"Konga" by D.L.Garvin

Konga

by D.L.Garvin

The Taronga tribe lived deep in the Indonesian forest. The tribe, comprising around three hundred members, had lived in complete isolation for hundreds of years. Having never made contact with the outside world.

They thrived on an abundant supply of fish and game. Also, they were blessed with amazing health. Tribe members rarely, if ever, got sick, and they lived unusually long lives. It was common for members of the tribe to live between 110 to 115 years old. The simple and bountiful life of the villagers was like a paradise on earth.

But there was a price for their health, abundance, and lifestyle. A very dark price.

Konga was an ancient forest god. He loved and protected the tribe, blessing them with abundant food, health, and long lives. He also sheltered them and kept them hidden from the outside world. The price for all this was high and very cruel. Once every ten years, the village had to make an offering to Konga. This unbelievably harsh offering was in the form of a life. Not just any life, Konga was very specific; he demanded the life of a newborn child. The child had to be offered within the first hour of its birth. If the village failed to make the offering, the god would become angered and take every child in the tribe under the age of ten. 

And so, the people never dared to forsake the gift for fear of incurring the wrath of Konga. When the time came, a woman already close to birth would give up her child to the god. If more than one woman was pregnant, the tribe would hold a lottery. The mother selected would be moved to a hut by herself. Once there, she would be waited on hand and foot as though she were a queen. This was considered the highest honor, since her sacrifice would save the next generation of villagers. 

When the child was born, it was ritually bathed and wrapped in a blanket woven from plant fibers and dyed red. Then, in a ceremony conducted before the whole village, the high priest would lay the infant on an altar. He would open a small stone vial and pour a few drops of deadly poison into the child's mouth. It only took a few moments for the liquid to take effect. After the infant was declared dead, the priest would gently pick up the child and hand it to the village chief, who led the procession of villagers into the forest, carrying the offering. Once in the forest, the procession stopped at a large tree. Standing on either side of the tree were the tribe’s two largest, strongest warriors, who were tasked with carving a hole in the tree to accept the offering. The chief would then place the bundle carefully in the cavity and lead the procession back to the village. The warriors would pack the opening with moss and seal it with mud, after which they stayed to stand guard over the tree for the next three days before returning to the village.

Meanwhile, back at the village there were three days of mourning and prayers to Konga. At the end of this period, there was a single clap of thunder, followed by a full day of rain, signaling Konga's acceptance of the sacrifice.

Eka and Bima had been inseparable since childhood. It had been obvious to the entire Taronga tribe that when they came of age, they would be joined. The joining happened in their respective 18th summers. It was such a joyous event, the entire tribe joined in the celebration. The couple was very happy. With the help of family and friends, they built their hut with a small garden, which Eka tended daily. Bima, along with the other men of the tribe, trapped and hunted game and fished for food in the river near the village. The blissfulness of their union went on for over a year, until it was announced that the time of the great sacrifice was coming soon, and a pregnant woman with child would soon be selected to birth the offering. 

Unfortunately, there were no expecting mothers in the tribe at that time, so the very next woman to become pregnant would automatically be the bearer of the sacrifice. The village shaman made the announcement that the next child conceived would be the sacrifice. Eka felt a strange stirring in her stomach. Being the oldest child in her family, she had helped her mother through the pregnancy and birth of all her younger siblings. She knew the signs; she was with child. For a moment she was excited, but then it hit her, and she was terrified. Her child would be the next sacrifice. 

Not wanting to lose her child, she decided to flee the village before anyone knew she was pregnant and hide out until after her child was born in an attempt to save its life. In the middle of the night, she slipped away and fled to a neighboring village, where she sought refuge. Yet she had never counted on the fact that even though she told no one of her pregnancy, Konga, being a god, knew of it and had already claimed the child. When the child was finally born, Eka thought her baby was safe. Back in her home village, however, when the time had passed and no sacrifice could be offered, Konga became enraged. The sky turned black as night and lightning danced through the village for hours, killing everyone under the age of ten. Twenty miles away, a single dark cloud formed over the hut where Eka and the child were staying, then a massive bolt struck, killing both Eka and the child.

As further retribution, not a single child was born to the Taronga for the next ten years.