 Dedication, Preface and Introduction to Nader the Lily by H. Ryder Haggard. This is a LibriVox recording, all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Dedication Some say, for I will call you by the name that for 50 years has been honoured by every tribe between Zambezi and Cape Agulias. I greet you. Some say, my father, I have written a book that tells of men and matters of which you know the most of any who still look upon the light. Therefore I set your name within that book, and such as it is, I offer it to you. If you knew not Shaka, you and he have seen the same sun shine. You knew his brother Pandar and his captains, and perhaps even that fairy Mopu who tells this tale, his servant who slew him with the princes. You have seen the circle of the witch doctors and the unconquerable Zulu impis rushing to war. You have crowned their kings and shared their councils, and with your son's blood you have expiated a statesman's error and a general's faults. Some say, a song has been sung in my ears of how first you mastered this people of the Zulu. Is it not true, my father, that for long hours you sat silent and alone, while 3,000 warriors shouted for your life, and when they grew weary, did you not stand and say, pointing towards the ocean, kill me if you wish, men of Chihuahua. But I tell you, that for every drop of my blood, a hundred Avengers shall rise from Yonder Sea. Then, so it was told me, the regiments turned staring towards the black water, as though the day of Ulundi had already come, and they saw the white slayers creeping across the plains. Thus, Samseo, your name became great among the people of the Zulu, as already it was great among many another tribe. And their nobles did you homage, and they gave you the bayete, the royal salute, declaring by the mouth of their council that in you dwelt the spirit of Shaqqa. Many years have gone by then, and now you are old, my father. It is many years since I was a boy and followed you, when you went up among the boars and took their country for the queen. Why did you do this, my father? I will answer who know the truth. You did it because, had it not been done, the Zulus would have stamped out the boars. Were not that Swire's impious gathered against the land, and was it not because it became the queen's land, that at your word he sent them murmuring to their crawls. Footnote, I thank my father Samseo for his message. I am glad that he has sent it, because the Dutch have tired me out, and I intended to fight them once and once only, and to drive them over the vile. Cabana, you see my impious are gathered. It was to fight the Dutch I call them together. Now I send them back to their homes. Message from Tzuayu to Cetishepstone, April 1877. End of footnote. To save bloodshed you annexed the country beyond the vile. Perhaps it had been better to leave it, since death chooses for himself. And after all there was killing of our own people, and with the killing shame. But in those days we did not guess what we should live to see, and of Majuba we thought only as a little hill. Enemies have borne false witness against you on this matter Samseo, you who never erred except through overkindness. Yet what does that avail? When you have gone beyond it will be forgotten, since the sting of ingratitude passes, and lies must wither like the winter-velte. Only your name will not be forgotten, as it was heard in life, so it shall be heard in story, and I pray that, however humbly, mine may pass down with it. Chance has taken me by another path, and I must leave the ways of action that I love, and bury myself in books. But the old days and friends are in my mind, nor while I have memory shall I forget them and you. Therefore, though it be for the last time, from far across the seas I speak to you, and lifting my hand I give your sibonga, titles of praise, and that royal salute, to which, now that its kings are gone, and the people of heaven are no more a nation, with Her Majesty you are alone entitled. Bayete, baba, uncosi, amacosi, ngonyama, inviluvu aipendulwa, wenoa vela wasipata, wenoa klul, iziz wezonke zapatwa inguiere, wagenangela mabun, obawa klul uedwa, umsizi wisintandane, ezichlu pekayo, siakule kababa, bayete tsomseyu. Bayete, father, chief of chiefs, lion, elephant that is not turned, you who nursed us from of old, you who overshadowed all peoples, and took charge of them, and ended by mastering the boars with your single strength, help of the fatherless when in trouble, salutation to you, father, bayete, osomseyu, and farewell. H Rider Haggard, to Sir Theophilus Shepstone, Casey MG, Natal, 13th of September, 1891. Preface, the writer of this romance has been encouraged to his task by a purpose somewhat beyond that of setting out a wild tale of savage life. When he was yet a lad, now some 17 years ago, fortune took him to South Africa. There he was thrown in with men who, for 30 or 40 years, had been intimately acquainted with the Zulu people, with their history, their heroes, and their customs. From these he heard many tales and traditions, some of which perhaps are rarely told nowadays, and in time to come may cease to be told altogether. Then the Zulus were still a nation, now that nation has been destroyed, and the chief aim of its white rulers is to root out the war-like spirit for which it was remarkable, and to replace it by a spirit of peaceful progress. The Zulu military organisation, perhaps the most wonderful that the world has seen, is already a thing of the past. It's perished at a lundi. It was Shaka who invented that organisation, building it up from the smallest beginnings. When he appeared at the commencement of this century, it was as the ruler of a single small tribe. When he fell in the year 1828, beneath the Asagais of his brothers, Unclangana and Dingan, and of his servant Mopo, or Unbopo, as he is called also, all South-Eastern Africa was at his feet, and in his march to power, he had slaughtered more than a million human beings. Footnote. At the commencement of the present century, the population of South-Eastern Africa was, comparatively speaking, dense. Shaka thinned it. End of footnote. An attempt has been made in these pages to set out the true character of this colossal genius, and most evil man. An Apolian and a Tiberius in one, and also that of his brother and successor, Dingan, so no more need be said of them here. The author's aim, moreover, has been to convey, in a narrative form, some idea of the remarkable spirit which animated these kings and their subjects, and to make accessible, in a popular shape, incidents of history, which are now, for the most part, only to be found in a few scarce works of reference, rarely consulted, except by students. It will be obvious that such a task has presented difficulties, since he who undertakes it must for a time forget his civilisation, and think with the mind and speak with the voice of Azulu of the old regime. All the horrors perpetrated by the Zulu tyrants cannot be published in this polite age of Mellonite and torpedoes. Their details have therefore been suppressed. Still much remains, and those who think it wrong that massacre and fighting should be written of, except by special correspondence, or that the sufferings of mankind beneath one of the world's most cruel tyrannies should form the groundwork of romance, may be invited to leave this book unread. Most indeed, nearly all of the historical incidents here recorded are substantially true. Thus it is said that Chaka did actually kill his mother Unandi for the reason given, and destroy an entire tribe in the Tatiana Cleft, and that he prophesied of the coming of the white man after receiving his death wounds. Of the incident of the missionary and the furnace of logs, it is impossible to speak so certainly. It came to the writer from the lips of an old traveller in the Zulu, but he cannot discover any confirmation of it. Still, these kings undoubtedly put their soldiers to many tests of equal severity. Umbopo, Umbopo as he is named in this tale, actually lived. After he had stabbed Chaka, he rose to great eminence. Then he disappears from the scene, but it is not accurately known whether he also went the way of the Asagai, or perhaps as is here suggested, came to live near Stanga under the name of Zvitte. The fate of the two lovers at the mouth of the cave is a true Zulu tale, which has been considerably varied to suit the purposes of this romance. The late Mr Leslie, who died in 1874, tells it in his book Among the Zulus and Amatongas. I heard a story the other day, he says, which if the power of writing fiction were possessed by me, I might have worked up into a first class sensational novel. It is the story that has been woven into the plot of this book. To him also the writer is indebted for the artifice by which Umbopo Gas obtained admission to the Swazi stronghold. It was told to Mr Leslie by the Zulu who performed the feat and thereby won a wife. Also the writer's thanks are due to his friends, Mr F B Finney, I grieve to state that I must now say the late Mr F B Finney, late Zulu border agent for much information given to him in bygone years by word of mouth, and more recently through his pamphlet Zulu Land of the Zulus, and to Mr John Byrd, formerly treasurer to the government of Natal, whose compilation, the annals of Natal is invaluable to all who would study the early history of that colony and of Zulu Land. As for the wilder and more romantic incidents of this story, such as the hunting of Umbopo Gas and Galazi with the wolves, or rather with the hyenas, for there are no true wolves in Zulu Land, the author can only say that they seem to him of a sort that might well have been mythically connected with the names of those heroes. Similar beliefs and traditions are common in the records of primitive peoples, as in the Volsunga saga. The club, Watcher of the Fords, or to give it its Zulu name, Unotkola Mazibuko is an historical weapon chronicled by Bishop Calloway. It was once owned by a certain Unger Bekazizwa. He was an arbitrary person, but no matter what was discussed in our village, he would bring it to a conclusion with a stick. But he made a good end, for when the Zulu soldiers attacked him, he killed no less than twenty of them with the Watcher, and the spears stuck in him as thick as reeds in a morass. This man's strength was so great