The Legend of Shaka
or
The Englishman,
the Boy
and the Tiger
Nature has a way of protecting her own. She is not invincible, but she is powerful.
She uses ways that we humans do not understand. But that does not mean that we
cannot try to understand, only that most of us haven't really bothered, so as a
species we still have much to learn. And if we don't learn, when nature really needs
our help we won't be able to give it.
When a man doesn't understand something, he either decides it is magic, or the work
of a God, or else he studies it until he does understand it and then calls it science.
And so it is with nature. Many men study it and call it science, others believe it to be
the work of God, or a God in itself, and others are content to believe it to be magic.
Of course, nature is none of these things, but if you believe in something enough, it
has a way of becoming true. And so some people study nature as a science and have
begun to unravel some of her secrets, other people simply believe in the magic of
nature and let her carry on as she wishes, and to some people the power of nature
has become deified and legends have been born of Gods who protect the environment
in which they live.
This is the story of one such protector, Shaka, lord of the wild jungle regions of
Western India.
