Indaba, My Children: African Tribal History, Legends, Customs And Religious Beliefs. Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa
masters and mistresses.
This display set a fine example
To all the robot insects
And they proceeded to slaughter outright
Both Bjaauni and Amarire.
All were now struggling for mastery
In a tortured world already half sacked,
When suddenly the man-made sun exploded
With a hideous and dazzling peal of thunder.
Za-Ha-Rrellel witnessed all this but remained unmoved,
Being insolently confident of his own ability
To remain immortal and rebuild from scratch
A new world with his creative power.
Thus from the safety of his indestructible shelter
He watched most unconcernedly as his subjects
Died in their thousands and millions.
The Great Goddess Ma stood ankle-deep in blood
Among the countless dead bodies,
Pleading for mercy on behalf of the human race,
But the Great Spirit was totally unmoved.
Suddenly a huge green giant with a bloody axe,
And a disembowelled woman across the shoulder,
Announced his presence to the Emperor himself;
Odu the Killer was the last Bjaauni alive.
‘I . . . kill!’ bellowed the giant,
Suddenly acquiring the gift of speech.
‘Die! Kill yourself!’ commanded the Emperor—
‘I am your god – your creator!’
No longer subservient, the subhuman roared—
Plucked out the Emperor’s windpipe with lungs and all.
Flung in a corner he had time to nurse
Second thoughts on his Immortality!
Za-Ha-Rrellel died, the miserable beast that he was—
After two hundred years he was dying at last—
A most miserable death it was that he died—
But in body alone . . . Yea! Not in spirit!
Somehow he knew that Mankind would survive
And flourish again in future years—
And future Humanity he intended to infest
With ambition and cruelty and love of bloodshed!
This evil spirit is still alive today
In the hearts of all mankind,
Where ambitiously it is working towards one goal—
Complete destruction of our present race!
With a last lungless gasp Za-Ha-Rrellel observed
His indestructable shelter crash
And over the towering ruin-like walls
Smiled the hideous mouth of the Tree of Life.
‘You failed to destroy me, Za-Ha-Rrellel!’
The Goddess threw herself into her beloved lord’s many arms;
‘Those two . . . those two must live . . .
Spare them as the parents of the Second People;
Mercy on all creatures still alive!’
‘The world, and what little is left on it,
Has my mercy, oh beloved one;
Calm down – earthquakes, fires and storms,
Trouble my earth no more!’
The great city tilted and sank
Forever below the seas;
The real sun broke through the dissolving clouds
And the sea turned a blazing copper-red.
Two figures, one male and one female,
Joyfully rode on the back of a fish;
They were riding towards the rising sun—
Blessed by our Goddess and the Tree of Life!
POSTSCRIPT
Indaba . . . Let us pause here, oh my children, and reflect most seriously upon the rather lengthy legends we have heard.
It is said, briefly, that the Great Spirit had created the Universe for reasons that nobody must endeavour to fathom. The Great Spirit used a being called the First Goddess, who worked as a tool under His directions. In answer to a request she was granted as a companion a weird kind of ‘being’, half plant and half animal, the Tree of Life. This Tree of Life is the most revered deity throughout Bantu Africa, even today. Numerous representative designs are engraved on clay pots, burnt on wooden spoons, trays and other vessels. It is also frequently depicted in all kinds of ornamental carvings, in ebony, ivory and mahogany. Some of these designs are illustrated in the accompanying figures.
The Ndebele tribes of the Transvaal are the most fanatical worshippers of the Tree of Life, south of the Zambesi. The Zulus, too, are strong believers in this deity, but some interpret it as a huge hollow reed, rather than a tree. They call it Uhlanga Lwe Zizwe, which means ‘Reed of all Nations.’
We then came to Za-Ha-Rrellel (Tsarelleli or Sarelleli to most tribes today), who was said to have been responsible for the infection of all mankind with mental diseases like ambition and a love for all the wicked things that mostly ensue from it, including bloodshed.
The main reason why the Africans used to destroy crippled and otherwise deformed children was to prevent this fabled tyrant from ever being reborn or reincarnated, to spread his evil and dangerous knowledge amongst men once more.
Many of the mighty cliffs in Zululand and the Transkei stand today as dumb witnesses of many sacrifices of deformed children that have been made in the course of time.
THE COMING OF THE SECOND PEOPLE
OR
‘THY ORDEAL, OH AMARAVA’
BEHOLD THE SURVIVORS!
Like the rest of the First Amarire People,
The beautiful Amarava was immortal and could live forever
Unless deliberately stabbed with a spear
Or devoured by a ferocious beast.
But unlike the rest of the Amarire People,
She had not become sterile, nor had she lost
The power of walking and running
In that world of floating mats and sleds;
Except, of course, those sub-human beings
Which Za-Ha-Rrellel, the Emperor, had created.
In that glittering fantastic world of the obese
Where even yawning had become a strenuous thing,
Amarava stood alone, like a full-hipped
Heavy-breasted narrow-waisted goddess
Amongst so many bloated, sterile
And depraved swine.
People laughed