WHEN THE RIVER SLEEPS by Easterine Kire

Characters

Villie – a lone hunter living in the forest

Chapter I

Waking Dream
(Vilie’s Past and Present)

The story is about Vilie, a 48 year old lone hunter who has made forest his home.  The author narrates Vilie’s past and present life.  In the past when he was 18 years old, he was in love with a bewitching girl named Mechuseno and the girl also liked him. Everyone in his village believed that both of them would get married.  But a mysterious fever killed her. She got fever when she went to forest to collect herbs along with two of her friends.  When she climbed down a tree after plucking a beautiful orchid, she could see a tall dark man following her but her two friends could not see anything.  On that evening, she got fever and soon she died. Vilie, after her death, got lost interest in his life and left his village to make the forest his abode. 

In the present, he lives in the forest and hunters visit and stay in his hut and even a small boy named Rokolhoulie visits him along with his uncle and listens to his story about Sleeping River. Some do not believe but others like Rokolhoulie believe the story of Sleeping River to be true. It is believed, if a stone is taken from the river bed when the river is still, that stone will work as a charm and it could grant anything like ‘cattle, women, prowess in war, or success in the hunt’.  Vilie has been getting dreams and nightmares almost every month for the last two years, ever since he heard about this sleeping river. The first chapter begins with the description of nightmare and he wakes up sweating profusely. He decides to go in search of the sleeping river in the following week.

Vocabulary:

Page 1

1.Imperceptibly – adverb

Meaning: without understanding, getting involved into some action

Example – Almost imperceptibly, he slid forward and entered the water and plucked a smooth stone from the bottom of the river.

Page 3

2. Impressionable – adjective

Meaning: about a person who could be made to believe easily

Example – Vilie lay in bed, recollecting his brief exchange with the impressionable boy.