It takes exceptional skills to survive such a brutally difficult race, which the enthusiastic leader of our community surprised us with. I am convinced that even the basic idea of the competition deserves a separate Pulitzer Prize. 😉

✅ But I'm not complaining because this is where the essence of Proof of Brain is embodied, so I say let's do it.

ℹ️ However, before I start my story, I would like to make a statement about it, I have read several excellent articles from the authors, who participated in the competition

👏I liked one or two of their writings

and they captivated me. And I can very much agree with the applicants who already wrote in the introduction that it took several hours of preparation to put the story together. And that's exactly why, I would excuse myself because I couldn't really invite anyone to the competition, I could only tell them to read my story. I don't provide sources for my pictures, because it's unnecessary. Rather I will say that Gimp helped me edit the image that my imagination generated. However, using Gimp did not mean that I manipulated or changed other images or photographs. Pictorial elements of my story, unique creations. Only a small slice of the header image of my story is someone's intellectual property, and this is none other than the inscription „5-WORD FICTION #03”, which I used with noble simplicity from the source material announcing the competition.

The 🌞 sun went through the jungle cruelly. Although the canopies could have provided a cooling shade, at the same time, the humidity caused by the frequent rains was a great challenge for both animals and people.

The laws of the jungle are easy to understand. The key to survival is always food.

village^2., where the Seluka tribe lived their daily lives, has always been characterized by hard work.

The plan of the village has always been to provide a long-term sustainable ecosystem for the members of the tribe:

It has been observed that when the seeds of plants, especially edible 🥝fruits, are planted and cared for, something similar is produced.

For them, this finding was important and gratifying in terms of the sustainability of their existence. They realized that the jungle was not inexhaustible and that there were quite a few other tribes besides them.

Recognizing the process of domestication

At the same time, they also realized that if they do not kill all the wild animals during the hunting, but try to tame the surviving wild animals, those can become farm animals after a long time. This means that food is continuously available to the tribe as a cycle.

There are many tribes in the jungle, most of them scattered from each other, not so the Maatia tribe, which lived near Kalashtar and during their daily campaigns posed a serious threat to the Seluka tribe.

The day when the Maatia tribe started raiding again did not bode well❗

One of the basic rules of the jungle is to kill only when you need food. However, the Maatia tribe did not only set this goal in their plans, they wanted to fatally injure an elephant^1.😢 They selfishly did this, knowing that every elephant migrates to its final resting place in its last hours. However, they did not know exactly where the elephant cemetery was located, with the ivory treasure of great value to them. All they knew was that it was somewhere near the Aranshoon River. The exact location of the elephant cemetery was known only to the Seluka tribe. They were very good friends with the elephants. The elephants helped the Seluka tribe countless times when they were building in the village, and indeed they had to lift very heavy weights. The Seluka tribe, in contrast to the Maatia tribe, respected and considered the elephant cemetery a sacred place, and when they visited it, they followed the principle of „everything for the eyes and nothing for the hands”.

Are the Maatia tribe inherently evil, or do fate, circumstances, and external intervening unnatural forces make them the way they are❓

🤔 This question is interesting because everything in the jungle that cannot be used for food procurement or construction simply cannot be valuable, it can only have an ideological value linked to memories and feelings.

I will not tire the reader of my story any further and tell you why the skeleton^3. of the elephant is valuable to the Maatia tribe.

Yes, this is the cruel reality ⬇️

For the people of the distant lands, these ivories are truly valuable, which they receive from the Maatia tribe in exchange for food and other useless things. To the sick alien civilizations, everything they give for the ivory is worthless, but to the Maatia tribe, they are the means of a more comfortable life.

So, a deed that wrings sad souls and is unbearable without tearful eyes happened, when a warrior of the Maatia tribe stealthily shot an elephant, which also had a tiny calf, Trombitas 😢What goes on in the soul of a being in such a bitter situation is incomprehensible to common sense. Even more so when it comes to an elephant,

because an elephant never forgets❗

Quite simply, the condition caused by the Maatia tribe could not continue. It not only made the daily life of the Seluka tribe miserable but also made it almost impossible.

