To Kill a Nandi Bear (short story)

To Kill a Nandi Bear was the fifteenth short story in the Short Trips anthology Short Trips: Past Tense. It was written by Paul Williams. It featured the Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith and Harry Sullivan.

Summary
The TARDIS materialises in what will become Malawi in South Africa, many centuries in Earth’s past. The Doctor, Sarah and Harry leave to explore, and soon discover the dead body of a tribesman, his corpse partially eaten by wild animals. The three travellers are then captured by the rest of the tribe, whose chief accuse them of the death of his fellow tribesman, Mposi.

When the tribe’s shaman accuses them of summoning a legendary beast called a dupa, otherwise known as a Nandi Bear, to kill Mposi, the Doctor agrees to prove his and his companions’ innocence by tracking the creature and slaying it. Later, while talking to the chief, the Doctor learns that the man accepts that Mposi most likely fell to his death after drinking too much at his daughter’s wedding; however, it is the shaman who wields the real power over the tribe, and so the travellers must prove themselves to him instead.

The next morning, the Doctor and Sarah lead the tribe in the hunt, and it is not long before they encounter a ‘dupa’ – in fact Harry wearing a monkey suit from the TARDIS. The mob gives chase, and Harry leads them to the TARDIS, taking refuge inside; the Doctor and Sarah promise the chief that they will deal with the creature, and are allowed to enter the ship. As the TARDIS promptly disappears, the shaman realises that the chief deliberately allowed the trio to escape, and he kills him for his betrayal to the tribe.

Characters

 * Fourth Doctor
 * Sarah Jane Smith
 * Harry Sullivan
 * Chief
 * Shaman

Continuity

 * Sarah recalls the Doctor taming the royal beast on Peladon (TV: The Monster of Peladon).