Thread: Eating people is wrong

Upinga looked at his friend of many years. “I had a dream last night.”
Zinta was immediately interested. As the chief of their tribe one of his responsibilities was interpreting dreams. At one time they had had a witch doctor skilled in these matters but he had committed one of the proclaimed crimes and been eaten long ago. It was well known that certain dreams could show what the future held, or what the Gods desired, but interpreting them was fraught with difficulty. A dream of huge herds of wildebeest covering the plains and eating grass might mean that game was going to be plentiful. On the other hand it could also convey the message that a drought was about to occur because there was not going to be any grass left soon. “What did you dream?” he asked.
“I saw two male buffallo. The older one had mated with the same cow for some while but the younger one wanted her. He fought the older bull and won. There had been clouds in the sky but they parted and the sun shone down on the victorious bull. The Gods were smiling on the stronger one because the herd would have stronger calves.”
Zinta pondered this for a few minutes. “And what is it that you concluded from your dream?” he asked finally.
“That our tribe is wrong to punish any man who takes another’s woman. And certainly not by eating them.”
Zinta sat silent again and then said, “This has been our custom since before memory. Could it not have been a message that only animals behave in this way?”
Upinga disagreed, “I do not think so. I believe that maybe this law need changing.”
Zinta shrugged, “Who knows, it is sometimes difficult to say what the Gods desire. When Tandu killed your brother I do not remember you saying that the laws should be changed.”
“Of course not.” Upinga told him. “For some things it is necessary. If we catch someone of another tribe stealing our cattle then yes, if someone kills another then yes, but for minor offences eating people is wrong.”
“And you are of the opinion that sleeping with another man’s wife is only a minor thing?”
“Of course. If we catch someone of another tribe stealing from us this endangers our livelihood and they should be eaten. If one of our tribe kills another then that diminishes the tribe and they should be fully punished. But a man who sleeps with another’s woman is only likely to bring new blood into the tribe. He should be honoured. You Zinta are the paramount chief. You can bring about such a change in the law. You have only to speak.”
Zinta looked at the sun which was sinking in the sky. He had always enjoyed a philosophical debate but it was late in the afternoon and he was getting hungry. “Upinga, we have been friends since we were born on the same day all those years ago and I have a great respect for you but, let us be straightforward here, the fact is that you ran off with Lalomy and you were caught. Now will you jump into that bloody pot or do we have to throw you in?”

An enjoyable story; I liked the ending particularly.

Hehehe... That was good. I liked that.

Oh, don't mind me, just stumbling onto (relatively) ancient and forgotten stories.

Quick and simple, but the last bit of irony made it all so worth it.

I didn't see that last line coming. This story was like a joke that you listen to with low expectations, but in the end it makes you smile because it was worth it.

I'd like seconds. I was going to say I'd like to see more of this story, but it's already pretty tight and has a good economy of story. Good work.

EDIT: Could use a better title though. What about "Potboiler"?

In a way, the title already starts off your preconceptions, empowering you to sort of predict what the story would ba about. So when you get to the dream sequence and the chief has it interpreted, it starts coming to surface of that the title represented, potentially distracting one with a potential upbeat ending. But irony tastes so good, and you anticipate it, just enough to feel it but with uncertainty still there, and the final plunge brings a conclusion that sits opposite of the title. The title works great as a the base for the punchline at the end.

This is one cool short story. made me laugh out loud.

The anti-adultry debate. Perhaps you're right. Perhaps no one man should be with only one woman. Perhaps relationships are just an amalgoration of our experiences in this world, and the relationships to come.

I am interested in reading more. Do you have more?