The Hunter and the Manta Ray

(author's note: I wrote this story as a teenager, and make no comment whatsoever about its quality.)

It was in late August in the land under the sea where one of the most remarkable incidents in my undersea travels occurred. Once a year, the king of Volcanitus, an underwater city, and all of his nobles went hunting for sharks. They would mount manta, or as they called them "manna" rays and go out into the darkest, coldest corners of the sea and slaughter the primitive sharks. The manna rays were the perfect mode of transportation for this pursuit. Not only did they move with almost unimaginable grace, they were also a safety device. You see, should a shark get behind the hunter, he would be too afraid to attack the manna ray because of the ray’s lethal sting.

But this hunt took place only once a year and many months away from the time of this story. During the rest of the year, the manna rays were kept in tiny five foot by five foot aquariums. A hundred or so of the king’s own personal manna rays were kept in a giant underwater stable, with each ray kept inside his own tiny aquarium. Needing money to continue my travels and being unable to find better work in the city of Volcanitus, I had condescended to accept a job as a stable hand at the king’s stable.

My job was very simple; it was to feed the manna rays daily. There were five stable hands, each with his own individual chore,
and two managers.

The two managers did no real work. Their job was to hire stable hands and choose the very best manna rays for the king and his personal hunters. The managers were as different as night and day(I use this only as a figure of speech since there is no night or
day under the sea). The name of the first manager was Lockenhold. He was a cruel, unhealthy looking man. He would closely inspect the work of the stable hands and berate them on small, and often imaginary, mistakes.

The other manager was Kinderest. He was a very worthless man, honestly. Lazy and apathetic, he seemed to care little about how the stable was run. He was always smoking his seaweed cigars and eating huge banquets of sea animals and vegetables. We
stable hands, however, liked him much better than Lockenhold. This was because he would sometimes inspect the better manna rays and praise us on our work. To be honest, he knew almost nothing about manna rays, but we appreciated the praise. Furthermore, on under-the-sea holidays such as Clamfest and Sea Anemone Appreciation Day, Kinderest would celebrate by giving us all a bonus check and inviting us to share a large feast.

The two managers shared a single office, which was really a giant sea shell. One day, I heard the two speaking in loud angry voices. Curious, I put my ear to hole in the sea shell wall.

"Champion is miserable in that aquarium. He rams himself into the wall. He has three injuries. I can’t see a fine manna
ray such as Champion be so miserable. We need to let him loose!", Kinderest yelled at Lockenhold.

"Let him loose? Are you insane, or just drunk as usual? Do you know that that Manna Ray is worth ten thousand volcanitan coins? Last year, one of the princes rode Champion, and the king personally requested that he ride Champion this
coming Shark Feast Day."

"That’s just the point. Champion is such a fine manna ray that we have to let him escape and swim away. As it is, he’ll be in no condition for the king next hunt anyway. Besides, I outrank you so it’s my decision. Is it now? If you let Champion go, I’ll report it to the king and ask him to fire you and make me head manager of the King’s Manna Ray Stables."

Kinderest blinked at Lockenhold’s threat. Although he loved Champion, he loved his well paying job and the free banquets with sea weed beer. He replied, "I have a suggestion. We should call in the great hunter Ku and ask for his advice. Since the king takes all of Ku’s advice on anything involving hunting, I couldn’t possibly get in trouble for letting Champion go if Ku so advises. But if Ku says Champion should stay here, I’ll allow it."

Ku was a name known throughout Volcanitus and the neighboring cities. A legendary warrior and hunter, Ku was also a highly eccentric man. He was a vegetarian and ate only sparse meals of sea vegetables. Furthermore, he still worshipped the primitive gods of the early times, hundreds of years ago. He wore his hair long, which was against the law in that region, as it was a privilege reserved for the royal family. He surely would have been executed by the royal guard except that he was a powerful aristocrat and a personal favorite of the king. But the thing that was most known about Ku was that he was very wise.

