 Chapter 11 of Narda the Lily by H. Ryder Haggard This Librivox recording is in the public domain. The Council of Baleca. I rose. I praised the king with a loud voice, and I went away from the Intonculu, the house of the king. I walked slowly through the gates, but when I was without the gates, the anguish that took me because of my burnt hand was more than I could bear. I ran to and fro, groaning, till I came to the hut of one whom I knew. There I found fat, and having plunged my hand in the fat, I wrapped it round with a skin and passed out again, for I could not stay still. I went to and fro, till at length I reached the spot where my huts had been. The outer fence of the hut still stood. The fire had not caught it. I passed through the fence. There within were the ashes of the burnt huts. They lay ankle deep. I walked in among the ashes. My feet struck upon things that were sharp. The moon was bright, and I looked. They were the blackened bones of my wives and children. I flung myself down in the ashes in bitterness of heart. I covered myself over with the ashes of my kral, and with the bones of my wives and children. Yes, my father, there I lay, and on me were the ashes, and among the ashes were the bones. Thus then did I lie for the last time in my kral, and was sheltered from the frost of the night by the dust of those to whom I had given life. Such were the things that befell us in the days of Shaka, my father. Yes, not to me alone, but to many another also. I lay among the ashes, and groaned with the pain of my burn, and groaned also from the desolation of my heart. Why had I not tasted the poison there in the hut of Shaka, and before the eyes of Shaka? Why did I not taste it now, and make an end? Today I had endured the agony, I would not give him this last triumph over me. Now having passed the fire, once more I should be great in the land, and I would become great. Yes, I would bear my sorrows, and become great, that in a day to be, I might wreak vengeance on the king. Ah, my father, there as I rolled among the ashes I prayed to the Amatongo, to the ghosts of my ancestors. I prayed to my Achlose, to the spirits that watches me. I had I even dared to pray to the Omkulunkulu, the great soul of the world, who moves through the heavens and the earth unseen and unheard. And thus I prayed that I might yet live to kill Shaka, as he had killed those who were dear to me. And while I prayed, I slept, or if I did not sleep, the light of thought went out of me, and I became as one dead. Then there came a vision to me, a vision that was sent in answer to my prayer, or, perchance, it was a madness born of my sorrows. For, my father, it seemed to me that I stood upon the bank of a great and wide river. It was gloomy there. The light lay low upon the face of the river, but far away on the farther side was a glow like the glow of a stormy dawn, and in the glow I saw a mighty bed of reeds that swayed about in the breath of the dawn. And out of the reeds came men and women and children by hundreds and thousands, and plunged into the waters of the river, and were buffeted about by them. Now, my father, all the people that I saw in the water were black people, and all those who were torn out of the reeds were black. They were none of them whites like your people, my father, for this vision was a vision of the Zulu race who alone are torn out of the reeds. Now, I saw that of those who swam in the river, some passed over very quickly, and some stood as it were still in the water, as in life my father, some died soon, and some lived for many years. And I saw the countless faces of those in the water, among them were many that I knew. There, my father, I saw the face of Shaka, and near him was my own face. There, too, I saw the face of Dingand, the prince, his brother, and the face of the boy of Slubbergas, and the face of Nader, my daughter, and then for the first time I knew that some Slubbergas was not dead, but only lost. Now I turned in my vision and looked at that bank of the river on which I stood. Then I saw that behind the bank was a cliff, mighty and black, and in the cliff were doors of ivory, and through them came light and the sound of laughter. There were other doors also, black as though fashioned of coal, and through them came darkness and the sound of groans. I saw also that in front of the doors was set a seat, and on the seat was the figure of a glorious woman. She was tall, and she alone was white, and clad in robes of white, and her hair was like gold, which is molten in the fire, and her face shone like the midday sun. Then I saw that those who came up out of the river stood before the woman, the water yet running from them, and cried aloud to her, Hail Incosasana Isulu, Hail Queen of the Heavens! Now the figure of the glorious woman held her rod in either hand, and the rod in her right hand was white and of ivory, and the rod in her left hand was black and of ebony, and as those who came up before her throne greeted her, so she pointed now with the wand of ivory in her right hand, and now with the wand of ebony in her left hand, and with the wand of ivory she pointed