Chaka waited and waited. In the end, when he realised that no one was coming, he shouted and announced that the lion was dead. The men now began to believe that it was indeed dead. But now a feeling of shame overtook them, shame caused by their act of leaving a man in the claws of a wild beast, and the fact that that beast had been killed by a young lad whose chin was yet smooth, who had not yet fought in any wars. They found it difficult to go, and the women, particularly the younger ones, seeing that the men were not going, started on the path leading there. Only then did some men go, but others were overcome by shame, and they stayed in the village.
The lion was carried unskinned to Senzangakhona at Nobamba, and he in turn passed it on to the overlord Dingiswayo, since Jobe was already dead. He said, a hyena is eaten only in the royal village. He sent word saying that that beast had been killed by his son Chaka all by himself, after all the men had run away. He spoke those words without realising that he was thereby cultivating goodwill for Chaka in the king’s heart.
That lion brought envy into the village. The men and the young men were seized with shame when Chaka was being singled out for praise, and especially when it was said that they ran away and bolted themselves up in their houses. The young women composed a song on that day which said:
Here at our home, at Ncube’s, there are no young men,
There is but one young man of worth;
Here at our home, at Ncube’s, there are no men,
For all the men here are cowards.
They ran away leaving their agemate in the field,
Leaving their comrade wrestling with a wild beast,
Gripping a lion by its jaws.
Senzangakhona has no men, they will desert him and he will be killed.
O, Senzangakhona, come fetch your child and take him home,
He is a male child, a shield-bearer,
He will fight for you and conquer your enemies.
They always sang that song where there were many people, and this they did intentionally, with a purpose. The women, Nandi’s agemates, also composed their own song which ended:
True men are gone, we remain with strange beings,
We remain with men-like beings who are not men!
What can we do with Chaka, a mere child?
Women of Ncube’s village behold, a wonder!
The women of Senzangakhona’s house are useless,
A woman is Nandi, she alone,
For she has born a male child in all respects.
The reader should read these words bearing in mind that there is nothing more humiliating for a man than to be sung about by the women in mockery and contempt, nor, on the other hand, is there anything as pleasing as when they sing about him in praise. We are talking about those days of our fathers, not these modern times.
Those two songs generated a bad feeling among the men and the youths when they realised that the young girls would be attracted towards Chaka and they would not receive any more attention. Besides, in those days the women were not attracted by a man however handsome he might be if he was a coward. A woman’s aim was to find someone who was a man indeed in battle, a true brave when spears were being wielded, or when occasions of precisely this nature arose. Such a one, however ugly he might be, was loved, and songs were composed to praise him and deride the others. In a way we cannot blame them for being like that, because those were days of might. A woman who wanted to be well protected had to find herself a man of that calibre, who was feared by others, a truly tough fellow.
That evil spirit spread until it influenced people like Mfokazana, and all of them plotted to kill Chaka, no matter in how cruel a manner, perhaps at some feast where he might be present. Senzangakhona’s senior wives, in their turn, alleged that the women of Ncube’s village had insulted them with their songs, and they urged Senzangakhona to intervene on their behalf. While matters were in that state, a messenger from Dingiswayo came to Senzangakhona and said: “Dingiswayo greets you. He wishes to know why you have not brought before him the young man whose birth you reported to his father, Jobe, so that he should see him and know him. He says that he is very thankful for the wild beast you sent him, and urges you to send Chaka to him so that he may also bring back with him the young bullock with which he wishes to thank you.”
This message from Dingiswayo blunted the anger of the wives and of the men of Ncube’s village. They all realised that if Chaka should die, Dingiswayo would demand him from them. Chaka himself also heard about Dingiswayo’s message, but for his part waited expectantly for word from his father, but his father remained silent till this very day that is shining above. In those days Chaka still trusted his father a great deal, and he was sure the day would come when he would straighten out his affairs for him. Little did he know that the sun would never rise to light that day. The affairs of his life eventually moulded themselves and took their own course, while his father maintained his silence. Indeed it was evident that, instead of working for Chaka’s welfare, he was fanning the brushfire so that it should burn him.
CHAPTER 4
Chaka Is Visited by the King of the Deep Pool
IT WAS once again Chaka’s day for rising early and going to the water, and indeed he went at the earliest light of dawn. His mother, being conscious of the evil spirit among the people, went with him. There was not a soul who knew that there was a time when Chaka went to the river early in the morning. When they arrived at the river, the Mfolozi-Mhlophe, his mother hid near where her son was going to bathe. The reader should remember that it is not shameful in Bokone for a mother to see her son naked and bathing, because people hardly wear anything in Bokone.