Although his reputation for eccentricity was well known to me, I wasn’t prepared for actually seeing him in person. Late that same day, I heard a jarring knock on the front door which, if given a few minutes, surely would have broken the door to bits. Hurriedly, I rushed to the door to welcome our illustrious guest. I opened the door to behold the most astonishing sight I have ever seen. A giant man, about eight feet tall, with giant muscles, an incredibly handsome face, long golden blonde hair, and piercing sky blue eyes stood before me. The most astonishing thing about this man was that he was stark naked. On his back was a giant sheathed sword with a ruby covered hilt. What shocked me the most was that he was stark naked. I had heard that he was a nudist but I’d never imagined he went about like this in public.

"Ku?", I asked.

"That’s me. What’s your name?"

"Sean", I answered him.

"You belong to a most unusual species, Sean. Not only are you not Volcanitan, you appear to come from the land above the sea."

"I do. You’re very perceptive."

"Now, go fetch me a manna ray as I must eat one before I enter the building. Make sure it’s alive."

I was extremely puzzled by this command, as no one ate the valuable manna rays but I hastened to obey, picking out a ray of inferior quality. I handed it to him and he sank his teeth into it, alive. It thrashed around for a minute as he started his meal and surely must have stung him many times but he was unaffected. It took him about five minutes to finish his bloody feast.

Afterward, he came in and surveyed the manna rays. Pointing out one of the better rays, he said, "That’s an excellent ray right there. But it needs to eat more fish and fewer vegetables. It’s muscles are ready to develop." Pointing to another ray, he said,"That could have been a fine ray but it should have been put on a superior diet and given hunting training years ago."

"That was exactly what I suggested to the managers a month ago but they refused."

"Well, I’m done looking around, take me to the managers." This I did and then settled in at a peep hole in the back of the office
and watched what followed. Champion, one of our finest manna rays, was actually being kept in the office so that Ku could
inspect him.

"Ku, take a seat", said Kinderest.

"I prefer to stand. It’s less comfortable."

"Oh. Would you like a drink?", said Kinderest.

"Yes please. What do you have?"

"We have sea weed beer, Anemone liquor, and both red and white sea fruit wines."

"I’ll have a white wine", said Ku. Kinderest fetched this and also a sea weed beer for himself.

Then Lockenhold said, "Now that we’re all settled in, we’d like to ask your advice on what we should do with the manna ray Champion, who the king requested to ride next hunt." With this, both Kinderest and Lockenhold fervently presented their cases.

Kinderest constantly referred to the manna ray’s feelings and Lockenhold constantly referred to its great value as a hunting mount. Throughout the discussion, Ku said not a single word.

Finally Kinderest said"Your excellency", said Kinderest, "What should we do with Champion?"

"First of all, I hate to think on an empty stomach. What do you have to eat?"

"We have sea vegetables, clam pasta, crab steaks, sea fruits, seasoned sea weed, and fish blood stew", said Kinderest.

"No. Nevermind. Simply bring me the manna ray. I’d like to inspect him." It was done. Champion is a positively beautiful ray, with the the thinnest, most gentle body and a muscular stinging tail with the most dangerous looking tip."

Ku said, "I’m afraid you two have missed the point entirely. In order to hunt sharks properly, we must condition our minds to be completely focused. An expert hunter subjugates the manna ray to his mental command. That’s what makes a good manna ray, automatic obedience to its master’s feelings. So you see, it’s the hunter’s mind that matters, not the manna ray."

"You’re most entirely correct", said Lockenhold, obsequiously. "But since the king has requested to ride this manna ray, should we let it swim away or keep it for him."

"I’m afraid Kinderest is right. These wounds look very ugly. This one’s slightly infected, you should treat that immediately." As he said this, he brought the wound to within a couple inches of his face as if to inspect it very closely. And then, he sank his teeth into champion.

"Oh my god!", cried Lockenhold.

"Poor Champion", cried Kinderest sadly. But of course neither dared challenge Ku’s right to eat the ray because Ku because of his high social position. It took approximately five minutes for Ku to finish his sushi meal and when he was done, blood was floating around the office.

Ku said, in a loud voice, "I hope I’ve taught you a little lesson here. You, Kinderest, are far too busy worrying about feelings, yours and those of other people. A true hunter has no feelings. And you, Lockenhold, how can you ever create excellent hunting rays when all you think about is money? To you, a manna ray is a product. But to us hunters, a manna ray is an idea which we must strive to understand. It’s a third arm which we feel intensely. And above all, it’s a spiritual being, from heaven and not from the sea." And with that, the issue was settled.