Merlin, the jungle Thai pit bull. Guardian and protector. I wrote previously last year of his encounter with a three metre King Cobra hiding amongst my trash cans. This time the Naga Spirits presented themselves in new form with another message.

So, I am hearing much barking and howling and upon investigating, I find Merlin trying to climb the side of a tree. Not successful with that, he begins to tear the tree apart. The focus of his fervour, a giant two metre Monitor Lizard, a slightly bigger cousin of the little thumb size gecko’s, and the Thai equivalent of a crocodile that frequents these jungle settings.

He succeeds dislodging it and the modern day prehistoric dinosaur leaps three metres to the ground and heads off at unbelievably high speed. It is soon cornered by Merlin and they both face each other eye to eye in lethal combat of tooth and claw. There is little I can do to intervene.

The arrival of Merlin’s owner Wan, the jungle man, is drawn in by all the barking. Being deeply respectful of all the creatures of the forest, his first thought is not to kill the giant inhabitant despite the obvious danger to his dog. He is undecided whether to deal firstly with the snapping dinosaur or the snarling dog – both presenting an equally undesirable approach. He throws a loop of rope over Merlin’s head, circles a tree and starts to pull his dog away from the battle scene. He throws a large plastic bag towards me and gesticulates at the sharp razor toothed drooling monster with Velociraptor size claws.

Hang on, I thought, this is rather a dangerous situation, we don’t speak a word of each other’s language, we have no means of co-ordinating our efforts. ‘Can’t I hold the rope and you do the thing with the bag’ – despite Merlin being there, this is not exactly performing magic with a fluffy rabbit in a hat. He continues talking rapidly in Thai, I keep rapidly replying in English and we are somehow understanding each other. Maybe the circumstances are creating a bridge of awareness, a higher level of understanding that allow us to know the intentions of the other.
I throw the bag over the Lizard’s head, while Wan grabs his tail and lifts up, the Dragon talons grip hard into the ground. I pick up a stick and dig the claws out of the sandy soil, shuffling the thin plastic bag inch by inch along the elongated giant lizard’s body. I brush up against the scaly skin which is rough to the touch, the evolutionary armour of millions of years of defensive development. My thin paper skin, a poor comparison against sharp teeth and those claws, did I mention the claws?

Wan closes off the large bag which I now see is labelled Dog Food – how ironic! . He can’t lift it, years of prising coconuts from tall palm trees have taken their toll on his back. The bag weighs a tonne and I have to drag it to his side cart scooter and load it on. One plastic bag with a two metre lizard inside – to go…..

Poor Merlin denied his right to save the day sat looking miserable and dejected. ‘That was my job’ he projects. Wan drives off to the river to release the dinosaur back into its Jurassic timeline far away from my jungle back garden.

Oh yes, one more thing, I returned to my client on the Zoom consultation I was holding at the time – ‘Sorry to keep you waiting’ I said as I reopened the video on my phone to her!!!

‘That’s OK’ she said, ‘I heard the whole thing over the microphone’ 🙂