all is connected or the song of the frogs
The voice is a means of communication in both humans and animals. When groups of humans sing together it usually means one of three things: they are celebrating, mourning or protesting.
I spoke of this idea to my friend Joy, and she pondered on it before answering. "I sing to create calmness and centre myself. "
I had overlooked the obvious; singing for peace. Across all cultures groups of women have joined together in song to settle and comfort their children and their communities. As I write this, another image of group singing springs to mind; African American people singing for their lives while they worked on massive plantations as slaves. So in addition to my initial reasoning, people also sing together to engender peace and as an act of survival.
The silencing of human voices is an act of oppression. The degree of oppression is reflected in the extent and duration of the imposed silence.
Animals sing as part of courtship rituals and to mark territory, and perhaps for some of the same reasons humans do. Like humans, when their voices are silenced it usually means they are dead or have disappeared from the area where they sing.
Each morning I am awakened by the laughter of the aptly named, bush alarm clock; that iconic Australian bird called the kookaburra, who in turn wakes the other feathered denizens whose voices become the dawn chorus. I know I am in Australia when I hear this unique choir of birdsong. It is what I most miss about this country when I am overseas.
I cannot imagine Australia without the song of its native birds. I tell the following folktale from the Democratic Republic of the Congo because I feel its message speaks volumes of the need to listen to the songs of all living creatures.
There was once a chief who brought his people to camp on the edge of a swamp. They lay down to sleep that night to the sound of the frogs' song. The array of rhythmic croaks and calls brought great comfort to the people because it signified the harmony in which they all lived. But the chief was outraged with the ribbitting racket of the swamp dwellers and screamed for them to shut up. They were disturbing his sleep. But the frogs paid no heed to the rantings of the chief and continued their song. The chief tossed and turned and bellowed his fury at the frogs, but they continued their song well into the night. At dawn the chief had worked himself into a state of rage not only at the frogs' song but their refusal to be silent. He called his warriors together and demanded they bring everyone before him. When all the people were assembled the chief proclaimed that the frogs were to all punished for disturbing his peace. Everyone was given a large stick and ordered to enter the swamp and beat the frogs to death. If they refused to carry out the chief's orders they would be beaten instead.
With great reluctance the people took the clubs and trudged into the swamp. All except an old woman who refused to take a stick and remained steadfast in front of the chief.
"Why do you defy me?" demanded the chief.
"Because all is connected," she answered.
"What do you mean?" asked the chief.
"You will find out," she replied.
The chief glared at the old woman, then shouted for her to leave him before he beat her himself.
Later that day the people sat around their camps, disheartened by the dreadful deed they had carried out. That night an eerie silence filled the air. The people found it hard to sleep, knowing that the frogs were no longer their companions. The chief however slept soundly, that night and the next.
It was the third night that he was awakened by an annoying hum. Swarms of mosquitoes descended on the camp. The mosquito larvae no longer eaten by the frogs had all hatched and the swamp was infested with millions of mosquitoes. The night air was filled with the drone of mosquitoes punctuated by the sounds of people slapping their bitten skin.
"Enough is enough," they cried, and quietly gathered their belongings and moved away from the swamp and their chief.
At dawn the following day the chief, who had barely slept a wink, stood up and looked around. He was all alone, except for the old woman who had refused to kill the frogs. She stared at the chief's bite ridden face and body and shook her head.
"Now do you understand what I said about all being connected?" she asked. Then she turned from him and walked away, leaving him with no one to rule over but the mosquitoes.
Story Source:
Eleven Nature Tales
A multicultural journey
by Pleasant DeSpain
August House, Little Rock Arkansas US
copyright 1996
Photograph by Roman W Schatz
Moriah Meeting a Green Tree Frog
