White Men In Black Skin

Black Harvest-2

At day break the feasting started early. The savages sang weird songs with grunting sounds and snorts like hogs and swine. They screamed and shouted the whole day. The same strange smell of burning flesh rendered the air. Salim and his colleagues were nervously apprehensive.

The captives defecated and urinated on themselves as they lay down with their legs and hands bound. They had no way of communicating their needs to the savages. The stench in the prison hut was so overwhelming that even the filthy savages could not bear it.

While being transferred to another hovel, the Arab captives noticed with terror what they all dreaded. Their colleagues’ heads and other pieces of limbs dangled from branches of a short tree, with blood dripping. Some big blue flies swarmed and covered the b****y heads and limbs. To their horror and fear they at once realized they were captives of the mythically dreaded, fierce black cannibals. Salim chanted a quick prayer.

One by one the Arabs were devoured every night. Salim bin Saudi trembled with terror. He was the only one remaining. Never in his long career as a desert robber and notorious sea pirate had he been so terrified. He had mercilessly killed many people while robbing them but not to eat them. He dreaded the savage black cannibals.

That night it was his turn to be eaten, but strangely the cannibals were not in a hurry to kill him. They must have been temporarily fed up with human meat. Several days had passed with the cannibals lavishly feeding him with what he suspected to be his coleagues flesh. He hoped the cannibals had lost appetite of human barbecue. He murmured all the prayer verses he could remember. He wished he had his prayer book.

Suddenly a shadow appeared at the hut entrance. He was so scared that he uncontrollably urinated on himself. The urine was so hot that it scalded his scrotum and thighs.

He barely touched the food and the salty substance thrust at him. He realized with disgust that the salty substance they were fed on was human blood and the food had pieces of human flesh. He prayed hard to Allah to spare him and be forgiven his sins of robbing and killing people as a desert robber and sea pirate.

He vigorously twisted his wrists and felt the robes loosening a bit. He continued twisting the wrists so vigorously that the robes gave way. He quickly untied his legs but could not move due to excruciating muscle pulls and cramps.

As he frantically massaged his almost paralyzed legs, a shadow appeared and paused at the doorway. As soon as the figure disappeared, Salim crept and slithered silently towards the door. He peeped outside but the bright sunlight dazzled his eyes after days in dark captivity. He noticed figures taking a nap sprawled under tree shades. A short distance away, children were playing some sort of war games with crude weapons. He crawled and ducked swiftly towards some thick bushes.

The playing children noticed him escaping and raised the alarm. The whole village of cannibals woke up and was hot at his heels, like a pack of wild dogs chasing a prey. Fortunately all the able men must have been away hunting, for it was only children and women who gave chase.

* * *

They shrieked and screamed as they chased their quarry. They were so agile running through the thick thorny bushes that they were closing in on Salim very rapidly. He could hear them panting and yelling close behind him. They knew the terrain well and all the escape routes, besides being very skilled and subtle hunters of other humans for meat. Few humans ever escaped the cannibals’ dragnets.

Salim prayed as he ran through the bushes. It seemed like the cannibals had cornered him. They yelled from all directions. Although he was a brave merciless and vicious murderer, he had never been so terrified in his career as a desert robber and a sea pirate. He swore as he ran never again to set foot on the Black World, if ever he lived. He almost gave up.

Suddenly a black huge n***d woman sprang from the bushes menacingly raising a dagger. She lurched at him. He blocked the dagger with his hand and leapt past the woman. The dagger narrowly missed his neck. The woman was so vicious that Salim had no guts to fight back. He bolted as fast as he could. He could see small figures of n***d boys and girls sprinting in all directions screaming, shouting and yelling. The huge black woman gave a terrifying yelp. All the cannibals in the bush followed her as she ran after Salim.

He tripped on a huge snake that crossed his path as it escaped the stampede. He fell headlong and the black woman stumbled and fell over him. Salim sprang to his feet and ran. The woman ran like a phantom. She seemed to glide through the thick bushes. However hard he ran, she was always close behind leaping and bouncing as if she had springs in her legs. Her lean and long floppy breasts flapped and slapped noisily against her chest as she gave chase.

She lurched at him once more as the others screamed at her to bring down the prey. She missed his back narrowly. The prospects of losing a meal made them frenzied and extremely wild. Something caught Salim’s legs and he fell down heavily. He rolled as the woman leapt at him like a tiger, reaching for his throat. The totally n***d woman sat astride on his chest.

He grabbed the woman’s hand and bit it hard. The woman growled, grunted and snorted like a wild hog. She was filthy and reeking. He almost puked. Of course cannibals never used tissue papers after excrementing. He dug his teeth deep in her flesh. He could taste her salty blood. It was a fight to death, a do or die. They rolled as they struggled. The woman was so powerful she almost tore off Salim’s throat.

