Chaka

by Thomas Mofolo

  In that battle Mfokazana was defeated and killed. Even though Dingana and Mhlangana were not involved in that battle, Chaka wanted to kill them but Ndlebe pleaded for them. That is something we find very surprising because usually Ndlebe, instead of pleading for someone, would rather fan the flames by suggesting that the person be killed at once, yet here we see him engaged in the strange act of pleading for people’s lives, people who are Chaka’s enemies besides. Chaka wrought a lot of destruction when he reached his home, but, because he feared Dingiswayo, he was not able to avenge himself as he had wished.

  Dingiswayo’s sister, Noliwa, on hearing how Chaka had defeated Mfokazana, sent him a beautiful necklace which had been strung with extreme care. By this present she was congratulating him, and also ensuring that Chaka should continue to think about her. Chaka, on his part, continually sent her presents to show that he had much love for her. As we have said, Chaka was afraid to talk to Noliwa because he feared Dingiswayo. But he was also afraid of Noliwa herself, and found it difficult to embark on such a subject with the daughter of such a great king, fearing that Noliwa would be angry with him on the grounds that he misinterpreted her kindness. For that reason he took long to broach that subject.

  Malunga was present in this battle in which Mfokazana was killed. As they talked, Chaka asked what it was that Dingiswayo disliked about Malunga to make him chase him away. Malunga answered, saying: “Dingiswayo is wise and has eyes to see more than those of many people. His eyes do not look only at the exterior of a person, but penetrate right into the inner recesses of one’s heart. He saw clearly that I was intelligent, and he was afraid that I might capture his people’s hearts, and deprive him of his kingship. Little did he know that to me kingship is not important, what I am most interested in is practising as a man of medicine.”

  Chaka: “Malunga, today I live in my own place where nothing can bother me. While at Dingiswayo’s I was bound to act according to his wishes, even if it was not to my liking, as long as it pleased him. Today I am in my own place where I do my own will, and for that reason I say: Live with me as we had planned, and stop hiding because the one from whom you were hiding does not have so much power here.”

  “I am very pleased to hear you speak in that manner. After all, that is the very reason why my master sent me here.”

  The day came which had been set aside for Chaka’s installation into the kingship of his home, and Dingiswayo went as he had promised. Everything was arranged perfectly: the day preceding the one on which Chaka was to be installed was the one on which he was to go to the river for his early morning bathe. On his return from the river, he saw dimly someone coming towards him, followed by two others. It turned out to be Isanusi. That day Chaka had gone to the river much earlier than usual because some of the people attending the installation had already come, and he realised that if he went at the usual time they would see him. We are unable to measure even to the smallest degree Chaka’s joy at meeting his doctor after such great things had happened, when his eyes met those of the man who had found him in the wilderness as he lay under a tree tired, hungry, his feet swollen, blundering through the country without even knowing where he was going, and then took pity on him, made a man out of him, made him into that which he is before our eyes today.

  “Greetings, Chaka!”

  “Greetings, O my master, my father, my king!”

  “How is it? Are things going well?”

  “Very well, far better than I had expected.”

  “The blessings I promised you, are they coming, do you see them?”

  “They come in great abundance.”

  “Has my word been fulfilled of the day when I said that your troubles would end right there where I found you?”

  “It has been fulfilled completely.”

  “The spear I made for you, how does it work?”

  “Ao, do not even talk! Let others speak, not me.”

  “Do you think that, with the weapons I made for you, you would be able to wrestle with braves, with mighty warriors whose necks are strong?”

  “When I am wielding them, men die in heaps.”

  “The ones whom I sent to you, how are they?”

  “They are exactly as you described them, and even better. In war they are no less than lions, they tear their adversaries to pieces. In times of peace Ndlebe surpasses even the diviners in smelling out the secret talk, to say nothing about Malunga because he stays at a place I do not even know.”