that he could kill a leopard like a fly with his hands only, much as Umbopo Gas slew the traitor in this story. Perhaps it may be allowable to add a few words about the Zulu mysticism, magic and superstition, to which there is some illusion in this romance. It has been little if at all exaggerated. Thus the writer well remembers hearing a legend how the guardian spirit of the Amazulu was seen riding down the storm. Here is what Mr. Finney says of her in the pamphlet to which reference has been made. The natives have a spirit which they call the Incosazana Jezulu, the Princess of Heaven. She is said to be robed in white and to take the form of a young maiden, in fact an angel. She is said to appear to some chosen person to whom she imparts some revelation. But whatever that revelation may be, it is kept a profound secret from outsiders. I remember that just before the Zulu war Nongkobulwana appeared, feeling something or other which had a great effect throughout the land. And I know that the Zulus were quite impressed that some calamity was about to befall them. One of the ominous signs was that fire is said to have descended from heaven and ignited the grass over the graves of the former kings of Zulu land. On another occasion Nongkobulwana appeared to someone in Zulu land. The results of that visit being that the native women buried their young children up to their heads in sand, deserting them for the time being, going away weeping, but returning at nightfall to unearth the little ones again. For this divine personage there is, therefore, authority and the same may be said of most of the supernatural matters spoken of in these pages. The exact spiritual position held in the Zulu mind by the Omkulunkulu, the old, old, the great, great, the Lord of the heavens, is a more vexed question and for its proper consideration, the reader must be referred to Bishop Callaway's work, the religious system of the Amazulu. Briefly, Omkulunkulu's character seems to vary from the idea of an ancestral spirit or the spirit of an ancestor to that of a god. In the case of an able and highly intelligent person like the Mopo of this story the ideal would probably not be a low one. Therefore, he is made to speak of Omkulunkulu as the great spirit or god. It only remains to the writer to express his regret that this story is not more varied in its hue. It would have been desirable to introduce some gayer and more happy incidents, but it has not been possible. It is believed that the picture given of the times is a faithful one though it may be open to correction in some of its details. At the least, the aged man who tells the tale of his wrongs and vengeance could not be expected to treat his subject in an optimistic or even in a cheerful vein. Nader the Lily, Introduction Some years since, it was during the winter before the Zulu war a white man was travelling through Natal. His name does not matter for he plays no part in this story. With him were two wagons laden with goods which he was transporting to Pretoria. The weather was cold and there was little or no grass for the oxen which made the journey difficult but he had been tempted to it by the high rates of transport that prevailed at that season of the year which would remunerate him for any probable loss he might suffer in cattle. So he pushed along on his journey and all went well until he had passed the little town of Stanga once the site of Duguza the Kral of Shaka the first Zulu king The night after he left Stanga the air turned bitterly cold heavy grey clouds filled the sky and hid the light of the stars. Now if I were not in Natal I should say that there was a heavy fall of snow coming said the white man to himself I have often seen the sky look like that in Scotland before snow then he reflected that there had been no deep snow in Natal for years and having drunk a tot of square face and smoked his pipe he went to bed beneath the after tent of his larger wagon during the night he was awakened by a sense of bitter cold and the low moaning of the oxen that were tied to the trektow every ox in its place he thrust his head through the curtain of the tent and looked out the earth was white with snow and the air was full of it swept along by a cutting wind now he sprang up looking on his clothes and as he did so calling to the kafirs who slept beneath the wagons presently they awoke from the stupor which already was beginning to overcome them and crept out shivering with cold and wrapped from head to foot in blankets quick you boys he said to them in Zulu quick would you see the cattle die of the snow and wind loose the oxen from the trektows and drive them in between the wagons they will give them some shelter and lighting a lantern he sprang out into the snow at last it was done no easy task for the numbed hands of the kafirs could scarcely loosen the frozen rames the wagons were outspanned side by side with the space between them and into this space the mob of 36 oxen was driven and there secured by rames tied crosswise from the front and hind wheels of the wagons then the white man crept back to his bed and the shivering natives fortified with gin or square face as it is called locally took refuge on the second wagon drawing a tent sail over them for a while there was silence save for the moaning of the huddled and restless cattle if the snow goes on I shall lose my oxen he said to himself I can never bear this cold hardly had the words past his lips when the wagon shook there was a sound of breaking rames and trampling hooves once more he looked out the oxen had scrapped in a mob there they were running away into the night and the snow seeking to find shelter from the cold in a minute they had vanished utterly there was nothing to be done except wait for the morning at last it came revealing a landscape blind with snow such search as could be made told them nothing the oxen had gone and their spore was obliterated by the fresh fallen flakes the white man called a council of his katha servants what was to be done he asked one said this thing one that but all agreed that they must wait to act until the snow melted or till we freeze you whose mothers were fools said the white man who was in the worst of tempers had he not lost four hundred pounds worth of oxen then Azulu spoke who had hitherto remained silent he was the driver of the first wagon my father he said to the white man this is my word the oxen are lost in the snow no man knows whether they have gone or whether they live or are now but hides and bones it's at the kral yonder and he pointed to some huts about two miles away on the hillside lives a witch doctor named Zuete he's old very old but he has wisdom and he can tell you the oxen are if any man may my father stuff answered the white man still as a kral cannot be colder than this wagon we will go and ask Zuete bring a bottle of square face and some snuff with you for presents an hour later he stood in the huts of Zuete before him was a very ancient man a mere bag of bones with sightless eyes and one hand he's left white and shriveled what do you seek Zuete my white father asked the old man in a thin voice you do not believe in me and my wisdom why should I help you yet I will do it though it is against your law and you do wrong to ask me yes to show you that there is truth in our Zulu doctors I will help you my father I know what you seek you seek to know where your oxen have run for shelter from the cold is that not so doctor answered the white man you have long ears yes my white father I have long ears though they say that I grow deaf I have keen eyes also and yet I cannot see your face let me harken let me look for a while he was silent rocking himself to and fro then he spoke you have a farm white man down near Pintown is it not and an hours ride from your farm lives a boar with four fingers only on his right hand there is a cloof on the boar's farm where mimosa trees grow there in the cloof you shall find your oxen yes five days journey from here you will find them all I say all my father except three only the big black african da ox the little red Zulu ox with one horn and the speckled ox you shall not find these for they have died in the snow send and you will find the others no no I ask no fee I do not work wonders for reward why should I I am rich now the white man scoffed but in the end so great is the power of superstition he sent and here it may be stated that on the 11th day of his sojourn at the clal of Sueta those whom he sent returned with the oxen except the three only after that he scoffed no more those 11 days he spent in a hut of the old man's kral and every afternoon he came and talked with him sitting far into the night on the third day he asked Sueta how it was that his left hand was white and shriveled and who were unslopper gas and nada of whom he had let fall some words then the old man told him the tale that is set out here day by day he told some of it till it was finished it is not all written in these pages for portions may have been forgotten or put aside as irrelevant neither has it been possible for the writer of it to render the full force of the Zulu idiom nor to convey a picture of the teller for in truth he acted rather than told his story was the death of a warrior in question he stabbed with his stick showing how the blow fell and where did the story grow sorrowful he groaned or even wept moreover he had many voices one for each of the actors in his tale this man, ancient and withered seemed to live again in the far past it was the past that spoke to his listener telling of deeds long forgotten of deeds that are no more known yet as he best may the white man has set down the substance of the story of Zwayte in the spirit in which Zwayte told it and because the history of Narda the Lily and of those with whom her life was intertwined moved him strangely and in many ways he has done more he has printed it that others may judge of it and now his part is played let him who was named Zwayte but who had another name take up the story end of dedication, preface and introduction chapter one of Narda the Lily by H. Ryder Haggard this Librivox recording is in the public domain the boy Shaka prophesies you ask me my father to tell you the tale of the youth of Umsloppa Gas holder of the Iron Chieftainness the axe groanmaker who was named Bualalia the Slaughterer and