A
week later I was ready to give my talk.
I took a deep breath, looked at Lizzie
(she doesn't make funny faces like Amir), and started.
'Kilimanjaro
is in Tanzania and it's the highest mountain in Africa. It's
5,895 meters high and has snow on top all year, even though
it's near the Equator. I read that its name comes from
Swahili words that mean Shining Mountain. The volcano is
dormant and there are three craters called Shira, Kibo and
Mawenzi.'
'What
does dormant mean? Is that a dorm for
ants?'
- Amir again.
'A dormant volcano is one that's not
doing anything right now, but could erupt - you know like
Mount
St. Helen's'
Lizzie told him.
 'Kilimanjaro
hasn't erupted in over a century'
I continued. 'There's a legend that
says the craters Kibo and Mawenzi
are brothers. One day they were
smoking their pipes. Mawenzi's
went out, so he borrowed fire from his
younger brother Kibo to light it again.
After he fell asleep, Mawenzi's pipe
went out again and he tried to borrow
some more.'
 'Kibo
was bigger than his older brother and he
didn't want to share. This
time Kibo got real mad and hit his
brother with a club. Now Mawenzi is all
banged up. He's embarrassed about his
looks so he hides behind clouds a lot.'
'Poor
Mawenzi,'
said Amir 'must
be tough having a younger brother who
can beat you up. What started the
legend?'
 'Well,
Kibo was still active and smoking
after Mawenzi became dormant.
Maybe local tribes saw Kibo erupt and
send rocks across the saddle between the
craters. They saw how Mawenzi was
different afterwards and the legend
could have grown from that. With all the
clouds around the crater, it makes a
good story that Mawenzi's hiding his
battered looks.' |
