Two Worlds One Heart

Two Worlds, One Heart

By

William Forde

A compilation of 2 stories

The Valley of the Two Tall Oaks

And

Indian Dreams Come True

Copyright July 2012 by William Forde

Illustrations by Mary Jackson

Smashwords Edition

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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Author’s foreword.

The true test of any great nation is not what it achieves, but how it endures. Africa is a great nation and the endurance of its people over many centuries is a testament to their capacity to survive with dignity within an all-too-often cruel and intolerant world.

For many centuries, the people of Africa experienced colonisation, enslavement, economic exploitation, apartheid, disenfranchisement, resettlement and segregation. Throughout these hardships, they kept their faith in their beliefs, culture, traditions, religions and dreams.

The exodus of Africans to the four corners of the Earth has enriched the quality of their host countries, none more so than the wonderful land of Jamaica, cradle of the Caribbean.

Many authors have written about the life of Nelson Mandela, but I wanted to write about his dream; the dream, which sustained him through almost three decades of imprisonment; a dream held by other great tribal chiefs in the Africa of old.

I envisaged this dream of being passed on like an athlete’s baton in a relay team; from one chief to the next, until it eventually ended up in the hands of Nelson Mandela, who then gave it to the world.

As I look at Africa today, I know that this dream lives on in the hearts of its proud people. We were born possessing the potential to do good or bad. We have the power to make our dreams come true, as long as we keep faith with the concept of ‘one Love – one heart.’

Live in hope and hope shall live in you. Give your love freely and unconditionally and you will receive love in return. When you acknowledge your areas of ignorance, wisdom is your reward. Admit your wrongs at the earliest opportunity, try to correct them and you will feel right with the world. Confront your darkest fears, and courage will be your greatest strength. Strive for tolerance, understanding and acceptance of all strangers and new neighbours, and your heart will beat in the four corners of the earth. Learn to walk in the shoes of another and you will never walk alone.

William Forde.

Book One

‘The Valley of the two tall Oaks’

by

William Forde.

A wonderful story: Nelson Mandela: Personal communication, July 2000.

Chapter One

‘The early years of The Tribe of Eli’

Many centuries ago, deep in the heart of South Africa, there existed a most wondrous valley of breath-taking beauty. At the time of its creation, Mother Nature couldn't bear to part with the valley and decided to keep it as a child of her own.

Being protective towards her special child, Mother Nature provided the valley with a concealed crib in which her babe could sleep safely without fear of intrusion from the outer world.

Embracing the shoulder of the valley was a scarf of smooth granite, wrapped around the neck of Nature's infant in the shape of a horseshoe mountain. The protective mountain was too thick to penetrate and too steep to climb. It shielded the valley from the extreme elements of climate, which ravaged and raged across the African continent from time to time.

During these periods of severe weather turbulence, as the rest of Africa was tossed and shaken in a fit of temper, the valley child was held close to the comfort of Mother Nature's breast. The height of the horseshoe mountain surrounding the valley protected it from the onslaught of torrential rain and desert storms. The thickness of its granite coat acted as a barrier, preventing the snap of the biting wind and the torment of the harshest of hurricanes breaking through.

Trees grew in terraced formation on the valley slopes; the tops of which acted like sunshades, shielding the lush, green grass beneath from the glare of the scorching sun.

Mother Nature fed the valley from her most nourishing breast and provided it with just the right amount of warmth, wind, light and water to grow strong and healthy. The soil was fertile enough to grow any type of plant there, and all manner of animals, fish, birds, insects, trees and wildlife prospered in thriving abundance.

A cascading waterfall flowed from the top of the valley to the font in its stream below. The waterfall kept the plant life, moist and green. The stream at the bottom of the valley provided a haven for fish and other water-loving creatures.

Trapped inside the valley, was every colour imaginable, mirroring its kaleidoscope pattern of reflection in the haze of the evening sunset. The coloured cradle below projected an arched image of the rainbow into the sky above after each shower.

The face of God smiled upon the valley and his beauty of breath made it the most sparkling jewel in Nature's crown. The natural beauty and tranquillity of the valley contrasted sharply with the land outside it, whose harshness in both appearance and climatic conditions seemed to place it in a different world.

