The Light

He lived way up there. That guy everybody avoided. For all sorts of reasons. There were rumors, of course. That there were more than just him up there in that little cave just past all the big rocks. But that's all they were, rumors.

When one of Dum Dum's successors saw the same old pattern of theft-war-aftermath evolving and had just had enough of it -- he decided to go up there. Go up there and talk to the Fool on the Hill.

Dum deDum (i know, sorry) came back a changed man. He didn't look much different. But his attachment to his historic role and to the tribe in general had dramatically changed.

He knew how to alter the course of history, for one thing. The tide had to establish itself first, but he could change its course once it did. If it truly mattered. And with seemingly little effort.

Dum deDum could make his own poems -- and I mean really compose them. He didn't just cleave to the same old same old, either. He could make it all very different, but somehow without departing from tradition too much. They also were very satisfying to hear. (That was the strangest part.)

He didn't hate the smug and smelly Tribe Over There (more or less distance, this time). He didn't love his own tribe any more or any less for it, either.

The people who had pretty much had Dum deDum all figured out didn't any more. It frustrated them, and they went looking for the Fool on the Hill because of it. He was gone.

Other people began watching Dum deDum -- and I mean in every little detail. Followed him everywhere, too -- making note of his every move. Some imitated everything he did, obsessively. Others just stared, their mouths agape. How could he do those things? What made him so different all of a sudden? Just who did this guy think he was, anyway? They all stood, perplexed.

Dum deDum didn't seem to care. He also wasn't particularly impressed with himself, which just infuriated everyone else all the more.

But the tribe's leaders -- particularly Ug the 27th (just to pick a number) -- listened to Dum deDum. They weren't as distracted by his mannerisms (or lack of them) or peculiarly insulting statements and questions as the rest were. The leaders seemed to be able to make something of things he said and did.

The tribe began to grow. Develop something we now call "civility" -- the start of "civil-ization". As a result, there was another kidnapping -- this time a ring of People Who Turned Out to be Not What They Seemed got Dum deDum. But this time, Dum deDum just rode with it, despite being constantly harassed and needled by the kidnapping ring. Leaving his familiar surroundings also bothered him, but he wasn't destroyed by it. In fact, he barely broke stride. Though he could be, and was at times, very uncivil.

The kidnapping failed ultimately because the ring fell apart, its members squabbling among themselves. Dum deDum just seemed to take wing and fly away.

I'm not sure what happened next. I do know this. Searching for liberation, Dum deDum had found The Light. And he carried it with him for the rest of his life.