The elixir of Life

The Sahara desert, with its vast expanse of undulating dunes and a scorching Sun spreads across a number of countries, devoid of any vegetation or life for large stretches and dotted only occasionally with oases which are surrounded by an abundance of greenery and around which small towns have sprung up. This was however not the case several centuries ago.

Ramises lived with his widowed mother back in those days when the Sahara was not a dried arid wasteland but covered with verdant forests containing animals such as rhinos and where lively rivers rippled through carrying multitudes of fish and other aquatic life.

The village where Ramises resided was in a part, which would in the present day lie in the Western Sahara desert. The soil in the village rendered fertile by the sediments deposited by a great river flowing past the settlement provided rich grounds for agriculture as well as lush pastures for animal grazing. Ramises and his mother owned a few goats, from whose milk cheese and butter were made and sold to earn them their livelihood.

Ramises would herd the goats towards the pastures every morning, while lying down for a nap sometime during midday or gazing at the serene and vast river and wondering about the creatures that dwelt within it. This river ended in a huge and deep lake in the nearby woods. Ramises would often wander to this spot. The dense foliage surrounding the lake lent it a dappled and enigmatic appearance. The cool water of the lake and the accompanying hushed atmosphere would provide respite especially on hot and sweltering days.

Ramises often brought along a fishing rod to the lake and was sometimes fortunate enough to be able to carry home fish for dinner. On a similar such occasion when Ramises, while his goats grazed in the distance peacefully, had thrust the fishing rod into the lake and waited with bated breath, he felt a weight tugging at the rod. With excitement he pulled it out to find a brilliant and sparkling white trout.

But no sooner had he pulled it out than the trout began fidgeting violently and landed with a heavy thud on the ground below. Now such ancient times have often been marked with events that are inexplicably beyond human imagination and one such precise incident about to be described here left Ramises agape for a while.

The trout, in a choking human like voice, begged of Ramises to let it go while appearing to gasp for breath. So startled was Ramises that he could only stare for some time. However, on observing that the movements of the fish appeared to be growing weaker and its voice, which continued to entreat him to set it free, weaker soon pushed the trout back into the lake. The trout, having gained back favourable circumstances had uttered out- once more in a strange human like voice- that it was ever so grateful for receiving its release and that it would bless this lake to be a perennial source of water for ages to come.

Whether this tale of a trout’s benevolence is a mere myth or a curious truth of the distant past is not known. However, it continues to exist till this day- the sole elixir of life which did not dry up and which continues providing a fresh source of water to the few locals who reside around it as well as to tired travellers who halt at the oasis- while miles around it stretches the wasted wilderness of the largest desert on earth, the grand and magnificent river and the forests having disappeared eons ago.