their crowded places,’ Chief Korung said. ‘They will accept you as one of them.’

      ‘No, they will not,’ Redflogren said firmly. ‘They will know we’re from the jungle and don’t know their cunning ways. They won’t want us among them as we’re strangers, and they will kill us. Even if they don’t, how will we live in the Crowded Place? They use something called ‘money’ which feeds them. We have a little of it, but in the jungle, we don’t need a lot. Like you all, we live off the jungle, we eat its fruits and vegetables, we eat its herbs, we too heal ourselves with the plants, we drink the same water and rest in the shade of the same trees.’

      ‘Sooo, then how do we fight? I’m not afraid of dying,’ Spottopunai, the leopard, whispered from his place above their heads. He lay on a thick branch, tail dangling, the spotted sunlight on his coat making him almost invisible, and when he spoke, Chief Korung and his nephew leapt up to higher branches and screamed their fright. He had crept in so quietly, so swiftly, that they hadn’t noticed him.

      ‘None of us are afraid,’ Perythala snapped, standing, bristling, taking it as a personal insult to his bravery.

      ‘Let’s not argue amongst ourselves,’ Coolclear shouted above the uproar of agreement. ‘Only by remaining united can we win this fight. We will be helped too by the power of Latrommi. It will guide us because its enemy is out there too. First of all, I will be crossing the river to attack their machines.’

      ‘You shouldn’t go alone,’ Saahoom said. ‘One of us should go with you too.’

      ‘My nephew here, Kotung, will accompany you,’ Chief Korung prodded his nephew forward. He was a sleek, silvery young monkey with a dark face and beautiful long tail. ‘They’re used to seeing us among them and won’t pay attention to him.’

      ‘I’ll send my brother,’ Chief Roh the Rhesus monkey said quickly, not wanting to be upstaged by Chief Korung’s tribe. He was a powerful, brown-furred monkey, also with many scars, and savage teeth.

      ‘Two will be enough, but thank you,’ Coolclear said.

      ‘And I will come along,’ Keee said. ‘I can keep watch from my height.’

      ‘And us,’ the Crow said and looked across to see whether the stranger crow would agree. But it remained silent, turning this way and that, looking down, around, up and down.

      ‘I should be with you too,’ Stronston whispered.

      ‘No, you and the others must prepare for the fight here.’ He paused. ‘Our first line of defence is the water that flows around us. I will speak to BigBigsnout when I see him. He and his people will attack those who try to cross by boats. If any should survive the first attack, and reach the jungle, then Hissspambu and his people will be waiting for them. Big people are very afraid of your people.’

      ‘We are even more afraid of them than they of us,’ both snakes replied. ‘They beat us to death or even while we live and breathe they strip off our skins so as not damage its beauty and we die in agony. They don’t care how they hurt us, they never hear our screams of fear and pain.’

      ‘We’re all afraid of man,’ everyone chorused, filling the air with their painful memories.

      ‘So are we,’ Coolclear spoke for the children, nodding their heads vigorously. ‘We are of their species but we cannot kill and destroy the way they do. Despite our fears we must fight them or we’ll all die.’ He returned to Hiss. ‘How many will be with you?’

      ‘I haven’t counted,’ Hissspambu said crossly, ‘but as many as we can get. There are probably as many of our people as there are trees in this jungle.’

      ‘But we don’t want to waste our precious juices on them,’ Yellowblackhisss spoke in a silken whisper. ‘We need it to feed ourselves.’

      ‘Just use a little to frighten them,’ he looked around. ‘Where’s Skaa, has he come?’

      ‘Here,’ Skaa said in a harsh tone, edging out of the grass. He was a King Scorpion, the size of a man’s hand, black as the night. His red-tipped tail wavered high in the air behind him.

      ‘They are afraid of your people too,’ Coolclear said. ‘So you should be with Hissspambu just along this side of the water. As they step into the jungle you all attack them.’

      ‘Oh good,’ Skaa said. ‘I don’t mind wasting my precious juice if it’s going to protect the jungle, unlike some other people I know.’

      ‘When I bite, they die,’ Yellowblackhiss hissed, angry that he should be insulted by a scorpion. ‘When you bite they only feel pain …’

      ‘A terrible pain …’ Skaa chuckled. ‘And it can kill too.’

      ‘That’s enough,’ Stronston scolded. ‘We children will be with you and we will carry bows and arrows and sling shots to attack the men. But there are not many of us. Korung and all his tribes will attack them from the branches up high.’ He turned to the old chief. ‘You must gather stones and store them up in the trees and drop them on the men. The bigger the better, let it be a thunderstorm of stones.’