to the gates of ivory, through which came light and laughter, and with the wand of ebony she pointed to the gates of coal, through which came blackness and groans, and as she pointed, so those who greeted her turned and went, some through the gates of light, and some through the gates of blackness. Presently as I stood a handful of people came up from the bank of the river, I looked on them and knew them, there was Anandi, the mother of Shaka, there was Anadi, my wife, and Musa, my son, and all my other wives and children, and those who had perished with them. They stood before the figure of the woman, the princess of the heavens, to whom the Uncleun Kulu has given it to watch over the people of the Zulu, and cried aloud, Hail Incosazana Izulu, Hail! Then she, the Incosazana, pointed with the rod of ivory to the gates of ivory, but still they stood before her, not moving. Now the woman spoke for the first time in a low voice that was sad and awful to hear, Pass in, children of my people, pass in to the judgment, why tarry ye, pass in through the gates of light, but still they tarried, and in my vision Anandi spoke, We tarry, Queen of the heavens, we tarry to pray for justice on him who murdered us, I who on earth was named a mother of the heavens, on behalf of all this company, pray to thee, Queen of heavens, for justice on him who murdered us. How is he named? asked the voice that was low and awful. Shaka, King of the Zulus, answered the voice of Anandi, Shaka, my son. Many have come to ask for vengeance on that head, said the voice of the Queen of the heavens, and many more shall come. Fear not, Anandi, it shall fall. Fear not, Anandi, and ye wives and children of Mopo, it shall fall, I say, with the spear that pierced thy breast, Anandi, shall the breast of Shaka be also pierced, and ye wives and children of Mopo, the hand that pierces shall be the hand of Mopo, as I guide him, so shall he go. I will teach him to wreak my vengeance on the earth, passing children of my people, passing to the judgment, for the doom of Shaka is written. Thus I dreamed, my father, I, this was the vision that was sent me as I lay in pain and misery among the bones of my dead, and in the ashes of my kral, that it was given me to see the Incosasana of the heavens, as she is in her own place. Twice more I saw her as you shall hear, but that was on the earth and with my waking eyes. Yes, thrice has it been given me in all to look upon that face that I shall now see no more till I am dead, for no man may look four times on the Incosasana and live, or am I mad, my father, and did I weave these visions from the woof of my madness. I do not know, but it is true that I seem to see them. I woke when the sky was grey with the morning light. It was the pain of my burnt hand that aroused me from my sleep, or from my stupor. I rose shaking the ashes from me, and went without the kral to wash away their defilements. Then I returned and sat outside the gates of the Emposeni, waiting till the king's women whom he named his sisters should come to draw water according to their custom. At last they came, and sitting with my caros thrown over my face to hide it, I looked for the passing of Baleca. Slowly I saw her. She was sad-faced, and walked slowly, her picture on her head. I whispered her name, and she drew a side behind an alo-bush, and making pretence that her foot was pierced with a thorn, she lingered till the other women were gone by. Then she came up to me, and we greeted one another, gazing heavily into each other's eyes. In an ill-day did I hearken to you, Baleca. I said, to you and the mother of the heavens, and save your child alive. See now what has sprung from this seed. Dead are all my house. Dead is the mother of heavens. All are dead, and I myself have been put to the torment by fire. And I held out my withered hand towards her. I, Mopo, my brother, she answered, but flesh is nearest to flesh, and I should think little of it were not my son Am Sloppa-Gas all so dead, as I have heard but now. You speak like a woman, Baleca. Is it then nothing to you that I, your brother, have lost all I love? Fresh seed can yet be raised up to you, my brother. But for me there is no hope, for the King looks on me no more. I grieve for you, but I had this one alone, and flesh is nearest to flesh. Think you that I shall escape. I tell you, nay, I am but spared for a little. Then I go where the others have gone. Shaka has marked me for the grave. For a little while I may be left, then I die. He does but play with me as a leopard plays with a wounded book. I care not, I am weary, but I grieve for the boy. There was no such boy in the land, would that I might die swiftly, and go to seek him. And if the boy is not dead, Baleca, what then? What is that you said? She answered, turning on me with wild eyes. Oh, say it again, Mopo, I would gladly die a hundred deaths to know that Am Sloppa-Gas still lives. Nay, Baleca, I know nothing, but last night I dreamed a dream, and I told her all my dream, and also of that which had gone before the dream. She listened as one who listened to the words of a king when he passes judgment