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Somewhere at sometime, the stench from the blue colony rises to the skies – a sickly green miasma of squalor. The sun cowers behind a filthy cloud and sullenly refuses to extend its golden rays to the grimy earth for fear of contamination. Manwan pays his friend, Mantu, a visit in his dug-out.

Manwan: (pinches his nose) Mantu, you stink!

Mantu: I always stink. And so do you.

Manwan: Yes, but you stink worse than the usual amount. It is pretty bad.

Mantu: (smells his armpit) Oh, I haven't been by the river in weeks, so I haven't had a bath in a while. But never mind that, you're skinnier than the last time I saw you. I saw you walking up the road just now, and I thought that the wind might smack you flat against that sycamore tree.

Manwan: Yes, I haven’t had a good meal for some time. I caught some fish the other day, but then I tried to roast it over the fire........I ruined it. I couldn't turn it into anything even remotely edible.

Mantu: (sighs, and shakes his head) Life is hard!

Manwan: You can say that again.

Mantu: (sighs, and shakes his head) Life is hard!!

Manwan: No, I heard you the first time. I meant: I agree with you.

Mantu: Okay. (Pensive) But, you know, the red colony is not suffering like this.

Manwan: Really? How do you mean?

Mantu: I have seen womanwan and her kindred, they smell like roses all the time, their houses are clean and their pots ooze with delicious fragrances. They look as healthy and contented as happy horses.

Manwan: How is that possible?

Mantu: (shrugs his shoulders) I don’t know. They must have been born with some unusual powers.

Manwan: But that's unfair!

Mantu: You can say that again.

Manwan: (touches his nose) See?

Mantu: (smiles) yes. I learn very quickly. It is really unfair. What should we do about it?

Manwan: We have to get them to help us. We have to get them to turn our wild dug-outs into sweet smelling abodes. We have to!

Mantu: But how do we get them to do that? Sure, we are stronger; can we just capture them and put them in cages, and let them out only to work for us?

Manwan: No. That won't work. They would not be happy to work for us that way. They could even put poison into our food and kill us all!

Mantu: You are right. (Pensive)

Manwan: We have to make it seem like it is their idea to work for us.

Mantu: Okay.

Manwan: Or.......we make them believe they have no choice.

Mantu: But isn't that like putting them in cages?

Manwan: No. (Beams brilliantly) we will give them a set of instructions to act exactly how we want them to act; and do exactly what we want them to do. But we won't say that the instructions are coming from us, so that they don't even think about disregarding the instructions.

Mantu: Alright, but whom will we say that they come from?

Manwan: God.

Mantu: God? What is that? Who is that?

Manwan: Nothing. No one. But are they to know that? We will simply say that he is an invisible being, larger than life, who has the power to punish them if they fail to follow his instructions. That his reach is beyond death. That he rewards good people and burns bad people in a big fire forever.

Mantu: But what if they decide to call our bluff? Won’t they discover that we have lied when they aren’t punished?

Manwan: How can they ever be sure that they have not been punished when it will, ultimately, come when they are dead? They will live their lives wondering if their decision has condemned them to everlasting punishment, which alone is a burden too heavy to bear. And the dead don’t help their cause. Or have you ever heard a dead man speak? They keep our secrets forever. If we say they’re burning in fire, they’ll not dissent. Womanwan will know: It is better to be safe than sorry.

Mantu: (shivers) that is genius! But how do we explain that God only punishes the red colony and not us?

Manwan: We won't. Because he will punish us too.

Mantu: (looks aghast)

Manwan: Relax! We will make our rules different from theirs. We will say that we are the first and dearer creations of God, created to serve him while they are meant to serve us.

Mantu: Manwan, you are brilliant indeed.




In a garden of roses, someplace close by somewhere at some time, the sun dares to show its face and it caresses the floor in approval of its cleanliness. Manwan and Mantu visit the sweet-smelling abode of the red colony, and Womanwan grants them audience.

Manwan: God has revealed his face to me. And he says that you have shamed him.

Womanwan: What is God? What are you speaking about?

Manwan: Silence! (begins to weep) Oh, how can a person be so wicked, as to deny or be ignorant of the existence of God? A being so powerful! He who made you and can also so easily destroy you. You are lucky he is merciful and infinitely good, because if I were God, I would have smitten you instantly for your wicked ignorance of his existence.

Womanwan: (steps back cautiously)

Manwan: Yes! You should be afraid. Cringe! Shrink away into your lowly self, because God is mighty.

Womanwan: What does he want? What does God want from me? From us?

Manwan: It isn’t what God wants from you, but what you want from God. And believe me, Womanwan, you want God’s mercy. We all want his mercy! And you have shamed him with your spiteful activities.