of his love for Narda the most beautiful of Zulu women it is long but you are here for many nights and if I live to tell it it shall be told strengthen your heart my father for I have much to say that is sorrowful and even now when I think of Narda the tears creep through the horn that shuts out my old eyes from light do you know who I am my father you do not know you think that I am an old, old witch doctor named Zwayte no men have thought for many years but that is not my name few have known it for I have kept it locked in my breast lest though I live now under the law of the white man and the great queen is my chieftainess and as a guy still might find this heart did any know my name look at this hand my father no not that which is withered with fire look on this right hand of mine you see it though I see who unblind cannot but still within me I see it as it was once I I see it red and strong red with the blood of two kings listen my father bend your ear to me and listen I am Mopo ah I felt you start you start as the regiment of the bees started when Mopo walked before their ranks and from the asagai in his hand the blood of Chaka dropped slowly to the earth Chaka the Zulu Napoleon one of the greatest geniuses and most wicked men who ever lived he was killed in the year 1828 having slaughtered more than a million human beings I am Mopo who slew Chaka the king I killed him with Dingan and Ongshangana the princes but the wound was mine that his life crept out of and but for me he would never escape this lane I killed him with the princes but Dingan I and one other slew alone what do you say Dingan died by the Tongola yes yes he died but not there he died on the ghost mountain he lies in the breast of the old stone witch who sits aloft forever waiting for the world to perish but I also was on the ghost mountain with those days my feet still could travel fast and the vengeance would not let me sleep I travelled by day and by night I found him I and another we killed him ah ah why do I tell you this what has it to do with the loves of Omslopogas and Nadda the Lily I will tell you I stabbed Chaka for the sake of my sister Baleca the mother of Omslopogas I murdered my wives and children I and Omslopogas slew Dingan for the sake of Nadda who is my daughter there are great names in the story my father yes many have heard the names when the impis roared them out as they charged in battle I have felt the mountain shake and seen the waters quiver in their sound but where are they now silence has them write them down in books I opened the gates of distance for the holders of the names they pass through and they are gone beyond I cut the strings that tied them to the world they fell off ha ha they fell off perhaps they are falling still perhaps they creep about their desolate crawls in the skins of snakes I wish I knew the snakes that I might crush them with my heel yonder beneath us at the burying place of kings there is a hole in that hole lies the bones of Shaka the king who died for Baleka far away in Zululand there is a cleft upon the ghost mountain at the foot of that cleft lie the bones of Dingan the king who died for Nadda it was far to fall and he was heavy those bones of his are broken into little pieces I went to see them when the vultures and the jackals had done their work and then I laughed three times and came here to die all that is long ago and I have not died though I wish to die and follow the road that Nadda trod perhaps I have lived to tell you this tale my father that you may repeat it to the white men if you will how old am I nay I do not know very very old he would have been as old as I this would have made him nearly a hundred years old an age rarely attained by a native the writer remembers talking to an aged Zulu woman however who told him that she was married when Shaka was king none a living whom I knew when I was a boy I am so old that I must hasten the grass withers and the winter comes yes, while I speak the winter nips my heart well I am ready to sleep in the cold and perhaps I shall awake again in the spring before the Zulus were a people for I will begin at the beginning I was born of the Langeni tribe we were not a large tribe afterwards all our able bodied men numbered one full regiment in Shaka's army perhaps there were between two and three thousand of them but they were brave now they are all dead and children with them that people is no more it is gone like last month's moon how it went I will tell you by and by our tribe lived in a beautiful open country the Boers whom we call the Amabuna are there now they tell me my father Makedama was chief of the tribe and his kral was built on the crest of a hill but I was not the son of his head wife one evening when I was still little standing as high as a man's elbow only I went out with my mother below the cattle kral to see the cows driven in my mother was very fond of these cows and there was one with a white face that would follow her about she carried my little sister Baleca riding on her hip Baleca was a baby then we talked so we met the lads driving in the cows my mother called a white-faced cow and gave it mealy leaves she brought with her then the boys went on with the cattle the white-faced cow stopped by my mother she said that she would bring it to the kral when she came home my mother sat down on the grass and nursed her baby while I played round her and the cow grazed presently we saw a woman walking towards us across the plane she walked like one who is tired on her back was a bundle of mats and she led by the hand a boy of about my own age but bigger and stronger than I was we waited a long while till at last the woman came up to us and sank down on the veld for she was very weary we saw by the way her hair was dressed that she was not of our tribe greeting to you said the woman good morrow answered my mother what you seek food and a hut to sleep in said the woman how are you far how are you named and what is your people asked my mother my name is Onandi I am the wife of Senzanga Kona of the Zulu tribe said the stranger now there had been war between our people and the Zulu people and Senzanga Kona had killed some of our warriors and taken many of our cattle so when my mother heard the speech of Onandi she sprang up in anger to come here and ask me for food and shelter wife of a dog of a Zulu she cried big honor I will call the girls to whip you out of our country the woman who was very handsome waited till my mother had finished her angry words then she looked up and spoke slowly there is a cow by you with milk dropping from its udder will you not even give me and my boy a gourd of milk as she took a gourd from her bundle and held it towards us I will not said my mother we are thirsty with long travel will you not then give us a cup of water we have found none for many hours I will not wife of a dog go and seek water for yourself the woman's eyes filled with tears but the boy folded his arms on his breast and scowled he was a very handsome boy with bright black eyes but when he scowled his eyes were like the sky before a thunderstorm mother, he said we are not wanted here any more than we were wanted yonder he nodded towards the country where the Zulu people lived let us be going to Dingiswio the Umtetwa people will protect us yes let us be going my son answered unhandy but the path is long we are weary and shall fall by the way I heard and something pulled at my heart I was sorry for the woman and her boy they looked so tired then without saying anything to my mother I snatched the gourd and ran with it to a little dongla that was hard by for I knew that there was a spring presently I came back with the gourd full of water my mother wanted to catch me for she was very angry but I ran past her the boy then my mother ceased trying to interfere only she beat the woman with her tongue all the while saying that evil had come to our crowds from her husband and she felt in her heart that more evil would come upon us from her son her eclose guardian spirit told her so aha my father her eclose told her true if a woman unhandy and a child died that day on the veld the gardens of my people would not now be a wilderness and their bones would not lie in the great gully that is near while my mother talked I and the cow with the white face stood still and watched and the baby by liquor cried aloud the boy unhandy's son having taken the gourd did not offer the water to his mother he drank two thirds of it himself I think that he would have drunk it all had not his thirst been slaked but when he had done he gave what was left to his mother and she finished it then he took the gourd again and came forward holding it in one hand in the other he carried a short stick what is your name boy he said to me as a big rich man speaks to one who is little and poor Mopo is my name I answered and what is the name of your people I told him the name of my tribe the Langini tribe very well Mopo now I will tell you my name my name is Shaka son of Senzangakonna and my people I call the Amazulu and I will tell you something more I am little today and my people are a small people but I shall grow big so big that my head will be lost in the clouds and you shall not see it my face will blind you it will be bright like the sun and my people will grow great with me they shall eat up the whole world and when I am big and my people are big and we have stamped the earth flats as far as men can travel then I will remember your tribe the tribe of the Langini who would not give me and my mother a cup of milk when we were weary you see this gourd for every drop it can hold the blood of a man shall flow the blood of one of your men but because you gave me the water I will spare you Mopo and you only and make you great under me you shall grow fat in my shadow you alone I will never harm however you sin against me this I swear but for that woman that he pointed to my mother let her make haste and die so that I do not need to teach her what a long time death can take to come I have spoken and he ground his teeth and shook his stick towards us my mother stood silent a while then she gasped out the little liar he speaks like a man does he the car flows like a bull I will teach him another note the brat of an evil prophet and putting down Baleka she ran at the boy Shaka stood quite still till she was near