Free Six Blind Men & an Alien by Mike Resnick Page B

believe. What tribe do you belong to?"
        "Until yesterday I lived by myself since I was a child," answered B’narr, "so it was a tribe of one. But now I declare myself a member of the tribe of men that live on the slopes of Kilimanjaro."
        "I do not like this person, Goru," said the tall man. "He will not answer my questions."
        "I told you he wouldnt," said Bira emphatically.
        "That is not so," said B’narr. "I have answered your questions. You just do not like my answers, which is not the same thing." He looked at the assembled leaders. "But when we talk about the Germans, I think you will like my answers then."
        "How do we know you are not in league with them?" asked another leader.
        "How could I be?" replied B’narr. "I have spent my whole life higher on the mountain than this village. Have the Germans ever come this high?"
        "No," admitted the man. "But if you have never seen a German, why are you opposed to them?"
        "Because everyone who lives on the mountain is my brother, and they have no right to give my brothers orders."
        "You are not my brother!" snapped Bira.
        "Bira fears that I wish to replace him as mundumugu ," said B’narr. "I do not. He is a small, jealous man, but his jealousy is misplaced. I want only to show you how to rid yourselves of the Germans."
        There was a momentary silence. Then the tall leader said, "You may speak. We will listen to you."
        "That is all I ask," said B’narr. "This will take time. Why don’t you all sit down?"
        They seemed surprised by the request, but they did as he asked, except for Bira, who remained standing.
        "Let us begin," he said, "by examining how best to protest any demands the Germans make upon you. Do they conscript you for their army?"
        "No."
        "Do they tax you?"
        "One pig per hut," was the answer.
        "Every year?"
        "Whenever they come."
        "Since you cannot match weaponry with them, you must be more clever," said B’narr. "And you must work in unison. Each village must designate two or three boys as runners."
        "Runners?" asked another leader.
        "Bear with me. We never want the Germans to surprise us with a visit, so we will post seven or eight boys along the approach trails, and whenever they see the Germans coming they will race back to the mountain and tell the lowest villages. Runners from those villages will each go to a designated village and pass the word, so that everyone will know, and most will know before the Germans reach the mountain." B’narr looked at his audience, which was suddenly paying rapt attention. "Now, beginning tomorrow, we will build an enclosure in the thickest part of the highest forest on the mountain. And whenever we know that the Germans are approaching, the children from each hut will drive the pigs up to the enclosure."
        "They will not all go," said a leader.
        "Yes they will," said B’narr, "because the day the pen is finished, your children, under your supervision, will drive the pigs up to it once a week, until it becomes routine to them. Then, when the Germans enter the villages, you will explain that a disease has wiped out all your pigs." Suddenly he smiled. "You can even ask them to replace the pigs, since they are in charge of the country."
        Goru chuckled at that.
        "They will just find something else they want," said the tall leader.
        "Then we will adapt our strategy to accommodate whatever it is they want," said B’narr. "Not only that, but we will use our runners to pass the word of our accomplishments to all the villages that are near the mountain, and encourage them to pass the strategy along until the whole country knows of it."
        "It will be much harder to hide pigs on flat ground," said another leader.
        "We will help them think of ways to hide them. Do not forget: yesterday you would have said you