The Ancestor Cave by Ann Reader

Manga felt himself begin to tremble but couldn’t tell if it was from the cold or fear. Of course, he had been into the cave before, all the youngsters did from time to time as a dare. He knew it contained bones and that the skeletons of those who had died were taken there after they had been left on the sky platform for the carrion birds to pick them clean. He knew they were nothing to fear.

This was different though. Tonight, he was going to meet the ancestors. Tonight, he would become an adult. The elders had given him a ritual cleansing in the stream that ran below the Ancestor cave. It was a warm day so being submerged in the cold water was not too bad and only slightly frightening when they held him under till he was nearly out of breath. It meant however that he was somewhat damp as he entered the cave. As caves do it became colder as he went further in.

He was just beginning to wonder how he would find his way any further it had become so dark, when he saw a light coming towards him. He continued walking to it as he had been instructed and was relieved to see it was his grandfather. He caught the greeting before it left his mouth. He was not to speak to anyone until he spoke to the ancestors. His grandfather took his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Manga found he was no longer trembling as he was led further into the depths of the cave, he was surprised to find he was in fact curious. This was the furthest he had been into the caves. The light flickered against the walls and occasionally groups of crystal structures that he would like to have stopped and investigate further but his grandfather pulled him on.

At last, after several twists and turn the cave opened out into a wide echoing space where the elders of the tribe were sat in a circle, surrounded by torches, they were chanting in a language Manga did not understand.

His grandfather pushed him into the middle of the circle where the shaman was holding a cup out to him. This had been explained to him. He knew it was a drink that would bring him closer to the ancestors but that it would’ve also be a trial for his body, not everyone survived the meeting. Some the ancestors chose to join them straight away. Some remembered nothing or almost nothing of the meeting. Others returned with a message or sometimes even a task.

Manga drank the drink although if asked he would have to have admitted that the taste was not pleasant, almost immediately he felt unsteady and lowered himself to the floor. The chanting seemed to take on another dimension. He had been told he would be allowed to ask one question. The chant seemed to take on an insistent quality. ‘Ask, ask, ask’ Manga had thought about this for days without reaching a conclusion. Should he ask about the future of the tribe, or whether his family would prosper or what he himself should do to keep the gods happy. ‘Ask ask, ask’ the chant went on.

“Why am I so small” it just slipped out, to his huge humiliation. Here he was speaking to the ancestors, and he had asked such a non-entity of a question. Of course, it was one that had always bothered him as his younger brothers and even his younger sister had grown taller than him. He desperately hoped he had not spoken out loud but with the chanting and the effect of the drink it was impossible to tell. He would have liked to run away but his legs would not obey him. He could only wait where he was and hope.

Just as he felt he might pass out he heard a voice although he could not be sure if it was not in fact in his head rather than being heard by his ears in the normal way.

‘We have a task for you. This cave has become too crowded for all the ancestors here. We need a new cave. It is easier for you who are small to explore the crannies and fissures in the rocks and find the caves behind them. Also some of our older ones are smaller,  they are now so far back in this cave, and so crowded they can hardly tell who is who. You are small enough to get to them and move some of them to less crowded places.

You are small because we need you to be small. Now you may return and you will remember what we have said and find us a new cave.”

And so it was.