“Hello mum, hello dad, I’m here for the school holidays“ and Klonk arrived, glad to be able to spend the next couple of months with his parents. Klonk’s mother and father both worked away from their planet Ying doing observational research on planet Earth. Klonk loved to join them as it was fun on planet earth and he had made a few friends there on his visits. His parents were also glad to have their son back again and they were both astonished how he had grown.
Father Bong put his arms around his son.
“How you have grown, at least a head and shoulders taller than the last time.”
“If he carries on growing so fast he will soon be ready for his metamorphosis” joined in mother Groga.
“No not yet” answered Klonk, “I want to spend this holiday with my friends and not start working. My teacher in the school said I am very good at chemistry and physics and all going well with the metamorphosis I can also go to one of our outposts for some research work. Perhaps on earth in the Arctic, but I have to pass my exams first of all.”
“Did you arrive with the supply ship, son” asked Bong “food is getting low and as you know earth has nothing that we can absorb.”
“No problem dad, the crew have already put the food into storage and said they will be back in a couple of earth weeks with more supplies. Mum they have also brought a new television with satellite to enable us to watch the new programmes that the earth people are looking at. Can I go out and play now, I saw some of the village boys just on the lower slopes as we landed.”
“OK, Klonk, but be back in an icicle melt, for your evening meal.”
“Will do mum” and Klonk was gone.
First of all he had to climb up the stairs to the entrance. Living inside an earth mountain was fun, but they had to remain hidden from most of the earthlings so the entrance to their home was well camouflaged. He opened the door and was confronted with the white world he was used to. Ice and snow everywhere, although this for Klonk was home territory. It resembled very much his original planet which was covered in ice and snow. For this reason he was covered from head to foot with white short fur, thick and impenetrable for the cold winds and ice. He only really felt uncomfortable when the sun poked through, although at the height of approximately five thousand meters above sea level he still felt comfortable. He did not like to go any lower as it could get so warm that he would dry out, so he had to rely on the children from the village to come to see him. He made a welcome scream and soon heard the answer from the village children and made his way downwards on the path.
The village children came towards him and there was a big reunion. They came from the country of Nepal, although belonged to the outer villages somewhat higher in the Himalaya mountains. Although Klonk did not understand everything they said, they were friendly children and Klonk being so tall would carry them on his shoulders, running with them and jumping and everyone had fun. He showed the children how to dig holes in the ice layers making a house for them and would chase them over the ice fields, pretending they were too fast, although Klonk had such big feet, he never had a problem to catch up with them if he wanted to. Suddenly the father of one of the village children appeared and signalled to Klonk he must go. Klonk knew what this meant, the other earthlings were near, the ones who were not allowed to know that he and his family even existed. The children of the village hurridly covered his footprints with snow to leave no trace and went back to their villages. Klonk made his way back to the mountain where he lived.
“Dad” he asked his father “why can I play with some of the earthlings, but not all. The Sherpa children are so friendly, but one of their fathers came and said I should disappear as the other earthlings were near bye.”
“Son, there are some earthlings that do not mean it well with us. The people in the country of Nepal live high up on the mountains where it is cold and inhospitable, but these people, known as the sherpas, are something like us. They enjoy the cold and the heights. This is one of the few places on earth that resemble our homeland. However, there are earthlings that want to prove they can also live in these places, and they are the earthlings we must avoid. A few of our ancestors were careless. Those that also lived in this research station some years ago. They would take a walk outside without being careful and were seen by these other earthlings. They left their footprints in the snow and our feet compared to those of an earthling are at least four times as large. Our bodies are also covered in fur, darker than yours and in the fur change season, some of us left traces. The earthlings that found our footprints and fur decided that this mountain was inhabited by monsters and begun to hunt us. For this reason it is better when we stay in our home inside this mountain they call Everest and only venture out when it is safe.”
“But dad, why cannot all the earthlings be as nice as the Sherpas in Nepal?”
“I wish they were son, but Earth has become an uncomfortable colony. We used to have a research post near a country called Tibet, but this got very dangerous. Our people were wiped out by bombs that were thrown into this country. Although we lived on the upper slopes the vibrations were felt and our homes were covered in so much ice and snow our people could no longer free themselves.”
“Bong what are you telling our son” said his wife Groga. “It is just better if you stay with us inside the mountain and do not venture away. Now come and eat, the ship brought some ice bird from our home planet and I am looking forward to the meal. Our last supply came to an end last week and as you know that is a delicacy on Ying.”
