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 blow, how to dodge to one side, how to jump, and how to land a blow at the right spot at the right time.
On the day the man had given Chaka a beating, his grandmother was very grieved by the life of suffering which Chaka led as herder of calves. So she withdrew him from that duty and made him a bird-scarer in the sorghum fields where he had to go at the earliest dawn carrying a glowing towane – a grass fire-kindler which burned his fingers even before he arrived where he was going. Besides, he walked through the chilly dew and was so cold by the time he arrived in the fields that he was not even able to scare the birds properly. Even though they did not beat him, the other scarers made fun of him, and spat in disgust whenever they talked with him, and they turned up their noses at him and generally treated him like a halfwit. And even as all these things were happening to him, Chaka did not know what wrong he had done. Truly there never was a child whose growing up was as painful as Chaka’s. For a person to be disowned by his father is a painful thing indeed.
The calf herders now suffered from boredom because they had become accustomed to relieving it by torturing Chaka. Then they decided to go right there to the fields where he was. And as Chaka was sitting contentedly one day, he saw a whole gang of boys suddenly appearing right near him in the middle of the fields and the tall grass, and they surrounded him. In vain did he look this way and that, there was nowhere he could run. Worst of all, even his little stick was far away from him, in the shelter. They caught hold of him and battered and bashed him till he fainted, then they threw him in a ditch in the tall grass, thinking that he was dead. A certain person who had gone to inspect the fields saw them all the time, but was unfortunately too far away, and when he came to where they had thrown Chaka, he realised that the boy was not dead, but had simply fainted. Then he poured water on him and put him in the shade where it was cool, and Chaka quickly recovered. But he was so exhausted that he was unable to stand. The kind-hearted person informed Chaka’s relations and they came and carried him home in an ox-hide.
That day Nandi came to the end of her endurance and she informed Senzangakhona about the hard life that Chaka was leading, but Senzangakhona did not answer. He too was sad in his heart, and it was as if every time he swallowed, his saliva was mixed with blood; yet he realised that if he intervened, he would give his detractors a chance to tell what they knew. When the wives saw the messenger, they told Senzangakhona to stop sending the cattle and sheep which were called Chaka’s food, and even though his heart was truly sore, he stopped sending them, so that his shame would remain concealed. Oh, how bitter is the fruit of sin, for Senzangakhona had now become separated from his wife whom he loved and whom he married with fifty-five head of cattle, and he had become separated also from his child Chaka, through whom he first knew a son, and, to make it worse, he was forced to persecute them.
From then on, the old woman refused to let Chaka herd calves, and she also refused to let him scare away the birds in the fields, and this made him a laughing stock, a stay-at-home.
When Chaka was getting to be a young lad, Nandi took him to that doctor of hers so that he should be strengthened with potent medicines which would protect him from these people who were intent on killing him. The doctor took some medicinal powder, mixed it with other medicines and gave it to them saying: “The day the moon goes into darkness, Chaka must go to the river very early in the morning. When
he finishes bathing, he must vaccinate himself with this medicine, and then he must go back to the village, and then smear his head with the one I previously gave you. As a result of that, even if his attackers should surround him in a large group, they will never defeat him, but instead he will scatter them with ease. He will kill rather than be killed. I want to state very firmly again that this child will receive blessings that exceed all expectations. Tell me, have you ever seen anything at the river, while you were bathing?” Chaka said he had not. Then that woman put her hand on a vein in Chaka’s arm and listened, and then said: “The events which will take place around the life of this child are of great importance; they are weighty matters. I shall hurry back from Zwide’s where I am now being summoned, and if it is at all possible, I shall be back here with you on the tenth day from today. If I should be unable to come on that day, you must know that I am held up by work. But in that case I shall send someone to come and find out for me how things are going, especially since I know that tomorrow Chaka will rise early and go to the river, for that is his day.”
When she was already on her way the doctor felt concern lest Chaka was a coward because that would destroy the potency of her medicines. She therefore sent him two kinds of medicine, one for vaccinating and the other for drinking, whose purpose was to turn him into a fierce person, and make him long to fight; he would also have bravery in his liver, and be fearless. Among the ingredients in those medicines were the liver of a lion, the liver of a leopard, and the liver of a man who had been a renowned warrior in his lifetime. She mixed them all together. The medicine for drinking was constantly added to Chaka’s food. She ordered that the vaccination should be done by a woman with a newborn child, who, besides, must be her first child.
The messenger brought the medicines, and Chaka was even vaccinated while he was still there, and then he went back. From that day on, Chaka had an uncontrollable desire to fight, and it had to be a serious fight in which heavy sticks and spears were used. He dreamed about it at night when he was sleeping; he dreamed about it during the day, with his eyes open; and whenever he saw a man carrying a stick or a spear his whole body would at once begin to itch, and he would wish to engage that man in a fight. He would dream that he saw hordes and hordes of enemy warriors come to attack him, and he would see himself putting them to flight all by himself, without being helped by any of his people. He began to love only those conversations that spoke of war. Even before that Chaka was a very brave person, but he had never been the one to provoke a fight, and he was not quarrelsome, but now these medicines spurred him on and he even went to the pastures in defiance of his grandmother’s orders.
The moment he arrived in the pastures the other boys would rush at him all at once, but he would give them terrible gaping wounds with his blows, till they fled. Soon all the herdboys gave up fighting him, and he became their leader. He watered his cattle first in the marshes, and he was the first one to graze where the pastures were rich. Always at the end of a fight he would feel a sense of happiness, and experience a wonderful feeling of relaxation, like a poisonous snake which, after biting a person, lies sick until that person dies, whereupon it casts its skin and begins to move about again. Chaka soon realised that he did not get tired easily even if he fought for a long time, and that by the time he became tired, he had killed or wounded many people. When he fought, his stick struck the defences of his opponent with such force that the opponent fell to the ground, while his enemies’ sticks were so weak when they landed on him that they were no better than the dry maize stalks left standing in the fields by the reapers.