  “In one word, tell me, have the things I have done satisfied you? Has none of them refused to happen the way I promised it would?”

  “Your work has satisfied me to the fullest extent, and none of the things you promised refused to happen the way you had predicted. As a testimony to this, tomorrow is the day on which I am to be formally installed in the kingship of my father, I, that homeless wanderer whom you picked up yourself.”

  “Very well, Chaka, I am very happy that my work has satisfied you; this will make you believe in me in future, because these things that you have seen, and the things you have achieved, are but trifles, for greater things are yet to come. But you must constantly remember the word which I have repeated to you three times down yonder when I said that the spear I made for you must do its work in the proper way. If you wish for kingship as great as that of Dingiswayo, and even a hundredfold greater, if you seek the fame for which you were crying, let that spear remain covered with blood, fresh blood, not dried up. Besides, I told you that the medicines with which I inoculated you were ugly, and if you don’t kill, they will turn against you and kill you instead; thus if today you think that you have killed enough, that you are satisfied with the kingship and the fame you have achieved, that you wish for nothing more, you must tell me at once, this very day, so that I may dilute the strength of the medicines that are in your blood in order that they may not kill you.”

  In answer Chaka said: “Isanusi, when I, Chaka, have resolved to do a thing, I am not able to turn back from it without having achieved its completion. I am still hungry, I am still seeking, I say let the cow’s udder swell with milk, my master; I say work with all your strength and all your skill and take me to the very limits of your profound knowledge. As for this spear you are talking about, it will work till it’s blunt, till it’s covered to its very hilt with men’s blood.” Isanusi and his servants laughed when Chaka said that. The questions Isanusi asked were aimed not so much at finding out how things stood with Chaka, but at making Chaka believe in him, and satisfying himself: what he says must happen the way he says it will; that is the law.

  When they reached the village, Isanusi and his servants shut themselves up in the house because Dingiswayo had already arrived and they did not want to meet him because he hated them so intensely, except for Ndlebe whom he considered to be an idiot, and to whom he paid little heed. When they parted, Isanusi instructed Chaka that the two of them should meet at Senzangakhona’s grave at dead of night when Chaka would receive the blessings of his ancestors.

  In the depth of night Chaka indeed went to his father’s grave alone. As soon as he arrived there, he saw Isanusi and his servants emerging out of the darkness. There at the grave, in the middle of the night, Isanusi worked on Chaka with his medicines with much diligence. Most of the medicines were anointing ones. When he finished, he dug a little on Senzangakhona’s grave and made a hollow which was not too deep, and he cradled himself in it and then began to speak in a language which Chaka did not understand. He spoke with much sadness in his heart, his voice full of emotion; he spoke not to Chaka but to those in the grave, and as he spoke the soil of the mound over the grave began to shake and tremble.

  While these things were happening, Ndlebe got up and ran in a circle around the grave; as for Malunga, he stabbed the ground often with Chaka’s spear, and each time he lifted it, he brandished it from side to side, pointing its sharp edge to the east, and then he would plunge it into the ground. On raising it again he would repeat the same action, pointing its sh
arp edge westwards, then northwards, then southwards, until he had finished all the four points of the earth. When he finished, he plunged that spear of Chaka’s into the soil of his father’s grave. Isanusi then kept completely quiet and sat on the grave like a fowl brooding on its eggs; Ndlebe stopped running around and came to stand near Malunga, huddled up like a rain-drenched hen. They were all quiet like that for a long time, and it was frightening there at the grave, enough to make one’s flesh creep. Chaka heard something like the sound of a wind blowing far away, and at that very moment Isanusi spoke again with much more sadness than before, and his voice was small and humble, like someone in great distress making a supplication; then he paused, and as soon as he did so Ndlebe and Malunga started at the same time to sing a lament, a song of sorrow, and they sang it with more sadness than those carrying a dead person to the grave.

