Ouha, King of the Apes by Félicien Champsaur

Author:Félicien Champsaur
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Black Coat Press
Published: 2012-11-25T00:00:00+00:00

XXXV. Nuptial Preludes

The American woman often got up at daybreak to wander through the forest, studying and locating from every point of view all the picturesque sights of the region. On a few occasions she even left before dawn, to climb one of the surrounding mountains, and to watch the sun rise therefrom.

There was one peak of which she was particularly fond, because, directly to the east, a higher peak masked the horizon. With the rapidity of tropical zones, dawn did not exist, in a manner of speaking; the light surged forth suddenly behind that mountain, and everything was illuminated before the sun, masked by that barrier, had made its appearance. Abruptly, it rose; the mountain seemed to melt and allow a river of incandescent lava to flow.

Then, as the sun continued its ascension, the summit was clearly outlined against the blazing sky, and from every rocky spur, luminous rays extended to the zenith. Everything brightened, and as outlined in successive planes; there were golds, ochers, violets, from the most intense tones to the most tender and delicate gradations.

And every day, even though the atmospheric conditions sometimes seemed identical to those of the day before, the sunrise was different. The young woman sensed these marvelous splendors without analyzing them. She contemplated and admired; she enjoyed nature, so to speak, blissfully, as one eats or digests.

Sometimes, Ouha went with her. At first, the ape did not understand, but in a spirit of imitation, he struck the same pose as Mabel; soon, however, it seemed that, by virtue of contact with an intelligence more complete and more refined, his own awoke. Ouha’s yawns became less frequent, his eyes more attentive. Once, for him, the sunrise had always been similar; now he took account of differences in the colors, in their shades; their diffusions interested him. That peak, which he had seen as violet the day before, was pink today; that snowy summit which, on some days, was pure white, seemed at other times to be ruby red.

One day, Ouha, putting his hand on Mabel’s shoulder, pointed out a new spectacle with his finger, an effect of the sun that they had not yet seen. The young woman followed the development of his mind with great interest.

Similarly, the constant sight of the monster attenuated his ugliness. Thus far—she had been a prisoner of the apes for two months—Ouha had not appeared to suspect that she had a sex like his other spouses. For him, this woman was a being apart, who could not have any equivalent among other creatures. Having largely what he needed to satisfy his senses with his other wives. Ouha no longer had anything for Mabel but admiration.

Furthermore, he was fearful of the revolver, the weapon that had killed one of his best friends mysteriously, with a red hole in the skull: the magical jewel that only killed in the young woman’s hands. He had made his decision; Mabel passed for his wife with regard to the tribe; she was

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