Chapter 16 human rationality

A member of the Taishan tribe expressed doubts about his authority.This guy is called Teganz, the son of Tabrant.But he was so afraid of his new master's knives and poisoned arrows that he swallowed his anger, sulked, grumbled, and showed his dissatisfaction in trivial matters.But Taishan knew in his heart that he was waiting for the opportunity to succeed.Therefore, he is always vigilant in case of accidents. Months passed, and the life of this little group of apes was the same as before, little changed, except that Tarzan's developed intellect and his incomparable ability as a hunter had brought them all more abundant than ever. food.Most of the apes therefore rejoice in this change of ruler.

At night, Taishan led them to steal things in the fields planted by black people.Because the leader is smart, they just "take what they need".Tarzan never let them be like monkeys or most apes, what they can't eat will be ruined. In this way, even though the blacks are not allowed to stop because of this kind of "petty theft" Very angry, but still tending their land meticulously, and not losing heart because of it.It would have been a different story if Taishan had allowed his men to ravage their fields. During this period, Taishan came out at night again and visited the village many times to replenish the source of arrows.Soon, he noticed that there was always a pile of food under the big tree where he entered the "greenway" of the fence.Before long, no matter what delicious food the negro put down, he would eat it.

The natives were all dumbfounded when they saw that the things dedicated to the gods disappeared overnight.Because it was one thing to offer a tribute to some god or some devil in order to atone for sin, it was quite another thing that the ghost actually entered the village and ate the tribute.This kind of thing is unheard of.As a result, all kinds of doubts and fears once again enveloped their superstitious minds. That's not counting.Arrows were lost periodically, and an unseen elf was messing with them in the dark, making the life they had just arranged become a veritable burden.Finally Kimotoga and several of his "important ministers" began to talk about abandoning the village and going deep into the heart of the jungle to find and build a new village.

Before long, the black warriors began to march south.They went farther and farther in the depths of the dense forest, looking for a new place to live while hunting. Taishan's tribes are often harassed by these wandering hunters.From time to time, the deathly silent primeval forest was broken by a new and strange cry. There is no peace for birds and animals—people are coming. On weekdays, although those brave animals also appeared in the dense forest, the "neighbors" such as hares and deer only fled to a nearby place for a while when they came, and "returned" once the disaster passed. hometown."

People are different.When people come, many beasts of prey leave the area entirely by instinct, and rarely return.The same goes for the great apes.They run from man as man runs from the plague. Tarzan's tribe lingered around the beach for a short time again, for their new leader was very reluctant to leave the cabin's treasure forever.But one day, a member of the tribe discovered that many black people had come by the small river that they drank water for generations.They cleared wasteland in the jungle and built many huts.The ape can no longer stay here.Taishan had no choice but to lead them far inland, to an untouched place.

Once a month Tarzan "flies" back to the beach swinging his branches, and spends a whole day with his nerds while replenishing his arrows.It is increasingly difficult to accomplish the latter task.For at night the negroes hid their arrows in barns and hovels. In this way, Taishan had to observe Bai Dawang to find out where the arrows were hidden. Twice, when he found his way into the hut at night, and the people were sleeping on the mats, he stole arrows from the warriors.Afterwards he realized that this method was too dangerous, and he began to use the long noose to noose the hunters alone, and took their weapons and ornaments for himself, and then in the dead of night, took their bodies from the sent back to the village on the big tree.

This kind of mischief made people fall into great fear.They would soon have abandoned the village again if Taishan hadn't "visited" only once a month, thus giving enough time for new hopes to sprout. Tarzan's hut was on a far beach where the Negroes hadn't been.But he was very afraid that when he followed the tribe away from this area, they would find and rob him of his treasure.So he spent more and more time around his father's hut and less and less time with the tribe.It didn't take long for this little "colony" to suffer from his neglect.Scrambles and quarrels appear from time to time, and only the ape king can suppress and quell all these.

In the end, several old apes came forward to report the matter to Mount Tai, and he stayed with the tribe for a month after that. In fact, to be the "king" among the apes, there are not many things to do, and the work is not difficult. In the afternoon, perhaps Xhaka would come and complain to him that Mungo had kidnapped his bride.Taishan had to call everyone in front of him to judge right from wrong.If the wife is willing to live with her new master, he will issue an order not to pursue it.Or let Mungo send one of his daughters to Xhaka in exchange. No matter what decision he makes, those involved accept it as the final verdict, and then happily go about their business.

