The throng said: “May the cattle increase, O King; keep us well, we are your people! May the rains come!” In that meeting no one ever spoke of Chaka who was denied so much as a footprint’s breadth in his father’s estate.
In that manner Mfokazana was installed in his father’s position, without Dingiswayo having been informed of anything, whereas it was proper that he be informed, as on the day of the installation he should have been present, or have sent an emissary bearing his words, because a king is installed by those who are above him. Mfokazana daily prepared himself for combat like someone who knew that war was near at hand; not surprisingly, perhaps since he knew that Chaka would never give up so easily a kingship which he had been promised, that he would only give up as a man would, after trying his best and being defeated.
On that same day Ndlebe came to Chaka and told him about the installation of Mfokazana. Chaka asked whether Dingiswayo knew about this, and Ndlebe said no, he did not.
“I believe you, because Dingiswayo would no doubt have told me. It is highly improper to go into a matter of such importance without Dingiswayo’s knowledge; by that act they are putting themselves forward as kings in his place, and not subjects; besides, they failed to report my father’s death in a proper manner.”
When Dingiswayo arrived at the royal court, Chaka told him the news. Dingiswayo asked: “Did you hear this news properly, Chaka, about which you are telling me? I am asking because if so, your brothers have offended me greatly, and besides this is not the first time that they have done that to me.”
“I heard it from one who was there, O King.”
“I am greatly saddened by this act of your brothers; I can see that they have now made a habit of it. Besides, this is a period in which they should still be mourning for Senzangakhona rather than getting involved in the matter of the estate so shortly after his death, before the tears have even dried on their cheeks. At the present time there is nothing I can say because I do not know anything since I have not been told; I shall have something to say the day they inform me. As for you, get yourself in readiness starting this day, I shall send you back to your home to take over your kingship which Mfokazana has stolen. But don’t be in a hurry, you are still going to stay another six months here with me, so that you may not profane your father’s death by contesting the kingship by war so shortly after his death, with his corpse still warm in the grave.”
At that moment Ndlebe stretched himself out where he was lying, raised his head and looked around, and the saliva dangled making a sickening sight; then he got up and dug his nails into his bare sand-coloured stomach, and then he walked with his head stooping, and went to loiter within the courtyards of the homesteads.
“Chaka, this creature of yours is a real idiot; now he is going to the homesteads because he thinks only of food and sleep, like an animal.”
“It is so, O King, but then I have no other besides him, and therefore I ought to be satisfied with him, even though he is so obviously a halfwit.” Those words made Dingiswayo sad in his heart when he thought how well Chaka had served him, and that he had not yet shown his gratitude towards him. He then gave him a few men as a gift, and then went on to say: “Moreover, you are to look for a wife, and I shall take care of all your marriage formalities, since I am now your father.”
CHAPTER 12
Noliwa
AMONG ALL his sisters, the one whom Dingiswayo loved the most was the one who came last out of his mother’s womb, the last-born. She looked very much like the girl after whom Dingiswayo himself was born, who had saved him the day he and Tana, his older brother, were in danger of their lives. Those two girls resembled each other like twins, to the very way they talked. Therefore Dingiswayo loved this surviving one more than all his other sisters by far, not so much because she was the child of her mother’s womb, but because in this one’s face he saw the face of his favourite sister who had died. Her eyes, her cheeks, her ears, her voice, her figure, her ways – all these were exactly like those of the one who had died, who had sacrificed herself for him at a critical time when death stared him in the face. Her name was Noliwa, and she was amazingly beautiful, and crowned it all by having a kind, compassionate heart, which was always well disposed towards other people. All who knew her swore that Nkulunkulu, the Great-Great One, had used her as an example, so that her exceeding beauty and her eyes that were soft and full of love should teach his children the beauty and profound love of their Creator, and that through Noliwa they should see the perfection of a woman without blemish, and may thus understand the perfection of Nkulunkulu. It appears that it was because of her beauty that the Basotho came to tell the story of the young woman who was so beautiful that she never went outside, because whenever she did so no one went to the fields, or to other labours, even the herdboys refused to take out their herds, and all ran to her, so that they could feed their eyes on her beauty.