then suddenly he lifted the stick in his hand and hit her so hard on the head that she fell down after that he laughed turned and went away with his mother Unandi these my father were the first words I heard Shaka speak and they were words of prophecy and they came true the last words I heard him speak also and I think that they will come true even now they are coming true in the one he told how the Zulu people should rise and say have they not risen in the other he told me how they should fall and they did fall do not the white men gather themselves together even now against as vultures gather round a dying ox the Zulus are not what they were to stand against them yes yes they will come true and mine is the song of a people that is doomed but of these other words I will speak in their place I went to my mother presently she raised herself from the ground and sat up with her hands over her face the blood from the wound the stick had made ran down her face onto her breast and I wiped it away with the grass she sat for a long while thus while the child cried the cow lured to be milked and I wiped up the blood with the grass at last she took her hands away and spoke to me more poor my son she said I have dreamed a dream I dreamed that I saw the boy Shaka who struck me he was grown like a giant he stalked across the mountains and the veld his eyes blazed like the lightning and in his hand he shook a little asagai that was red with blood he caught up people after people in his hands and tore them he stamped the krals flat with his feet before him was the green of summer behind him the land was as black as when the fires have eaten the grass I saw our people Mopo they were many and fat their hearts laughed the men were brave the girls were fair I counted their children by the hundreds I saw them again Mopo they were bones white bones thousands of bones tumbled together in a rocky place and he Shaka stood over the bones and laughed till the earth shook then Mopo in my dream I saw you grown a man you alone were left of our people you crept up behind the giant Shaka and with you came others great men of a royal luke you stabbed him with a little spear and he fell down and grew small again he fell down and cursed you but you cried in his ear a name the name of Paleka your sister and he died let us go home Mopo let us go home the darkness falls so we rose and went home but I held my peace for I was afraid very much afraid End of chapter 1 Chapter 2 of Narda the Lily by H. Ryder Haggard this Librivox recording is in the public domain Mopo is in trouble Now I must tell how my mother did what the boy Shaka had told her and died quickly for where his stick had struck her on the forehead there came a saw that would not be healed and in the saw grew an abscess and the abscess ate inwards till it came to the brain then my mother fell down and died and I cried very much for I loved her and it was dreadful to see her cold and stiff with not a word to say however loudly I called to her well they buried my mother and she was soon forgotten I only remembered her nobody else did not even Paleka for she was too little and as for my father he took another young wife and was content after that I was unhappy she did not love me because I was much cleverer than they and had greater skill with the Asagai and was swifter in running so they poisoned the mind of my father against me and he treated me badly but Paleka and I loved each other for we were both lonely and she clung to me like a creeper to the only tree in a plane and though I was young I learned this that to be wise is to be strong and to hold the Asagai kills yet he whose mind directs the battle is greater than he who kills now I saw that the witchfinders and the medicine men were feared in the land and that everybody looked up to them so that even when they had only a stick in their hands ten men armed with spears would fly before them therefore I determined that I would be a witch doctor to kill those who they hate with a word so I learned the arts of the medicine men I made sacrifices I fasted in the felts alone I did all those things of which you have heard and I learned much but there is wisdom in our magic as well as lies and you know it my father else you had not come here to ask me about your lost oxen so things went on till I was a sage, a man full grown by now I had mastered all I could learn by myself so I joined myself onto the chief medicine man of our tribe who was named Numa he was old had one eye only and was very clever of him I learned some tricks and more wisdom but at last he grew jealous of me and set a trap to catch me as it chanced a neighbouring tribe had lost some cattle and came with gifts to Numa praying him to smell them out Numa tried and could not find them his vision failed him then the headman grew angry and demanded back his gifts but Numa would not give up that which he once had held and hot words passed the headman said that he would kill Numa Numa said that he would be a witch the headman for I feared that blood would be shed peace and let me see if my snake will tell me where the cattle are you are nothing but a boy answered the headman can a boy have wisdom that shall soon be known I said taking the bones in my hand footnote the kafir witch doctors used the knuckle bones of animals in their magic rites throwing them something as we throw dice end of footnote leave the bones alone scream Numa we will ask nothing more of our snakes for the good of this son of a dog he shall throw the bones answered the headman if you try to stop him I will let sunshine through you with my asagai and he lifted his spear then I made haste to begin I threw the bones the headman sat on the ground before me and answered my questions father how sometimes the witch doctor has knowledge of where the lost things are for our ears are long and sometimes his echlose tells him as but the other day it told me of your oxen well in this case my snake stood up I knew nothing of the man's cattle but my spirit was with me and soon I saw them all and told them to him one by one their colour their age everything to where they were and how one of them had fallen into a stream and lay there on its back drowned with its four foot caught in a forked root as my echlose told me so I told the headman now the man was pleased and said that if my sight was good and he found the cattle the gifts should be taken from Numa and given to me and he asked the people who were sitting round and there were many yes yes they said it was just and they would see that it was done but Numa sat still and looked at me evilly he knew that I had made a true divination and he was very angry it was a big matter the herd of cattle were many and if they were found where I had said then all men would think me the greater wizard now it was late and the moon had not yet risen therefore the headman said that he would sleep that night in Al-Kral and its first light would go with me to the spot where I said the cattle were after that he went away I too went into my hut and lay down to sleep suddenly I awoke feeling a weight upon my breast I tried to start up but something cold pricked my throat I fell back again and looked the door of the hut was open the moon lay low on the sky like a ball of fire far away I could see it through the door and its light crept into the hut it fell upon the face of Numa the witch doctor he was seated across me glaring at me with his one eye and in his hand was a knife it was that which I had felt prick my throat you welp whom I have bred up to tear me he hissed into my ear you dared to define where I failed did you very well now I will show you how I serve such puppies first I will pierce through the roots of your tongue so that you cannot squeal then I will cut you to pieces slowly bit by bit and in the morning I will tell the people that the spirits did it because you lied next I will take off your arms and legs yes yes I will make you like a stick then I will and he began driving in the knife under my chin mercy my uncle I said for I was frightened and the knife hurt have mercy and I will do whatever you wish will you do this he asked still pricking me with the knife will you get up go to find the dog's cattle and drive them to a certain place and hide them there at a valley that was known to very few if you do that I will spare you and give you three of the cows if you refuse or play me false then by my father's spirit I will find a way to kill you certainly I will do it my uncle I answered why did you not trust me before had I known that you wanted to keep the cattle I would never have smelt them out I only did so fearing you are not so wicked as I thought he growled get up then and do my bidding you can be back here two hours after dawn so I got up thinking all the while whether I should try to spring on him but I was without arms and he had the knife also if by chance I prevailed and killed him it would have been thoughts that I had murdered him and I should have tasted the asa guy so I made another plan I would go and find the cattle in the valley where I had smelt them out but I would not bring them to the secret hiding place no I would drive them straight to the kral and denounce Noma before the chief my father and all the people but I was young in those days and did not know the heart of Noma he had not been a witch doctor he was not old for nothing oh he was evil he was cunning as a jackal and fierce like a lion he had planted me by him like a tree but he meant to keep me clipped like a bush now I had grown tall and overshadowed him therefore he would root me up I went to the corner of my hut Noma watching me all the while and took a carry and my small shield then I started through the moonlight till I was past the kral I glided along quietly as a shadow after that I began to run singing to myself as I went to frighten away the ghosts my father for an hour I travelled swiftly over the plain till I came to the hillside where the bush began here it was very dark under the shade of the trees I sang louder than ever at last I found the little buffalo path I sawed and turned along it presently I came to an open place where the moonlight crept in between the trees I knelt down and looked yes, my snake had not lied to me there was the spore of the cattle then I went on gladly till I reached a dell through which the