Baba Galleh,
Thanks for sharing these postings with us. I look forawrd to purchasing the hard copy.

Keep it up.

Kind regards,
Momodou Camara


----- Original meddelelse -----
> Fra: Baba Jallow <[log in to unmask]>
> Til: [log in to unmask]
> Dato: Tir, 06. dec 2016 00:33
> Emne: [G_L] Smiling Forest Revisited - 13
> 
> *Chapter Thirteen*
> 
> *The end of the honeymoon and how trouble broke out among the armed
> foxes*
> 
> Loony’s fears were justified. The unity among the armed foxes of
> Smiling
> Forest was short-lived. The foxes, who had always been rather
> invisible
> during the reign of Talkmuch Dolittle, now woke up every morning not
> believing that they had become the unquestioned wielders of power in
> Smiling Forest. Some of the more powerful foxes like Smaller
> Longtail got
> literally power drunk and staggered everywhere shouting “power!
> Yeah,
> power! we got power!” He soon grew notorious on account of his
> tendency to
> throw his weight around. When he drove around Smiling Forest, all
> oncoming
> traffic had to get off the road to let him pass. Those drivers who
> failed
> to do so were given the beating of their lives. His convoy of armed
> foxes
> would promptly stop the offending vehicles, drag their occupants
> out, and
> slap, punch and kick the hell out of them. Similar treatment was
> meted to
> drivers who dared overtake his convoy or to any animal that
> wittingly or
> unwittingly offended Smaller Longtail. He particularly enjoyed
> slapping
> offending folks and shooting at the tires of offending vehicles.
> 
> In addition to Smaller Longtail, some junior armed foxes conducted a
> reign
> of terror in Smiling Forest. Each armed fox soon became a king unto
> himself. There were frequent reports of fox brutality against
> innocent
> unarmed animals and a few cases of foxes shooting or stabbing other
> animals
> to death. Smiling Forest became a state of fear where armed foxes,
> feeling
> that they now owned the land, broke the law with impunity and went
> unpunished for their crimes. The fox uniform and the gun became the
> most
> feared symbols of power as the foxes swaggered and bragged that
> Smiling
> Forest now belonged to them. One armed fox was overheard saying,
> “when I
> wear this uniform, I feel like God.”
> 
> Soon, however, serious infighting started among the armed foxes.
> Though
> they tried hard to hide it, reports filtered out to the animals that
> there
> existed a bitter power struggle within the Armed Foxes Potential
> Roasting
> Cabal. General Loony’s authority was being challenged and the Armed
> Foxes
> Potential Roasting Cabal had broken up into two rival factions – one
> pro-Loony and one anti-Loony. Before long, it became general public
> knowledge that trouble was indeed brewing within the ranks of the
> armed
> foxes.
> 
> The trouble erupted into the open one dark night when gunshots
> started
> ringing from one of the armed foxes camps. Intense shooting
> continued into
> the early hours of the morning and then died down. Later that
> morning,
> Smaller Longtail went on national Smiling radio to say that a group
> of
> treacherous foxes had, under cover of darkness, attempted to
> overthrow the
> Armed Foxes Potential Roasting Cabal. He said their ignoble plan had
> failed
> and that the Armed Foxes Potential Roasting Cabal was firmly in
> control of
> the situation. The details emerging from the bloody incident
> revealed that
> a large number of the foxes involved in the alleged plot had been
> killed
> and buried in mass unmarked graves. Some of them had fled under
> cover of
> darkness and a search had been launched for them. That was the last
> that
> was heard of the bloody incident, at thoughts of which the other
> animals of
> Smiling Forest still shudder.
> 
> One fine morning a few months after that bloody incident, an
> announcer on
> national radio informed the animals in a shocking bombshell that
> Smaller
> Longtail and Sadface Slowy, two senior members of the Armed Foxes
> Potential
> Roasting Cabal had been arrested. The announcer said the duo had
> made an
> attempt to kill General Loony. Several months later, Smaller
> Longtail and
> Sadface Slowy were arraigned before a kangaroo court, found guilty
> of
> treason and sentenced to long prison terms. Sadface Slowy died in
> jail a
> few months later under mysterious circumstances. Official reports
> said he
> had died of high blood pressure but that could never be verified.
> Smaller
> Longtail languished in jail for many, many years. Local lore had it
> that
> the once all-powerful fox became a philosopher during the long
> period of
> his incarceration. No one ever knew what exactly happened.
> 
> Smaller Longtail’s arrest and detention elicited an audible sigh of
> relief
> from many of the animals on account of his brutality. Rumor had it
> that
> less than a week before his arrest, the arrogant fox had insulted a
> group
> of religious elders over a dispute involving a prayer house in a
> remote
> part of Smiling Forest. He was reported to have publicly called the
> elders
> kaffirs and asked them to go dumb their religious books in the
> river. The
> story goes that one of the elders had said to him, “you insult us,
> but go,
> you will soon see.
> 
> The two incidents involving the aborted uprising, Smaller Longtail
> and
> Sadface Slowy were ample evidence that unity among the armed foxes
> had
> become a thing of the past. From now on, Loony knew that some of the
> armed
> foxes would try to remove him from power. And he was not ready to
> get out
> of power, not just yet, not as long as he was alive! He knew that
> some of
> his fellow armed foxes were extremely mad at him for giving all the
> power
> to himself. There were at least three more attempts at removing him
> from
> power by members of the armed foxes. Some of the foxes that had fled
> after
> the first mutiny slipped back into Smiling Forest and attacked one
> of the
> fox camps, killing one loyal fox. They seized a jeep and headed for
> the
> capital. But they were only five in number and poorly armed. So when
> they
> met the general’s reinforcements, they were easily routed. One of
> the
> invading foxes was killed, one fled and three were captured alive.
> Those
> captured alive were paraded before national Smiling TV, sent to
> court and
> sentenced to death.
> 
> On yet another occasion, a group of six angry animals attacked an
> armed
> foxes camp. They killed at least three foxes and captured the
> commander of
> the camp whom they held hostage for several days before they were
> hunted
> down by the general’s reinforcements and routed. The commander
> escaped with
> his life. The tragedy for the animals was that the more threatened
> he felt,
> the more brutal General Loony became. His armed foxes grew
> increasingly
> repressive and the once peaceful Smiling Forest was turned into a
> state of
> terror. From then on, the animals lived in mortal fear of civil war.
> They
> had seen it happen in other forests. They knew it could happen in
> Smiling
> Forest. The scary red writings had started forming on the wall. Some
> of the
> animals started missing the good old days of Talkmuch Dolittle.
> 
> 
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