Chaka. Thomas Mofolo
the very one through which they said the spirits sent their messages. She mixed the bile with some of her medicines and made him drink the mixture. She said that the child, Chaka, would, in the course of his life, receive great blessings such as had never been received by a human being.
She gave Nandi a medicine horn and said: “Always when the moon is about to die you must bathe this child at the river very early in the morning, before the sun has risen, and then when he has finished bathing he must walk quickly back home, and when the first rays of the sun shine upon the village, you must take some of this medicine with your fingers and anoint his head with it. You must anoint only the centre of the head where the child’s head throbs; be sure to anoint also this tuft of hair which is never to be shaved off. You must do these things before he eats anything. Bathe him in a large river, not a small one.
“When this child is already grown and knows how to bathe himself, whenever he gets into the water, you must go away from him and wait in a place that is out of view, and you are never to go to him unless he calls you. He, on the other hand, must not shout when he calls you, he should rather whistle. If he could see something that frightens him while he is in the water, on no account must he run away, regardless of whatever may appear. You, for your part, must never, even on a single day, ask him what he has seen; rather let him volunteer of his own accord to tell you. Even when this child has grown to be a man, he must never be accompanied by another man when he goes to bathe, he must go entirely alone, or else go in the company of a woman if he wishes to be with another person.”
When Chaka had reached the stage when he was not only able to crawl and to stand, but was attempting to walk, his father Senzangakhona had a son born to him by his second wife. That child was given the name Mfokazana. When Chaka was ready to be weaned, Nandi returned to her husband’s home at Nobamba, and shortly after she arrived there Senzangakhona had another male child, named Dingana, born to him by one of his most senior wives. It was from that time that the lives of Chaka and his mother took a turn for the worse. Before that, Nandi was a precious thing at Nobamba, since the king’s wives held her dear for having removed the shame from them all by giving birth to a boy, while Senzangakhona also adored her, for his part, because of obtaining through her the boy child for whom he had been yearning so long. Nandi was given enough food so that her breasts should swell with milk for Chaka. She was the queen of the household, yet when Mfokazana and Dingana appeared, everything changed. The senior wives turned their eyes to the children born by them and declared that Mfokazana was the king-elect followed in seniority by Dingana. And even as matters stood thus, Senzangakhona once more became the father of a boy, named Mhlangana, whose mother was also senior to Nandi by marriage, and it was then that the affairs of their lives went completely to ruin.
No one was exactly sure about the circumstances surrounding Chaka’s birth. Many people did not know that Nandi was married when she was already heavy. Only very few knew this, and none of them would dare to breathe a word because they would be in serious trouble. It is possible that some who watched her carefully noticed that her months did not reach the number of months of the pregnancy of women. Since Senzangakhona still loved Chaka and his mother a great deal, the senior wives took offence, and demanded that Senzangakhona should say openly what the order of succession of his sons was, so that the nation should know, and the boys too should know their status. However, Senzangakhona refused. The senior wives talked a great deal among themselves about this matter and even told the councillors to advise the king to arrange things for his children; but whenever the councillors tried to raise the matter, Senzangakhona would fly into a rage and tell them that they should get out of the affairs of his household, and that they were councillors in matters pertaining to the nation, not in private households. The senior wives therefore found a sorcerer who turned Senzangakhona’s heart away from Nandi so that whenever he tried to visit her he would feel so afraid that he would go back at once.
After becoming pregnant again, Nandi went back to her home at Ncube’s so that she should be delivered there; and while she was gone the senior wives came before Senzangakhona with anger in their hearts, and they demanded that Nandi should never again return to Nobamba. When Senzangakhona attempted to refuse, they said: “We hope that you have considered well what you are saying because we, for our part, have come to the end of our patience. You refused to listen when we said you should tell the people that, even though Chaka was born first, the proper heir to the kingship was Mfokazana, followed by Dingana and Mhlangana, and today again you refuse to listen when we say that Nandi should never return to this place. We fail to understand why we should be disgraced by such a dog as Nandi who came to your house already pregnant when we ourselves were maidens, and in every way unblemished, when you married us. Besides, we have born you children, and have filled your houses, and the marriage cattle will come to you in herds and fill your folds at once. We have also born you boys. If that wasn’t the case, we would understand. Now we are going to tell about you and Nandi, and will report this matter to the Great King Jobe.”
When Senzangakhona heard this, he was very frightened, and he trembled. It became clear to him that the shame he and Nandi bore would be exposed, that Nandi and her agemates would be killed, and that he himself would be likewise killed since, in spite of being a king, he was teaching the people evil ways. He begged his wives to let the matter end right there; he declared that Chaka was no longer heir to the kingship, and that Mfokazana would instead be his successor. He also promised that Nandi would never again set foot in Nobamba. But his wives, in order to satisfy themselves completely, demanded that Nandi be banished from Ncube’s and be required to return to her own home at Langeni’s together with her child, Chaka. Indeed Senzangakhona banished her, even though he did afterwards plead for them to be allowed to return to Ncube’s. Senzangakhona’s wives were, however, stupefied, and it did not occur to them to demand that Senzangakhona should explain the new order of succession to Jobe, and so Jobe knew only Chaka as the successor.
The pain which Senzangakhona felt in his heart when he had to part with Chaka, his child, and Nandi, his wife, was such that we are unable to describe it, for he loved them greatly. But he was mortally afraid of the scandal involving him and Nandi, and he did not wish that anyone should hear even the slightest hint of it. He therefore decided that by far the best thing to do was to give up Nandi and his son, to give them up and count them among those who were gone for ever. He also realised that, if he did not give up Chaka, not only would Chaka’s mother and all her agemates be killed, but his little kingdom would be torn apart when all those boys grew up. So he closed his eyes, and the pain was like swallowing a stone as he gave up his wife and son.
Gossip is not like bread, so no one withholds it from another. Therefore, even though Senzangakhona kept his scandal with Nandi a dead secret, it did get to be known, and though it was not publicly exposed, the people nevertheless knew it and gossiped about it. From the time they first heard it, they began to hate Nandi and Chaka with a fearful hatred, and they agreed with the royal wives that Mfokazana was the rightful successor to the kingship. They, however, went even further and wished that Chaka should be killed, for he was a child of sin, and they declared that it would have been much better if he had been the child of a concubine.
When Chaka was old enough to herd calves, he experienced untold suffering. The other boys harassed him, and always beat him up most severely, for no reason whatsoever. One day as they were herding, they singled him out to go and bring back some straying calves. When he came back he suddenly heard one of them saying: “Grab him!” They caught hold of him and thrashed him until he was limp, and it was only then that they left him. He asked why he was being molested in that way, but he received no explanation; indeed it became clear that the more he asked the more severely they battered him. These boys were persecuting Chaka because they heard vague rumours that suggested it would be a good riddance if they killed him. One day in one of these constant fights, Chaka smashed one boy’s eye. The next day that boy’s father caught hold of Chaka and beat him up, causing him frightful injuries.
This daily fighting taught Chaka how to fence with his sticks, how to parry many sticks about to land on him all at once, how to fight both in attack and defence. It also helped him build up his running speed in case he had to run away from his attackers. He became fearless in fighting for he had become accustomed to it, and he never became short-winded when running. In fencing, he learned how to parry a blow just at the right time, how to crouch, how to stoop to avoid a