Forefront: Konyek and his calf. Background:Leng-aina and Yoyo
"It is a well-known saying amongst our people that a calf is as good as a man, for if a man guards a calf well, that calf grows into a fine cow, and that cow gives many cows of her own."
— Konyek's grandfather
The Calf of the November Cloud is a children adventure novel penned by English writer Hilary Ruben in 1977.
The story is set in Kenya, and it primarily concerns a young Masai called Konyek and a newborn calf called November Cloud. Konyek loves every animal of his father's herd, but November Cloud is his favorite, and he hopes that his father will somehow give him the calf. Konyek is also well-liked by his tribe's elders popular among the kids of his age range, but his popularity has earned him his cousin Parmet's jealousy and hatred.
One day, Konyek and Parmet are minding their families' herd when they are attacked by cattle raiders. Parmet quickly hides between the bushes and watches how Konyek is brought to the ground by a spear and their tribe's cattle is stolen; instead of helping his cousin, Parmet leaves him for dead, goes back to his hamlet and invents a story about Konyek getting scared and fleeing cowardly with November Cloud.
Meanwhile, Konyek is found and nursed back to health by a hunter of the Dororo tribe whom he previously befriended. After recovering, Konyek learns that his cousin left him to die and has calumniated him before their tribe. He is also told that his tribe has already gotten most of his cattle back, except for November Cloud, who nobody has bothered to track down because they believe that Konyek took her.
Determined to find his beloved calf, Konyek sets out on a dangerous journey to pursue the cattle thieves and rescue November Calf on his own. But even if he manages get the calf back and make it back to his hamlet alive, he still must clear his name.
Tropes:
- Ambiguous Time Period: It is unclear when the story exactly happens. Nobody seems to have heard of firearms or met any Europeans or Muslims, so it must take some time before the 1840s, at the latest.
- Androcles' Lion: Konyek befriends a family of elephants while he is living in the Hill of Good Refuge. When Konyek returns to his hamlet and denounces his cousin Parmet for leaving him for dead, their tribe's elders are inclined to believe Parmet's lies over Konyek's claims. Before he can be punished, though, Konyek's elephant friends show up, his Dorobo friend on his trail. Seeing Konyek interacting with the elephants, the tribe comes to believe he was indeed living with them, and the Dorobo hunter further confirms Konyek's story.
- Artistic License – Biology: Leng-aina and Yoyo are one couple of elephants who are living on their own while the latter is in the last days of her pregnancy. Elephants don't form stable couples, but they live in herds comprised of several adult cows, their daughters and young sons, who abandon the herd when they reach maturity and generally live alone or form all-male groups.
- Big Damn Heroes: A pack of hyenas are about to kill November Cloud when Yoyo and Leng-aina charge out of the trees and towards the hyenas, who understandably instantly scatter.Konyek saw her standing there, too dazed with terror to move. Faster he ran, and yet faster, but it seemed to him that he was no closer to her, as in a nightmare. Then he heard a great trumpeting, and from round a curve in the hill-slope there appeared the two elephants. They tossed their heads and flapped their great ears in anger and charged straight at the hyena; and now the hyena were as full of fear as the calf, and ran away until they had disappeared from sight.
- Bound and Gagged: Konyek has finally found his calf, but it is being guarded by two boys. After taking them down, Konyek binds their hands and feet with vines, and then carries them into the bushes, so that they are not found too quickly by their tribe's warriors.
- But Now I Must Go: After his name has been cleared thanks to his elephant friends, Konyek walks out of his hamlet to see them again. When he spots Konyek, baby elephant Ol-Kulto cheerfully rushes to greet him, but his family calls him back. As the elephants trudge back into the trees, Ol-Kulto stares back at Konyek for the last time and trots behind his family. Konyek feels deeply saddened, but he realizes that his friends must say goodbye to him.
- Cain and Abel: Konyek is hated by his cousin Parmet, who feels envious of the attention and praise that his cousin gets. Although he does not attempt to murder Konyek directly, when a rival tribe attacks and hurts his cousin, Parmet abandons him instead of helping him.
