Dream on Monkey Mountain

Alone on stage, Makak dreams of a time before his arrest.  

Moustique, a short man with a limp and a jute bag over his shoulder, finds Makak recovering from a fever. The two men are friends and business partners, so Moustique helps Makak to his feet. Four years earlier, Makak helped Moustique deal with his alcoholism. Now, it is market day and they are scheduled to sell coal together, but Makak’s dream of the white woman has deeply affected him. He does not want to go. Moustique brews coffee and forces Makak to drink it. Makak recounts his dream, in which the mysterious white woman knew his real name and everything about him. The woman spent the night with Makak and told him that he comes “from the family of lions and kings” (236).  

Makak is now convinced that this was not merely a dream, but Moustique just wants to go to the market. As Makak prepares to fetch the coal, Moustique cleans the coffee cups and is surprised by a spider sitting beside a white egg sack. He quickly kills it, but they agree that the spider is an ominous sign of Moustique’s impending death. Makak pauses—the white woman had predicted that he would see signs, so he decides that he must do what she told him. Moustique finds a “white mask with long coarse hair” (239) and jokingly puts it on. Makak is shocked; he has never seen the mask before and now thinks that the white woman has left her face behind. Makak demands that their donkey be saddled and announces that he will go to Africa to reclaim his throne. Moustique, convinced that Makak is deranged and fearful of what has happened to his friend, agrees to join him. They march together down the mountain.  

Walking along a country road, Moustique comes across a sick man and his family. As they carry the man in a hammock, the white-robed members of a sisterhood dance around and sing. Also present is the local coffin maker, Basil, wearing a long coat and a silk hat, “his face halved by white make-up” (243). They are trying to exorcize the man’s snakebite; there is no cure, but they have lit coals near him, hoping that he will sweat out his sickness. So far, however, he is not able to break into a sweat. Moustique joins them in prayer and asks whether they could “spare a little bread” (244). The people have little to spare, but when Moustique offers to fetch an old man with a knowledge of medicine, they give Moustique a small amount of bread and he scuttles away.  

Moustique returns with Makak. After seeing the sick man, Makak announces that everyone must kneel. He places one hand on the sick man’s forehead, takes a hot coal in the other, and prays while the sisters sing. Nothing happens, so Makak takes more hot coals in his hand and falls quiet. Moustique admonishes the people for their lack of faith. Makak gives up, but before he can lead Moustique away, the sick man’s wife gives them food. When she returns to her husband, she finds that he has broken out into a sweat and the crowd celebrates. Moustique, standing on a box, shouts at them to be thankful that Makak has given the man the chance to get well. The crowd drops food and money into Moustique’s open sack; Basil hands over his coat and hat, but insists that he will see Moustique soon.  

Moustique congratulates Makak on all the profits they have made but Makak insists that “this power I have, is not for profit” (254). Moustique does not resent their poverty, although he notes that they are so poor they have had to sell their donkey. Makak kneels to pray. Moustique defends himself, wondering how they could possibly hope to reach Africa without money. Makak reluctantly accepts the need to be paid for his work, but insists that they do not take more than they need. Moustique leads them on to Quatre Chemin Market.  

Corporal Lestrade and the Market and Sanitation Inspector fret over how to handle the arrival of Makak in the town on market day. Rumors of his healing powers have travelled ahead of him. Market goers discuss the sick man whom Makak healed. There are also stories about Makak curing a young boy’s abscess and turning a stone into fire. As Lestrade and the Inspector walk through the market, Lestrade explains that he carries a pistol to protect people from themselves and to preserve order. He feels a duty to protect the local people, who are “born slaves and they born tired” (261). He has heard rumors of a man who lived in the mountains who had grown tired of sitting around, so has come down from his home to heal people and give them hope. While the local seem interested in Makak, Lestrade fears his influence. Nearby, singers reenact Makak’s healing.  

A boy arrives, saying that he has seen Makak on the road. Moustique enters with a flourish, impersonating Makak by wearing a long coat and a tall hat and carrying a spear in his hand. Lestrade stops him; Moustique banters with the crowd, unafraid of Lestrade or his pistol. When the Inspector decries the scene as ignorance, Moustique mocks him as the crowd cheers wildly. Moustique outlines his long journey ahead, all the way to Africa, and asks for food and drink to get him there. In exchange, he offers to cure any ailments. As he drinks, however, a spider crawls across his hand. Moustique is horrified. Lestrade, wondering why “a man who will bring deliverance is afraid of a spider” (268), instructs Basil to fetch the spider and take it near Moustique. When Basil circles Moustique with the spider in his hand, he sees through Moustique’s disguise and warns Moustique that he has not read the signs. He demands that Moustique reveal his real identity until Moustique finally relents and admits that he is not Makak.  

The crowd becomes angry and attacks Moustique. Lestrade allows them to continue a short time before stopping the assault. Basil collects his hat from the beaten Moustique, and Lestrade offers to buy the Inspector a drink. They leave together as Makak, “dusty and tattered” (272), enters the market and finds his stricken friend Moustique, who is panicking that he will die in the market. He implores Makak to return to Monkey Mountain; he admits to travelling ahead of Makak and working the same scam in many other villages. Makak refuses to let Moustique die. He is still operating under the orders of the white woman from his dream. Shouting about seeing a black wind, Moustique dies of his injuries. Makak forcibly looks into his dying friend’s eyes and “what he sees there darkens his vision” (274). He lets out a guttural cry as darkness falls and demons and spirits enter the stage, collecting the body. Makak falls to the ground in a fit.