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Hunter’s choice

They sit every evening when the sun is setting, to feast on venison, to guzzle beer and to banter, just the two of them. The day has been good, the gazelle hunter has found a trail and the lion hunter a pride.
“I told the lions today to trust me and I would herd the gazelles their side and so they rescinded their claws”, says one with a hearty laughter and takes a sip from his giant beer mug.
“I told the gazelles I was the messiah, leading them to a place where lions would never find them and they lowered their horns,” said the other and a raucous laughter erupts.
“It is a small jungle so they shall run into either you or me. Don’t blow our cover, don’t let them know we have a kinship for they sure shall turn and tear us to blood and pulp. When we meet slap my face or shoot my behind, fight one or two lions and I will clobber your gazelles. Hurl abuses at me and go the opposite direction.”
“And you, stir a war among your ranks, be the rat, bite while smothering till the wound festers. Let mother gazelle fight her husband and big son their daughter. Let their uncle fight aunt till they all know no peace. I will stir the lion against the lioness and the cubs against their caretakers. Let them bite each other, hate each other, kill and maim then we shall come for the pickings. We shall take their horns and their skin and meat without thinking dirty hands and a guilty conscience. Let the fools work and we shall urge them on. Stir them harder, plant the seeds of rage and revenge among them. Inject them with the venom of enmity. Lace the drug of truth with lies till they can’t know which is which. The hunter has to make choices.”
“They are fools, they will never see it coming. They trust too fast and their assessment of situations is poor. Don’t they see we have guns on us? Don’t they see the glint in our eyes when we talk? They shall perish in their stupidity and we shall have the jungle to ourselves.”
“Yes, I fully agree. We shall part the gazelles and the lions. We shall make them run into the plains only to meet and fight each other. We shall make them run down the hills and kill each other, loyal to their masters who will never be loyal to them. Let the fools stew in their own soup, and leave all the meat to us. They have been accustomed to lies, why should we give them the truth? Let them fight, and we shall divide all their loot among ourselves.
“And what if they realize they have been tricked? They shall be on us and our end will never be closer. They shall tear us to shreds.”
“They have swallowed our first lie. Why shouldn’t they swallow the second? They are fools, that will never change, and they forget fast. We’ll find out how to cross the bridge when we get there. For now let’s drink from our beer mugs to smoothen our tongues for tomorrow is the day the end begins.”

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