- Circling Vultures: As exploring a hill, Konyek notices a flock of vultures flying in circles not far from his position, and guesses there has been a kill. Konyek rushes towards the place and comes upon an eland antelope's corpse. The boy quickly cuts strips of the eland's hide and walks away as a pack of hyenas claim the carrion and a flock of vultures "wheeled, and circled, and waited".
- Coming of Age Story: After surviving in the wilderness during weeks, getting his calf back on his own, making it back to his tribe and confronting Parmet's lies, Konyek feels that his ordeal has been a rite of passage into adulthood; and his father also understands it in this way, because he gives his son November Cloud for his own.
- Darkest Africa: The story is set in pre-colonial Kenya, featuring tribes living in traditional mud houses, pasturing cattle, hunting animals with poisoned arrows, transmitting legends and tales by word of mouth, and occasionally warring against each other.
- Dirty Coward: Every time Konyek and Parmet's herds are attacked, Konyek tries to drive the threat away -even when it is a lion- as his cousin runs away and hides in the bushes hurriedly.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Konyek is wounded by a group of cattle riders while he is taking care of his father's herd, and left for dead for his traitorous cousin who slanders Konyek before their tribe. After recovering from his wounds, Konyek gets his favorite calf back from the thieves, survives in the wilderness together with the calf, makes it back to his hamlet, and confronts his cousin and his lies. After clearing his name, Konyek is given ownership of November Cloud in reward for his bravery.
- The Farmer and the Viper: Konyek tells his family how he tried to protect their cattle from a lion, leaving Parmet's cowardly flight out since he doesn't wish his cousin be humiliated and mocked by their tribe, despite knowing that Parmet hates him. Even so, Parmet kept hating Konyek, and he abandoned his cousin the next time that Konyek was badly injured while protecting his livestock.
- Genocide Backfire: One of the tales of Konyek's grandmother involves one devil devouring one whole village and then getting killed by one single survivor:He feared as well the devils his grandmother had told him about, and that he might meet one in the rain and in the dark. They were half man, and half lion, and they would call out to passers-by and beg them to help carry a bundle of wood. If the passer-by were foolish enough to stop, the devil would kill him with a pointed stick and devour him. Once such a devil had killed and devoured the inhabitants of a whole village, save for one woman and her son who had run away and hidden in a cave. When the boy grew up, Konyek's grandmother had said, he made bows and arrows, and the arrows he poisoned. One day, the devil saw smoke coming from the fire the boy had lighted, and came to eat him. But the boy was waiting for him, concealed in a tree, and shot the arrows at him. At first the devil thought he had been stung by gadflies, but when he was dying, he gave the boy secret directions how to recover the people of the village he had killed, and all their cattle as well. And in their gratitude, when the villagers came to life again, they elected the boy as chief.
- Go Through Me: Konyek has taken his father's cattle to a waterhole when he realizes that they are being stalked by a lion. Even though he is completely terrified, the young Masai steps between the approaching lion and November Cloud to protect his favorite calf. As the lion keeps approaching, Konyek resorts to run towards the giant feline, screaming and waving his stick in an attempt to scare it off. Fortunately, a hunter's arrival saves Konyek from becoming lion munch.
- Good Samaritan: When young Masai Konyek is wounded by cattle raiders while he is leading his herd, he is abandoned by his cowardly cousin Parmet who expects to bleed to death on the ground. However, Konyek is found by a hunter of the Dorobo, a rival tribe, who builds a shelter for both, dresses his spear wound with medicinal herbs, and stays for his side until Konyek regains consciousness.
- Gratuitous Foreign Language: The narration is peppered with Swahili words like manyatta.
- The Great Flood: Konyek, his calf, and a couple of elephants become trapped in a large hill during a heavy rain which lasts several weeks and floods the whole valley.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Parmet begins resenting and later hating Konyek when he realizes that his cousin is the favorite of their grandfather Ol-Poruo -who is also their tribe's leader-, and their village's girls prefer him over Parmet.
