Igawa’s Story

It was the evening of the annual Harvest Festival. Traditionally it was a celebration of a successful growing season. The grains, fruits and vegetables that were collected ensured the village had food for the approaching winter. It was the village's most important celebration.

Everyone in the village was there. In the middle of a large open field was a large bonfire. Orange and red flames shot up out of the pile of burning logs, licking the moon-lit sky. Little flakes of ash drifted in the air and grayish specks fell amongst the gathered villagers. The scent of roasted pig drifted in the air, a reminder to everyone of the feast they had just eaten.

Grandpa Tenna sat at the ‘Table of Council’, with other tribal leaders. Patlon, the Shaman and Chief Alitan were with him. The Chief turned to the ‘Storyteller’ and lifted a bamboo cup of millet wine into the air, he said. “A toast to another successful year.” Each of them bowed their heads to the other, then tipped back their cups and downed the traditional liquor. Tina stood up and gave Grandpa Tenna his storystick.

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Grandpa Tenna stood there waiting for the crowd to fall silent. He held up the story-stick and turned from one end of the crowd to the other, giving everyone the chance to verify its presence. There were mothers and fathers with their children. Grandpas and Grandmas; families gathered together to celebrate the bounties of the earth. Tonight, I am going to tell you a story about a man, who was a father, a warrior, and a hunter who loved his people. But one day darkness attacked him, and he was unable to fend off its wickedness. He fought the monster that was taking over his body, but ultimately succumbed to its evil. The man became a monster; something he had always feared and fought against.

Many people liked to remember Igawa as he once was, bouncing through the village carrying his two children on his shoulders. Igawa grew up as an honorable member of his clan. He was a warrior and hunter who provided meat for the people of his village.
Through no fault of his own, he became a monster, killed his family, and turned on his people.

Today, Igawa inside the story-stick where he roams the lifeless trails of the ‘Dark Forest’ as a ‘Hungry Ghost’. looking for ways to satisfy his insatiable hunger.
Igawa’s story tells us all what happens when a good man is overtaken by evil. Cursed by the fear and ignorance of his own people, Igawa still lives in the gray world between life and death.

Grandpa raised the story-stick above his head and proclaimed…

“Ami naca elwaiza. We honor you for the wisdom you bestow upon us.”

Grandpa began to tell the story of ‘Igawa The Hunter’.

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Igawa was one of three hunters from Banuto Village. The three trackers were chosen by the village council to venture into the mountains in pursuit of larger animals like deer, boars, and bears. Unlike the local hunters, their travels often took them away from their homes for several days and nights.

Igawa was tall and strong. He had a kind face that was always smiling, and even children found him pleasant and trustworthy. His long dark hair was always tied up into a high ponytail at the back of his head. It was decorated with a braid of beads and feathers that his wife had made for him.

When he wasn’t hunting, Igawa could be found in the village at home helping his wife with household duties or playing with his children: a son, Aroni, and his daughter, Celiat. During the Burning- season when the days were hot and long, Igawa would take his children into the forest to sit and play at a cool mountain stream. He would teach them the ways of nature, using the actions of animals as examples.

Dania, his wife, was a beautiful woman, her skin was a lovely tan that reminded Igawa of the pelt of a newly born fawn. Her hair was black and fell down to the middle of her back when she let it fall naturally. Dania cared dearly for her husband. No matter how long Igawa was away hunting, Dania waited lovingly for his return.

Inllia, the village chief at the time, was good friends with Igawa. They were like brothers and had gone through the trials of manhood together. As young warriors they fought side-by-side, protecting their people from the other tribes who wanted to take over the Banuto’s rich lands.

Grandpa paused to allow the gathered crowd absorb the story

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Everything was going well for Igawa, until one hot summer day when his life was changed forever.

Igawa had been away from the village for almost one moon. That morning, he had wounded a large stag and was tracking it through the forest as it bled out, slowly dying. He was anxious to collect the deer, so that he could return home with the meat and see his wife and children.

While following the deer’s trail, he looked up and saw a single wild dog in front of him. The sight of one wild dog worried Igawa—dogs run in packs. Something must be wrong with this dog if it were on its own. The animal stared at the man. His eyes were yellowed and glassy. Its mouth was turned into a snarl, gums pulled back, exposing sharp pointed canines; white foamy drool oozed from its mouth.

“Get out of here!” Igawa shouted at the dog.

The dog didn’t move. It just stood there snarling and letting out a low throaty growl.
Igawa had seen animals like this before and recognized the animal was unwell. His people called it ‘Mad Dog Disease’. A sick dog was unpredictable. It could attack at any moment. As the disease progressed, the animals that had ‘Mad Dog’ disease became increasingly more unhinged.

Igawa backed away and turned toward a nearby tree. Before he could even start up the tree, the animal lunged at him and latched onto his arm. Blood began to spurt from the wound. Igawa beat the animal against a tree until it finally fell dead at his feet… but by then it was too late.