      ‘What about us, what about us, what about us?’ the chorus rose from all sides—Snapsnap, Saahoom, Perythala, Spottopunai. Growls, grunts, trumpeting, hisses, squeaks.

      Coolclear held up his hand, silence slowly settled. They waited. Coolclear listened to the voice in his head before speaking. ‘We know why we’re in this war, which is the most important point of it and we’re fighting it together and not alone. We also know the jungle, our home, its ways, its mysteries, its strengths and dangers. They know nothing of all this at all. And in a war, we must have unexpected surprises. You Snapsnap and your tribe can move swiftly, so you will roam and attack those men who get through our first lines. Be quick, hit them hard and then vanish. The same with Perythala, quick, in and out, so you are not harmed. While the others like Saahoom and his tribe use weapons, great branches, to attack those who come even further in. Loneorn and his tribe will be with you to gore those who escape your attacks.’ He paused, listening again. ‘They will return across the river but … and this is important … they will return. They’ll want us to believe we’ve won and we’ll disperse so they’ll wait. We must wait too for the second attack.’ He looked up the birds. ‘You are our eyes and you must tell us every move they make so we can be ready for any surprises. The jungle has protected us all our lives, now we must protect the jungle with our lives.’

      There was a long silence when Coolclear stopped. Each animal, serpent, insect and bird mulled over his words.

      ‘What about us?’ Buuzzz the wasp asked in a buzzing voice.

      ‘You will attack when they have just crossed the river,’ Coolclear said. ‘While Hissspambu and Skaa are on the ground you bring in every one of your tribe and sting them.’

      ‘Good,’ Buuzzz said. ‘I thought you’d forgotten about us.’

      The birds flew away first, a great cloud of them darkening the sky, crows, parrots, brilliantly plumed woodpeckers and kingfishers. They wheeled high above and flew towards the river. The animals slid back into the jungle. Just then Yellflo entered the clearing, riding Loneorn. He had been lost and it had taken her a long time to track him down. Coolclear explained what the meeting had been about and his role in the war and the rhino nodded his head sagely.

      ‘We will join you in this battle, though there are not many of us left,’ he spoke in gruff grunts. ‘We may as well all die in this war than be killed one by one only for the horn on our faces. They kill us, cut it off and leave our bodies to rot away and be eaten by the vultures and jackals. What do they do with this very small piece of us, we wonder always?’ He sighed heavily, thinking of his cousins and brothers who had been killed by the man animal, then turned to Yellflo. ‘You better show me the way home now. I’m not used to traveling so far away. I’ll gather my people and you can lead us to where we must stand and fight.’

      She gently took him by his single, fierce horn, turned him around and pulled him along behind her back into the jungle.

      As the children returned to the Glade, which was a few hundred metres away along a winding path through the undergrowth, the black bird with red eyes flew down to the ground and hopped along behind them. They didn’t notice it following them. Its hops were more like kangaroo hops, not as delicate as a bird’s, but as if a tight spring triggered its jumps.

      Keee spread his great wings and was about to fly away when it noticed the black bird. He watched for a moment, as it followed the children, whispering among themselves.

      What a strange bird, Keee thought. It can’t even walk properly.

      Instead of flying up to the blue sky, Keee glided down to the ground and walked behind the hopping black bird.

      What’s stranger, Keee thought, is that it doesn’t even notice me following it. Most birds are afraid of me and would have flown away shrieking in fear.

      Keee now loomed over the black bird. The bird barely reached Keee’s ankles and though his shadow fell across the bird, it kept hopping after the children. It didn’t look left or right either, and it didn’t make any sound. Keee bent and pecked it gently on its back. It kept hopping, not even noticing the touch from the curved wicked beak. Keee tapped it harder. It stumbled at the peck but kept hopping. It didn’t turn to see Keee looming over it.

      Keee, remembering the message the children had passed around about a spy, Keee grabbed the black bird by its neck with his beak.

      ‘Look at what I’ve found,’ Keee said in a muffled voice, his mouth full of the bird. It didn’t even struggle. ‘It was following you.’

      The children turned and stood in a circle around Keee and the still bird. Coolclear touched it gently.

      ‘They are feathers,’ he said. ‘Very silky and very soft. And it has strange eyes.’ He placed an ear against the body. ‘It’s inside beats but very slowly. It’s not afraid.’

      ‘Let’s see what it is,’ Keee said. He dropped it on the ground. It struggled to stand but not for long. Keee jumped on it with his claws and ripped it apart, tearing away the covering and breaking into its body. If they expected blood, they were disappointed. Inside was a kind of machine they’d never seen before. One of the children picked up a tiny, square, shiny object. Coolclear took it, wondered what it was doing in the bird and bit into the microchip to find out how it tasted. He spat it out.