Chapter 7 – Brother Skull-Necklace
Near the border with India, there was a river that was so wide, it took a whole day to cross by boat. The river ran from side to side so long that the land across was not visible. That’s why many thought that they were looking at an ocean. Simply put, it was a huge river. The river was always calm, and the flow of water was never visible. Any floating object appeared stationary. But, what was strange was the fact that there were no people anywhere on this river. Usually, you see a boat or two, carrying passengers across in addition to casual fisherman or two. But, this river was dead quite and almost spooky.
When the party got to the riverbank, it was getting dark rapidly. Looking around, there were no boats, except an old, rotting row boat that was half below water, and nothing else to cross this river on. While looking at the situation and seeking a solution, Prince Simian looked around and found a warning sign prominently displayed at the dock. The sign read “DO NOT ATTEMP TO CROSS, MAN EATING CREATURE” “Hmmm, a man eating creature, hey?” thought Prince Simian. “Lookie-lookeee here S’Nim, it says, you are on the menu tonight!” screamed Prince Simian, teasing S’Nim. “What? Me? On the Menu?” Perked up S’Nim started to shake and tremble. “Yeah, it says that tonight’s menu has Human as a main course!” added Prince Simian. Feeling a little bit teased, S’Nim turned to read the posting. “Dekki, you rotten ape! Stop playing with me!” But, S’Nim’s face turned gray anyway. It did say that there was a man eating creature in water and he was the only ‘man’ in the group. However, there was no other way but to cross. Porky chimed in. “Well, hope he is Kosher, he might let me pass, Oink oink.” This resulted in an explosive laughter from the Prince. When he regained his composure, Prince Simian shot back at Porky. “You seem to forget that your face might be spared, but your body will definitely be eaten.”, pointing to Porky’s human body form. Now, they are stuck. They must cross the river before the night-fall; there might be dangerous creatures everywhere. And, turning back was out of the question. This left with one choice; to cross one way or another.
Prince Simian and Porky worked hard to bring back the boat into life. The broken bottom was patched and the water pumped out. The boat was floating and sustaining all the weight of a donkey, S’Nim, Porky and the Prince. Very carefully, Porky started to row. It was very hard to move the boat due to its weight, but after a short while, the progress was noticeable. With Prince Simian scanning water for any sign of trouble, S’Nim felt a little better. Soon, the boat was sliding across the river rapidly. And this went on for a while.
Suddenly, the boat hit something, jerking everyone on the boat. It felt like a large rock. The boat was stuck. It was in the middle of nowhere and was not budging. The riverbank was barely visible and the destination still invisible. “Lookie lookie!” said Prince Simian pointing to an object circling the boat, making waves. It was too dark to see clearly, but the object was visible under the moon light. Soon, the object rose out of the water, and it was …
A short and skinny creature with a dark long hair, and bony face with a necklace made of small skulls. Water still dripping from his cloth, he was swinging two large swords in hand. “He, he, he, he, I was getting antsy, if you know what I mean. I thought I would go hungry tonight. But, what do we have here? A French dish of horse meat, a Chinese dish of monkey brain, a Korean barbecue pork ribs and my favorite, human flesh.” This sounded like an interesting dish, Porky thought. For a while, the whole party couldn’t take their eyes off of this heinous creature. It was just too bizarre. A skull necklace? In this day and age? Rather than being intimidated, they were all puzzled. Of course, this was not the intended effect of the creature. The creature sensed some type of ridicule from this group. That made the creature more angry. Finally, Prince Simian took the beam out of his ear, and it grew big quickly. Without a word, Porky took his pitch fork out, pointing at the creature. Donkey was fascinated by this floating thing. And, S’Nim’s head was stuck deep into the boat, shaking from fear, reciting his chant and wanting to be somewhere else, hoping this to be a dream.
Prince Simian attacked the creature with his wooden beam, which has a round metal ball at each end, swinging toward the creature. The creature easily blocked it with his left sword. His right sword attacked the Prince, but Prince Simian was already upside down above the creature’s head. Porky summoned his cloud and was coming hard at the creature. The creature jumped into the river, disappearing in a flash. Porky was floating above the water looking for a sign, but it was Prince Simian who followed the creature into the water.