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There was a gasp from the crowd as they listened to the story.

Chief Aliton poured Grandpa Tenna another cup of millet wine, they saluted each other and drank it down.

Mad Dog sickness was feared then as it is now by the villagers. It caused chaos inside villages. Even reasonable people reacted foolishly when they heard of it being amongst them.

People who had it, like the dog and other animals, progressively went mad. They would end up hurting, and even killing people in their tribe. Igawa was strong and convinced himself that he could fight off the disease. He dressed his wound and kept the details of the attack to himself. If anyone asked him about his injury, he said he had slipped and fell on some jagged rocks.

After a few days, Igawa found himself growing more impatient and increasingly more irritable. His daughter Celiat kept asking him to help her with a mud sculpture. Time and time again the sculpture crumbled. Igawa finally pushed his daughter away and told her to play with something else. Small things like mud sculptures had never bothered him in the past, or agitated him.

One evening, when it felt like hundreds of tiny ants were crawling all over his body, and no matter what he did the sensation wouldn’t go away, Igawa lashed out and struck his wife Dania. He shouted at her because she failed to give him enough water at dinner. That was the first time he had ever struck his wife.

The village shaman was called in to intervene in the disturbance. When he saw Igawa’s festering arm, he suspected ‘Mad Dog’ disease. Igawa confessed to the shaman that he had been bitten by a sick dog. The shaman mixed a concoction of herbs into a tea for Igawa to drink, and made a poultice out of mushrooms and black moss to put on the wound. He also called for a sweat lodge to be prepared.

People believed when someone had ‘Mad Dog’ disease they were taken over by demons. These creatures had made their way out of the underground world of the Dark and found their way into our world, the world of Light through sick animals that were weak.

It was said that a sweat lodge, and chanting from a sacred holy person such as the shaman would lure the demons away from the infected man and the poison would be gone once it was exposed to the Light.

As for Dania, she was now terrified of her husband. She knew he wasn’t himself, but she was scared of him. While Igawa was with the shaman, she took the children and went to live with the elders in their long house until he recovered.

Igawa stayed in the sweat lodge with the Shaman for three days. Afterwards, he seemed better, and believed he had been cured of the disease.

When he returned to his hut and found his wife and children gone, he went into a terrible rage and blamed the elders for meddling into his family’s affairs. In his anger, he stormed over to their longhouse and he did the unthinkable—he turned his hunter's blade on the elders who tried to stop him. In the ruckus, he ended up murdering his wife and children.

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The crowd hushed and contemplated the thought of Igawa murdering his family, only the sound of the crackling fire could be heard over their gasps and sobbing. He waited for them to wipe their eyes and then he continued the story.

When the rage passed, Igawa looked down at the blood and dead bodies. When he saw his wife and children he knelt down and cried. Not able to stand the horror of what he had done, he ran off into the forest.

The council decided that Igawa had to be found and stopped before he hurt anyone else. Inllia, his friend and chief of the clan, was heartbroken at what his friends had done. Still, he knew his duty was to the clan. Tears streamed down his face as he gathered a hunting party of warriors to go after Igawa.

They followed Igawa’s trail for three suns. The trail led them up the mountain to a high cliff that overlooked a deep rocky, ravine. They had trapped Igawa. He had nowhere to run, and like any cornered animal, Igawa charged at them and killed one of the warriors that was following him. Inllia, loaded an arrow and shot it at Igawa. The arrow hit Igawa in the shoulder, but it didn't kill him. Igawa stumbled backward and fell from the cliff into the ravine below.

The warriors stared down at the still body laying on the boulders below. They saw Igawa's mangled body sprawled out on the rocks. Other times, when one of their own people had died, they retrieved the body and performed the ceremony needed to help the dead spirit find its way into the mist. They would bless the body by burning sage over it, and place a coin in the person’s ear to pay death for passage into the next world.

But, superstition is a powerful thing. The warriors were afraid to go near Igawa. Not because they did not love him, they did. They knew that in his heart he was a good man, but the Dark had taken his soul. They feared that even in death, they too would catch the ‘Mad Dog’ sickness. They left his body on the rocks to be eaten by wild animals and infested with vermin.

But, on that day, Igawa had not fully died. He lay there for a hundred years unable to move as dust and mud covered his body. The whole time reliving and suffering the agony of what his life as a human being.

Without the proper ritual of death his soul could not pass into the next world. Death did not collect his soul and guide it over the butterfly bridge into the mist. He was never allowed to transcend and join his ancestors in the world beyond this one. He was trapped in a place between two states of being.

Raspspinner, Lord of the Dark, found Igawa and made him part of his undead warriors. Today Iwaga still roams the forest as a hungry ghost; dead but not dead, alive but not part of the living. Searching for something to fulfill his insatiable hunger but never finding it.

Grandpa lifted the story stick in the air, bowed his head and whispered…

“Ami naca elwaiza. We honor you for the wisdom you bestow upon us.”