Noliwa loved Chaka exceedingly. When the game choose-the-one-you-love-best was played she never joined in to make her choice, and never became part of the groups playing this game, because whenever it was in progress, Chaka, who was the one who pleased her eyes, would always stand to one side.
When Ndlebe entered the house, he found many girls there, and as he came in, someone said: “There he comes in, Chaka’s halfwit!” Another said: “There he comes in, Mr Ears, he whose ears are as long as those of a fieldmouse, Mr Ears by name and by deed.” When Noliwa heard them say these things, she said: “Do not laugh at him, he is God’s creature. Remember he who laughs at a cripple calls one towards himself, and will give birth to one. Tell me, are you hungry, Ndlebe?” Ndlebe said he was, and then she gave him food, and while he was eating, Noliwa asked him saying: “Where is your master, Ndlebe?”
“Who is my master?”
“Isn’t your master Chaka? Do you serve many masters all by yourself? Is that why you ask?”
“If he is anybody’s master, why should he be there at Dingiswayo’s, that coward who fled from his younger brothers when they chased him away so that they should remain sharing among themselves an inheritance which belongs to him by birth?”
“Are you serious, or are you joking? If Chaka is not a brave, will there ever be one?”
Ndlebe continued to speak unflatteringly about Chaka, thus drawing out those young people. After some time they began talking about the killing of Dingiswayo’s uncle. Ndlebe asked what had led to the plot against Chaka. Then Noliwa said that her uncle had been hurt when Chaka was promoted, and was even more hurt when the young women sang songs of praise for Chaka.
Ndlebe: “And what made you people sing songs of praise for Chaka, that dog that is no less dead then I, instead of making ululations for true braves and famous princes?”
“To be a prince or a king’s child is nothing; the person for whom songs are sung is a brave who is distinguished even among other braves.”
“Do you mean to tell me then, that among the armies and regiments of Dingiswayo’s as well as among his princes, the only one you are all attracted by is Chaka?”
The young women all answered at the same time and said: “It stands to reason!” As for Noliwa, she went beyond those words by saying that a girl could never consider herself properly married if she was not married to someone like Chaka the brave.
Ndlebe: “Do you want to tell me seriously that even you, the daughter of such a great king as Jobe, would be pleased to be married to such a commoner as Chaka, simply because he once killed a person?”
Noliwa answered that she would be very pleased, adding: “Besides, Chaka is not a commoner, he is the child of a king; furthermore he is beautiful, he is round-and-smooth, like a well-moulded clay pot.”
“Are you serious, or are you joking? I am asking whether you truly love him or whether you are just making talk?”
“I do not simply love him: I’m afire with love. In truth I am now living in anxiety because I tried in various ways to make my feelings obvious, but it seems that he simply looks over my head
!”
By the time they said these things they were all by themselves. On the evening of that same day, Ndlebe entered one of the royal huts and found them playing the Senyamo, a lover’s-preference game. Someone said to Noliwa: “Senyamo! – state your preference!”
Noliwa: “Upon whom?”
“Upon –”
“Ugly thing!”
“Senyamo!”
“Upon whom?”
“Upon –”
“Ugly thing!”
“Senyamo!”
“Upon whom?”
“Upon Chaka!”
Noliwa’s face lit up and beamed with smiles when Chaka’s name was mentioned. She looked at Dingiswayo since he was present, and then she said: “I die utterly! I am unable to give you any idea, to find words to make you understand, the manner of my death!” She said so on purpose so that Dingiswayo should actually hear how completely she died on account of Chaka.