Early one 🌄 morning, some experienced warriors were ordered to kidnap the son of Maatia's chief at any cost. The plan of the wise leader of Seluka tribe, Memir, was to make the kidnapped boy a bargain. His person was important, as , there was every guarantee that the Maatia tribe would act according to the instructions of the Seluka tribe.

✅ The Maatia tribe could not attack the Seluka tribe, otherwise Lokerakir's son would have been executed immediately.

Of course, this was not true, because the unnecessary killing was directed against the religion of the Seluka tribe, but the Maatia tribe did not need to know this. The essence of the deal was that Terkoz would be raised by the Seluka tribe.

Many years passed in this way, in a tranquil^5. environment, because the Seluka tribe continued to live their daily lives undisturbed.

Over time, little Terkoz was taught many things, we can even say that they taught to him a completely different set of values.

Terkoz learned, for example,

how to live in symbiosis with his environment and that life is an eternal cycle.

Nature cannot function if we are constantly taking something from it to cover our own needs. In order to receive, sometimes we have to give something.

✅ Finally, Memir came to a decision and released Terkoz, an almost adult young man who by then had become very good friends with them.

Terkoz taught many things and the right values to the Maatia tribe, of which he became their chief:

• The whole village of the Maatia tribe started to farm, their meat dishes were not only obtained from hunting^4., but they also tamed the killed wild animals so that they could breed them.

• They finally learned from Terkoz that if they give something, that is, feed and breed the animals, then thanks to their fattened livestock, there will always be enough food, even without large-scale hunting that exploits nature.

Trombitas, the calf of the elephant killed by the Maatia tribe at that time, had grown up, grown stronger, and was constantly searching for the Maatia warrior.

In the meantime, also gave birth to its little calf. ❤️

But Trombitas' calf disappeared, so the mother elephant searched everywhere desperately. It searched tirelessly for almost the whole day until found the little elephant inside a trap. This trap was actually a deep stack, from which the little elephant could not climb out, only desperately called its mother. The stack was very deep, so the mother elephant could not lift the distressed baby elephant out of the stack.

The mother elephant suddenly smelled a human in the air. Plus, this smell more like the warrior's smell whom it hated so much. It was very angry and thirsty for revenge!

A strange quirk of fate, but when the warriors of the Maatia tribe arrived to somehow help the trapped little elephant out of the stack, they were attacked by Trombitas at the worst possible time.

✅ Finally, Terkoz came up with the idea of making

around the stack, because then the mother elephant would not be able to approach their in its unrestrained anger. All forest animals instinctively stay away from fire❗

👏 The decision turned out to be wise, so the warriors were able to pick Trombitas' little calf out of the stack with dozens of tendrils. ❤️

After the fire was put out, the little calf ran happily to its mother. It was only a few lines as I told you about this rescue expedition. The rescue itself, on the other hand, was a rock-hard operation lasting a whole day. But you can see that by the time mother and its calf were able to spend happy moments together again, the moon had already lit up the area in the sky.
Trombitas no longer wanted to kill the Maatia warrior.

⬇️Such feelings circulated in the mother elephant ⬇️

what the wilderness took, the wilderness gave back❗

Because it believed that would never see the little calf again. And no hatred can stand in the way of a gigantic feeling which can be created between any creature and its offspring.

📣 By now, the elephant cemetery was considered a sacred place for both tribes. Although the two tribes never united, they jointly protected the elephant cemetery and strived for harmony with nature.

So can we talk about basic human evils❓ In most cases, no, the basis of all human evil is just some kind of ignorance, which can only be eradicated through education. If you have broader knowledge, knowledge should never be used to subjugate others, but rather to develop it in the spirit of perfect harmony.

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🙏 I would like them, in addition to the creator of the competition and my fellow competitors, to read my story: @dove11 @hotspotitaly @lichtblick