Out of Africa Book Four, From an Immigrant's Notebook: From "Of Natives and History" to "The Parrot" Summary & Analysis

While on a boat to Africa, the narrator meets a Belgian and an Englishman. The Belgian runs a mission in the Congo and insists that natives should be taught how to be honest and how to work, but nothing more.

The narrator befriends a Swedish Professor of Natural History who wants to kill over a thousand Colombus monkeys for research. The Game Department only allows him to shoot six. The Professor tells the narrator that while on a local mountain, he began to believe in God. The narrator wonders if God now believes in him.

A little boy named Karomenya, who is deaf and dumb, lives on the farm. He has few friends and was unable to manage the house job that the narrator tried to give him. One day, the narrator gives him a whistle. This tool fascinates Karomenya for a while, since when he blows it all of the dogs run to him. One day, the narrator even sees him whistling and running with a pack of dogs far out on the plain. Eventually, the whistle is no longer on his neck and the narrator wonders if he lost it or grew tired with it. She thinks that Karomenya may suffer in later life, or else he will go right to heaven.

Pooran Singh is the farm's blacksmith. He makes almost everything for the farm by forging iron, doing carpentry, and making saddles. The narrator frequently goes to watch Pooran Singh labor with the hot, soot filled fire. The natives also like to come and watch the metal be shaped. Pooran Singh works hard and sends all his money back to India for the education of his children. The narrator finds him to be a mythic, servant of the gods who works in a noble trade. She quotes an ancient Greek verse to honor him.

One time, the narrator, one of her hunting dogs, and Farah are down on the Masai Reserve when she sees the plain's horizon starts to move. Looking through her binoculars, she sees a herd of animals running toward them but cannot determine what they are. Farah observes that it is a group of wild dogs. The natives generally believe wild dogs are bad omens. The narrator and Farah remain on the plain to watch the dogs run by. The dogs look tired and the narrator cannot figure out why they were on the move. Few people believe this story, although the narrator swears it is true.

An old Danish ship owner remembers how when he was just a youth of about sixteen traveling on his father's ship, he landed in a brothel in Singapore. A Chinese woman he met there had a very old parrot given to her during her youth. It can speak in many languages but one thing it says she does not understand. The boy listens and understands the line as ancient Greek. It is from a Sappho poem and he translates it for the woman.

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