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The
Waterfall
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Is it possible that the water stopped cascading? went through my
mind. I waited for the return of the thundering sound. When it came
back, the momentary tension disappeared and I felt somehow relieved,
as if some imaginary danger had passed me by. A narrow track led from the campsite to the waterfall. I left the
camp at first light and went to see it. I walked among tall, ancient
trees. The dense green foliage cast its shadow over the fern
undergrowth with its delicate, elaborate leaves of a lighter green
colour. Rain had fallen the night before. The ground was soft. It
preserved the imprint of my intruding feet. Raindrops resting on the
trembling fern leaves waited for the sunrays to make them sparkle. The low rumbling sound became stronger. I hurried on. My heart
beat faster. I felt dizzy. I was almost running by the time I
reached the line of the last trees. Some unknown power took hold of
me. Then the whole incredible spectacle revealed itself. Under the clear blue skies, between the tree-lined shores, the
river thundered toward me. The water seemed reluctant to follow its
usual course. Maybe it was irked by my prying eyes and decided to
confront me? Did I get too close to its secret? Does it want to destroy me? I
shivered at the thought. I moved closer to the rocky edge of the precipice. Below, the
river threw itself on the mist-covered rocks in a deliberate act of
continuous suicide, as if carrying the vast volume of water was too
much to bear. I moved a short distance downstream on the wet, slippery bank and
turned to face the waterfall. I felt pain and deafening pressure in my ears. I was so
enthralled by the spectacle of the falling masses of water, the
dense mist of disintegrating drops and the rainbow rising on the
other side of the waterfall, that I hadn't noticed how the noise
became louder to the point that it suppressed all other sounds. I
felt I was being swallowed by an invisible force and cried out on an
impulse. It was a pitiful act of defiance to match the strength of
my voice against the thunder of the waterfall. My feverish mind conjured my father's dying words, 'we came from
the water, the water is our destiny!' I have to find the water's
secret, I kept repeating. What secret? How could people find it natural that large masses
of water keep flowing from nowhere to nowhere? Thousands of
generations of men are born, live and die along sustaining banks and
disappear without a trace, but the river keeps on flowing like
nothing had happened. This river, with its millions of years of experience, persists in
flowing toward the narrow, rocky bed where it cannot get through
without sacrificing most of its life-blood, and it is hurling what's
left of it on the cruel rocks below. There must be a reason! The mighty river cannot act like tiny
lemmings do, rushing toward some forbidding cliff to die. There must
be a reason. If I could find out the reason nobody knows, I could
influence the river, the waterfall, and stop it from influencing me,
like it did my father. Yes, there must be a way to stop the water
falling. I will stop it! I have to stop this orgy of destruction, I
shouted. Spell-bound, I slid down the slippery bank, closely watching the
dark caves behind the wall of water. Is the secret hidden in those caves? No, the secret must be in
the water! I felt strong and relieved in this knowledge and opened
my arms to embrace the water. The mother of all living carried me away, toward the ocean, to reunite me with my father who by now knew the secret of the water.
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