Forest of the Pygmies

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Forest of the Pygmies
Author	Isabel Allende
Original title	El bosque de los pigmeos
Translator	Margaret Sayers Peden
Language	Spanish
Series	Las memorias del águila y el jaguar^[1] (The Memories of the Eagle and the Jaguar)
Genre(s)	Fantasy novel
Publisher	Plaza & James Editores (Spanish version)^[2]
Publication date	2004
Published in English	2005
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	224 pp (Spanish version)^[2]
ISBN	ISBN 8401341809 (Spanish version)^[2]
Preceded by	Kingdom of the Golden Dragon

Forest of the Pygmies is a novel written by the Chilean novelist Isabel Allende and published in 2004. The English version was released in the following year.^[3] It is the last part of a trilogy that also contains the novels City of the Beasts and Kingdom of the Golden Dragon. Like others in the trilogy, this novel was translated by Margaret Sayers Peden from Spanish.

1 Plot summary
2 Characters
3 Themes & Issues
4 External links
5 References

[edit] Plot summary

[edit] Beginning

The story opens with the main characters Nadia Santos and Alexander Cold being on safari in Kenya and accompanying Alex's grandmother Kate, who works as a reporter for the magazine International Geographic.^[4] They visit a market where a seer tells them to stay close to each other, or they will be in danger. Soon afterwards, they meet a Catholic missionary called Brother Fernando, who asks them to fly him to Ngoubé, a village located deep inside the African jungle. Two of his friars, who live in that village to look after the population, have recently sent him a letter telling him about the village's disastrous situation and that they now were in danger, because the village's rulers did not tolerate their presence. After some arguments that rise between Brother Fernando and the seductive pilot Angie Ninderera, Kate and the others agree to come along with him. Upon landing, Angie's plane breaks by crashing onto a small beach, therefore insulating them from the outside world.

[edit] In the forests

Several days later, they are found by some fishermen who take them to the entrance of a forest which belongs to a very dangerous and tyrannical king called Kosongo; he has the command of Ngoubé and terrorizes its population, being sustained by the commandant Maurice Mbembelé and sorcerer Sombe. After arriving in the village, they pretend to be reporters who want to interview Kosongo due to his well-known power and wisdom. During the following nights Nadia explorates the village and manages to gain the support of the women, who are imprisoned at night and separated from their husbands and sons. The latter ones are forced by the rulers to become soldiers and torture their own families. Alex and Nadia eventually flee into the forest to look for the pygmies and convince them of rebelling against Kosongo and Mbembelé. They also find the village's former queen Nana-Asante, who agrees to sustain them, too.

[edit] The battle

After the pygmies had left the wood, one of them challenges Mbembelé to a duel. He finally exhausts the commandant, who attacks him, but is chased away by Alex in his jaguar form. Shortly after his getaway the terrifying sorcerer Sombe appears in the village and the population's resistance is smashed at once. Nadia, who had stayed in the woods, joins the village in the shape of a white eagle, accompanied by Nana-Asante and many other people who own magical skills and whom Nadia and Alex had met during their former journeys throughout the world. Angie rips Sombe's mask off, and Mbembelé, Sombe and Kosongo turn out to be the same person. The man is thrown into a waterhole full of crocodiles.

Brother Fernando decides to stay in the village and help the population restore their existence. Angie Ninderera can contact a friend of hers, so that the group will be picked up by a helicopter soon.

[edit] Epilogue

Two years later, Alex has begun to study medicine at Berkeley and persuaded Nadia of going to university as well. He has just flown to New York City, where Kate and Nadia live together. Alex wants to take Nadia to a graduation ceremony. Kate has written three books about their adventures.

[edit] Characters

Kate: the grandmother of Alex Alex: grandson of Kate and friend of Nadia Nadia: lived in the Amazon, lives with Kate, friend of Alex Boroba: Nadia's monkey Angie: pilot Brother Fernando: missionary that leads the team to Ngoube Beye Dokur: esteemed Pygmie hunter King Kosongo: leader of Ngoube Commandant Mbembele: official army Sombe: evil sorcery Joel: photographer Ma Bangese: fortune teller