On the next day Ndlebe recounted it all to Chaka: “Maybe you have noticed, maybe you haven’t, but the girls of this village are very surprised and are wondering what sort of person you are that you don’t sleep in the young people’s hut like all other young men; that you don’t go to the dances and the songs; that you don’t join the choose-a-lover game, to choose or be chosen. Do you realise that the people are surprised at you?”
“Their surprise means nothing to me; I don’t care whether they are surprised or not.”
Ndlebe continued as if he had not heard what Chaka said: “Have you noticed that the young girls of this place can hardly swallow their food when they think of you, and that they fear each other’s rivalry, each one saying to herself: ‘I pray that Chaka should not pass me by and be taken by So-and-so’?”
“I don’t care about them all, whether they cannot swallow their food or are concerned about each other’s rivalry, to me all that makes absolutely no difference. My sole purpose in this village is to work with my spear, to fight Dingiswayo’s wars. That’s all that I came here for, and that’s all that’s in my heart. I have no time to think about those girls of yours.”
“You are not telling the truth, Chaka. Just think a little: It is not true that you do not care for them all, because there is one whom you love with an amazing love, whom you avoid simply because you are afraid of her.”
“But what exactly have you called me for, Ndlebe? Surely not for this nonsense?”
“I have called you for something important, something that continually gnaws at you, something you love as much as you love kingship, not nonsense as you suggest; and that matter is precisely the one concerning the young girls of this place.”
“Ndlebe, would you really call me for this silly nonsense?”
“You lie, it is not nonsense. Think properly!”
Chaka loved Noliwa exceedingly, but could never see how one belonging nowhere like himself, a homeless wanderer without relations to claim him, could ever marry a child from such a prestigious house, one whom Dingiswayo loved so much besides. He felt that only princes far superior to him in rank deserved Noliwa, and for that reason he gave up even before saying a word, for he was afraid of Noliwa, and was equally afraid of Dingiswayo. Even as Ndlebe spoke those words to him, he did not for one moment entertain the thought that Noliwa could be counted among those who were dying for love of him.
Suddenly in the twinkling of an eye a thought came to him from far away yonder where he had banished it, and said to him: “Could it possibly be that Noliwa is the one who pines for you?” Chaka smiled without talking, and simply looked at Ndlebe, then Ndlebe said:
“Yes, that very one! Don’t you love her?”
“Which very one?”
“The very one the mere thought of whom makes you smile?”
Chaka simply continued laughing like a baby, as if he had been told that “that very one” was already his. “What is it then about ‘that very one’?”
“No, you answer my question first: Do you love her or not? I will tell you about her afterwards.”
Chaka simply continued smiling, and then Ndlebe said: “Now, between the two of us who is the liar? Who is the one who wastes time with nonsense?”
“It’s me,” said Chaka, bursting into laughter. “But now tell me, what do you know about ‘that very one’?”
“The fact of the matter is that ‘that very one’ loves you with a love that surpasses your love for her.”
Chaka got up and spun around the courtyard with joy, and kept laughing to himself; and while he was spinning around like that, Noliwa walked into that very courtyard, and was directly facing Chaka as she entered, and their eyes met. She asked where Nandi was, and they said she was not there; then she went out. As she walked away, her thoughts were floating high as she asked herself what could have made Chaka so happy, a question she answered herself by saying that Ndlebe had no doubt told him about the events of the previous day: “But could Chaka really be so happy to hear that I love him?”
Chaka remained with Ndlebe in the courtyard, his thoughts swept away as if by a whirlwind, a storm raging in his feelings which, however, was caused by joy. Ndlebe left him alone to twirl around like that until the storm which had captured his feelings had subsided. But even before Ndlebe could speak, it was Chaka who spoke again, saying: “What are you saying, Ndlebe? Are you telling me that ‘that very one’ loves me more than I love her? Which very one?”
“The very one who just came in here. Noliwa herself.”
