Elephant Song

This is legal ivory, Cheng.  He clapped his hands again.  Legal ivory, my son, many more times more valuable for those numbers.  How did you do it?

How many more tusks are there?

His father's unrestrained pleasure was giving Cheng huge face.

He must be careful to remain humble and dutiful.  Every one of those cases is filled with ivory, honoured Father.  Every tusk is stamped.

Where did you get them?  Heng insisted, and then raised his hand to prevent Cheng replying.  Wait!  he ordered.  Wait.  Do not tell me!  He was silent, staring at his son for a while, and then he said, Yes.

That is it.

I know where this ivory comes from.  With a wave of his hand he sent the black-clad workmen out of earshot and leaned closer to Cheng, dropping his voice to a whisper.  I read some time ago that there was a raid by a gang of poachers on a government ivory store in Zimbabwe.  A place called Chiwewe?

The gangsters were wiped out, but the ivory was not recovered, is that not so, my son?  I read the same newspaper article, honoured Father.

Cheng dropped his eyes and waited while the silence drew out.

Then Heng spoke again.  The man who pla

Now Cheng's standing, in his father's eyes, was so enormous that he wriggled in his seat with pleasure and shouted for the workmen to open the other cases.

For the next two hours Heng examined the shipment of tusks.  He gloated over every single piece, picking out a dozen or so of the loveliest or most unusual for his special collection.

He was particularly interested in deformed ivory.  The nerve of one of the tusks had been damaged, while it was still immature, by a hand-hammered lead ball from a native poacher's musket.

The result was that the tusk had split into four separate shafts and these had twisted around each other in the same way as the strands of a hemp rope.  The original lead musket-bullet, heavily corroded, was still embedded in the root of the tusk, and the entwined spirals of ivory resembled the horns of the legendary unicorn.  Heng was delighted with it.

Cheng had seldom seen him so animated and voluble, but at the end of the two hours he was obviously fatigued, and Cheng helped him back into the Rolls and ordered the chauffeur to return to the estate.

Heng laid his head back on the soft Co

When Cheng was sure the old man was asleep, he gently adjusted the cashmere rug over him.  One of Heng's hands had dropped on to the seat beside him.  Cheng lifted it into his lap and before he covered it with the cashmere he caressed it so gently as not to wake his father.  The hand was thin and bony and the skin was cool as that of a corpse.

Suddenly the long thin fingers tightened on Cheng's wrist and the old man spoke without opening his eyes.  I am not afraid of death, my son, he whispered.  But I am terrified that all that I have achieved will be destroyed by careless hands.  Your brother Wu is strong and clever, but he does not have my spirit.  He does not care for fine and beautiful things.  He does not love poetry or painting or ivory.  Heng opened his eyes and turned his head to stare at his son with those bright implacable lizard's eyes.  I knew that you had inherited my spirit, Cheng, but until today I doubted that you had the warrior's steel.

That is the reason why I hesitated to choose between you and Wu.

However, this gift that you have given to me today has changed that thinking.  I know how you obtained that ivory.  I know that it was necessary to squeeze the juice from the ripe cherry.  This was Heng's euphemism for drawing blood.  And I know that you did not shrink from it.  I know also that you succeeded in a difficult enterprise, whether by luck or cu

I will not fail you, he promised, and a single tear of joy and of pride fell from the corner of his eye and sparkled like a jewel on the pale dry skin of his father's hand.

Ning Heng H'Sui made the -formal a

Cheng; watched the faces of his brothers while the old man spoke.  Wu remained as impassive as the ivory carving his father had made of him years ago.  His face was bland, smooth and creamy yellow, but his eyes were terrible as he returned Cheng's stare across the table.  When the old man finished speaking there was a moment's silence which seemed to last an eternity as the three elder brothers contemplated the world that had changed for them.

Then Wu spoke.  Honourable Father, you are wise in all things.  We, your sons, bow to your will as the rice stalks bow to the north wind.

All four of them bowed so low that their foreheads almost touched the table-top, but when they straightened the other three were looking at Cheng.  Cheng realised at that moment that it might be possible to attain too much face.  His face was greater than that of all his half-brothers combined and he felt an icicle of fear slide down his spine, for his brothers were watching him with the eyes of crocodiles.

He knew that he dare not fail in Ubomo.  They would be waiting to rend him if he did.

Once Cheng was back in his own apartment, the fear fell away to be replaced by the clarion of success.  There was so much work to do before he returned to Africa, but for the moment he could not concentrate his mind upon it.  Tomorrow certainly, but not now.  He was too charged with excitement, his mind restless and unfocused.  He needed to steady'himself, to burn off the excess energy that made him both physically and mentally overwrought.

He knew exactly how to achieve this.  He had his own special ritual for purging his soul.  Of course, it was dangerous, terribly dangerous.

On more than one occasion before it had brought him to the very brink of disaster.  However, the danger was part of the efficacy of the ritual. He knew that if anything went wrong he would have lost all.

The monumental successes of these last few days, his father's selection and the ascendancy over his brothers would all be wiped away.

The risk was enormous, completely out of proportion to the fleeting gratification that he would achieve.  Perhaps it was the gambler's urge to flirt with self-destruction.  After each episo he always promised himself that he would never indulge in the madness again, but always the temptation proved too strong, particularly at a time such as this.

As soon as he entered his apartment his wife made tea for him, and then called the children to pay him their respects.  He spoke to them for a few minutes and took his infant son on his lap, but he was distracted and soon dismissed them.  They left with obvious relief.

These formal interviews were 2 strain for all of them.  He was not good with children, even his own.

My father has chosen me to go to Ubomo, he told his wife.

It is a great honour, she said.  I offer you my felicitations.

When will we leave?  I shall go alone, he told her, and saw the relief in her eyes.