  As they were singing that lament, Chaka heard a voice rising from under the depth of the soil, out of the grave, speaking in that same language that was spoken by Isanusi, and Isanusi continually responded to it. While Chaka listened in surprise, he constantly heard his name being mentioned even though he did not understand what was being said; he heard the name of a great-great ancestor of his being mentioned, and heard him respond; he heard the name of the one who succeeded that one also being mentioned, and he too responded, and so on up to his father, Senzangakhona. Isanusi spoke a little and then said: “Senzangakhona”, and then Chaka heard his father’s voice speaking exactly as he knew it, as it was when he was still alive, even though he was speaking in a language Chaka did not understand. He was so frightened that he nearly fainted.

  Isanusi spoke and responded to Senzangakhona twice or three times, and then he said: “Chaka, pick up your spear and your stick and come here,” and when he came Isanusi said: “Stand on top of me and listen as your father talks to you. You must listen to what he says, but do not answer, and since you are not accustomed to communicate with the dead and to hear their voices, you will simply receive your father’s blessings and then move off and go back to your place.”

  Chaka stood on Isanusi holding his spear in his right hand, while in his left hand he held a stick; and then Isanusi spoke again in that same language, and when Senzangakhona answered he spoke in the language he had spoken while he was still alive among the people, which Chaka understood. At that same instant Ndlebe and Malunga stopped singing their song of sorrow, and they came near Chaka where he stood on top of Isanusi, and moved around him, singing a different song; but this time it was a song of joy, of thanksgiving, of someone giving thanks that his prayers have been heard. They sang it moving around him but not following each other, but rather going in opposite directions, meeting along the way.

  Senzangakhona spoke briefly, stating how it was he who appointed Chaka for the kingship on the day he was born, and how he pretended to reject him so that Chaka should know that kingship was obtained with difficulty, and in order that he should hold on to it firmly. He ended by saying: “Chaka, my child, it is I, your father, talking to you, I am with my fathers and my grandfathers, and it is the desire of all of us that our combined kingship, the kingship of each one of us separately, should fall upon you, and be united there. May you be a powerful king who is not ruled; may you conquer all your enemies. May your shield protect you from your enemies’ spears, and may your spear kill; may your nation pay you much respect and fear you. Be a man; be a king.”

  At that point Isanusi shook himself like a fowl so that Chaka should step off him; Ndlebe and Malunga stopped walking around, and then clapped their hands pointing them towards the grave, and then they kept silent and listened. Then Isanusi spoke and said: “Anoint Chaka’s entire body with the medicine I gave you.” And they anointed him, Isanusi meanwhile speaking unintelligibly in that same language which they did not understand, speaking haltingly like a cackling hen about to lay an egg. When they finished anointing him Isanusi said to them: “Go home with that child of a king that he may assume the kingship he was given by his father. As for you, Chaka, go and take the kingship and set to work; you are only at the beginning of your task; you heard your father’s order when he said that your shield must protect you from your enemies’ spears, and that your spear must kill. Go and carry out those orders!” They departed, leaving Isanusi at the grave. When he departed he went back to his home as if nothing concerned him any further.

  It was early dawn when Chaka left his father’s grave, and the cocks had crowed once, and then again, and the mountain chats were already chirping melodiously, and the dawn light was already visible, and the morning star was high in the sky, looking down at him with a face glowing with peace, and seeming to smile as it beheld him the way he was. The wind had died down, and it was perfectly still, as if all creation were paying homage to that moment when Chaka was returning from his father’s grave. The three men walked without taking to each other, and without looking back, like someone carrying the sterility herbs; besides, they were walking fast so that the coming of day should not catch them before they reached home; and then when night finally fell to the ground, they entered their house in the village.