water ran softly sometimes whispering and sometimes talking out loud here the trail of the cattle was broad they had broken down the ferns with their feet and trampled the grass presently I came to a pool I knew it it was the pool my snake had shown to me and there at the edge of the pool floated the drowned ox it's fucked caught in a forked root all was just as I had seen it in my heart I stepped forward and looked round my eye caught something it was a faint grey light of the dawn glinting on the cattle's horns as I looked one of them snorted rose and shook the dew from his hide he seemed big as an elephant in the mist and twilight then I collected them all there were seventeen and drove them before me down the narrow path back towards the crawl now the daylight came quickly and the sun had been up an hour when I reached the spot where I must turn if I wished to hide the cattle in this secret place as Noma had bid me but I would not do this no I would go on to the crawl with them until all men that Noma was a thief still I sat down and rested a while but I was tired as I sat I heard a noise there were over the slope of the rise came a crowd of men and leading them was Noma and by his side the headman who owned the cattle I rose and stood still wondering but as I stood they ran towards me shouting and waving sticks and spears there he is screamed Noma there he is the clever boy whom I have brought up to bring shame on me what did I tell you not tell you that he was a thief yes yes I know your tricks Mopo my child see he is stealing the cattle he knew where they were all the time and now he is taking them away to hide them they would be useful to buy a wife with would they not my clever boy and he made a rush at me with his stick lifted and after him came the headman grunting with rage I understood now my father my heart went mad in me everything began to swim round a red cloth seemed to lift itself up and down before my eyes I have always seen it thus when I was forced to fight I screamed out one word only liar and ran to meet him on came Noma he struck at me with his stick but I caught the blow upon my little shield and hit back wow I did hit the skull of Noma met my carry and down he fell dead at my feet I yelled again and rushed on at the headman he threw an ass a guy but it missed me and next second I hit him too he got up his shield but I knocked it down upon his head and over he rolled senseless whether he lived or died I do not know my father but his head being of the thickest I think it likely that he lived then while the people stood astonished I turned and fled like the wind they turned too and ran after me throwing spears at me and trying to cut me off but none of them could catch me no not one I went like the wind I went like a book when the dogs wake it from sleep and presently the sound of their chase grew fainter and fainter till at last I was out of sight and alone end of chapter 2 chapter 3 of Narda the Lily by H. Ryder Haggard this Librivox Recording is in the public domain Mopo Ventures Home I threw myself down on the grass and panted till my breath came back then I went and hid in a patch of reeds down by a swamp all day long I lay there what was I to do now I was a jackal without a hole if I went back to my people certainly they would kill me whom they thought a thief my blood would be given for nomas and that I did not wish though my heart was sad then there came into my mind the thought of Shaka the boy to whom I had given the cup of water long ago I had heard of him his name was known in the land already the air was big with it the very trees and grass spoke it the words he had said and the vision that my mother had seen were beginning to come true by the help of the Antechoas he had taken the place of his father Senzan Gakuna he had driven out the tribe of the Amacuabe now he had made war on Suete, chief of the Anduande and he had sworn that he would stamp the Anduande flat so that nobody could find them anymore now I remembered how this Shaka promised that he would make me great and that I should grow fat in his shadow and I thought to myself that I would arise and go to him perhaps he would kill me well what did it matter certainly I should be killed if I stayed here yes I would go but now my heart pulled another way there was but one whom I loved in the world it was my sister Baleca my father had betrothed her to the chief of a neighbouring tribe but I knew that this marriage was against her wish perhaps my sister would run away with me if I could get near her to tell her that I was going I would try yes I would try I waited till the darkness came down then I rose for my bed of weeds and crept like a jackal towards the Kral in the mealy gardens I stopped a while for I was very hungry and filled myself with the half-ripe meelies then I went on till I came to the Kral some of my people were seated outside of a hut talking together over a fire I crept near silently as a snake and hid behind a little bush I knew that they could not see me outside the ring of the firelight and I wanted to hear what they said as I guessed they were talking of me and called me many names they said that I should bring you luck on the tribe by having killed so great a witch doctor as Numa also that the people of the headman would demand payments for the assault on him I learned moreover that my father had ordered out all the men of the tribe to hunt for me on the morrow and to kill me wherever they found me ah I thought you may hunt but you will bring nothing home to the pot just then a dog that was lying by the fire got up and began to sniff the air I could not see what dog it was indeed I had forgotten all about the dogs when I drew near the Kral that is what comes of want of experience my father the dog sniffed and sniffed then he began to growl looking always my way I grew afraid what is the dog growling at said one man to another go and see but the other man was taking snuff and did not like to move let the dog go and see for himself he answered sneezing what is the good of keeping a dog if you have to catch the thief go on then said the first man to the dog and he ran forward barking then I saw him it was my own dog a very good dog presently as I lay not knowing what to do he smelt my smells stopped barking and running around the bush he found me and began to lick my face be quiet cuss I whispered to him and he lay down by my side where has that dog gone now said the first man is he bewitched that he stops barking suddenly and does not come back he will see said the other rising a spear in his hand now once more I was terribly afraid for I thought that they would catch me or I must run for my life again but as I sprang up to run a big black snake glided between the men and went off towards the huts they jumped aside in a great fright then all of them turned to follow the snake what the dog was barking at that was my good eclose my father which without any doubt took the shape of a snake to save my life when they had gone I crept off the other way and cuss followed me at first I thought that I would kill him lest he should betray me but when I called him to me to knock him on the head with my carry he sat down upon the ground and seemed to smile in my face and I could not do it so I thought that I would take my chance and we went on together this was my purpose first to creep into my own hut and get my asagais and the skin blanket then to gain speech with balacca my hut I thought would be empty but nobody slept there except myself and the huts of Noma were some paces away to the right I came to the reed fence that surrounded the huts nobody was to be seen at the gate which was not shut with thorns as usual it was my duty to close it and I had not been there to do so then bidding the dog lie down outside I stepped through boldly reached the door of my hut and listened it was empty there was not even a breath to be heard so I crept in and began to search for my asagais my water-gourd and my wood-pillow which was so nicely carved that I did not like to leave it soon I found them then I felt about for my skin rug and as I did so my hand touched something cold I started and felt again it was a man's face the face of a dead man of Noma whom I had killed and who had been laid in my hut to await burial oh, then I was frightened but Noma dead and in the dark was worse than Noma alive I made ready to fly when suddenly I heard the voices of women talking outside the door of the hut I knew the voices they were those of Noma's two wives and one of them said that she was coming in to watch by her husband's body now I was in a trap indeed but before I could do anything I saw the lights go out of the hole in the hut and knew by the sound of a fat woman puffing as she bent herself up that Noma's first wife was coming through it presently she was in and squatting herself by the side of the corpse in such a fashion that I could not get to the door she began to make lamentations to call down curses on me ah, she did not know that I was listening I too squatted by Noma's head and grew quick witted in my fear now that the woman was there I was not so much afraid of the dead man and I remembered too that he had been a great cheat so I thought I would make him cheat for the last time I placed my hands beneath his shoulders and pushed him up so that he sat upon the ground the woman heard the noise and made a sound in her throat will you not be quiet you old hag? I said in Noma's voice can you not let me be at peace even now when I am dead she heard and falling backwards in fear drew in her breath to shriek aloud what will you all so dare to shriek? I said again in Noma's voice then I must teach you silence and I tumbled him over onto the top of her then her senses left her and whether she ever found them again I do not know at least she grew quiet for that time for me I snatched up the rug afterwards I found it was Noma's best caros made by basutos of chosen catskins and were three oxen dead, followed by kus now the kral of my chief my father, Makedama was two hundred paces away and I must go thither for there Badeca slept also I did not enter by the gate because a man was always on guard there so I cut my way through the reed fence with my asegai and crept to the hut where Badeca was with some of her half-sisters I knew on which side of the hut it was her custom