Chaka once again began to walk around like someone dancing the motheke-theke dance, and then when he cooled off again after a while he sat down and listened to Ndlebe’s story. But in the midst of that happiness, he became suddenly crestfallen and deflated when he thought that he was pleased over something that did not exist, that all he had in his grasp was thin air, because Dingiswayo would never agree to let him have Noliwa, but might, instead of giving her to him, indeed chase him away from his place. Ndlebe realised the reason for his disappointment, and then he said: “That one whom you fear is the very one who will help you obtain Noliwa.” Now he kept quiet and pricked up his ears and they became like little caves, and then he said: “But these are matters for a later time. Right now I hear the footsteps of those sent by Mfokazana to inform Dingiswayo how he has been installed as king by his father’s people. They are near. Go to the council place so that you may hear these matters for yourself and not have to be told by someone else.”
“Are you not coming?”
“I am not after the kingship, you are the one who is going after it; besides, I will hear everything even as I remain here in the courtyards.”
CHAPTER 13
Chaka and Isanusi at Senzangakhona’s Grave
AT MIDDAY the messengers came to Dingiswayo and gave him their message, namely that the nation had installed Mfokazana in the place of his father. Dingiswayo voiced his outrage, saying that Mfokazana always told him things after they had happened, even where they concerned him directly. He said: “Go and tell Mfokazana that I have heard. However, he and those who installed him as king have done wrong because he is not the one whom his father chose to succeed him as king. The son of Senzangakhona who was reported by him to my father the day he was born as the one who would inherit his estate is still alive. I was present on that day. Even the messengers who brought that news are still there, and I know who they are. At no time did Senzangakhona mention the name of Mfokazana.”
The messengers went back disappointed, afraid even to meet the one who had sent them. When Mfokazana heard these words, he sent them again, together with those who had been sent to report Chaka’s birth to Jobe, with the message that his father had realised afterwards that Chaka was a bad child who did not obey him, whose mother, moreover, was a witch. It was for that reason that he had chased him away together with his mother.
Dingiswayo answered by saying: “Go and tell Mfokazana that this is the first time that I hear that Senzangakhona changed his mind and said that Mfokazana was to be his heir. Whom did he tel
l? Also, I hear for the first time that Nandi practises witchcraft. Whom did she bewitch? Tell Mfokazana that even the day Chaka killed a lion, some time ago, Senzangakhona, on sending it to me, confirmed his earlier statement that it was Chaka who would be his heir.”
When Mfokazana heard that, he assembled the nation together and told them that Dingiswayo was depriving him of his kingship and giving it to Chaka. He said: “Those who are the true subjects of my father will be known today when his little orphan is being robbed of his rights.”
Ever since hearing about Noliwa, Chaka had always wanted to meet her and talk to her. One day they met, but just for a brief while, and they were unable to talk for any length of time; however, they exchanged necklaces so that Chaka took Noliwa’s and Noliwa took Chaka’s. Chaka did this in order to test the people’s feelings, especially Dingiswayo’s, because if Dingiswayo did not want Chaka to marry Noliwa he would warn her against such a deed. Dingiswayo saw that exchange of beads, and he knew that it was the beginning of a serious matter. He realised that if Chaka should marry Noliwa, he would remain linked to him, and they would be able to help each other in all matters pertaining to their lives, as well as in their wars. This made him all the more determined to see that Chaka should be the king of his home. Yet he did not do this to please him, but because all events pointed to Chaka. He said to his councillors: “You men who belonged to my father’s court, please help me so that I should not make a mistake out of ignorance, for you know that I was away for a long time. Tell me, did Senzangakhona, during my absence, send word to my father that he had changed his mind, and that Mfokazana was now his heir?”
The men who had been councillors during Jobe’s reign denied that such a thing had happened. Then Dingiswayo said: “Chaka, I was away a long time, I don’t know what happened during my absence. However, if your conscience allows you, take your regiment plus one other, and go and take from Mfokazana the kingship of which he has robbed you, and let that contest determine the outcome of this dispute.”
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