Womanwan: What spiteful activities? We do not disturb anyone. We plant on our fields and hunt in our forests. We never cross the Great Divide, into your country only at the night of the harvest moon that marks our bi-annual mating ritual. How have we shamed…. God?

Manwan: Yes. It is not acceptable for you to plant or hunt anymore.

(Murmuring breaks out in the red colony)

Womantu: Ha! How do we survive? How do we have anything to eat when we can’t plant or hunt?

Manwan: (Raises his hand to calm the murmuring) be still everyone, there is a solution! Each one of you will be joined to one of us. It is our place to plant and hunt while you will keep our homes clean and keep our bellies full.

Womanwan: But what do we gain from this union? We already do our own planting and hunting. We don’t need you to do this for us.

Manwan: Be very careful, Womanwan, your defiance will land you in deep trouble. This is the order that God has determined. We have no choice but to obey his commandment. If you choose to be stubborn, you are preparing for an eternity in a furnace. Is that what you want?

Womanwan: No. Of course not.

Manwan: Then be wise and do what you must to escape condemnation.





In an age of “wisdom” and civil restructuring, the divide is no more. And the color of the colony is purple………

Mantu: That worked itself out very well for us.

Manwan: Yes, it did. See how fresh we look now!

Mantu: I noticed that there are more of them than of us. What happens to the un-joined red people? How do they survive without a hunter or farmer? Will they be allowed to fend for themselves?

Manwan: No! That would threaten the whole structure. They must be dependent on us to survive. They must know that an unpaired red person is a hopeless and shameful thing. We can then, in our benevolence, offer to join ourselves with two, three, or four of them. We can enjoy the variety and keep the competition for our attention alive. They would try to outdo each other to gain our favor.

Mantu: (excited) Manwan, you have a delicious brain!

Manwan: I know. Have you also noticed how ugly they suddenly become in old age? Those succulent fruit in their chest begin to droop and lose their shape. Their skins begin to dry out and curl up. We must let them know, in no uncertain terms, how completely unattractive we find them in their old age so that they are desperate to be joined in their youth before we begin to lose interest and doom them to an impossible existence.

Mantu: But we also wrinkle and become droopy.

Manwan: And who’s concerned with that? Is God complaining? He doesn't care that we are old and ugly when we pass through the gates of heaven. Remember we are made for God and they are made for us. They must satisfy us! They cannot be allowed to have protruding bellies, or extra flesh on their bones. They must be proportion to our exact taste. We will tell them that we are moved by our eyes. If we do not consider them pleasing to look at, they would not be considered worthy of being joined to us. We would tell them that they must be splendid cooks to keep our attention; that they must be virgins, and latent whores, revealed whenever we wish them to; domestic and sophisticated; they must cater to our every need.

Mantu: And what are God’s instructions to us?

Manwan: To love them faithfully, and to care for them. That won’t be so hard. In all, it would be their responsibility to pray for us and keep us reconciled with God. So you see, our failings are ultimately theirs. We need not bother, my friend.


But the union of the colonies comes with its own intricate problems………….

Manwan: Mantu I have seen you look at Womanwan in ways that I do not appreciate.

Mantu: I cannot help it, Manwan. Maybe we really are moved by our eyes after all. I find Womanwan very desirable.

Manwan: Well, you cannot have her. She is mine.

Mantu: I know it in my mind that she is yours, but I can’t help it when my blood keeps rushing south to my manhood.

Manwan: Then I will cut it off!

Mantu: Cut it off?

Manwan: Yes! Your manhood, I will cut it off.

Mantu: What! No, Manwan. We have been brothers for too long to have this kind of a disagreement over people who only just joined us.

Manwan: (crestfallen) you are right. We should not be emasculated over one of them.

Mantu: There must be another way to solve this problem.

Manwan: There usually is. And I think I might have the solution to this one too. Since we are indeed moved by our eyes we –

Mantu: Should gouge out our eyes?

Manwan: No, you fool. We would simply cover all red people up in blankets when they are in public. That way you will not disrespect me with your turgid manhood whenever you look at Womanwan. Her face will only be seen by me.

Mantu: That makes perfect sense!

And so, Manwan relayed God’s new decree to Womanwan……..

Womanwan: But that doesn’t make any sense! How can God want me to walk around under a sheet? Did you not say that he created me? How can he suddenly be ashamed of his own creation to want it to be kept away from view? Does this God suffer such a low self-esteem?

Manwan: Quiet! You are not supposed to ask these foolish questions. And you are not supposed to lead a person into temptation either. For that reason, God has decided that you must be covered up whenever you are in public. And that’s the end of the matter.


Womanwan would watch God grow bolder by the moment. His goal was to push her further into the background until she was no longer a part of the world. She wondered if there was a wall in the backdrop; and if her back was pressed up against it, she would, perhaps, be left with no other option than to push back.