to lie and where her head would be so I lay down on my side and gently, very gently began to bore a hole in the grass covering of the hut it took a long while for the thatch was thick but at last I was nearly through it then I stopped for it came into my mind that Badeca might have changed her place and that I might wake the wrong girl I almost gave it over thinking that I would fly alone when suddenly I heard a girl wake and begin to cry on the other side of the thatch ah, I thought, that is Badeca who weeps for her brother so I put my lips where the thatch was thinnest and whispered Badeca, my sister Badeca, do not weep I, Mopo, am here say not a word but rise come out of the hut bringing your skin blanket now Badeca was very clever she did not shriek as most girls would have done no, she understood and after waiting a while she rose and crept from the hut her blanket in her hand why are you here, Mopo as she whispered as we met surely you will be killed hush, I said and then I told her of the plan which I had made will you come with me when I had done or will you creep back into the hut and bid me farewell she thought a while then she said no, my brother, I will come for I love you alone among our people though I believe that this will be the end of it that you will lead me to my death I did not think much of her words at the time but afterwards they came back to me so we slipped away together and soon we were running over the felt with our faces set towards the country of the Zulu tribe end of chapter 3 chapter 4 of Narda the Lily by H. Ryder Haggard this Librivox recording is in the public domain the flight of Mopo and Baleca all the rest of that night we journeyed till even the dog was tired then we hid in a mealy field for the day as we were afraid of being seen towards the afternoon we heard voices and looking through the stems of the mealies we saw a party of my father's men past searching for us they went on to a neighbouring Kral to ask if we had been seen and after that we saw them no more for a while at night we travelled again but as fate would have it we were met by an old woman who looked oddly at us but said nothing after that we pushed on day and night but we knew that the old woman would tell the pursuers if she met them and so indeed it came about on the third evening we reached some mealy gardens and saw that they had been trampled down among the broken mealies we found the body of a very old man as full of asagai wounds as a porcupine with quills we wondered at this event on a little way then we saw that the Kral to which the gardens belonged was burned down we crept up to it and ah it was a sad sight for us to see afterwards we became used to such sites all about lay the bodies of dead people scores of them old men, young men, women, children little babies at the breast there they lay among the burnt huts with asagai wounds red was the earth with their blood and red they looked in the red light of the setting sun it was as though all the land had been smeared with the bloody hand of the great spirit of the omkulunkulu Baleca saw it and began to cry she was weary poor girl and we had found little to eat only grass and green corn an enemy has been here I said and as I spoke I thought that I heard a groan from the other side of a broken reed hedge I went and looked there lay a young woman she was badly wounded but still alive my father a little way from her lay a man dead and before him several other men of another tribe he had died fighting in front of the woman with the bodies of three children another, a little one lay on her body I looked at the woman and as I looked she groaned again opened her eyes and saw me and that I had a spear in my hand kill me quickly she said have you not tortured me enough I said that I was a stranger and did not want to kill her then bring me water she said there is a spring there behind the kral I called to Baleca and I gored to the spring there were bodies in it but I dragged them out and when the water had cleared a little I filled the gored and brought it to the woman she drank deep and her strength came back a little the water gave her life how did you come to this I asked it was an impie of Shaka chief of the Zulus that ate us up she answered I was asleep in our huts yes I woke up to hear the sound of killing I was sleeping by my husband with him who lies there and the children we all ran out my husband had a spear and shield he was a brave man see he died bravely he killed three of the Zulu devils before he himself was dead then they caught me and killed my children and stabbed me till they thought that I was dead so I went away I don't know why they came but I think it was because our chief would not send men to help Shaka against Suede she stopped gave a great cry and died my sister wept at the sight and I too was stirred by it ah I thought to myself the great spirit must be evil if he is not evil such things would not happen that is how I thought then now I think differently I know that we had not found out the path of the great spirit that is all I was a chicken in those days my father afterwards I got used to such sites they did not stir me anymore not to unwit but then in the days of Shaka the rivers ran blood yes we had to look at the water to see if it was clean before we drank people learned how to die then and not make a noise about it what does it matter they would have been dead now anyway it does not matter nothing matters except being born that is a mistake my father we stopped at the Kral that night but we could not sleep for now we heard the Itongo the ghosts of the dead people moving about and calling to each other it was natural that they should do so men were looking for their wives and mothers for their children but we were afraid that they might be angry with us for being there so we clung together and trembled in each other's arms Kus also trembled and from time to time he howled loudly but they did not seem to see us and so at morning their cries grew fainter when the first light came we rose and picked our way through the dead down to the plane now we had an easy road to follow to Shaka's Kral for there was the spore of the Impe and of the cattle which they had stolen and sometimes we came to the body of a warrior who had been killed because his wounds prevented him from marching father but now I was doubtful whether it was wise for us to go to Shaka for after what we had seen I grew afraid lest he should kill us still we had nowhere to turn we would walk along till something happened now we grew fainter with hunger and weariness and Baleka said that we had better sit down and die but then there would be no more trouble so we sat down by a spring but I did not wish to die yet though Baleka was right and it would have been well to do so as we sat the dog Kus went to a bush that was nearby and presently I heard him spring at something the sound of struggling I ran to the bush he had caught hold of a daika book as big as himself that was asleep in it then I drove my spear into the book and shouted for joy for here was food when the book was dead I skinned him and we took bits of the flesh washed them in water and ate them but we had no fire to cook them with it is not nice to eat uncooked flesh so hungry that we did not mind and the food refreshed us when we had eaten what we could we rose and washed ourselves at the spring but as we washed Baleka looked up and gave a cry of fear for there on the crest of the hill about ten spear throws away was a party of six armed men people of my own tribe children of my father Makedama who still pursued us or killed us they saw us they raised a shout and began to run we too sprang up and ran ran like books for fear had touched our feet now the land laid us before us the ground was open and sloped down to the banks of the white Amfalotsi which twisted through the plain like a great and shining snake on the other side the ground rose again and we did not know what was beyond we thought that in this direction lay the Karal of Shaka we ran for the river where else were we to run and after us came the warriors they gained on us they were strong and they were angry because they had come so far run as we would still they gained now we neared the banks of the river it was full and wide above us the waters ran angrily breaking into swirls of whites over sunken rocks below was a rapid in which none might live between the two a deep pool where the water was quiet but the stream strong ah my brother what shall we do Gasbalaka there is this to choose I answered perished on the spears of our people or try the river easier to die by water than on iron she answered good I said we are snakes look towards us and the spirits of our fathers be with us at the least we can swim and I led her to the head of the pool we threw away our blankets everything except an asagai which I held in my teeth and we plunged in wading as far as we could now we were up to our breasts now we had lost the earth and were swimming towards the middle of the river the dog coos leading the way then it was that the soldiers appeared on the bank ah little people one cried you swim do you well you will drown and if you do not drown we no afford and we will catch you and kill you yes if we must run over the edge of the world after you we will catch you and he hurled an asagai after us which fell between us like a flash of light while he spoke we swam hard and now we were in the current it swept us downwards but still we made way but we could swim well it was just this if we could reach the bank before we were swept into the rapids we were safe if not then good night now we were near the other side but alas we were also near the lip of the foaming water we strained we struggled Baleca was a brave girl and she swam bravely the water pushed her down below me and I could do nothing to help her I got my foot upon the rock and looked round there she was at eight paces from her the broken water boiled I could not go back I was too weak and it seemed that she must perish but the dog coo saw he swam to her parking then turned round heading for the shore she grasped him by the tail with her right hand then he put out his strength he was very strong she too struck out with her feet and left hand and slowly very slowly drew near then I stretched out the handle of my asegai towards her