After a while, Tano came, screaming and clutching his bleeding stomach tightly.It turned out that her husband, Gangtu, had bit her very viciously. Guntu was told that Tano was too lazy to find him walnuts and beetles or scratch his back. Taishan "plays 50 big boards each", threatening Gangtu to abuse Tano again, and let him taste the taste of poisoned arrows.As for Tano, he must also ensure that he better fulfills his duties as a wife. Although these conflicts are mostly trivial family disputes, if they are not resolved in time, they will cause greater internal strife and even cause the disintegration of the entire tribe.

After Taishan found out that being the ape king meant depriving himself of his freedom, he began to hate this job.He longed to go back to that hut, longed to see the sunny and kind sea.He loved the comfort and ease of sitting in that poor little cabin, the never-ending mysteries and novelties of the multitude of books. As he grew older, Tarzan found that the distance between himself and his "subjects" grew wider.Their interests were very different from his.They could not keep pace with him, or comprehend the strange and wonderful dreams that roiled his quick mind as a human being.Their vocabulary was so limited that Tarzan could not discuss his newfound truths with them, nor could he make them understand the lofty aspirations that shook his soul.It was even less likely that they would venture together into the longingly vast realms of thought which books had revealed to him.

In the tribe he no longer has the few friends he used to have.Little ones can find friendship in many strange, simple creatures.But for an adult, there must be roughly similar knowledge and intelligence as the basis in order to communicate happily. If Kara was still alive, Tarzan would sacrifice everything to stay by her side. But now, she's dead, and her childhood friends have grown into fierce, rough guys.He would rather stay in that cozy, lonely cabin than take on the nasty responsibility of leading the pack of beasts. And the hatred and jealousy of Tabrant's son, Teganz, offset Taishan's determination and desire to give up the "throne".Because as a stubborn young Englishman, he couldn't back down from such a fierce enemy. He knew very well that it was the best policy to choose Teganz to replace him as king.Although several male apes as strong as bulls once expressed their indignation at his barbaric behavior, they all succumbed to the will of this bad guy because he had an absolute advantage in physical strength. Taishan is willing to conquer this vicious beast without sword or arrow.Entering the prime of life, Tarzan's strength became stronger and his body became more and more flexible. Therefore, he believed that if Terganz hadn't grown the man-eating fangs of a great ape to put himself at a disadvantage, he would definitely be able to fight with his bare hands. Can beat this bad guy. But one day, the force of fate made the whole situation uncontrollable.There were only two choices before him, either he had to leave the tribe, or he could stay and not let his reputation as a barbarian be tarnished in the slightest. Here's the thing: That day, everyone scattered in a forest and ate quietly.Taishan lay down beside a crystal-clear stream, trying to catch a fleeting fish with his dark, dexterous hands.Suddenly there was a scream not far from the east. The tribe members immediately ran to where the scream came from.It was found that Teganz was grabbing the hair of an old female ape and beating her mercilessly with his huge fist. Tarzan came up and held up a hand, telling Teganz to stop.Because this female ape is not his.She belonged to a poor old ape.The old ape was long past the age of fighting and, therefore, unable to protect his family. Teganz knew it was against tribal rules to beat another female ape.But this perpetrator, because the husband of the mother ape was old and weak, wanted to punish her - she refused to let him eat a rabbit she had caught. Teganz saw that Tarzan was approaching without an arrow, so he continued to beat the poor female ape, intentionally offending the "ape king" whom he hated so much in public. Instead of repeating the warning gesture, Tarzan lunged at the waiting Teganz. Tarzan hasn't had a serious fight with anyone for a long time since he fought to the death with the orangutan king Borgani. For now, Tarzan's hunting knife was only barely able to counteract the power of Teganz's gleaming fangs.The brute strength of this giant ape was almost enough to match Taishan's flexibility and agility. In general, in this fight, the great ape Teganz has the upper hand.If there were any personal qualities that could affect the final outcome, Tarzan, the young Lord Greystoke, would die in equatorial Africa like an unknown