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sounds of birds, trees of forest, a great thirst |
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Soon we reached the bridle path again and started to march towards Merangkong. The sun burned in the sky, the air was filled with the sound of crickets, (112) from the jungle came the screeching of the huluk monkeys, sometimes like dogs barking, then again almost human, and in the trees one heard the chirping of birds of all kinds. The most beautiful of them is the Burmese Minivet where the male is blood-red with black wings and the female is lemon-yellow and black. They let us approach up to a few steps away, apparently not worried at all about our rooster, and even then they merely hopped onto a slightly higher branch. Yet all this colourful, cheerful life around us did not let me forget my hellish thirst and when my ear finally caught the sound of rushing water from a stream which was running over the rocks, I did not bother to ask whether the water was pure but quenched my thirst in pure joy. Here one soon leaves behind all ideas about "boiled water" and other such matters. |