  Those who saw him when he entered the village say that Chaka, when he returned from his father’s grave, came riding on a horse with a smooth shining coat, led by an intombazana, a young maiden who surpassed all the maidens of the world in beauty. Many people swear that the Inkosazana yeZulu, the Sky Princess, first appeared on that day, and they say further that it was she in person who led the horse upon which Chaka was riding. Others surmise that it was Noliwa, and yet Noliwa had not yet arrived, for she only came after the cattle had been taken out of the pastures, and she came in the company of many people; there was no way in which she could be with Chaka at that time. Besides, that horse which he is said to have been riding is a mystery to us because there were still no horses at that time, for even the two which Dingiswayo had brought with him from the Colony had already died, so that even Dingiswayo himself came to these celebrations on foot. Yet, in spite of all that, those who saw Chaka say he came riding a horse, of that they have no doubt whatsoever.

  The second mystery concerns that maiden: the question is where did she vanish, since Chaka arrived at the village when the night was gone altogether, leaving no opportunity for that maiden to return unobserved to where she had come from, or to hide. Besides, that is the only time we hear any mention of her; after this we do not hear any talk of her except only once, deep into Chaka’s reign, when Noliwa herself was already dead.

  The third mystery has to do with that horse itself: where did it go, because, apart from the two horses which came with Dingiswayo, horses were first seen again in the most recent times, when the white people came.

  CHAPTER 14

  Chaka Is Installed as his Father’s Successor

  THE SUN rose on the day of Chaka’s installation. Shortly after the cattle were taken to the pastures Noliwa arrived with her group, since she had been unable to come with Dingiswayo. When the throng had settled down, Chaka came out of the house where he had cloistered himself ever since his return from his father’s grave in the night. Dingiswayo conducted the affairs of that day, and in all matters, he spoke the truth that was in his chest, not aiming at pleasing anyone but speaking as only his conscience permitted; after all, he had known the pain of a biting conscience, and did not wish to act again in a way that would give him a feeling of guilt. The councillors also spoke. At last Chaka was given his opportunity to address the crowd.

  He stood up, the son of Senzangakhona, and he was dark brown in complexion, and was ripe and smooth, rousing admiration in all who saw him. The assembled nation, when they looked at him, saw in him a child of true royal blood born to rule and to reign over other people; and the people of his home felt moved as they remembered how they had rejected him without knowing the true worth of the one they were rejecting, and they saw that they nearly spited themselves by throwing away their king. The armies and the young men, when they looked at him, saw in him
a beautiful young man with piercing eyes, with a powerful arm, ready to lift up the spear and the shield; and when they remembered that he was, in truth, the way he appeared, they loved him all the more. The kings, when they looked at him, saw in him a young king, a young shoot of great promise. The young women, when they looked at him, saw in him a gallant young man, more handsome by far than all other young men, one who was without blemish, a true brave, unquestionably superior to all his peers. All who saw him had no doubt this was a young man from a royal house, one accustomed to standing before large assemblies; they saw in him a commander born to lead large armies.

  In stature Chaka stood tall, his shoulders higher than those of other people, but he was not lanky because he had a heavy-set body; his shoulders were broad. And yet even though to the eye he seemed so heavy, there was none to equal him in swiftness in running, in jumping, and turning sharply, and in dodging his adversary.

  Chaka stood up in the midst of that multitude staring at him as if mesmerised, and then he spoke. He spoke briefly to the people of his home, asking them to receive him honestly with all their hearts, and let bygones be bygones which must be forgotten, so that they might all make a fresh start. He refrained from speaking too long, for fear that he might hurt the fresh wounds in their hearts caused by the recently fought battle in which Mfokazana was killed. Then he went on to talk about Dingiswayo. Here he spoke at great length relating how Dingiswayo had given him asylum, taken good care of him, and made him a human being again. He thanked him with words of praise and with a heart full of gratitude. He went on to emphasise that in rank he was Dingiswayo’s subject, and that he was bound to honour and love him because of what he had done for him, and he begged that the king should, even after this day, continue to send him as he wished, and he would go. The king, he said, should use him as much as he pleased, for that is what he would love, since it would show that his king had not thrown him away.