she caught it with her left hand already her feet were over the brink of the rapids but I pulled and coos pulled and we brought her safe into the shallows and from the shallows to the bank and there she fell gasping now when the soldiers on the other bank saw that we had crossed they shouted threats at us then ran away down the bank arise Balakar I said they have gone to seek a Ford ah let me die she answered but I forced her to rise and after a while she got her breath again and we walked on as fast as we could up the long rise for two hours we walked on more till at last we came to the crest of the rise and there far away we saw a large kral keep heart I said see there is a kral of shaka yes brother she answered but what waits us there death is behind us and before us we are in the middle of death presently we came to a path that ran to the kral from the Ford of Umphalotsi it was by it that the impie had travelled we followed the path till at last we were but half an hour's journey from the kral then we looked back and lo there behind us were the pursuers five of them one had been drowned in crossing the river again we ran but now we were weak and they gained upon us then once more I thought of the dog he was fierce and would tear anyone on whom I set him I called him and told him what to do though I knew it would be his death he understood and flew towards the soldiers growling his hair standing up on his spine they tried to kill him with spears and carries but he jumped round them biting at them and kept them back at last a man hit him and he sprang up and seized the man by the throat there he clung man and dog rolling over and over together till the end of it was that they both died ah he was a dog we do not see such dogs nowadays his father was a boar hound the first that came into the country that dog once killed a leopard all by himself well this was the end of kus we had been running now we were about 300 paces from the gate of the krall there was something going on inside it that we could see from the noise and dust the four soldiers leaving the dead dog and the dying man came after us swiftly I saw that they must catch us before we reached the gate but now Balakar could go but slowly then a thought came into my head I had brought her here I would save her life if I could should she reach the krall without me Shaka would not kill a girl who was so young and fair run on Balakar run on I said dropping behind now she was almost blind with weariness and terror and not seeing my purpose staggered towards the gate of the krall but I sat down on the felt to get my breath again for I was about to fight four men till I was killed my heart beat and the blood drummed in my ears but when they drew near and I rose the asagai in my hand once more the red cloth seemed to go up and down before my eyes and all fear left me the men were running two and two with the length of a spear throw between them but of the first pair one was five or six paces in front of the other this man shouted out loud and charged me shield and spear up now I had no shield nothing but the asagai but I was crafty and he was overbold on he came I stood waiting for him till he drew back the spear to stab me then suddenly I dropped to my knees and thrust upward with all my strength beneath the rim of his shield and he also thrust but over me the edge of my shoulder see here is it scar yes to this day and am I asagai ah it went home it ran through and through his middle he rolled over and over on the plane the dust hit him only I was now weaponless with a heft of my spear it was but a light throwing asagai broken too leaving nothing but a little bit of stick in my hand the other one was on me he looked tall as a tree above me I was already dead there was no hope darkness open to swallow me then in the darkness I saw a light I fell onto my hands and knees and flung myself over sideways my body struck the legs of a man who was about to stab me lifting his feet from beneath him down he came heavily before he had touched the ground I was off it his spear had fallen from his hand I stooped seized it and as he rose I stabbed him through the back it was all done in the shake of a leaf my father in the shake of a leaf he also was dead then I ran for I had no stomach but the other two my vala was gone about a hundred paces from me baleka was staggering along out like one who has drunk too much beer by the time I caught her she was some forty paces from the gate of the kral but then her strength left her altogether yes there she fell senseless and I stood by her and there too I should have been killed had not this chanced since the other two men having stayed one instant by their dead fellows came on against me mad with rage for at that moment the gates of the kral opened and through it ran a party of soldiers dragging a prisoner by the arms after them walked a great man who wore a leopard skin on his shoulders and was laughing and with him were five or six ringed counsellors and after them again came a company of warriors the soldiers saw that killing was going on and ran up just as the slayers reached us who are you? they cried who dare to kill at the gate of the elephant's kral here the elephant kills alone we are of the children of makedama they answered and we follow these evildoers who have done wickedness and murder in our kral see but now two of us are dead at their hands and others lie dead along the road suffer that we slay them ask that of the elephant soldiers ask too that he suffer you should not be slain just then the tall chief saw blood and heard words he stalked up and he was a great man to look at though still quite young in years but he was taller by a head than any round him and his chest was big as the chest of two his face was fierce and beautiful and when he grew angry he flashed like a smitten brand who are these that dare to stir up dust at the gates of my kral he asked frowning oh shaka oh elephant answered the captain of the soldiers bending himself double before him the men say that these are evildoers and that they pursue them to kill them good he answered let them slay the evildoers oh great chief thanks be to thee great chief said those men of my people who sought to kill us I hear you he answered then spoke once more to the captain and when they have slain the evildoers let themselves be blinded and turned loose to seek their way home because they have dared to lift a spear within the zulu gates now praise on my children and he laughed while the soldiers murmured wah he is wise he is great his justice is bright and terrible like the sun but the two men of my people cried out in fear but they did not seek such justice as this cut out their tongs also said shaka what shall the land of the zulus suffer such a noise do it she black ones there lies the girl she is asleep and helpless kill her what you hesitate nay then take these men smear them with honey and pin them over ant heaps by tomorrow's sun they will know their own minds but first kill these two hunted jackals and he pointed to balika and myself tired and doubtlessly long for sleep then for the first time i spoke for the soldiers drew near to slay us oh shaka i cried i am mopo and this is my sister balika i stopped and a great shout of laughter went up from all who stood round very well mopo and thy sister balika said shaka grimly good morning to you mopo and balika also good night oh shaka i broke in i am mopo son of makedama of the langenii tribe it was i who gave thee a gourd of water many years ago when we were both little then thou bedest me come to thee when thou hast grown great vowing that thou wouldst protect me and never do me harm so i have come bringing my sister with me and now i pray thee do not eat up the words of long ago as i spoke shaka's face changed and he listened earnestly as a man who holds his hand behind his ear those are no lies he said welcome mopo thou shalt be a dog in my hut and feed from my hand but of thy sister i said nothing why then should she not be slain when i swore vengeance against all my tribe save thee alone because she's too fair to slay o chief i answered boldly also because i love her and ask her life as a boon turn the girl over said shaka and they did so showing her face again thou speakers no lie son of makedama said the chief i grant thee the boon she also shall lie in my hut and be of the number of my sisters now tell me thy tale speaking only the truth so i sat down and told him all nor did he grow weary of listening but when i had done he said but one thing that he would that the dog coose had not been killed since if he had still been alive he would have set him on the hut of my father makedama and made him chief over the langeni then he spoke to the captain of the soldiers i take back my words he said let not these men of the langeni be mutilated one shall die and the other shall go free here and he pointed to the man whom we had seen lead out of the kral gate here Mopo we have a man who has proved himself a coward yesterday a kral there was eaten up by my order perhaps you too saw it as you traveled this man and three others attacked a soldier of that kral who defended his wife and children the man fought well he slew three of my people then this dog was afraid to meet him face to face he killed him with a throwing ass a guy and afterwards he stabbed the woman that is nothing but he should have fought the husband hand to hand now i will do him honour he shall fight to the death with one of these pigs from thy style and he pointed with his spear to the men of my father's kral the one who survives shall be run down as they try to run you down i will send back the other pig to the style with a message choose children of makedama which of you will live now the two men of my tribe brothers and loved one another and each of them was willing to die that the other might go free therefore both of them stepped forward saying that they would fight the zulu what is their honour among pigs said shaka then i will settle it see this ass a guy i throw it into the air if the blade falls uppermost the tall man shall go free if the shaft falls uppermost short one so and he sent the little spear whirling round and round in the air every eye watched it as it wheeled and fell the shaft struck the ground first come hither thou said shaka to the tall brother hasten back