Indaba, My Children: African Tribal History, Legends, Customs And Religious Beliefs. Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa
mighty mound of rock and clay and sand
From the bottom of the lake
And he rolled it into a mighty ball,
Greater in size than Killima-Njaro itself.
Then in one lightning movement
Of all his branches combined,
He hurled this formidable missile
Skyward at the object of his love,
Now almost one with the stars.
Straight and true went the soaring ball
And the next thing the fugitive Goddess felt
Was a great blow on the back of her silvery head;
And as she plunged through the air,
Limp and unconscious, but still of unearthly beauty—
The great ugly tree spread its manifold arms
To save her in her headlong fall—
‘My dearest beloved,’ he gurgled.
The great ball rebounded from the Goddess’s head
And went into orbit as the moon of today,
And the Great Spirit in his Almighty wisdom
With radiance declared it the Guardian of Love,
To regulate the Love of Gods,
And of Men and beasts and birds and fishes yet to come.
Today all the Tribes of this Dark Continent
Respect the power of the Holy Missile
And its influence upon all our lives and love.
Drums still beat and most secret rituals are performed
In dark forests in honour of that missile
Which helped to restore the very first marriage
Between our Goddess Ma and our Most Sacred Tree,
The Tree of Life.
Even today, as in all ages past,
The moon makes lovers seek each other’s arms
And wives the company
Of their children’s fathers.
Aieeee! Great is the power of the moon—
And who dares to doubt it?
Lo! thus sing the Holy Singers of Kariba
Whenever the full moon rises
And turns the timeless Zambesi into a dazzling serpent
Of shimmering liquid silver and gold:—
‘Oh missile which through the starry sky
At fleeting Ma the Tree of Life let fly,
Shed still on earth thy heatless silver light
And let all things feel Love’s consuming might.
Shoot burning darts into the lion’s soul
Make him forget to stalk the zebra foal.
And turn him back to where, beneath the trees
His mate awaits, and there to find release
From unpleasant anguish. Bid the warring king
Forget awhile his bloody lance and cling
To his beloved of the pointed breast.
Command the North, the South, the East and the West
To pause from war and thieving, and to LOVE!’
BEHOLD THE FIRST IS BORN!
After her capture
The Tree of Life held the Goddess fast
Never to let her escape again;
And it came about one day
That movements occurred within her,
Movements which increased with the passage of time,
Much to her fear and distress.
At long last, after a thousand years,
The Goddess felt a sudden tearing pain
That prompted her to cry out suddenly
And writhe in anguish in her mineral husband’s tentacles.
The first cruel pains were followed by others—
A third and fourth and the glittering voice of the Goddess
Rang loudly across the plains
To rebound against the stunned distant mountains.
The foolish Tree of Life not understanding,
Thought his bride was trying another escape,
So he held her more tightly in his manifold arms,
Greatly increasing her pain.
As time went on the intensity of her suffering
Increased twofold, and after fifty agonising years
Turned so utterly unbearable that she freed herself
From the Tree of Life’s endearing embrace,
And wriggled and rolled on the barren earth
In efforts to ease her inexplicable agony.
Such was her suff’ring, and desp’rate her efforts,
That with self-hypnosis she counted the stars.
E’en today many Tribes have the saying:
‘To count the very stars in pain.’
The first father, the Tree of Life, kept watch,
With typical helplessness
As his mate writhed and wailed through her birth pains.
But at long, long last the Great Goddess
Was relieved from her hideous pain,
And the first mighty nation of flesh and blood,
A countless number of human beings, was born.
And in their multitudes they spread
To populate the barren Ka-Lahari.
Meanwhile, however, the strangest change came over the Tree of Life;
Green buds burst from its writhing limbs
And clouds of seeds emerged and fell upon the rocky plains.
Wherever they struck the ground they shot out roots
Into the stubborn rock and barren sand,
Breaking through to reach some moisture
And soon all manner of plants grew forth—
A creeping carpet of lush living green.
Soon mighty forests covered the earth,
Contending with the mountains themselves.
Howling winds and sheets of rain
And roots of forest trees
Worked hand in hand to mould the craggy mountains
Into undulating plains.
Soon after all this effort the Tree of Life
Bore living, snarling, howling animal fruit.
From its widespread branches they fell with a thud
On the grassy ground below,
And scampered off into the forests