Chaka

by Thomas Mofolo

  What, we may ask, was his heart yearning for now? What was the object of its whimpering? What was it hankering after? What was it that he could wish for and be denied? In the midst of all these things, his heart lacked peace and contentment, nothing pleased him any more, his thoughts were in turmoil and he was not able to calm down and to make firm decisions. Chaka was a warrior who saw much blood in his growing up, blood that was spilt by him personally; now that he no longer went to war with his armies, therefore, he longed to see people dying by his own hand. He craved to witness death. Whenever he did not see that spectacle he became truly sick, and he desired that as his armies were shedding blood in battle, his right arm should remain steeped in gore here at home.

  To still the throbbing in his heart, he called for a big feast, and as the people were enjoying themselves, he kept his eyes open for those for whom he might find an excuse to remove from this world, by means of whom he might quench the thirst that was burning inside him. Some were killed right there during the festivities for, it was said, they sang out of tune or danced out of step, and thus spoiled the king’s feast. Now since people do not have the same strength in their chests, those who feared to be killed for singing out of tune kept quiet so that their voices should not be heard; but that very silence of theirs became the misdeed for which they were killed, for it was said that they despised the king’s feast. In these modern days, when a sermon is moving, people often cry; even in those days of darkness also, good dancing and singing did often make people cry, especially the elderly who were no longer able to participate in the games. On that day also many people’s hearts were moved when they saw those uniformly adorned warriors, each division having its own dress, and when they remembered what they themselves used to be like in their day. They wept then. Some induced their weeping artificially, and said they were crying because they were moved by the king’s feast.

  Chaka asked what was the cause of their weeping, and they explained, and then he said: “It amazes me that you are moved to tears by watching my warriors at their games, and not by me who am a wonder, by me who created all of these things; you are not moved by my person, you are moved by the beauty of a garment, not by him who is wearing it and who made it, and by that act you are despising me.” When he spoke those words, he raised his little spear and pointed it upwards, and those poor people were killed, and yet they had acted under the mistaken belief that the king would be pleased that they were moved to tears by the magnificence of his feast. The people who were adept at the games, and the ones with beautiful voices who sang most tunefully, were also killed, for it was said that they made the people cry and usurped the glory of his majesty. And now the people were at a loss to know what it was that might please the king since the good singer, the bad singer, and the one who kept quiet were all killed alike. These ones we have just told about were the ones who were killed during the day, in the middle of the festivities.

  When the night was advancing, when the people turned in for the night, Chaka took his regiments and killed the majority of the people who had come to the festivities at his own invitation, saying that they had been plotting against him; and the menials of the king to whom that task was entrusted, carried out this order quietly, and hundreds of people simply disappeared in the middle of the night, and were no more. And now his heart began to feel happy, and things began to look normal again, and he was able to derive some joy from them, now that he had done this deed; he could taste his food again, and that painful thirst which had seized him was diminished, and he felt like a human being again. He repeated such acts many times to douse this heat that seared his insides. The reason for arranging the feast was that he should be able to kill the people easily when they were all gathered together in one place.

  CHAPTER 24

  Painful Dreams

  FROM THAT day Chaka never experienced again the joy and the happiness he had once known. He often had painful and frightening dreams which disturbed his sleep, and which he could never remember when he woke up. A few days passed after the feast, and then he had a dream. He dreamed that he saw himself from his childhood to the day he met Isanusi, and when he reached that point, he woke up from his sleep on account of the painful nature of his dream. He fell asleep again, and when sleep came, he dreamed that same dream, and when he came to his meeting with Isanusi he woke up again. Three times in that same night he dreamed that one dream, from a certain point to a certain point, but the most amazing thing was that he kept waking up when he reached the point of his meeting with Isanusi, even though we are at a loss to know why it was that suddenly he was afraid of his dealings with Isanusi who was his closest friend.

  When he woke up the third time he did not sleep again, but he sat up instead until sunrise. By this time, however, he had forgotten what his dreams had been about, and all he remembered was how painful they were.

  That morning found him extremely worn out, his heart was blackened, and he desired nothing. He flared into a temper when people simply talked to him or greeted him. On the following night, the moment he put his head down he dreamed that same dream again. He woke up, and then he left and went to the house of his most beautiful woman whom none could equal, a girl with an extremely beautiful carriage, a figure of unequalled charm, and a beautiful complexion, whose skin glowed with the blood racing beneath it, the champion of all the young women of Zululand. When Chaka entered her room, her face was to him all coarse and pimply and not smooth as usual, and even her voice sounded hoarse and jarring, and jabbed his ears most painfully. He walked away from her in the middle of the night without having obtained the comfort he was looking for. He went from one to another, but found each one the same as the other, or even worse; but he avenged himself by killing some of them that same night, because they had failed to soothe his aching heart.