to the kral of makedama and say to him thus says shaka the lion of the zulu kamalandela years ago thy tribe refused me milk today the dog of thy son mopo howls upon the roof of thy hut be gone footnote among the zulus it is a very bad omen for a dog to climb the roof of a hut the saying conveyed a threat to be appreciated by every zulu end of footnote the man turned shook his brother by the hand and went bearing the words of evil omen he called to the zulu and the last of those who had followed us to kill us bidding them fight so when they had praised the prince they fought fiercely and the end of it was that the man of my people conquered the zulu but as soon as he had found his breath again he was set to run for his life and after him ran five chosen men still it came about them, doubling like a hare and got away safely nor was shaka angry at this for I think that he bade the men who hunted him to make speed slowly there was only one good thing in the cruel heart of shaka that he would always save the life of a brave man if he could do so without making his word nothing and for my part I was glad to think that the man of my people had conquered him who murdered the children of the dying woman that we found at the kral beyond the river end of chapter 4 chapter 5 of Narda the Lily by H. Ryder Haggard this Librivox recording is in the public domain Mopo becomes the king's doctor these then my father were the events that ended in the coming of me Mopo and of my sister Balika to the kral of shaka Zulu now you may ask why I have kept you so long with this tale which is as are other tales of our people but that shall be seen for from these matters as a tree from a seed grew the birth of Umslopogas Bulalio Umslopogas the slaughterer and Narda the beautiful of whose love my story has to tell for Narda was my daughter and Umslopogas who knew it was none other than the son of Shaka born of my sister Balika now when Balika recovered from the weariness of our flight and had her beauty again Shaka took her to wife numbering her among his women whom he named his sisters and me Shaka took to be one of his doctors of his izinyanga of medicine and he was so well pleased with my medicine that in the end I became his head doctor now this was a great post in which during the course of years I grew fat in cattle and in wives but also it was one of much danger for when I rose strong and well in the morning I could never know but that at night I should sleep stiff and red many were the doctors whom Shaka slew doctored they never so well they were killed at last for a day would surely come when the king fell to ill in his body or heavy in his mind and then to the asagai or the torment with the wizard who had doctored him yet I escaped because of the power of my medicine and also because of that oath which Shaka had sworn to me as a child so it came about that where the king went there I went with him I slept near his hut I sat behind him at council in the battle I was ever at his side ah the battle the battle in those days we knew how to fight my father in those days the vultures would follow our impis by thousands the hyenas would steal along our path in packs and none went empty away never may I forget the first fight I stood in at the side of Shaka it was just after the king had built his great carral on the south bank of the Unchratuse then it was the chief swede attacked his rival Shaka for the third time and Shaka moved out to meet him with ten full regiments footnote about 30,000 men and a footnote now for the first time armed with the short stabbing spear the ground laid us on a long low hill in front of our impi were massed regiments of swede there were 17 of them the earth was black with their number their plumes filled the air like snow we too were on a hill and between us lay a valley down which there ran a little stream at night our fires shone out across the valley all nights the songs of soldiers echoed down the hills then the grey dawning came the oxen load to the light the regiments arose from their bed of spears they sprang up and shook the dew from hair and shield yes they arose the glad to die the impi assumed its array regiments by regiment there was the breast of spears there were the horns of spears they were numberless as the stars and like the stars they shone the morning breeze came up and found them bent in the breeze like a plain of seeding grass they bent the plumes of the soldiers ripe for the assay guy up over the shoulder of the hill came the son of slaughter it glowed red upon the red shields red grew the place of killing the white plumes of chiefs were dipped in the blood of heaven they knew it they saw the omen of death and ah they laughed in the joy of the waking of battle what was death was it not well to die on the spear what was death was it not well to die for the king death was the arms of victory victory should be their bride that night and oh her breast is fair hark the war song the music of which has the power to drive men mad rose far away to the left and was thrown along regiment to regiment a rolling ball of sound we are the king's kind bred to be butchered you two are one of us we are the zulu children of the lion what did you tremble suddenly shaka was seen stalking through the ranks followed by his captains his indonus and by me he walked along like a great book death was in his eyes and like a book he sniffed the air sensing the air as slaughter he lifted his asagai and the silence fell only the sound of chanting still rolled along the hills where are the children of zuide he shouted and his voice was like the voice of a bull yonder father answered the regiments and every spear pointed across the valley they do not come he shouted again shall we then sit here till we grow old no father they answered begin begin led the umkanju regiment come forward he shouted a third time and as he spoke the black shields of the umkanju leapt from the ranks of the impi go my children cry shaka there is the foe go and return no more we hear you father they answered with one voice and moved down the slope like a countless herd of game with horns of steel now they cross the stream and now zuide awoke a murmur went through his company lines of light played above his spears oh they are coming oh they have met hark into the thunder of the shields hark into the song of battle two and fro they swing the umkanju gives way it flies they pour back across the stream half of them the rest are dead a howl of rage goes up from the host only shaka smiles open up open up he cries make room for the umkanju girls and with hanging heads they pass behind us now he whispers a word to the indonas the indonas run they whisper to manziwa the general and to the captains then two regiments rush down the hill two more run to the right and yet another two to the left but shaka stays on the hill with the three that are left again comes the roar of the meeting shields ah these are men they fight they do not run regiments after regiments pause upon them but still they stand they fall by hundreds and by thousands but no man shows his back and on each man there lie two dead wow my father of those two regiments not one escaped they were but boys but they were the children of shaka menziwa was buried beneath the heaps of his warriors now there are no such men they are all dead and quiet shaka still holds his hand he looks to the north and to the south see spears are shining among the trees now the horns of our host close upon the flanks of the foe they slay and are slain but the men of suide are many and brave and the battle turns against us then again shaka speaks a word the captains hear the soldiers stretch out their necks to listen it has come at last charge children of the zulu there is a roar a thunder of feet a flashing of spears a bending of plumes like a river that has burst its banks like storm clouds before the gale we sweep down upon friend and foe they form up to meet us the stream is past our wounded rise upon their haunches and wave us on we trample them down what matter they can fight no more then we meet suide rushing to greet us as bull meets bull oh my father I know no more everything grows red that fights that fight we swept them away when it was done there was nothing to be seen but the hillside it was black and red few fled few were left to fly we passed over them like fire we ate them up presently we paused looking for the foe all were dead the host of suide was no more then we mustered ten regiments had looked upon the morning sun three regiments saw the sun sink the rest had gone where no sun shine such were our battles in the days of shaka you ask of the uncanglu regiments which fled I will tell you when we reached our kral once more shaka summoned that regiment and mustered it he spoke to them gently gently he thanked them for their service he said that it was natural that girls should faint at the sight of blood and turn to seek their krals yet he had bid them come back no more and they had come back what then was there now left for him to do and he covered his face with his blankets then the soldiers killed them all nearly two thousand of them killed them with taunts and jeers that is how we dealt with cowards in those days my father won zulu was a match for five of any other tribe if ten came against him still he did not turn his back fight and fall but fly not that was our watch word never again while shaka lived did a conquered force pass the gates of the king's kral that fight was but one war out of many with every moon a fresh imp he started to wash its spears and came back few and thin but with victory and countless cattle tribe after tribe went down before us those of them who escaped the asegai were enrolled into fresh regiments and thus though men died by the thousands every month yet the army grew soon there were no other chiefs left and after him mantensika was driven north matihwane was stamped flat then we poured into this land of natal when we entered its people could not be numbered when we left here and there a man might be found hidden in a hole in the earth that was all men women and children we wiped them out the land was clean of them next came the turn of ufaku chief of the amapondos ah where is ufaku now and so it went on and on till even the zulus were weary of war and the sharpest asegais grew blunt end of chapter 5