beast. But there was one thing which set him far above his fellows in the jungle, and made him so different from the beasts, and that was the spark of human reason.It was this sense that Tarzan survived the iron hand and teeth of Teganz. After fighting for less than ten seconds, they all fell to the ground and rolled over. The two savage behemoths fought, bit and tore, fighting to the death. Teganz was stabbed more than a dozen times in the head and chest, and Tarzan was torn to blood—a large piece of scalp was ripped off, covering one eye. So far, however, the British lad can still hang his neck, trying to avoid Terganz's terrible fangs.For a moment, in order to catch their breath, they fought less violently, and Tarzan took the opportunity to devise a vicious plan.He would work on his opponent's back, entangle him with teeth and nails, and then stab the knife until Teganz's life was gone. The trick was more successful than expected.Because that stupid beast didn't know Taishan's plan, so he didn't take special precautions. When Teganz realized that his opponent was playing tricks on his back, where his teeth and fists were unable to exert their power, he rolled violently on the ground.Taishan could only hold tightly to this bouncing, rolling, twisting body to avoid being thrown off by him.Before he had time to give Terganz a knife, his hand slammed into the ground, and the hunting knife flew far away, and Tarzan was unarmed all of a sudden. His arms twisted around Terganz's from behind, and his hands and forearms pressed against his neck in a "half Nelson" stance in modern wrestling.For Taishan, who had no training in this area at all, this was done by accident.But his extraordinary intelligence immediately made him see the value of this posture.For him, it was a matter of life and death. He struggled to free his left hand and put on a posture similar to his right arm. In the blink of an eye, Teganz's thick neck was under a "full Nelson", creaking. Now, Teganz can no longer rush left and right.Mount Tai was on top of him, and the two fighters lay completely motionless on the ground.Gradually Teganz's round head was pressed lower and lower until it reached his chest. Taishan knew very well what the consequences would be. In the blink of an eye, the neck of this giant ape would be broken by him.At this time, human reason prevailed again.this kind of reason ① "Nelson": A posture that puts pressure on the back of the opponent's neck and arms during wrestling. The powers that put Terganz in trouble and saved him from death. "If I kill him," thought Tarzan, "what good will it do me? Wouldn't it just make the tribe less of a great fighter?If Teganz is dead, he won't know how powerful I am.Had he been allowed to live, he would have been forever a living testimony to all the apes that "Tarzan cannot be humiliated." "Ka-goda?" Tarzan snapped into Teganz's ear.This is ape language, which means: "Do you surrender?" Terganz didn't answer, Tarzan pressed his neck hard again, and the great ape screamed loudly in pain. "Ka—goda?" Tarzan asked again. "Ka-goda!" Teganz yelled. "Listen," Tarzan raised his arms up, but did not let go of his opponent. "I am Tarzan the Ape King, the great hunter, the great Dou-tu. There is no one greater than me in all the jungle. "You have said 'ka-goda' to me. The whole tribe heard it. Stop quarreling with your king or your companions. Otherwise I will kill you next time. Do you understand? " "Understood." Teganz replied. "Are you satisfied?" "Satisfied," said the ape. Tarzan asked him to get up, and after a while all the apes went back to their own business. As if nothing happened, as if their birthplace— The tranquility of this virgin forest has never been destroyed by anyone. But in the hearts of the apes, a belief has firmly taken root. They think that Tarzan is a great fighter, a strange animal, and they say he is strange because he could easily kill his enemies, but he refuses to do harm to them. Him, let him continue to live in this world. This afternoon, before twilight settled over the jungle, the entire tribe gathered as usual.Taishan had already washed the wound with spring water. He called several respected old apes to his side and said: "Today you saw once again that Tarzan the Ape is the greatest among you." "Yes." They said in unison, "Mount Tai is great." "Tarzan," he went on, "is not an ape. He is not like his people. His way of life and philosophy of life are completely different from theirs.Therefore, Tarzan was going back to the house where his kind lived, which was by the great lake with no limit.You must choose another king to rule over you, and Tarzan will not return. " In this way, the young Lord Greystoke took the first step towards the goal he had established - to find white people like him.