Under the water, the creature took a form of a strange sea weed like shape. His hair was floating in all directions, and the eyeballs were glowing in bright red color. It was a surreal scene. Prince Simian was right in front of the creature and soon, a large splash indicated that a pig had fallen into the river. It took no time for Porky to start his attacks. But, unlike above the water, all their movements were only half the speed. This frustrated Porky to no end. Porky attacked and attacked, but the creature avoided getting forked every single time. After a while, Porky ran out of air and had to return to surface. Prince Simian was watching all the movements and was calculating. “What can trap this creature?” But, there was no apparent answer. Then, the Prince got an idea. The stick grows really fast. Maybe he can use that against the creature. So, Prince Simian started to attack using his beam. Prince Simian aimed one end at the creature and let the beam grow rapidly, hoping that the creature would get hit. The beam grew rapidly, but the creature was faster. The beam passed the creature’s stomach by less than an inch. Prince Simian shrank the beam and, this time, lunged forward at the creature. Prince Simian had incredible strength; his swing temporarily cut the water in half, breaking a large bedrock in half, but missing the creature altogether. “Hmm, I cannot fight him here. I have to get above the water.” thought Prince Simian. So, Prince Simian flew out of the river and landed on the boat.
S’Nim was still in his favorite position; ostrich position. Porky was panting heavily. Prince Simian thought for a moment, and remembered something. “A-ha, let’s see if he has any brains.” said Prince Simian. Turning to Porky, Prince Simian gave an instruction; “Porky, I need you to fly in your cloud and dip your fork in the water every time you go near the water. Fly in any formation but make sure you touch the same place.” Porky asked back; “Why do I have to go flying around? I want to smash this creature’s head in half!” “You, just do it!” shot back Prince Simian. Prince Simian summoned his clouds and flew high above the water. Way up in mid air, Prince Simian was carefully watching Porky flying around and dipping his pitch fork in water. After a long time of this annoying behavior by Porky, Prince Simian saw something and began flying toward the water. With his beam stick pointing, Prince Simian dashed down the sky in incredible speed. It was when Prince Simian’s stick almost touched the water that the creature’s head poked out of the water to see what the dipping was all about. Immediately following his head poking out, a loud crack of a hard wooden beam cracking creature’s skull, filled the air. The creature made a screeching noise, and his body popped out of the water. As the creature flew in mid air, Prince Simian grabbed his beam and started to rotate like a chopper blade. When the creature saw the approaching blade, he made a squealing noise and fled toward the solid ground. Porky shot out of the river and the chase was on. The creature was making a long – hops on the surface of the river, and both Prince Simian and Porky were chasing close behind him. When the creature landed on the riverbank, Prince Simian began attacking from behind. With no time to spare, the creature flipped over to avoid getting pummeled. Landing on his feet, the creature threw his swords away and yelled “Stop! Stop, I give up!”. The wooden stick from Prince Simian was an inch away from the creature’s neck, when it stopped. “So, you give up?” asked Prince Simian. “Yes, yes, I give up, please spear my life.” pleaded the creature.
Sensing the danger was over, S’Nim yelled from the boat “Is it over yet?” Prince Simian answered “Yes, it is over.” Porky had to fly out to bring the boat back. But, when the boat docked, S’Nim walked toward the creature and started questioning him. “Why are you eating human flesh? Or any flesh for that matter? Don’t you know it is wrong to kill a living object?” The creature answered “S’Nim, please spear my life. I dread having to eat human flesh. But, I was cursed to eat human flesh. You see, I was one of the King’s Generals. But, when I failed to protect his son, the King’s sorcerer cast a spell – a curse on my body. I was cursed to collect skulls of people I eat and wear them on my neck. I was to live like this till I eat a monk. When I eat a monk flesh, I was to turn back to my original form. I was just doing this to break the curse.” This sent chills on S’Nim’s back. “What would happen if you don’t eat human flesh?” the creature answered “I never could turn back.” “So, that’s why you kept eating human flesh?” “Yes”
Porky chimed in, “Why don’t we finish him off?” Prince Simian added “For all the human lives you have taken, you must pay with your life.” So the verdict was death. But, S’Nim was busy chanting and not listening. When S’Nim stopped chanting, his decision was made. Slowly, S’Nim walked toward the creature and began ripping skulls out of his necklace. S’Nim said “You must now serve gracious Buddha and save lives equal to the amount you have destroyed”. With a simple blessing, S’Nim changed the creature’s look. Now his hair is neatly tied. His skulls gone. His bare body is now clad in simple monk garment. The transformation was bright and beautiful. The Prince and Porky were simply stunned by S’Nim’s act. But, they respected S’Nim’s decision and let the creature be the third member of this brotherhood. He was given a name. He was to be called “Bones”.