CHAPTER 3
Chaka Kills a Lion
ONE DAY when Chaka was still a young lad, an uncircumcised little bullock, he took the cattle out to the pastures very early in the morning, before they were milked. As day-break approached, he and his herds were in the mountain pass which overlooked several fields which lay huddled together below. Little did he realise as he drove out his herds that a lion had raided one fold in the very village where he lived, taken a young calf and dragged it away. It appeared that, having eaten its fill, it had noticed that it was almost daybreak, and then decided to lie down right where it was, taking advantage of the extremely tall grass. Chaka went with his cattle, not aware that he was walking in the tracks of such a fearsome beast. Suddenly, in the twinkling of an eye, the cattle turned about and fled all the way back home. He remained there wondering what this portended, or what they had seen. Seeing he had no other alternative, he followed them back to the village.
At that time the sun was about to rise, and the people at home saw the cattle scattering away from him, and they knew that the beasts had seen a lion because the owners of the fold which it had plundered during the night were busy narrating to the others the happenings of that night, at that very moment when the cattle fled. And even as they were talking to each other, they saw the lion moving away from a spot near where the cattle were, and gliding towards the forest, but, since the forest was too far, it lay down again in the tall grass, near a large bush.
Chaka arrived as the men were planning to go after it, and he went with them. They formed a large semicircle and walked very close to each other so that the lion should be confused and not know whom to attack first. When they disappeared, it moved away from where it was, but far from running away, it came towards them, yet camouflaging its direction by moving in zigzag patterns across their path. And then, when it was about to become exposed to their view, it crouched and waited for them to arrive. They came walking briskly, close to each other, and they were continually speaking words of encouragement to one another stressing that no one should slack behind, and that, if it jumped on one of them, the others should immediately rush to the rescue and help the victim. No one was to run away. They walked on, feeling extremely tense and cold with fear, their hair standing on end since they could feel that they were about to come face to face with a ferocious beast. And even as they were supporting each other with their words, they suddenly heard it roaring right there very close to them, and it was clear that it was leaping to the attack at the same time. It just went hum-m-m, and it was already in their midst:
O, Tawny One, brother of Mothebele, rise up,
O, Tawny One, fawn-coloured king of the wilds,
Why, you eat not what belongs to men,
But eat, for your part, the sleepers-in-the-veld!
A nephew bereft of uncles
Kills and lays claim to all the booty.
Gracious! They scattered in all directions and they ran helter-skelter, most of them in the direction of the village. Many had not even seen it, but had only heard its roar. Each took his own direction, some running downhill, others uphill, others across, some directly back to the village. Indeed that very one who had been speaking encouragement to the others was the one to start running first, though in truth the poor man could not really be said to have been the first to run since they all took off at the same time. When it jumped, the lion caught one man, hurled him to the ground and stood on top of him. Chaka came running from one of the farther ranks. He tried to stop one man so that they should both go to the rescue of the victim, but it was obvious that this man had no speech left, and neither did he have time since he was so preoccupied with the business of running away. Chaka went running and shouting so that the lion should hear that someone was coming and not kill that poor man immediately.
As he came closer, but still being a long distance away, it roared once more, and that roar made those who were running away add more speed to their flight in the belief that the lion had been following them all the time, and was now close behind them. It roared so that the earth seemed to tremble, and that roar reverberated in the stomachs of the cowards as they fled. And as it roared, it was already leaping to the attack, the yellow calf, wild beast of the forests; it jumped with its mane bristling, its eyes staring, its tail taut, and its claws bared, ready to devour a man. It jumped once, and with the second jump it was already on him.
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Chaka waited for it without fear. It came, it jumped. When it was in midair he shifted his position ever so slightly, and on landing it dug its claws into the ground where he had stood, having been unable to change its direction while in the air since it was not a bird. But even while it was still in the air, before it reached the ground, just as it came close to him, he plunged his back-and-white spear into a vital spot just under its shoulder blade, and when it fell on the ground, it fell for good. At that moment, when it was in the final throes of death, its roaring was something indescribable. Chaka looked at it without showing any fear, and it was not as if he was looking at a ferocious beast, one that was attacking him besides. When Chaka stabbed it, the vanguard of the men was already entering the village, and its blood-curdling final roar made them fling themselves into the houses without even looking back, and they pulled the doors shut and tied them securely, leaving the children and the women outside where they were standing. To them it was as if the lion was now in the middle of the village. The noise of the women outside was, to them, like the screams of those whom it was killing, and they therefore went on tying the doors even more tightly.
Chaka now went forward to see the man the lion had attacked first, but when he came to him he found that everything belonged to yesterday. This surprised him because he had not delayed. What had in fact happened, however, was that, in attacking him, the lion had snapped his cervical spine with its claws. Indeed the lion itself, as it stood on top of him, believed he was still alive, not realising that his life was a thing of the day before yesterday.
The men’s flight home was like “he-who-has-no-speed-will-be-left-behind” and “don’t-pass-me-and-I-won’t-pass-you”, and they did not even know which one of them had been killed. The women were the ones who saw everything clearly because they were watching from a distance, and were not running away. When they saw that Chaka had killed it, they told the men in the houses and urged them to come out and help him carry it, but the men swore that the lion was hiding in the grass, since no young man of such tender years could have killed it. This they said because they saw Chaka still alive.
Chaka Page 4