Indaba, My Children: African Tribal History, Legends, Customs And Religious Beliefs. Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa
she spat
In a donga disgruntedly.
She continued to search and her appetite finally stilled
She returned to impatiently await the dawn.
Then when the first rays of light
Burst over the many-fanged range to the east
And the mountains cast sharp shadows over the plains,
The Goddess heard an awful voice
Calling out hoarsely at her:
‘Come, oh my mate, I await thee here,’
And the shimmering silvery Goddess arose
With a cry of immeasurable joy
And, not heeding the regular exit,
She burst through the side of the hill;
And midst roaring boulders, thund’ring clouds of blinding dust
She held her arms outstretched . . .
‘My Mate! My Mate! You have . . .’
Her voice faded out into gasping silence
As hungry limbs reached out with might
From the billowing dust for her lithe silv’ry form
And – Oh Great Spirit – how horrible they were!
They were not arms like her own
But those of great creeping vines
Whose very bark was studded
With jagged pieces of granite
And diamonds and iron ore
A horrible mineral display!
These branches, as they’ll henceforth be called,
Sprang with a host of others
From the top of a monstrous trunk,
Resembling the biggest baobab tree
That ever grew on earth.
From the middle of the monstrous trunk
Bulged dozens of bloodshot eyes
Which burnt with a lecherous hunger,
While beneath them grinned a wicked mouth
With a thousand pointed fangs.
Now and then a long green tongue
Like the hide of a crocodile
Would lick the granite lips.
* * *
From some of the tree’s branches grew
Great udders which oozed a golden honey-like fluid.
Unlike the ordinary tree, this one had roots which it used
Like a crab or a spider to move from one place to another;
And the sight alone
Of those crawling living roots
Scrabbling o’er the rock-hard plain as they moved
Was enough for the mountains to shudder!
‘Come, my beloved, come to me!’
Roared the tree and drew the Goddess close
And with its rock-studded mouth bruised her silvery lips
With a savage kiss!
‘I am the Tree of Life, thy mate, and I desire thee!’
‘Aieeee,’ shrieked Ma – ‘It cannot be!
My mate you are not – my companion – NO!
Release me, you ugly, most monstrous thing!’
‘Release you, while I’ve only just caught you!
You, my heart’s desire!
I did not catch you only to release you!’
‘What . . .?’ gasped the Goddess.
As more and more branches
Held her fast beyond all hope . . .
And here, my dear reader, I shall, as the saying goes,
Cut the fowl’s beak,
Leaving the rest to your most respected imagination!
Suffice it to say that in agonised moments that followed
The Goddess had very good cause to regret
Her folly of requesting the Almighty Spirit
To grant her a wish of her own.
When the Tree of Life released her at last,
The thoroughly frightened Ma
Fled madly across the plains with loud shrieks
To the Great Spirit with entreaties to rid her
Of a most unpleasant mate,
But the reply that the First Goddess got
Was – ‘You have had your wish—
What more do you want?’
You may wonder, dear reader,
How the Goddess managed her escape.
Well the tree had pursued her relentlessly
With all its tremendous bulk.
Like any young man he had no wish to see
Even his metaphysical bride escape
And return to his mother-in-law!
Do not the Wise Ones say
That ‘They who have for the first time tasted
The nectar-filled cup of Love
Never let it drop undrained?’
So, over plain and valley, and over the hills
And down many a cruel mountainside
Fled the terrified Goddess, and racing forth,
Now on the ground on her silvery feet—
Now through the air like a bird of prey,
But no matter how far and how fast she fled
The Tree of Life kept close on her heels
Until at last both pursuer and pursued
Reached the bleak barren wastelands which in future years
Became known to mortals as Ka-Lahari.
By now the great Tree was on fire with love,
But tired ne’ertheless while his quarry,
Urged by the cold breath of fear,
Was still as fresh as ever.
At long last, after many years of flight and pursuit
Both Goddess and tree plunged headlong
In the waters of lake Makarikari
And it was here that Ma streaked through the water
Like some silvery luminous fish,
And then soared like an owl through the night sky
While below, her mate, the Tree of Life,
Waddled in the mud of the lake.
Here it was that the Imperfect Immortal
Very nearly made good her escape,
But here too a flash of pure inspiration
Tore through the sluggish brain of the Tree.
Acting fast on a chance idea,