Page 70 - Brugger Karl The chronicle of Akakor

The Chronicle of Akakor
the eastern frontier, I set them free and conducted them to their city, Manaus, on the Great River. Because I
disregarded my father’s explicit order, I was subject to the death penalty. But who would have punished
me? The Ugha Mongulala had tired of the eternal war and longed for peace.

I will never forget the time in Manaus. For the first time I saw how the cities of the White Barbarians differ
from the settlements of the Ugha Mongulala. The streets were filled with innumerable people running,
rushing, hastening. They tore through the city in strange vehicles they call automobiles as if they were
pursued by evil spirits. These vehicles are terribly noisy and spread evil smells. The dwellings of the White
Barbarians are ten and twenty times as high as the

houses built by my people. Nevertheless, each family owns only a small part where they pile up their
possessions and their wealth. All these things and objects are obtained at certain places that exist only for
this purpose. But one cannot just take whatever one needs. No, for everything one has to tender a small
piece of paper which has great value in the eyes of the White Barbarians. They call it money. The more
money somebody has, the more respect he commands. Money makes him powerful and raises him above
the others like a God. This leads to everybody cheating and exploiting the other. The hearts of the White
Barbarians are filled with constant malice, even toward their own brothers.
The city of the White Barbarians is incomprehensible to the Ugha Mongulala. It is like an ant heap, busy all
through the day and night. As soon as the sun has run its course and has disappeared behind the western
hills, the White Barbarians illuminate their streets and houses with big lamps so that they are as bright at
night as they are during the day. Attracted by the brilliant lights, they go to large halls where they consume
the strangest beverages. Only in this way do they achieve joy, gladness, and exuberance. Others sit in
darkened rooms in front of a white wall and gaze at living pictures with wide-open eyes. Others again stand
in front of display cases which line the fronts of buildings and admire the objects that are before them.

I do not understand the White Barbarians. They live in a world of sham and illusion. To lengthen the day,
they kill the night with their lamps so that no tree, no plant, no animal, and no stone achieves its deserved
rest. They work untiringly like the ant, and nevertheless they sigh and moan as if they were being crushed
under the burden. They may think joyful thoughts, but they do not laugh. They may have sorrowful
thoughts, but they do not weep either. These are people whose senses live in enmity with their spirits and
are divided against themselves.

In Manaus I learned that my former captives were high officers. They showed their gratitude for their rescue
in giving me a second name, Nara. Tatunca, my first name, means "great water serpent." I bear this name
since I defeated the most dangerous creature on the Great River. In the language of my people, Nara means
"I do not know." That was my reply when the white officers asked me for the name of my family. This is
how the name Tatunca Nara arose—"great water serpent I do not know."

I stayed in the city of the White Barbarians for a short period only. Scarcely a moon after my arrival, a scout
of the Black Hearts brought me news from Akakor. My father, Prince Sinkaia, had been severely wounded
in a fight with soldiers of the White Barbarians, and he demanded my immediate return. I took leave of the
white officers and reached the tribal fastness of my people at the beginning of the rainy season of the year
12,449. A few days later, my father died of his wounds. The Ugha Mongulala were without a leader, as it is
written in the chronicle:

Sinkaia had died, the legitimate successor of the Exalted Son of the Gods, Lhasa. And the
Chosen Warriors wept bitterly for him. They intoned the plaint of light, for Sinkaia, the prince
of princes, had left them. He had not committed any crime and had not put injustice in the
place of justice. He had been a worthy successor of Lhasa and had ruled like him when the
wind came from the south, when the wind came from the north, when the wind came from the
west, and when the wind came from the east. And so Sinkaia entered into the second life.
Accompanied by the plaints of his people, he rose in the eastern sky.

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