Dutch / Belgium
De jongen, de neushoornvogel, de olifant, de tijger en het meisje
(The boy, the hornbill, the elephant, the tiger, and the girl)
Verhelst, Peter
(text)
Cneut, Carll
(illus.)
Wielsbeke: De Eenhoorn, 2015. – 86 p.
ISBN 978-94-6291-056-0
Death | Africa | Initiation | Ritual
Reading age: 12+
White Ravens issue: 2016
A boy is taken from his village to a secret valley for his initiation as a man. He has to learn how to hunt, to speak the secret language of man, and to select two totem animals. The hornbill will be his guardian angel, and he has to kill the tiger to become a man. Just before an older man comes to guide him in the hunt, there is a great uproar and tragedy in the village. A herd of elephants has killed all the villagers and the boy ritually guides them to the other world. Halfway through the story, the narrative viewpoint switches from the boy to his sister, who lives in the world between the living and the dead. Only by killing the tiger can the boy give his sister eternal rest. Through the eyes of the boy and his sister, readers sense the wildness and beauty of nature, but also the boy’s fear. Carll Cneut’s illustrations are true works of art, dark and colourful, and just as mysterious as the initiation the boy must undergo.