Part 2: The Transformation
Chapter 27
"Hunting Lessons"
The next morning, Tarzan and Jane awoke to a bright sunny morning as they began the first full day of their honeymoon. Jane and Tarzan each had breakfast containing jungle fruits and then Tarzan thought that today would be a good day to start teaching Jane the ways of jungle life, just as much as she did when she taught him the ways of the human world. But, Jane was now married to a life in the jungles and that she needed to learn to survive in one and that included hunting animals that were sustainable to the human body. Jane did actually fight off a leopard but that was only because the creature was going to kill Tarzan and she was going to lose the man of her dreams if she didn't do something. But, this was something completely different.
"Tarzan," she said. "I can understand you want me to hunt, but are you sure that I can survive like you?"
"Jane," he replied. "If you are going to live in the jungle, then you must learn the ways of the jungle and that includes hunting animals that are able to feed us."
He handed Jane a spear and directed her towards a large boar that looked mean and vicious. Jane studied the creature and knew that the beast looked like it had a kill of its own.
"Now, to hunt Boar," whispered Tarzan. "We must remain quiet until the beast has its back turned to us and then we make move for the kill."
Jane gulped as Tarzan showed her how to kill the boar and then Tarzan crouched her down into a hunter's position and showed her how to point the spear.
"I can't do this," she whimpered. "I have never killed anything in my life and I am not ready to start now."
"You must, Jane," he said. "You saved me with spear and now you must hunt with spear."
Silently saying a prayer with the catholic dignity fresh in her mind, she fired her spear at the creature, but the Boar noticed he was being attacked and ran away. Tarzan was not impressed with this and as he glared at Jane, he knew that she still had a lot to learn about hunting for food. So, they went to another area where another Boar was found and this one was a lot more tamer than the other one.
"Try again, Jane," said Tarzan. "You must capture this Boar."
Again saying a prayer silently, Jane threw the spear and it struck the boar right in the chest, killing it. Tarzan was happy and impressed at this time around and the two of them ran over to inspect the beast.
"I feel sorry for it," said Jane sadly. "I just killed an innocent animal."
"He may have not done anything wrong," said Tarzan. "But we are only after its meat and didn't you say that all creatures have an immortal soul?"
"I did say that," chuckled Jane. "Thank you for reminding me."
So, Tarzan took out an even smaller spear from his loincloth and began to cut into the boar, much to Jane's disgust.
"Tarzan, this is savage," she cried.
"This is the only way to get our meat," said Tarzan. "Now, help me."
He handed Jane another small spear and beckoned her to join him in hacking the beast of its meat. To Jane, this reminded her of the assassination scene in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and she felt like she was playing the part of one of the conspirators as she hacked away at the beast.
Once the creature had been stripped of its meat, Tarzan and Jane hunted down some more meat and as time went on and with each creature that she killed, Jane was starting to grow more and more confident of herself. It wasn't exactly the honeymoon she had planned, but what was important was spending time with Tarzan and making the best of their only honeymoon.
"Has Jane ever hunted like this before?" asked Tarzan as they finished their days' hunting.
"I have never hunted before," replied Jane. "Back in England, men would always go on hunting parties and hunt down creatures similar to what we have captured, but they were much smaller, Tarzan."
"What kind of creatures did men back in England hunt?" asked Tarzan.
"Oh, they hunted creatures called foxes," she explained. "Men would always dress in red coats and khaki trousers and ride on horses to hunt down the foxes with the help of bloodhounds, which are like dogs only used for hunting and stalking down criminals. I must say that there aren't many wild dogs in this part of the jungle."
All Tarzan could do was nod that he didn't know what Jane was talking about. He had never heard of a wild dog and he didn't even know the creatures exist for the most part. Nevertheless, they made it back to the tree house with their kills and cooked an endless supply of roast boar that tasted extremely delicious to both Tarzan and Jane. Jane was of course nervous to eat the animal that she helped kill, but she conquered her fears and Tarzan was becoming more and more pleased with it.
"Can Tarzan teach you to fish tomorrow?" he asked. "Then I can teach Jane how to jump from cliffs into the waters below."
"Tarzan!" she gasped, nearly choking on her food. "Are you saying that I should jump from high heights?"
"Don't worry," he said. "Tarzan will be there for you."
"I must say!" remarked Jane. "I've never…heard of something so extraordinary."
They both shared another chuckle before continuing on with their meal, happy that they had finally completed the first day of their honeymoon and that they had another full day tomorrow of fishing and swimming.
As Jane went to bed that night, she was amazed how she was able to conquer her fear of killing, little did she know that those lessons that Tarzan had taught her would come quite in handy later on…