Chaka washed himself. It happened that, as he was about to finish, the tuft of hair on his head shivered and shook, and the skin under it felt warm and it rippled very quickly; and just as suddenly as it began, everything was quiet again, dead still. It was very early in the morning, long, long before the sun was due, and he was bathing in an ugly place, where it was most fearsome. High up from the place where he stood was a tremendous waterfall, and at the bottom of that waterfall, right by him, was an enormous pool, a frightening stretch of water, dark green in colour and very deep. In this pool the water was pitch-dark, intensely black. On the opposite bank, directly across from where he was, but inside the water, was a yawning cave, a dark black tunnel which stretched beyond one’s vision, flooded by the water and sloping downward. It was not possible to see where that immense pool ended because, a little way down from where it began, the water was covered by a very dense growth of reeds which grew on both of the inner sides of the river; and on the opposite bank, a forest covered the flank of an adjoining hill, and came to brush against the river’s edge. That forest was also dense, a veritable thicket where tree rubbed against tree in close embrace. This was an ugly place which instilled fear into one even in the daytime, where no one could ever dream of bathing alone, a place fit to be inhabited only by the tikoloshe, an evil genie. Chaka bathed alone in this place simply because he was Chaka.
Chaka once again splashed himself vigorously with the water, and at once the water of that wide river billowed and then levelled off. Then it swelled higher and higher till he was sure it was going to cover him, and he walked towards the bank. No sooner was he there than a warm wind began to blow with amazing force. The reeds on the banks of the river swayed violently to and fro, and shook in a mad frenzy; and just as suddenly as they began, they quickly stopped moving and were dead still, and they stood erect just as if no wind had ever blown. The water subsided and the wind died down. In the centre of that wide dark green pool the water began to ripple gently, and it was evident that there was something enormous moving under it.
Nandi saw all these things, and she was so frightened that she was trembling, and she almost went to Chaka, but was held back by the strict injunction: “You are never to go to him unless he calls you.” And now she was crying within her heart for Chaka to call her. While Chaka was looking over there in the deep where the
water was rippling, he saw the huge head of an enormous snake suddenly break the surface and appear right there next to him. Its ears were very long like those of a hare, but in shape they resembled those of a fieldmouse; its eyes were large, green orbs, and it was more fearsome than we can say. It rose out of the water to the height of its shoulders and came towards Chaka. Chaka, a man always ready for action, felt his body shudder when he saw that it was without doubt coming directly towards him. His first thought was to reach out for his stick and spear so that he could defend himself, but then he remembered the question he had been asked twice by his doctor: “Tell me, have you ever seen anything at the river while you were bathing?” Then he stopped, and he surmised that it was being attracted towards him by the charms in his body, and that that was why he had been continually asked that question. And now he stood with his body tense and stiff, and he stared straight into its eyes, and oh, how fearful it was! And when it came close to him, it stuck out two long tongues and stretched them towards Chaka as if it wanted to pull him with them into its mouth, which was so wide that he could enter it with ease. Chaka, when he saw those tongues coming towards him, was frightened, truly frightened and he trembled, and it was the first time that he experienced that kind of fright, the fright of someone with cowardice in his heart. He was so frightened that he almost turned tail and fled, but then he remembered the strict injunction: “You must on no account run away, no matter what may appear.”
Stricken by fright, Chaka shut his eyes so that, if that snake intended to kill him, it should kill him with his eyes closed, avoiding looking in its face. Slowly he raised his hand and grabbed the tuft of hair which he had been told to hold tight if he was very frightened; at the same time he whistled gently in order to call his mother. Nandi, at that time, had also covered her face, afraid to see her son being swallowed by such a large water monster. But when she heard the whistle, she uncovered her face and she was all the more frightened when she saw how close it was to Chaka, and so instead of going to him, she lay flat on the ground, and she watched from a distance, trembling so much, meanwhile, that there was not even time to cry aloud or to shed tears.
When eventually Chaka opened his eyes, when he realised that it had not touched him, he saw that snake, its eyes still gazing straight into his, but already about to disappear in the water and with its tongues already withdrawn. It was clear that it was returning back into the water, moving backwards, so that if Chaka had taken long to open his eyes, he would have found that it had already disappeared. When he opened his eyes, he looked directly into the pupils of its eyes, and it too looked at him in a like manner. They stared at each other, the snake in its own abode and the man come there to provoke it. They stared at each other in that manner with Chaka’s hand refusing to leave the tuft of hair where the strong medicine was.
At last the snake came out of the water again, and it did so without making any noise, without splashing the water, but simply gliding out, so that the only indication that it was coming out was the fact that it was once again getting closer to him. He stared at it till it reached the point where it had been when he shut his eyes. It stuck out its tongues and wrapped them around his neck, and they crossed at the back of his head and came to join again in front. Then, supporting its weight on him, it drew itself out and coiled itself around his entire body, and it unwound its tongues and started licking him from the head right down to the soles of his feet. When it finished, it raised its head to the level of his face and it looked at him at close range, and its hot, stinking breath engulfed him. Once again it licked him thoroughly all over his face, and then it returned into the water backwards, keeping a steady gaze on his face.
Chaka never saw where its body ended because it was all the time in the water, which is to say that even Chaka himself did not know its length. After it was once again completely submerged, the water once more 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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