I was traveling on the dirt back roads of Entre Rios, a province of Argentina. The land is flat and fertile and it was summer. As we were rolling along the road and with three other passengers, I suddenly saw a huge four and one half foot (1 1/2 meter) lizard on the road, struggling.
I signaled our driver to stop and back up, as we were traveling about 60 km/hr, which is about 45 miles per hour in the U.S. No one had seen the big lizard except for myself.
When we stopped near him, I realized that he had been hit by an earlier car. There was no blood, but I could see he was struggling to gather his wits and get to the side of the road. By now my wife was next to me. He was slightly hissing and looking at the both of us, but I could see he had not recovered from the impact and was having difficulty moving to the side of the road.
I looked at him and with my mind, I said " I can help you but you have to trust me." The large lizard stopped thrashing and lay there, looking at me.
"You can speak with me?"
"Yes. You are in pain."
"Yes, I am. It is hard for me to move."
Looking at this huge lizard, I had never come in contact with one before. Apparently they are native to Argentina and called 'Tegus'. I knew that they are related to the monitor family, and so if bitten I would possibly receive a very infectious bite or even poisonous one, as well as the fact that this kind of lizard, once having a hold of anything, does not let go.
I knew I could not leave him there in the road to take his chances. He was beautiful shades of reds and greys.
"You will have to trust me. I can leave you here, but doing so you may be hit by the moving machines once again. Your life may end. Or you can trust me. Allow me to pick you up carefully and I will put you off this path. I cannot care for you, but I can move you to safety, where you may have a chance to recover."
The lizard looked at me.
"Then do it so."
"What are you going to do?" asked my wife.
"Trust, me, Dine."
And with that I carefully knelt down and gently placed one hand under the rear legs of the massive lizard. All the while he watched me. Then, ever so softly, I said "I am now putting my hand under your neck. Then I will lift you carefully and take you to the side."
The lizard never took his gaze from me.
"I will trust you, but if you squeeze I will bite. I hurt."
"I understand my friend, trust me."
With that I lifted the large lizard up. By now our friends in the car had their heads out and watched me in amazement as I gingerly carried the creature to the side of the road, gently placing him on soft tufts of wheat grass. All the while he looked at me. His breathing was now smooth and not erratic.
As I took my hands away from him, I said
"I am going now, the rest is up to you."
We exchanged glances.
"Remember you are not alone. We are never alone. There is a great hand that guides us all, as it guided me to you."
Getting back into the car, my friends looked at me in amazement. We then went on our way.
So tell me, are animals really just wild and they bite and they have no awareness. What was that which just happened?
You tell me.
Lovely story.
ReplyDeleteI had a somewhat similar experience with a dragonfly a month or so ago. He flew into a workout room while I was exercising and landed on one of the pieces of equipment. When I was done, I walked up to him and told him I thought he should not stay in the room as there was no food there so I would take him outside. I put my finger near him and told him he would be safe. He stepped onto my fingers. I carried him outside onto a balcony and showed him to some people who were down one floor on a pool deck. I then carried him over to a corner to let him step off and he sailed away.
When I lived in Oklahoma a couple of years ago, I had to stop and save the box turtles that wander out onto the road in quantity in the spring. One day I had to stop five times in one 25 mile drive to pick up turtles from the road. I always pointed them away from the road and told them not to go back toward the road. No other conversations, so to speak. I was really urgently called to pick up those who looked like they had been hit and were all closed up. I don't know if those survived.
Karen, that is a great story. It is amazing when you 'know you are communicating! You see the response and it is usually quite instantaneous. Sounds like you have some wonderful gifts!!
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