"Is there any? Throw some down to us!"
Any what?
Little dark-skinned Pygmy boys and girls were dancing up and down excitedly as they called to some older boys high up in a large tree towering above them. Impatiently they called again,
"Hurry! Is there any there?"
Early that morning they had spied bees flying about the top of that tree, and knew that there must be honey there.
So the older boys had taken burning coals from the fire and had wrapped leaves about them. Taking the smoking bundle of leaves, and their axes over their shoulders, they had quickly climbed the tree.
With their axes they cut an opening into the bee hive, and then all joined in blowing through the smoking leaves. Great clouds of white smoke blew into the hive forcing the bees to leave their honey! Disliking the strong, pungent odor, the bees flew from the hive and circled overhead, buzzing angrily.
"We've found some! We've found some!" was the happy cry.
Very soon large chunks of the comb, heavy with wild honey, were thrown down to the children waiting at the foot of the tree. Such a scramble! And little did they care if there were baby bees crawling about in the comb-that was part of it! Bees were soon chewed up with the honey and the comb.
What a real treat that was! Mangete, one of the little Pygmy boys who was eating away happily thought to himself that there surely could be nothing in all the world quite as good as honey! Surely there was nothing sweeter!
Mangete lived in the deep dark Ituri Forest of the Belgian Congo. He had been born about twelve years before in a little leaf hut which his mother had built. There were no soft white clothes nor warm blankets for the tiny brown baby, but he did not mind as he snuggled up close to his mother as they lay together on a leaf mat beside the fire.
Every three weeks the whole camp moved to another part of the forest, and as Mangete grew older, he soon learned to know the different paths, and could go great distances without getting lost.
How happy and free Mangete felt as he scampered through the forest, dressed only in his little bark loin cloth. He soon learned to climb the tallest trees just like the monkeys that chattered almost daily above their camp. He had neither bicycle nor cars to play with, but what would he have done with them in the jungle? He was very happy as he made swings from vines, and played with his bow and arrows. He could really shoot, too, and how proud he felt when he could bring home a bird or small animal for supper!
Then sometimes Mangete played with balls made from wild rubber, or little tops made from the flat, brown seeds of a forest tree. Parrots and baby monkeys made dandy pets!
One day a visitor came to Mangete's camp. He was a white missionary, and Mangete felt a bit fearful and shy, but he did not run away. Once upon a time, not too long ago, missionaries hardly ever saw a Pygmy camp! When news was whispered that a white man was coming the Pygmy camp would vanish into the dark forest, and when the missionary arrived only the blackened fire spots would tell that there had even been a camp there!
But one day a missionary found a sick Pygmy man lying helpless beside a forest path. Tenderly the missionary cared for the man, and nursed him back to health. The missionary found that the man was very fond of salt, so when he sent him back to find his own people he told him to tell the others that he would give them each a teaspoon of salt if they would listen to his message, and not run away!
My, how the Pygmies wanted that salt! They loved it almost as much as honey! So they stayed, and soon learned that they need not fear the missionaries, but could safely trust them.
The missionary that came to Mangete's camp brought strange words with him. He told of a God in heaven who loved the Pygmies! He told about sin, and about Jesus, God's Son who had come to earth to die that Pygmies could be saved, and go some day to heaven where God was.... This visitor taught them a little song.
"Yesu ekundi ime!" (Jesus Loves Me.)
Later he came back and taught them some words of God.
"Elefi la soloka endi kukwo," which means, "the wages of sin is death." Then they learned, "The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost," which in their language looked like this, "Mikili ma gba apiki kakaba na morokiso bunde babunoii."
What good words this visitor told about the love of this great God! One day Mangete's father went over to the visitor and told him that he wanted to believe in this Jesus, God's Son! Then not long afterward his mother, too, accepted this same Lord Jesus Christ.
A little later the white missionary came out to show Mangete's group of Pygmies how to build a little mud building where they could gather together to worship the Lord. How proud they were of it when it was finished! A teacher came out from the village almost every morning and beat the hollow root of a tree to call the little Pygmies together. Then they would have school in the building and Mangete and his friends soon learned to read the vowels and to put two letters together!
One day Mangete's father said, "Someone should care for our mission," as they now called the little chapel, nestled under the large trees of the jungle.
"I am going to build my hut near it, so I can sweep it and care for it. Sometimes I will go to the forest to hunt elephants and buffalo, and sometimes the younger Pygmies can go and leave us here."
So it was that Mangete was able to become a regular pupil of the little chapel in the forest behind Subi's village. One day God spoke to his heart, too, and showed him his need of taking the Lord Jesus as his Savior. When the teacher came that day, Mangete walked bravely up to him, and said, "Today I want Jesus! He died for my sins. I believe in Jesus today. I don't want sin any more. I want only Jesus!"
A couple of months passed, and Mangete was very happy as he sought to follow his new Lord. Then one day there was great excitement in the camp! The white missionary was coming, but this time he was not coming alone! He was bringing with him other white missionaries, and white children, to spend a whole week with them!
How they hustled and hurried around, and when the missionaries arrived they found the Pygmies had built for them a large square hut of leaves, with a twig floor!
What wonderful days those were! There were meetings four times a day-and Mangete wished that there were more! The missionaries showed them wonderful pictures on a black cloth board as they talked to them, and they soon learned more songs about Jesus, and more words from His Book. Mangete and his friends were almost always the first to appear after they heard the drum booming out into the dense jungle to call them together.
Oh, no! Mangete would not think of missing a single meeting, for he had found something that was sweeter than honey—the wonderful words from God's Book!
The visit was almost over. On the last day the missionary lady called Mangete and one of his friends over to her, and said, "Mangete, how would you like to come back to the Mission Station with us, and learn to read God's Word?"
"Oh, yes! yes!" he cried. How happy he was!
So Mangete went back with them and went to school. His thirsty little heart seemed to drink in all that he learned from God's Word. When school was over he worked in the missionary's garden. The lady gave him some cotton clothes, and, oh, how proud he was of them! As he walked along in the bright sunlight he could not help looking at his white clothes!
But the next day he appeared, dressed only in his bark loin cloth again.
"Where are your clothes, Mangete?" asked the missionary.
"I am saving them for Sunday, and after Sunday school, could I walk quickly home to see my mother and father? I will come back here again before the night falls."
So Mangete is now living on the Mission Station at Lolwa. He has just about learned to read, and when he has finished he will be able to take God's Word back to his own people. When they go deep into the jungle in search of nuts, and honey, and elephants for food, he can read to them every morning and evening from the Jesus' Book which he has found to be sweeter than honey.