That Strange Island 3

Part Three

On that strange island which no outsider ever visited, a certain girl whispered to two other girls in her village about a horrible---and wonderful---thing she had seen.

At that time, some women from a Friendly Village were visiting. One of these overheard the girls' whispers and went to their matrons to ask permission to take the girls to visit their village. Permission was given and they set off.

As they approached the Friendly Village, the girls noticed a rift in the side of a nearby hill. From inside it there suddenly came an unmistakable sound: a loud hissing. The great hole in the hillside was home to one of the big lizards! The women calmed the girls' fear, assuring them that they were perfectly safe.

The Friendly Village was farther up the valley, but the women suddenly announced that they were stopping. As they rounded the hill, the girls saw that there was an odd natural formation here. Two hills stood together and were connected by low but steep ridges which ran between them, making a kind of bowl in the middle. The girls also noticed that several women were on one of the ridges, sitting in a little group and talking quietly.

The women who had brought the girls here explained that the men of the Friendly Village did not come here, but when the girls asked them why, the women only smiled. For some reason this was a place they had to themselves, except when they shared it with other women like now. The Friendly Village women led the three girls up to the group and they all sat. The girls talked with the women around them, who welcomed them warmly. They wondered what was going on.

Suddenly there was a shout from one of the hillsides. The girls caught sight of three women hustling someone to the edge of the ridge. With one final shove, they launched the figure down into the depression between the hills. It was a man, and from the skins he wore the girls recognized him as one of the hunters from the Unfriendly Tribe.

How the Friendly Village women had caught him the girls did not know, but they obviously had. Now he was in the wide depression with all the women looking at him and no way out. Then came the sound again: the hissing of a big lizard. The visiting girls then noticed that the hill they had come around had another large cave mouth on this side, down in the low area where the hunter was. The lizard's nest in the hill had two openings. The three women who had thrown the man into the enclosure hurried over to join the others.

Out she came, sliding into the open, half of her body still filling the fissure. The hunter froze for a moment and then started to back away, but it didn't take him long to realize that he had nowhere to go. The lizard fixed her gaze on him and started forward. The hunter turned and bolted for one of the slopes and was actually almost halfway up before she reached him. Grasping him in her mouth, she tore him from the rock face in full view of the women.

There were jubilant shouts from the female spectators as the lizard pulled the shrieking, struggling man away from the hill. Next to the girl who had seen this before was a Friendly Village girl about her age. This girl had seemed meek and shy during their introductions; now she was staring at the scene below with savage excitement. "Eat him," she whispered with fierce intensity, "Eat him!" She turned to the girl who had seen it, her face breaking into a huge grin. "She is! She's going to eat him!!"

The women's excitement intensified as the hungry lizard wadded the helpless man into her mouth, crushing him in her jaws. Their breathing came hard. Thighs were squeezed together. Some of them clasped each other's hands while using their free hands to give themselves other attention.

They panted and squirmed and watched with grim satisfaction as the hunter disappeared into the lizard. The shy girl growled a desperate, ferocious plea to the giant reptile. " Swallow! Swallow him!!" One of the women glanced over at her and smiled.

The girl who had seen this before stared at the spectacle below. Her mouth was parched and her heart pounded like a fist in her chest. When the lizard appeared she had been up on her knees, but now they would no longer hold her and she dropped her bottom onto her heels. Seeing it once was thrilling; getting to see it again was glorious! And sharing the gruesome, gratifying experience with other women made it even more glorious. She joined the other younger girls in clapping and cheering as the great she-lizard ate this brutal man, his rasping cries and gasps trailing off and finally leaving only her hungry rumbling as she feasted on him.

She gulped and the pulverized man went down. Sighs of victorious contentment came from the satisfied feminine audience. They all collapsed onto each other's shoulders, watching dreamily as the lizard sat and rested after downing her catch. As they stood on trembling legs, the girl who had seen it before looked at the leader who had brought them. Still breathing heavily, her hair dampened to her forehead with sweat, the woman smiled calmly. The girl flashed an impish smile back and they embraced like mother and daughter.

That night the girls stayed in the Friendly Village. The Village men kept to themselves when the women gathered like this, so they would not be seen. Talking with the women about the big lizard and the wonderful thrill of seeing her eat the hunter, the visiting girls now believed they understood why the men stayed away from that place. As they ate, the girl who had seen it first brought grins to the other women's faces by telling them how she had seen a young man devoured by a mother with a new clutch of eggs. One of the women mentioned that the lizard they had seen that day was carrying eggs and that the man she had eaten was good nourishment for them. The girls were glad that he would be made into lizard hatchlings instead of making more Unfriendly hunters. They all asked if they could come back and were assured that the next time one of the Unfriendly Ones was captured, they would be invited.

As the three girls made their way home the following morning, they tried to think of ways to lure an Unfriendly man to the she-lizard's nest but could come up with nothing. The one who had seen it first was beginning to think that they might just have to wait for another to be caught by the Friendly women. Another girl, however, had another thought: there were a couple of boys in their own village they didn't particularly like.....

They walked on in silence, a grim smile on each girl's face.

THE END

13.03.11

story continues in That Strange Island 4

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