They were both rolling down rapidly what seemed like a steep cliff. She clutched Salim tightly. The others tried to grab the woman but were too late. Suddenly both Salim and the cannibal woman were air borne. They had rolled off a steep cliff and were dropping to the ocean below. He saw the dagger fly from the woman’s hand and into the waters far below. He just remembered hitting the water headlong and must have passed out on impact.

His long experience in sea piracy enabled him to swim very fast for miles, dodging the lurking sharks. He kept to the shoreline as he swam. He ventured to the shores only at night. He walked along the coastline close to the waters, just in case he encountered more cannibals. He was convinced that cannibals could not swim and dreaded the ocean, since they neither attempted to rescue the vicious woman from drowning nor pursue him into the waters as he swam.

* * *

Salim survived for several months on raw fish, leaves and roots of some plants as he travelled along the ocean shores, hoping to come across some friendly people. He hid in caves during daytime to avoid the cannibals. He occasionally heard their blood chilling yells and screams as they hunted for prey. Cannibals were said to be so gluttonous that they ate anything that moved, from snakes, rats, insects, worms, frogs, toads, and giant chameleons among other living creatures. He kept close to the ocean waters just in case he encountered them by surprise. He would dive into the waters and swim away like a fish. He was a powerful swimmer and could stay under water holding his breath for a long time.

When he had lost hope of ever leaving the Black World alive, he spotted something that looked like a dhow in the distance.

The object turned out to be an abandoned boat, intact with all the sailing gear and other apparatus. He approached it cautiously. It was overgrown with moss and algae. The occupants must have fallen prey to the cannibals.

He set sail as soon as the night fell, keeping close to the shoreline to avoid storms in the open ocean. He survived several months of stormy waters and malaria fever until he sighted a pirate’s vessel out in the ocean. He frantically sailed towards it but his boat capsized and sunk suddenly. A huge shark headed towards him but the pirates rescued him from instant death. They recognized him and offered to take him home. The pirates were taking their spoils back home after some successful missions of destroying and looting merchant ships in the ocean. They safely dropped him at a port near his home on their way.

As usual Salim was not going to tell the truth to anyone about his encounters in the black continent. He had never told any truth in his entire life. He lived on lies, deceptions and cunningness. All the countrymen eagerly sought his tales. He was invited to deliver speeches in gatherings. He was the country’s celebrity and hero. He was a gifted orator and storyteller who spiced his fables and tales with sheer fabrications.

He reported to the Arab rulers that his voyage had successfully accomplished the mission of penetrating deep into the Black World, established Arab territories by hoisting the Arab flag and renamed the Black World, “Afrika”. They had collected gold, diamonds, monkey skins, ivory, fine black women and men, and other precious merchandise. All the ships were fully loaded with a lot of wealth from Afrika ready to ship it to the Arab world. But as they were about to set sail for home after this successful mission, their fleet was attacked and completely destroyed by some very hostile and powerful Chinese pirates who stole all the merchandise.

Salim broke into tears as he narrated and recounted the sad events and especially the loss of the young beautiful black girls he had exclusively selected and secured for his country’s King. His audience shook their heads with deep dismay, disappointment and regret at such great loss.

Salim was consoled by the rulers with more praises, compliments and bestowed the highest honors in the land, “the master of the great ocean”, “the rider of desert storms and tornados”, “the invincible warrior”, “the first citizen”, besides being allocated some public land and beach plots as an appreciation for his feats. He was regarded a selfless hero, who bravely fought and gave up his life to make his country richer, and the first man to penetrate the dark continent and hoist the Arab flag in their new territories of Afrika.

The Arab rulers swore and vowed to dispatch another expedition with larger cargo ships to bring back the black commodity and other wealth from their wealthy territories of Afrika, supported by warships powerful enough to repel any pirate threats in the ocean. Salim declined the offer to lead the formidable expedition on account of old age, but instead volunteered to plan, organize, train and drill men for the expedition.

Salim’s tales of the land of plenty with lovingly beautiful young women and men who were stronger than any oxen, were so sensational and enchanting that the whole country went into frenzy, with all able‑ bodied men jostling to be enlisted for the expedition. He told of strikingly beautiful young black women who were so entertaining that he would have opted to live in that paradise forever, were it not for his patriotism and love for his country.

Salim was appointed his country’s minister for foreign affairs, in charge of new territories and missions abroad, including destroying and looting foreign ships plying the ocean. For a couple of years, ships, logistics, fine sailors, battle hardened warriors, and crews of the fittest men were selected and trained under the supervision of Salim, for the next large scale commercial expedition to Afrika.

Men and parents of young men bribed Salim heavily to be included in the expedition that promised to turn a man wealthy overnight. He gratefully accepted and received the bribes. He enriched himself by enticing more and more men with false tales of gold, diamonds and other precious stones glittering in riverbeds. All you needed to do was to collect the precious stones into bags.