The Tale of Sitar Firth
There were monsters in Chawun and Sitar Firth was going to make a documentary series about them, a series of documentaries that would remembered for generations to come. Documentaries about politics no longer held his interest, you just didn’t have the freedom to say the things you wanted to.
It took half-a-year to gather the funds together. His reputation counted for a lot, he had won many awards, it also counted against him, as none of his awards were for nature.
He gathered together the top cameramen, sound recordists and zoologists. He considered consulting experts on the eco-systems of Chawun but he wanted to be surprised and his excitement to come across in his films when he saw a dangerous animal behaving in an unexpected way. So it was towards the end of the year of the Apple, he and his team of eight departed from Port-Celeb, in the Province of North Fitolor.
Several days later they disembarked in Wilat, the Capital of the Province of West Chawun. Sitar had expected Chawun to be more primitive than he was used to but truth be told the only difference between West Chawun and other cities of the Republic was that it was slightly hotter and dustier. Having been part of the Republic for several hundred years, the buildings and the citizens of Wilat looked like any other. Although the Chawunians had a reputation for being uncivilised, Sitar knew that the reputation was unfair; it was the savages of the Eastern Islands that were uncivilised, those that had not joined the Republic.
As he stared along the main street of Wilat, Sitar felt disappointed, he had not travelled all this way to see the same chains of shops, stores and restaurants owned by the ruling families that dominated every Republican city.
So it was to the Eastern Islands that Sitar wanted to travel, those that still had the original fauna. The Beesidians who controlled the western half of the archipelago had a tendency to persecute the native fauna.
From West Chawun, Sitar and his team caught a ferry to Chawun-Major, the largest island of the group, of which only small western portion was part of the Republic.
He went to one of the small travel agencies that dotted Selo, the provincial capital.
“I would like to hire someone to take me and my colleagues to see some of the monsters …”
The travel agent just stared at him.
“Sorry, the animals that live in the jungles of Chawun-Major.”
“I can arrange that, for how long and for how many?”
“Six weeks, there will be nine of us.”
“What are you planning to do there?”
“Make documentaries on the mega-fauna of Chawun.”
“I will have to inform the government of the Chawun Federation. They don’t like too many people from the Republic travelling together. It tends to make them a bit nervous.”
It took half-a-year to gather the funds together. His reputation counted for a lot, he had won many awards, it also counted against him, as none of his awards were for nature.
He gathered together the top cameramen, sound recordists and zoologists. He considered consulting experts on the eco-systems of Chawun but he wanted to be surprised and his excitement to come across in his films when he saw a dangerous animal behaving in an unexpected way. So it was towards the end of the year of the Apple, he and his team of eight departed from Port-Celeb, in the Province of North Fitolor.
Several days later they disembarked in Wilat, the Capital of the Province of West Chawun. Sitar had expected Chawun to be more primitive than he was used to but truth be told the only difference between West Chawun and other cities of the Republic was that it was slightly hotter and dustier. Having been part of the Republic for several hundred years, the buildings and the citizens of Wilat looked like any other. Although the Chawunians had a reputation for being uncivilised, Sitar knew that the reputation was unfair; it was the savages of the Eastern Islands that were uncivilised, those that had not joined the Republic.
As he stared along the main street of Wilat, Sitar felt disappointed, he had not travelled all this way to see the same chains of shops, stores and restaurants owned by the ruling families that dominated every Republican city.
So it was to the Eastern Islands that Sitar wanted to travel, those that still had the original fauna. The Beesidians who controlled the western half of the archipelago had a tendency to persecute the native fauna.
From West Chawun, Sitar and his team caught a ferry to Chawun-Major, the largest island of the group, of which only small western portion was part of the Republic.
He went to one of the small travel agencies that dotted Selo, the provincial capital.
“I would like to hire someone to take me and my colleagues to see some of the monsters …”
The travel agent just stared at him.
“Sorry, the animals that live in the jungles of Chawun-Major.”
“I can arrange that, for how long and for how many?”
“Six weeks, there will be nine of us.”
“What are you planning to do there?”
“Make documentaries on the mega-fauna of Chawun.”
“I will have to inform the government of the Chawun Federation. They don’t like too many people from the Republic travelling together. It tends to make them a bit nervous.”
“I will be your minder, for your journey through the Federation,” the native Chawunian said in unaccented Beespoke. “Where would you like to go first?”
“Show me something impressive.”
“Show me something impressive.”
“Well here we are,” the Chawunian said as they stopped in a clearing. He checked his timepiece.
“So what happens now?” Sitar asked signalling to his cameraman to start filming.
“You wanted to see large …”
There was the sound of something large moving in amongst the trees and then the largest animal Sitar had ever seen entered the clearing.
Sitar shouted in semi-fear, the animal was huge, much larger than he expected. Most of his fellow Beesidians had dropped their equipment and were running. He turned round to see what the Chawunian was doing. He was laughing. Sitar suddenly felt a fool.
“What’s it called?”
“Nelly?”
“It’s a nelly?”
“No her name is nelly, it’s an elephant. Nelly is a traditional name for female elephants. Why? don’t ask me. Male elephants are traditionally called Jumbo. She’s quite friendly. She was rescued as a calf, someone had shot her mother. That’s why we don’t like groups of Beesidians wondering round the jungle on their own. That and their reputation for subversion. Now would you like to film her?”
“So what happens now?” Sitar asked signalling to his cameraman to start filming.
“You wanted to see large …”
There was the sound of something large moving in amongst the trees and then the largest animal Sitar had ever seen entered the clearing.
Sitar shouted in semi-fear, the animal was huge, much larger than he expected. Most of his fellow Beesidians had dropped their equipment and were running. He turned round to see what the Chawunian was doing. He was laughing. Sitar suddenly felt a fool.
“What’s it called?”
“Nelly?”
“It’s a nelly?”
“No her name is nelly, it’s an elephant. Nelly is a traditional name for female elephants. Why? don’t ask me. Male elephants are traditionally called Jumbo. She’s quite friendly. She was rescued as a calf, someone had shot her mother. That’s why we don’t like groups of Beesidians wondering round the jungle on their own. That and their reputation for subversion. Now would you like to film her?”
Sitar sat at the film editor, with the right special effects, commentary and editing there would be enough material for twenty hours of ‘Chawun: Land of the Jungle’. Okay it wasn’t all jungle; there were the plains with wildebeest, giraffes, lions and leopards. Then there were the kangaroos, koalas and giant anteaters. For the first time in his life Sitar was disappointed he lived on a continent, where the original inhabitants hadn’t wanted a complex eco-system with large animals. Farm animals and pets, they were the only animals they had wanted. He hoped to show the rest of the Republic what they were missing. If this was successful, he might be able to make follow up documentaries. ‘Kaytoo: Land of the yetis’ and ‘Teenin: Land of the dinosaurs’. Then there were other even stranger continents lying to the south and west.
