Jungle Tales of Tarzan · Chapter
XI: A Jungle Joke explained
Tarzan, now full-grown, observes the black warriors of Mbonga setting a trap to capture Numa the lion alive for later torture.
What happens
Tarzan, now full-grown, observes the black warriors of Mbonga setting a trap to capture Numa the lion alive for later torture. He decides to free the lion and, after cutting his hair with a sharpened shell, retrieves the lion hide he stole from the witch-doctor. He returns to the village at dusk and waits for the night's festivities to begin before executing his plan.
Themes in this chapter
Curiosity and Knowledge
Tarzan's curiosity about the Gomangani drives him to spy on them and learn their ways, even as he hates them.
Cruelty and Vengeance
The blacks plan to torture Numa to death, and Tarzan's past vengeance against them is motivated by Kala's death.
Savagery vs. Civilization
Tarzan contrasts the simple lives of apes with the complex, cruel activities of the Gomangani, and feels revulsion at their tortures despite his own savagery.
Characters to notice
- Tarzan
Full-grown and playful, he cuts his hair with a sharpened shell, recalls past battles, and plans to free Numa from the blacks' trap.
- Taug
Tarzan tries to play with Taug, but the bull ape has lost his sense of humor and snarls instead.
- Numa
The lion is captured alive in a cage by the blacks and is to be tortured; Tarzan intends to free him.
- Mbonga
Chief of the black warriors who set the trap for Numa.
- Witch Doctor
Rabba Kega's lion hide, which Tarzan stole, is used by Tarzan for his plan.
- Rabba Kega
The witch-doctor from whom Tarzan stole the lion hide.
Key passages
“Curiosity, that best-developed, common heritage of man and ape, always prompted Tarzan to investigate where the Gomangani were concerned.”
Tarzan's strong curiosity, shared by both humans and apes, always made him want to check on the black people.
Highlights Tarzan's innate curiosity as a driving force.
“The baiting of the blacks was Tarzan’s chief divertissement.”
Tormenting the black villagers was Tarzan's main form of entertainment.
Shows Tarzan's playful yet cruel attitude toward the Gomangani.
“He could not understand the strange feeling of revulsion which possessed him at such times. He had no love for Numa, the lion, yet he bristled with rage when the blacks inflicted upon his enemy such indignities and cruelties as only the mind of the one creature molded in the image of God can conceive.”
Tarzan felt a confusing disgust when the blacks tortured Numa, even though he didn't like the lion, because only humans could think up such cruelty.
Reveals Tarzan's emerging moral sense and revulsion at deliberate cruelty.