Henderson the Rain King - Saul Bellow [110]
made to Nebuchadnezzar. _They shall drive thee from among men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field.__ The lion odor was still very keen on my fingers. I smelled it repeatedly and there returned to my thoughts the frogs of the Arnewi, the cattle whom they venerated, the tenants' cat I had tried to murder, to say nothing of the pigs I had bred. Sure enough, this prophecy had a peculiar relevance to me, implying perhaps that I was not entirely fit for human companionship. The king, having completed a short rest, was ready to speak. "Now, then, Mr. Henderson," he began to say in his exotic and specially accented way. "Well, King, you were going to explain to me why it was desirable to associate with this lion. So far I haven't got a clue. Oh, am I confused!" "I am to make the matter clear," he said, "so first of all I shall tell you how and what about the lions. A year ago or more I captured Atti. There is a traditionary way among the Wariri for obtaining a lion if you need him. Beaters go forth and the animal is driven into what we call a hopo, and this is a very large affair embracing several miles out in the bush. The animals are aroused by noises with drums and horns and pursued into the wide end of the hopo and toward the narrow. At that narrow end is the trap, and I myself as king am obliged to make the capture. In this way Atti was obtained. I have to tell you that any lion except my father, Gmilo, is forbidden and illicit. Atti was brought here in a condition of severest disapproval and opposition, causing a great anxiety and partisanship. Especially the Bunam." "Say, what's the matter with those guys?" I said. "They don't deserve a king like you. With a personality like yours, you could rule a big country." The king was glad, I think, to hear this from me. "Notwithstanding," he said, "there is considerable trouble with the Bunam and my Uncle Horko and others, to say nothing of the queen mother and some of the wives. For, Mr. Henderson, there is only one tolerable lion, who is the late king. It is conceived the rest are mischief-makers and evildoers. Do you see? The main reason why the late king has to be recaptured by his successor is that he cannot be left out there in company with such evildoers. The witches of the Wariri are said to hold an illicit intercourse with bad lions. Even some children assumed to come of such a union are dangerous. I add if a man can prove his wife has been unfaithful with a lion, he demands an extreme penalty." "This is very peculiar," I said. "Summarizing," the king went on, "I am the object of a double criticism. Firstly I have not yet succeeded in obtaining Gmilo, my father-lion. Secondly it is said that because I keep Atti I am up to no good. Before all opposition, however, I am determined to keep her." "What do they want?" I said. "You should abdicate, like the Duke of Windsor?" He answered with a soft laugh, then said, in the deeply founded stillness of the room--with the yellow-gray air weighing on us, deepening, darkening slowly--"I have no such intention." "Well," I said, "if your back is up about it, that I understand perfectly." "Henderson-Sungo," he said, "I see I must tell you more about this. From a very early age the king will bring his successor here. Thus I used to visit my lion-grandfather. His name was Suffo. Thus from my small childhood I have been on familiar or intimate terms with lions, and the world did not offer me any replacement. And I so missed the lion connection that when Gmilo my father died and I was notified at school of the tragic occurrence, despite my love of the medical course I was not one hundred per cent reluctant. I may go so far as to assert that I was weak from a continuing lack of such a relationship and went home to be replenished. Naturally it would have been the best of fortune to capture Gmilo at once. But as instead I caught Atti, I could not give her up." I took a fold of my gaudy pants to wipe my face which, 195 due to the fever, was ominously dry. Just then I should have been pouring sweat. "And still," he said, "Gmilo