There is a tree growing in the middle of the forest of Jubla. It has broad, spongy leaves, about the size of a standard three foot by six foot blanket and a trunk so hard it breaks axes (axen?), and I do not mean ax handles. This tree grows to about fifteen feet in height and its roots penetrate to about twice that length into the ground.
It flowers all through the year, with radiant, silvery flowers bloomingbalong the blades of its leaves. These flowers are phosphorescent and at night glow in a pulsating fashion, giving the tree a nganya-like look. It is the nganya of trees.
Not many people have heard of this tree, obviously, because I am the first one to tell you about it.
It produces a hard, black or zebra-coloured fruit which is so hard it breaks rocks and hammers but strangely enough, cracks when rubbed with honey. There are other methods to crack it open including using salt water or the urine of elephants but that method leads to explosive results. I know people who have been cut by pieces of flying shell trying to open the fruit this way, therefore I cannot recommend using this method unless you want some meat to go along with your fruit or some blood with which to perform a religious ritual.
While most trees use osmosis and capillarity to pump fluids from place to place, this tree uses several heart-like structures inside its trunk which generate so much pressure that the tree radiates heat at night.
The locals, when thirsty, come to this tree and pluck off a flower petal and the place where it was mounted oozes a clear liquid so dense that, once drunk, the drinker can go several days without need of food or drink. In fact, those who have drunk more than half a litre of this drink have experienced violent deaths resulting from the rupture of their stomachs.
This is the reason why the Wajubla community living in these areas eat so little, yet are so strong. In fact, the ancestors of the revered Fumo Liyongo, Luanda Magere and Shaka Zulu came from this community.
The fruit has no pulp. After a month growing from petal to fruit, the fruit is usually so heavy that the leaf holding it becomes as stiff as a board. This is especially so since the leaf is ringed round by a number of fruits.
The fruit is harvested by gently knocking on it and saying, "Tree of Jubla, drop your fruit so the son(or daughter) of Jubla can eat. It becomes instantly light and can be carried by a small child. Just be sure to steer clear because whoever you are, if the fruit falls on you, it instantly crushes your body. Strangely, it does not hurt the grass or the ground underneath it.
Opening the fruit is usually done ceremoniously by singing a song and rapping thrice each on different, specific points which I will not tell you because it is a secret and the shell splits neatly into three thirds, revealing a dense, globular, golden substance.
This substance is so powerful that whoever eats it gets similar properties to the tree, including hardness of body, strength and healing ability and is widely given to those who are severly injured, leading to their full recover overnight. This is what the Wajubla sing when administering the substance:
"Fruit of Jubla, heal your child.
Fruit of Jubla, heal your child.
Fruit of Jubla, heal your child."
This is done until the administration is done.
Only one thing is known to hurt the Wajubla, and that is the gashu nut bee which feasts on the tree's nectar.
The Wajubla do not cultivate crops, but keep massive herds of cattle, whose milk they let their calves drink, slaughtering a cow every once in a while for food and ritual purposes. Their land has many different types of fruits which cannot be found elsewhere, and which the Wajubla relish alongside the beasts that live among them, and for the occasional stranger who strays far beyond the beaten path into their land.
This is obviously not a true story.
I can hear suspense. Can you?