By Mandy Tearfall
Clears her throat before she starts talking with a little mystic voice
“We all know, that there are sometimes mysterious things in the jungle of the Amazon – some of them are easy to find, some more difficult and others seem impossible to be found at all. Today I would like to tell you the story about the mysterious chieftess crown.”
It’s not that long ago that a young woman found her way back to the Amazon looking for the place she was born years ago. Forced by destiny she had to grow up in one of the big cities. After her parents died, she promised sitting near their gravestones, to search for her roots – knowing that was the only wish left her parents had.
After a long travel time she finally reached the Amazon region and some days later she was the first time in the small village of the Tapirapé far in the north. She was warmly welcomed by the people who were sitting around the campfire and realized that she felt like arriving at home – although she knew none of them until this day..
As it figured out that she found the tribe her parents belonged to, she was welcomed as an aspirant of the Tapi tribe. She started to learn about how the life in the Amazon is, where she can hunt and gather, how she can prepare food and of what she should be aware of.
Time passed and several weeks later a date for the ceremony in which the aspirants would become full Tapi was set. The young woman was really excited for that and already started being nervous. She hoped to become one of the hunters of the tribe, but didn’t know if the others, specially the chieftess would agree to it.
On the same evening one of the experienced hunters of the Tribe said to the young woman: “Sister you find the tomb of Alnas, the goddess of wealth in the jungle … There once you solve the riddle and cross the bridge of truth, you get the ingredients to make a crown … You put the crown together and pass it to the chieftess.”
The young woman was confused, she never heard about a crown for the chieftess before. But why should her brother lie to her? Although she tried to find out, if it was only a joke, she already started thinking where by all gods of the Amazon that tomb should be.
Shortly before she decided to take some sleep to be fit for the next day and the start of her search, she got some more little hints for her task. She should start her search on the far side of muddy waters and look for a gold likely shining entrance. As last advice her brother said to her: “Remember a goddess like that doesn’t necessarily speak the truth.”
Right after sunrise on the next morning the young woman started her journey from the Tapi camp to the muddy waters in the south. She still was sceptical about the task, but once she started her search, she wasn’t really to stop anymore. She looked all around muddy waters, but couldn’t find any shiny or golden place.
After a while she met a guy and asked him if he knows about that place, but either he really didn’t know or he just didn’t want to tell her about it. When a friend of him joined them too, she asked again but got the same reply. But at least they were thinking about where it could be.
At the end those two showed the young woman an entrance that was hidden somewhere near the muddy waters, but she realized right away, that this wasn’t the correct one. She shaked her head saying “No, that’s not what I’m looking for. The entrance has to be shiny like gold.”
The friend of the guy – a blond haired paleface woman – said to her: “If I knew about a place like that, I for sure won’t show it to anyone.”
After some more hours of unsuccessful searches, the young woman stopped her search for that day. “Maybe it just was the wrong daytime when I looked for it”, she murmured to herself before walking back to the village.
During the next days she searched in each little corner at muddy waters she could reach somehow and also in the areas close to the borders of the region. But day by day it was the same.
She worried what would happen in case she won’t be able to find the ingredients for the crown. What would the chieftess and her brothers and sisters think about her?
At the evening before the day of the ceremony she nearly gave up. She tried calming herself with meditation and suddenly it was like if she could hear her parents’ voices saying to her: “Believe in yourself.” … “Tomorrow is the day.”
She knew that she never would find out, if she just imagined to hear their voices or if somehow they communicated with her. But nevertheless these seemed to be the words she needed to continue her search on the following morning.
Knowing it would be the last chance for her to find the ingredients, she started already early in the morning. The first sunbeams just came through the branches of the big trees when she arrived. Not really believing what she was seeing, she rubbed with her fingers over her eyes, blinked several times, but …
She started to run like she never run before, just to make sure that she will reach the place in time. Completely out of breath she reached the shining area and feels her eyes widen in astonishment. Not sure if she was still dreaming or really awake, she walked through the shining entrance, reverently whispering: “He told the truth, that entrance was shiny like gold.”
After her eyes had become accustomed to the darker surrounding that awaited her behind the entrance, she looked around and saw the tomb. While she walked closer with slowly steps, she felt her heart beating faster. Her palms became lightly damp when she let them slide over the tomb.
Suddenly a dark mysterious voice was heard, asking the young woman a riddle. She thought for a moment before she answered, remembering the advice of her brother to always keep in mind, that the goddess doesn’t always speak the truth.
For some pieces of a second nothing happened, but then the voice told her to enter deeper into the cave and pass the bridge of truth.
It took her a while to balance over the very narrow bridge, not able to see anything but darkness around her path over the bridge. After reaching the end of the bridge, there was a light for a short moment, that let her see bones and feathers spread on the cave ground before everything was plunged into darkness again.
The young woman crawled through the cave to collect all small bones and feathers she could find. Not sure if she found all, her hands roamed over the ground to make sure she didn’t miss anything.
As if out of nowhere the ground beneath her knees began to tremble. She only made sure about having the feathers and bones in her small bag and started to run … back over the bridge of truth, through the cave with the tomb of the goddess and outside again through the shiny entrance.
After some more meters she realized, that the ground wasn’t trembling anymore, she turned around and all she could see was the normal surroundings of muddy waters, no shiny entrance anymore.
Incredulously she shook her head. “That can’t be … Where is it?” Only the bones and feathers in her bag showed her, that she wasn’t dreaming.
On her way back to the Tapi village, the young woman cut a vine with her knife. After reaching the village she spread the bones and feathers on one of the blankets around the campfire and sorted them. Not sure about how to start best, she tried for several minutes before she had an idea.
It took her some hours, the sun had already passed the highest position when the young woman finally found out, how she could make a crown out of the bones and feathers. About one hour before the ceremony was about to start, she finished the crown and couldn’t hide a proud smile that covered her lips.
The ceremony started and when it was her turn to speak to the chieftess, the elder and her brothers and sisters the young woman heard the experienced hunter saying with low voice to her: “Don’t forget to give the chieftess her crown …”
She looked to him with a grin on her lips that got a bit insecure when she heard the chieftess saying “I don’t need more crowns.”
But nevertheless, she told about her search and at the end handed the crown to the chieftess. Out of the corners of her eyes she could see that her brother opened his eyes wide and nodded at him with a proud gaze as he asked “You found it?!?”
Looks around to the people listening to her story and adds as a summary of her story: “We should all believe in the miracles and mysticals that are told in and about the amazon. When we walk around here with eyes opened, we will not only see the beauty of the flora and fauna, but also things, that can be hidden. Let’s not stop dreaming about miracles becoming true, let’s live them with our hearts, minds and spirits and enjoy every moment we can spend here and keep our eyes open for the mysterious things we might meet on our paths.”