Chaka. Thomas Mofolo
billowed vigorously and swelled. A chilly wind blew and the reeds swayed and eddied. A small column of thick mist arose from the deep pool, it formed an elongated cloud which came and covered him so that he could see nothing, even quite close to him; and then out of the reeds over there something boomed with a heavy, stentorious voice:
Mphu-mphu, hail!
Kalamajweng, Kalamajweng!
Mphu-mphu, hail!
Kalamajweng, Kalamajweng!
Mighty monster in the water-r-r
Kalamajweng, Kalamajweng!
It is seen only by the favoured ones
Kalamajweng, Kalamajweng!
Is seen by those who will rule over nations
Kalamajweng, Kalamajweng!
It repeated those words twice and then was silent, and at the very moment it stopped, a very soft voice spoke and said:
Hail! Hail! This land is yours, child of my compatriot,
You shall rule over nations and their kings
You shall rule over peoples of diverse traditions
You shall even rule over the winds and the sea storms
And the pools or large rivers that run deep;
And all things shall obey you with unquestioning obedience,
And shall kneel at your feet!
O yes, oi! Oi! Yet you must go by the right path.
Chaka only heard the words but did not see anything because of the mist covering him; and when the voices finished speaking those words which Chaka did not understand completely, the mist opened up and moved away from him, but it did not go back into the water from where it had come, but simply vanished and was no longer there; but more accurately we might say it seeped into his body. Nandi did not hear these words, she only saw the snake and the billowing of the water and the swaying of the reeds, but as for the voices, she did not hear them, which is strange since she was not so far away. We can only conclude that they were meant for Chaka alone. After these ominous happenings Chaka put on his clothes and went up from the river; and it happened that when he arrived home, the rays of the sun shone upon the village, and his mother smeared him with his medicines in the usual way.
Nandi sent a messenger to Zwide’s on that very day to tell the doctor about these developments. The messenger came back and reported that the doctor was extremely busy and was unable to come, but that she would come at the end of that very month. Should she still be unable to come, then they should go to her at Zwide’s.
The appointed month passed and the doctor did not appear, and when they were getting ready to go to her, there came a messenger with sad news to Chaka and his mother, telling them that their doctor had died. Nandi and her son were grieved in a manner that we are unable to describe. They felt abandoned and unable to decide what to do because they had put much trust in this doctor, for they saw that everything she predicted happened truly in the manner she had foretold it. Now they wondered where they would find a true, genuine doctor.
When the messenger saw this, he said: “Your doctor said I should tell you that you should not worry because, when the sickness gripped her and she began to feel that she would not live, she sent someone far way to fetch the doctor who had taught her everything she knew about medicine, and she made a point of asking him to complete the work of strengthening Chaka with the help of her medicines, since she had been prevented by death. It is clear then that, if he who is coming is the one who taught your doctor about medicine, he must have knowledge and understanding of powerful herbs which surpass those of your doctor. Besides, he is not only a doctor, he is also a diviner who receives revelations through his head. She said you must not put yourselves to trouble looking for that doctor, for he will come to you of his own accord, since he will divine for himself where you are. That woman, your doctor, did everything she did with medicines only, whereas the one who is coming sometimes uses the divination of the head. He will see danger while it is still far away and you will have time to avoid it; he divines the wars before they are fought, and even before they have been contemplated, and even foretells which side will win, and these things all happen the way he has foretold them. Your doctor said I should urge you to calm down and not to torment yourselves, for your affairs are still going well.”
When Nandi and her son heard these words, their fears subsided, for they had been very anxious indeed; they told themselves that under the circumstances everything was as well as it could be, if only the one of whom they were told did not delay in coming till they found themselves in danger.
At just about that time Chaka’s name was maliciously linked with all things evil. Those whom he had defeated in fighting talked all manner of ugly things about him. Some said he had been vaccinated by a tikoloshe and that explained why he was so skilled in fighting with his sticks, and why he never ran away. Others said he was actually fathered by a tikoloshe, and that that was why his father had without any compunction chased him away together with his mother even though he had married her with so many head of cattle. It was rumoured strongly that Chaka was not at all a human being who resembled other people, for even his mother’s months of pregnancy had not, according to those who claimed to know, reached the number of months of the pregnancy of women. They spoke these things meanwhile trying to devise a plan to kill him, yet also careful that the plan should not make Dingiswayo aware of the murder, and that it should appear that he had either died a natural death or had been killed by predatory beasts. Chaka’s fame, on the other hand, continued to spread, till it reached Dingiswayo who, in his turn, had a growing desire to see him, and indeed not only to see him, but to enlist him in his regiments.
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