- Healing Herb: When the Dorobo hunter finds Konyek lying injured and unconscious on the ground, he takes the Masai youth to a safer place and starts looking for medicinal roots and the bark of the cassia tree. Then, the hunter boils the roots and bark in a gourd, bathes Konyek's wound and covers it with healing leaves.
- Heinous Hyena: Hyenas are consistently depicted as scary and dangerous predators who will gleefully and hungrily jump on carrion, newborn calves and weak animals, but will turn tail and run the minute their intended prey proves that it is not completely defenseless.He feared the hyena, for sometimes they would attack a full-grown zebra, or a wildebeest, and if sometimes they ran away, sometimes they stayed to fight as well. Best of all, they loved to seize the new#born calves at the moment of their birth, and at night, when he lay listening to their wild laugh, Konyek was glad that the calf of the November Cloud was safe beside him, and he would rub his head against her flank where it rested.
- Honorable Elephant: As he and his November Cloud are fleeing from hostile, cattle-thieving warriors, Konyek comes upon one couple of elephants. Even though he knows that they could easily him and his calf, even without meaning to, Konyek is not frightened because he has seen how gently and carefully they treat their own babies. And, indeed, not only do the elephants help the kid and his calf survive a flood but they and their baby also help Konyek clear his name when his tribe has been tricked into thinking he stole the calf and ran away. Konyek called the female elephant Yoyo (Masai for mother) and the male Leng-aina (meaning both elephant and of the Long Arm). When their calf was born, Konyek also baptized it as Ol-Kulto (''caterpillar).
- Interspecies Friendship: Konyek (human) adores his father's cow-calf November Cloud, who is similarly fond of him; likewise, November Cloud and the baby elephant Ol-Kulto befriend each other during Konyek's stay in a forested hill.
- "Just So" Story: The Dorobo hunter tells Konyek a story on why the Sun shines so brightly and the Moon is crescenth-shaped:"After the moon is full, the rain will come. Do you not know that in the beginning, after the sun and the moon were married, they quarrelled, and struck one another? And because the sun was ashamed, and did not wish the people to know he had been fighting, nor allow them to see his bruises, he hid behind the clouds, and sulked. And while the rain was falling he made up his mind to shine so brightly, no man would be able to look upon him without half closing his eyes. But the moon was less perturbed, and even appeared with a piece bitten out of her cheek, and continued to shine soft and pale as before."
- Left for Dead: Upon seeing his loathed cousin Konyek lying unconscious on the ground after being stabbed with a spear by an enemy warrior, Parmet leaves, assuming that Konyek will simply bleed to death under the blazing sun of the savannah.
- Made Out to Be a Jerkass: Konyek and his cousin Parmet are taking their families' cattle to graze when they are attacked by cattle thieves, who spear Konyek and steal all their livestock as Parmet runs off and hides in the bushes. Happy to see his hated cousin bleeding to death, Parmet leaves Konyek for dead and returns to his hamlet, whereupon he tells his tribe he valiantly tried to protect their cattle while Konyek ran away like a coward.
- Meaningful Name: The titular calf got his name because of the cloud-shaped white mark on his forehead, and because he was birthed in November, right when white rain clouds were covering the savannah's sky.Konyek: "See how beautiful her calf is-— what are you going to call it?"
Konyek's father: "Now is the month of November, when the clouds in the heavens turn white. Look at the horizon, my son, look at the clouds fat as goats after the rain of the Pleiades, and white as their kids. Let us call her the Calf of the November Cloud, because that was the time of her birth, and because there is a mark on her forehead which is like a small white cloud."'' - Murder by Inaction: Parmet walks away when he sees Konyek lying injured and unconscious on the ground after being attacked by cattle thieves, hoping that his cousin bleeds to death.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When Konyek returns his tribe and angrily accuses his cousin of wanting him dead, his whole family is shocked since Konyek had always been kind, calm and soft-spoken.
- Our Demons Are Different: According to the Konyek's tribe's traditions, devils are half-man, half-lion wicked vreatures, who masquerade as poor men in need to ensnare, kill and eat the unwary.
