Word: lions
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Moses and Olentwala and the American set off from the boma one morning to spend the day out in the hills with 140 head of high-humped Boran cattle. Moses carried his long-bladed lion-killing spear. Olentwala, a man in his early 20s who had never been a warrior, carried a less lethal-looking spear, lighter, with less metal on the killing end. They held in their left hands the club-shaped rungu and a walking stick of olive wood...
...Moses kneels and looks at a patch of sandy earth for a moment. He spits a mist upon his palm, pssht-psssht-psssht, and then he pats the ground. He shows what sticks to the moisture: some dirt, but also a minute bristling of golden tiny hairs. A shedding. "Lion," says Moses. "Last night...
Moses stays downwind of the cattle. He says that the lion, if it is there, will know to keep downwind, and not give the cows its scent. So Moses and his spear will stay between the lions and his cows. Most students of the lion say the lion pays no attention to wind, but one does not argue with a man who has killed six of them...
Then, after we have resumed our herding, the notebook again: "Cows (11:54 a.m.) smell lion and start bawling loudly. They smell fresh lion urine. Moses sees it, pts to spot with spear. Still wet. Lions must be downwind from us now. Cow horns all went up exactly at once when they smelled. Hot noon sun. Moses laughing. Cows still afraid, horns up, smelling. WE CHASE THREE LIONS through forest. One growls. They get away thru bush and olive trees. We chase for 150 yds. and they have slipped away. This is somewhat dangerous business...
Moses seemed to become, all at once, everything that he ought to be -- which was what the lions were as well: exactly lions. Moses vibrated with a current that contained no thought or premeditation. There was nothing in him of the third eye or the conscience or the sense of sin, but only an animal impulse to kill the lion. Moses went springing after the lion as the lion springs after the wildebeest...