Chapter Four
MY FATHER FINDS THE RIVER
The jungle began just beyond a narrow strip
of beach; thick, dark, damp, scary jungle.
My father hardly knew where to go, so he crawled
under a wahoo bush to think, and ate eight
tangerines.
The first thing to do, he decided, was to
find the river, because the dragon was tied
somewhere along its bank.
Then he thought, "If the river flows into
the ocean, I ought to be able to find it quite
easily if I just walk along the beach far
enough."
So my father walked until the sun rose and
he was quite far from the Ocean Rocks.
It was dangerous to stay near them because
they might be guarded in the daytime.
He found a clump of tall grass and sat down.
Then he took off his rubber boots and ate
three more tangerines.
He could have eaten twelve but he hadn't seen
any tangerines on this island and he could
not risk running out of something to eat.
My father slept all that day and only woke
up late in the afternoon when he heard a funny
little voice saying, "Queer, queer, what a
dear little dock!
I mean, dear, dear, what a queer little rock!"
My father saw a tiny paw rubbing itself on
his knapsack.
He lay very still and the mouse, for it was
a mouse, hurried away muttering to itself,
"I must smell tumduddy.
I mean, I must tell somebody."
My father waited a few minutes and then started
down the beach because it was almost dark
now, and he was afraid the mouse really would
tell somebody.
He walked all night and two scary things happened.
First, he just had to sneeze, so he did, and
somebody close by said, "Is that you, Monkey?"
My father said, "Yes."
Then the voice said, "You must have something
on your back, Monkey," and my father said
"Yes," because he did.
He had his knapsack on his back.
"What do you have on your back, Monkey?" asked
the voice.
My father didn't know what to say because
what would a monkey have on its back, and
how would it sound telling someone about it
if it did have something?
Just then another voice said, "I bet you're
taking your sick grandmother to the doctor's."
My father said "Yes" and hurried on.
Quite by accident he found out later that
he had been talking to a pair of tortoises.
The second thing that happened was that he
nearly walked right between two wild boars
who were talking in low solemn whispers.
When he first saw the dark shapes he thought
they were boulders.
Just in time he heard one of them say, "There
are three signs of a recent invasion.
First, fresh tangerine peels were found under
the wahoo bush near the Ocean Rocks.
Second, a mouse reported an extraordinary
rock some distance from the Ocean Rocks which
upon further investigation simply wasn't there.
However, more fresh tangerine peels were found
in the same spot, which is the third sign
of invasion.
Since tangerines do not grow on our island,
somebody must have brought them across the
Ocean Rocks from the other island, which may,
or may not, have something to do with the
appearance and/or disappearance of the extraordinary
rock reported by the mouse."
After a long silence the other boar said,
"You know, I think we're taking all this too
seriously.
Those peels probably floated over here all
by themselves, and you know how unreliable
mice are.
Besides, if there had been an invasion, I
would have seen it!"
"Perhaps you're right," said the first boar.
"Shall we retire?"
Whereupon they both trundled back into the
jungle.
Well, that taught my father a lesson, and
after that he saved all his tangerine peels.
He walked all night and toward morning came
to the river.
Then his troubles really began.