- Rebuilt Pedestal: The boys and girls of the age-group of the Big Ostrich Feathers idolized and admired Konyek because of his kindness, wisdom and bravery until Parmet told them his cousin ran away cowardly when a band of cattle raiders stole the livestock which Konyek was supposed to protect. Several months later Konyek returned to his hamlet, having gone through many dangerous hardships to retrieve his father's stolen calf, and declared that Parmet fled and intentionally left him for dead when he was attacked and wounded by the raiders. When a witness verifies his tale, the kids shame Parmet and go back to look up to Konyek.
- Retired Badass: Konyek's grandfather is nowadays content to sit back, rule his tribe and judge their affairs peacefully, but he used to be called Ol-Poruo of the Unconquered Shield in his youth when he was a warrior whose bravery, wisdom and might were renowned throughout the land.
- Rugged Scar: Konyek has a nasty-looking scar running from his right shoulder down to his chest, acquired from a spear wound received when he was attacked by cattle riders and left for dead.
- Secondary Character Title: The main character is Konyek, who goes through Hell to retrieve the eponymous calf, keeping her safe and bring her back to his village.
- Show Within a Show: Konyek's grandmother knows many tales which are enjoyed by her tribe's kids: the beginning of the world, the story of the first Masai, "The Children of the Sycamore Tree", "The First Dorobo Hunter", the birth of the Kilimanjaro, the story of the rain gods, the tale of the kid who killed the demon who ate his whole village...
- The Storyteller: Konyek's old grandmother, who is also the tribe's matriarch, knows plenty legends about the birth of the Masai, myths about the origin of the world, tales about old heroes and ancient warriors...and is very fond of telling them to her tribe's kids, who are constantly asking her to tell them new stories or retell their favorite tales.
- Unbroken Vigil: Upon finding Konyek lying unconscious on the ground, bleeding from a spear wound, the Dorobo hunter takes him to a shelter, cleans and treats his wounds, and waits by his side the whole night until Konyek comes around.Then he bathed Konyek's wound and covered it with the healing leaves. Night fell, and he waited anxiously by his side, for he saw that the boy was very sick.
Not until the next day did Konyek regain consciousness, and all this time the little hunter remained close by, neither moving nor taking his gaze from him. As soon as the boy opened his eyes, he gave him water to drink in which the bark of the cassia tree had been boiled, for this would help the fever. - Vile Vulture: Vultures are associated with death and decay, the presence of a flock circling being regarded as a sure sign that an animal has been killed off.
- Waking Up Elsewhere: While moving his father's herd to a watering hole, Konyek gets attacked by cattle riders, passing out after getting hit by a spear. When he comes around, he finds himself in an improvised shelter built by a hunter friend of his, who has been nursing him back to health during several days after finding him lying unconscious on the ground.
- We Used to Be Friends: Konyek and his first cousin Parmet used to be like brothers, often playing in each other's hutch. However, Parmet started resenting and hating Konyek, because he had realized that he was their grandfather's favorite. Konyek had noticed Parmet had changed, becoming colder and more prideful, but he didn't imagine that his cousin hated him enough to want him dead.Sometimes Konyek would meet his cousin Parmet herding the cattle. Formerly they had gone out together, and been glad of one another's company, for they were like brothers. They lived in the same manyatta, and the mother of one was a mother to the other, so that every child had many mothers and fathers, and many grandparents also. But lately, Parmet had changed. He had grown loud and boastful, and he avoided Konyek's eye because he was jealous of him. He saw that Konyek was the favourite of their grandfather Ol-Poruo, who was famous throughout the land for his wisdom and for his bravery. He saw, too, that the girls favored Konyek with their glances, and the boys listened to his words. But Parmet was stronger and older, and he competed with his cousin by a show of words, and a display of strength, so that sometimes the others were afraid of him.
- When It Rains, It Pours: The first rainfall of the wet season is a torrential, heavy rain which lasts several days and completely floods the savannah's plains, trapping Konyek and his calf in a forested hill.
- The X of Y: The Calf of the November Cloud