  Believing that his condition was caused by witchcraft, he decided to leave the city and go into the veld and stay there till Isanusi should come to strengthen him and his city also. What is surprising, though seemingly unimportant, is that it never occurred to Chaka to tell Malunga and Ndlebe his frightening dreams, even though they were with him all this time. Chaka left home taking with him two regiments, one called the MaChaka and the other Dinotshi, and he went a little way to the south and stationed them there, since his regiments were never congregated in the same place; besides, he was taking a new regiment to a place called Dukuza, and the other two were simply escorting this one, and would go back with him. He went there under the pretext that he was taking the new regiment but knowing in his heart that he was running away from something which pestered him and gave him no rest night and day, urging him to try to find peace and rest in the veld, far away from the people.

  Chaka arrived at Dukuza where he was taking that new regiment called Dukuza, and on his very first night there he had a dream more painful than the ones he had had thus far. He dreamed that he saw himself asleep, and a spear was piercing his heart. He was startled to a painful waking and he grabbed his spear and his shield, was on his feet at once, looking around, but he found that all was perfectly still, and all the people were sleeping peacefully. He laid down his head once more because his eyes were heavy from lack of sleep for several nights on end. But once more, as soon as sleep came, he saw a Zulu spear piercing his heart. This wrenched him awake most painfully and he scrambled to his feet and stood there looking this way and that. He found once again that everything was perfectly still, nothing stirred, and the people were all asleep and snoring. Then he decided not to sleep again, but started pacing up and down to dispel his sleep; he was extremely frightened and trembling as he marvelled at the strangeness of his dreams.

  At last he squatted on the ground to rest and flex his knees which were weakened by fright; and while he was squatting like that, a jackal cried over in the middle of the veld, far away from the camp. Chaka jumped up when he heard it for it was like the hue and cry of people running in pursuit of him. He stood up, and once more paced up and down in the darkness o
f the night; and while he was pacing like that, a hyena screamed and once again he was severely jolted as its cry penetrated his heart, and it was like the alarm raised by the one who was holding the spear which he saw stabbing his heart. Towards dawn, a dog pierced the sky with its howling far away among the caves, and it was a dog belonging to people whom Chaka had scattered and destroyed, killing even those who had come to him of their own accord to plead for peace and for the fighting to come to an end. The howling of that dog reminded Chaka of the cruel acts he had perpetrated against the people of that place. To him, it was as if that dog was crying for its owners who had been killed so mercilessly even as they begged for their lives to be spared; and now, it seemed, that dog had remained in great sorrow that made it cry unceasingly as it wandered around without even knowing where it was going.

  Chaka was very angry when he saw other people sleeping while he was unable to sleep, and he killed nine men on that same night, stabbing them fatally so that they died in their sleep right there on the ground where they lay.

  We should have mentioned that that place where Chaka was on that day was where, at the beginning of his wars, he had killed off all the people in a clean sweep, so that dogs ran wild there in large numbers and were troublesome to people who chanced to walk through that area. They became as vicious as hyenas, and roamed in large packs. Where large villages once stood there were now dangerous places for a man to traverse, which made one’s hair stand on end.

  When he recalled his deeds and heard these cries of the night, Chaka was seized with incredible fear and he wept bitter tears. But instead of helping his pain subside, as tears usually do to a heart swollen with sorrow, his crying only aggravated his grief. He stood up and walked around in an agitated manner throughout the night, some unknown force inside him driving him relentlessly. When the red light of dawn began to appear and the other people were waking up he dropped off in a doze which was brief and heavy, and only made his head ache.

  He woke up only after the sun had already risen, and he called Malunga in order to tell him what had happened; moreover on that day he had not forgotten his dreams. However, Malunga was nowhere to be found, and no one knew where he had gone, even though by sunset of the previous day he was still there. He called Ndlebe, but he too was nowhere to be found, and the people told him that Ndlebe had decided to go back to the courtyards where there was lots of meat, and besides he was going to watch over the king’s women. And now Chaka realised that things had reached a difficult pass, for here were his servants simply walking out on him without his permission. He choked with rage as he wondered why they disappeared on the very day on which he most needed them, and desired their help and advice.

  When the sun set on that day it left him in dire grief, with not a moment of rest as he paced around unable to stay in one place, as if there was water boiling furiously in his stomach. His eyes sank deep in their sockets, receding far to the back; and sometimes they bulged out and drooped like those of a drunkard whose lungs had been consumed by liquor. He became faint and weak, and was a pitiful sight indeed. His head swam and countless images flitted through his mind, and he saw them dimly; the only thing that stood out bright and clear was blood. His body would become hot and perspire profusely at one moment, and then grow ice-cold at the next. He continued to pace around and was an object of pity; he resembled a horse suffering from an intestinal fever which runs this way and that without seeing where it is going, yet driven mercilessly by the sickness inside it. He walked back and forth in agitation, finding no place to rest, and was like a horse from the Zambezi that is seized with madness when it has been struck by the sickness of that land, which makes it run around and bite itself, tearing the flesh from its body with its own teeth, unable to control itself since it is compelled by its sickness, and rousing pity and compassion in the hearts of those who see it. Chaka was exactly like that, and those who saw him were sure he was ill.