The valley had been created with one entrance, represented by a 30-metre gap in the granite wall, which provided an open door to the desert beyond. For many centuries, the entrance to the valley remained open as Mother Nature was secure in the knowledge that no human was around to walk through it.

As the centuries past, however, and the human population of the African continent increased tenfold, circumstances greatly changed. Both number and the size of tribes increased and space to live in one’s own social group was harder to find. The tribes of people began to occupy more of the land space, pushing their borders ever wider, until eventually, their village borders met the desert’s edge.

Although a large desert separated the valley from the many African tribes, Mother Nature sensed that it would only be a matter of time before some human explorer would travel across the sea of sand and discover her valley child.

Mother Nature, having seen how badly the humans often treated the land and its wild life, was naturally fearful that if the humans ever discovered her treasure, they would snatch away its innocence, spoil its intrinsic beauty, rape it of its natural resources and then abandon it!

So, Mother Nature decided to conceal the entrance to the valley by natural camouflage. One autumn evening an angelic breeze swept across the desert carrying two heavenly seeds between its wings.

When it arrived at the valley entrance, Nature’s wind carrier dropped both seeds upon the ground below. The seeds became embedded in the fertile soil and took root over the seasons ahead. Over the next 300 years, the pair of seeds grew first into two saplings and eventually into two small trees. After 300 years of growth the two seeds had developed into two magnificent oak trees, each one positioned 30 metres apart at the entrance to the valley.

Having placed her two magnificent trees sentries at the entrance of the valley, Mother Nature then arranged with the Demon of the Desert to drop some of his gnarled and twisted seed in front of the two tall oak trees.

The Demon sent a savage storm sweeping across the desert, carrying within its tempestuous rage, thorn seeds, which were blown to the ground in front of the two tall oak trees. Over the next 200 years, the thorn seeds grew into a thorn-thicket forest, which extended 300 metres in both width and depth. With each thorny branch twisted and interwoven with its neighbouring thorn, the thicket was impenetrable to either man or beast.

The thicket eventually grew so high that it dwarfed the two oak trees behind it. It grew so dense that even the smallest of creatures couldn't crawl through it without being cut to ribbons by its teeth of gnarled thorn. After the two tall oak trees and thorn thicket forest had firmly established their positions in front of the valley entrance, Mother Nature was content in her belief that the valley would never be discovered by humans.

Surrounding the valley was a continent of barren deserts, wild scrubland, untamed forests and uncivilised people, all of whom struggled to survive daily. Life was extremely hard for the many tribes that lived in Africa and in their human struggle for daily existence, only the strongest survived.

The tribes constantly fought each other over the ownership of land and water holes. Often, the victors would kill their enemies and steal their land and food. Taking prisoners during a battle was a luxury they couldn’t afford, as no prisoners meant that they wouldn’t have any unnecessary extra mouths to feed from their meagre food stock. Sometimes, they would take their enemies prisoner and make them slaves if they felt that the prisoner could grow more food each year than they managed to eat.

During times of peace, when the tribes weren't killing each other, they spent most of their days hunting fresh meat and searching for new water holes. Whether it was a time of peace or a time of war, the search for food, land and water holes remained constant in their daily lives. Many children never lived long enough to grow into adulthood. Even if they survived the tribal wars, drought, famine and disease invariably led to them dying in their thousands!

It was during these uncivilised years of war and bloodshed that a child called Eli was born. Eli was no ordinary child. He was a prophet of Mother Nature and was destined to become the leader of a great African tribe whose influence for good would eventually spread itself to the four corners of the earth.

On the eve of Eli's birth, the tribe into which he was to be born saw a magnificent new star in the sky above. The star shone more brightly than any other star in the constellation and it projected the glow of its light towards the mud hut where Eli's parents lived. Seeing the star, the villagers took it to be a good omen. Then, something mysterious happened; something that no villager who saw it would ever forget.

As Eli was pulled out of his mother's womb and uttered his first earthly sound, the new star