Klonk decided to forget the subject of humans and was glad that the Sherpas kept the secret of their existence for themselves. He decided to stay away from the lower slopes of the Mountain Everest for the time being. If only he had his metamorphosis. Then he would be big and strong like his mother and father and squash those evil earthlings that were destroying the living quarters of the friendly people in the mountains.
After the meal father Bong fitted up the satellite television the supply ship had bought and they could see what was happening all over the world. Klonk found it sad, he saw only war and destruction on this television and told his father to find another channel. He then switched to one of the other snowy countries in the world and Klonk was happy.”
“Look dad, there are children like the Sherpa children. The same size although their faces are different. And they are sailing over the ice on something flat. That really looks like fun. Look dad there are some big humans as well, the ones that have metamorphosed. They have things strapped to their feet and are also running on the ice. I want one of those things as well” and Klonk found that must be fun.
“Klonk you don’t need things like that to help sail over the ice, you can use your feet.”
“No, mum, it is not the same. I want one of those things to sail over the ice.”
“Listen to you mother Klonk. Our people do not need such constructions. Our bodies are built for the ice. “ but Klonk was not happy.
The next day he called to the boys in the village but they did not come. Instead he saw from the distance another sort of earthling, dressed in white clothes. The Sherpas were always dressed in colourful dresses. There were sherpas with them but they were carrying large bundles on their shoulders and the white earthlings were walking ahead. He went back to his parents and told them what he had seen.
His father and mother were not happy and told Klonk he must now remain indoors. The humans were again planning to climb this Mountain Everest and if they saw their footprints there would again be people coming to the mountain to look for them.
“But mum they were walking on those things we saw on the television yesterday.”
“They are not for us” said Groga “and let that be an end to it.”
Klonk could be as disobedient as any other child at that age, so he waited until his mother and father slept and went out on the mountainside down to the camp of the earthlings. He saw they had parked these walking instruments outside their tents so he took two of them back home.
The next morning the mountain climbers saw that two of the skis they had brought with them had gone. They wanted to blame the theft on the Sherpas, but then when they looked down onto the snow they saw enormous footprints.
“The Yeti, the Yeti” they screamed out and decided to follow the prints.
When Klonk’s mother awoke in the morning she went to Klonk’s room to wake him. Imagine her surprise when she saw the skis laying next to his bed.
“Klonk wake up and tell me what those wooden planks are doing next to your bed. Where did you get them: from the Earthlings”.
“What is all the noise about” Klonk’s father said.
“Klonk have you stolen those objects from the earthlings. I hope you covered your footprints afterwards.”
“Well it was dark dad, and I heard the earthlings moving so I ran has fast as I could back home.”
“meaning your footprints are still to be seen” said Bong.
Bong then went to the entrance to their home and saw the large footprints from Klonk leading to their home. He managed to brush over them with his long tail and hide them so that it looked like the footprints had stopped half way up the mountain. He then rejoined his family.
“I have covered the footprints as well as I could and I hope they do not suspect our presence.”
“Bonk come here”
“I can’t dad”
“Why not Bonk?”
“I think I am metamorphosing” was the answer and sure enough Bonk’s white stubby fur was falling out of his skin, being pushed out by a much thicker and longer dark fur. The skin on his feet was peeling and a pair of feet twice the size were growing onto his legs. He had also grown a long tail like his father.
His parents knew they would have to leave their son on his own to go through this phase in his life. A Yeti always braved their metamorphosis alone. After half an hour earth time Bonk appeared from his room, but now looked almost the same as his father. At least for an earthling, only a Yeti could tell the difference.
“Son I am proud of you, you are now a full grown Yeti.”
“Yes dad, and now I will go out and frighten these Earthlings away.”
Before Groga and Bong could stop him he took the skis in his hands and went out in the open and walked towards the earthling’s camp. The earthlings saw him but were so frightened of his size and shape that they just could not move. He took the skis and slid down to their camp on his feet with no problem and put them back in the snow before the tents. He then turned and moved as fast as possible back to his home. The Earthlings were frozen to the spot (and not only from the cold temeperature) and Klonk found that his big(ger) feet could move faster than any pair of skis on the ice.
He used his tail to swish away the marks in the snow and returned home to his parents, telling them what had happened.
And so life went on in the cave under Mount Everest. Klonk was now a full grown Yeti. How the Sherpa children enjoyed riding down the slopes of their mountain on his shoulders. The big feet were better than any skis the Earthlings had, or even the sleigh that Klonk had seen on the television.
When the earthling mountaineers returned after climbing the Mount Everest and told people that they had seen the Yeti, or abominable snowman as it was also known, no-one really believed them and put it down to hallucinations due to the thin air on the summit of the mountain, but we know better.