  When the last rays of the sun disappeared, he left with about ten men, true braves whom he trusted, who, he had no doubt whatsoever, would lay down their lives at the place where he died, and their corpses would be found with his. He went with them and found a spot to sleep some distance away from the three regiments, which would be cool being far away from the evil tracks of other people.

  His younger brothers, Dingana and Mhlangana, were on their way to attack the kingdoms to the north in accordance with his orders, but they returned halfway, on the pretext that they were ill. They arrived at the royal city shortly after Chaka left, and then they sent their greetings and also informed the king of the reason why they came back. When Chaka heard the news, he quickly dispatched a messenger to fetch them, hoping that he might find solace and his inner pain might cease when he saw his brothers. And so his eyes were fixed on the road until sunset, and every time he saw something moving there, he would hope that it was his younger brothers. Dingana and Mhlangana had long noticed that the people had already had enough of Chaka’s rule, and this was fully confirmed when they were on the road with their mission when they saw that the warriors were no longer sure what they were supposed to do or not to do. This was why they went back, so that if they could find a way, they would kill Chaka and take over the kingship. Chaka waited for them in that manner, little knowing the secret plan in their hearts.

  CHAPTER 25

  uDonga lukaTatiyana

  THE SUN set, and the evening shadows formed and deepened. It grew dark, and the people went to sleep. Chaka immediately fell into a deep sleep because his brain was tired; and as soon as sleep came, his painful dreams which crept up on him like spirits more evil than the tikoloshe, visited him again. He had a dream, and on that night his dream stretched out and proceeded further. He dreamed that he saw his king, Dingiswayo, and all his praiseworthy deeds as he tried to instil the spirit of humanity into his people, and he saw himself destroying all those beautiful deeds; and then he woke up, and he walked back and forth to scatter away his sleep, and he cast his eyes often on the road in the middle of the night looking out for the coming of Dingana and Mhlangana, his younger brothers. Since his knees were tired, he had to sit down, and as soon as he did so, he fell fast asleep and immediately began to dream.

  In that dream he saw himself from his first meeting with Isanusi until the time he was installed as king; all his deeds passed slowly before his eyes, even though he wished they could pass quickly. He saw all his wars; indeed he saw them even more clearly than in those days when he was actually fighting in them; he saw the dying of those who were killed in them; he saw the nations as they scattered before him, fleeing and eating each other in the process; he also saw all the deeds he performed as king. He saw Nongogo’s scouting journey together with all its hardships and its sufferings, and he saw also how he was executed; and in the same manner he saw the story of Mnyamana. He saw very clearly how each individual was slain in the killings of those many innocent women captured during the wars, and of the infants.

  Then when he came to the killing of his “wives”, he felt such pain that he woke up. He tried to stand up, but was unable to do so. He tried to scream, but his mouth was stilled. Something pressed him down on the ground. At last he gained some strength and was able to get up, and he heaved himself up and reached for his spear. He stood on his feet, and threw glances this way and that, but he found that there was perfect stillness, and all his men were asleep except three who were on guard but a little distance away, keeping watch in accordance with the king’s command.

  Chaka realised now that the time of his death was near. His one regret, however, was that he was out in the veld, far away from the people, and that therefore there was no way in which to perform the ritual of killing as his own life came to a close. Nevertheless he devised a plan. He went to those watchmen of the night and said: “What time of night is it, you watchmen?”

  They said: “It is the depth of night.”

  He spoke to them about that illness which was consuming him and said that he was being bewitched by
the Dukuza regiment, and that he ought to destroy it. He sent a messenger to fetch it from the other regiments. When it came he split it into two, and he sent one half to the little villages around the Mvoti River with an order to kill all the people there and let not a soul escape for, he alleged, they were the people who were bewitching him. He divided the remaining half into three groups and posted these at three different places and told them that, if the people from those villages should pass by them in their flight, they should kill them all. And then he called MaChaka when the others had already left, and he told them where each little group was stationed, and he instructed them to kill them, and those three little groups were killed easily because they were so small in number. That is to say, that Chaka killed Zulus by Zulus, without them being aware of it.

  When the section which had gone to the villages came back, the MaChaka regiment attacked them, and as they were fighting Chaka went to the Dinotshi regiment and sent them to the attack, saying that the enemy was upon them; they soon realised, however, that these were other Zulus and they stopped right at the beginning.

  There is nothing so beautiful and praiseworthy as when a person sees himself doing a beautiful and useful deed. On the other hand there is nothing as painful as when an evil man sees himself performing his evil deeds. It is very hurtful when a person thinks of his ugly deeds, but when he actually sees himself performing them at exactly the same place and in exactly the same manner as when they actually happened, the pain he experiences is one which nobody can adequately describe to another person. Therefore we are unable to describe the severity and the throbbing of the pain which Chaka’s dreams caused him when he saw himself in the act of performing those ugly deeds.