for life or for death. I think that there is wisdom in your dreams, Mopo, she said at length. You were ever a strange man, to whom the gates of distance are no bar. Now it is borne in upon my heart that Am Sloppa-Gas still lives, and now I shall die happy. Yes, gain say me not. I shall die, I know it. I read it in the king's eyes. But what is it? It is nothing if only the prince Am Sloppa-Gas yet lives. Your love is great, woman, I said. And this love of yours has brought many woes upon us, and it may well happen that in the end it shall all be for nothing, for there is an evil fate upon us. Say now, what shall I do? Shall I fly, or shall I abide here, taking the chance of things? You must stay here, Mopo. See now, this is in the king's mind. He fears because of the death of his mother at his own hand. Yes, even he. He is afraid lest the people should turn upon him who killed his own mother. Therefore he will give it out that he did not kill her, but that she perished in the fire which was called down upon your crawls by witchcraft. And though all men know the lie, yet none shall dare to gain say him. As he said to you, there will be a smelling out, but a smelling out of a new sort. For he and you shall be witch finders, and at that smelling out he will give to death all those whom he fears, all those who he knows hate him for his wickedness, and because with his own hand he slew his mother. For this cause, then, he will save you alive, Mopo. Yes, and make you to be great in the land. For if, indeed, his mother and Andy died through witchcraft, as he shall say, are you not also wronged with him, and did not your wives and children also perish by witchcraft. Therefore do not fly, abide here, and become great. Become great to the great end of vengeance, Mopo, my brother. You have much wrong to wreak. Soon you will have more, for I too shall be gone. And my blood also shall cry for vengeance to you. Hark, and Mopo, are there not other princes in the land? What of Dinghan? What of Onglangana? What of Ongpanda, brothers to the king? Do not these also desire to be kings? Do they not day by day rise from sleep, feeling their limbs to know if they yet live? Do they not night by night lie down to sleep, not knowing if it shall be their wives that they shall kiss their dawn, or the red asagai of the king? Draw near to them, my brother, creep into their hearts, and learn their counsel, or teach them yours. So in the end shall Shaka be brought to that gate through which your wives have passed, and where I also am about to tread. Thus Balaké spoke, and she was gone, leaving me pondering, for her words were heavy with wisdom. I knew well that the brothers of the king went heavily, and in fear of death, for his shadow was on them. With panda indeed little could be done, for he lived softly, speaking always as one whose wits are few. But Dingán and Omklangana were of another wood, and from them might be fashioned a carry that should scatter the brains of Shaka to the birds. But the time to speak was not now, not yet was the cup of Shaka full. Then, having finished my thought, I rose, and going to the klal of my friend, I doctored my burnt hand that's pained me, and as I was doctoring it, there came a messenger to me, summoning me before the king. I went in before the king, and prostrated myself, calling him by his royal names. But he took me by the hand, and raised me up, speaking softly. Rise, Mopo, my servant, he said, thou hast suffered much woe because of the witchcraft of thine enemies. I, I have lost my mother, thou, thou hast lost thy wives and children. Weep, my counsellor's weep, because I have lost my mother, and Mopo, my servant, has lost his wives and children by the witchcraft of our foes. Then all the counsellors wept aloud, while Shaka glared at them. Hargan Mopo, said the king, when the weeping was done, none can give me back my mother, but I can give thee more wives, and thou shalt find children. Go in among the damsels who are reserved to the king, and choose thee six. Go in among the cattle of the king, and choose thee ten times ten of the best. Call upon the servants of the king, that they build up thy crowd greater and fairer than it was before. These things I give thee freely, but thou shalt have more, Mopo, ye, thou shalt have vengeance. On the first day of the new moon I summon a great meeting, a bangla of all the Zulu people. Yes, thy own tribe, the Langeni, shall be there also. Then we will mourn together over our woes. Then, too, we will learn who brought these woes upon us. Go now, Mopo, go, and go ye also, my counsellors, leaving me to weep alone, because my mother is dead. Thus, then, my father, did the words of Balika come true, and thus, because of the crafty policy of Shaka, I grew greater in the land than ever I had been before. I chose the cattle, they were fat, I chose the wives, they were fair, but I took no pleasure in them, nor were any more children born to me. For my heart was like a withered stick. The sap and strength had gone from my heart. It was drawn out in the fire of Shaka's hut, and lost in my sorrow for those whom I had loved. CHAPTER XII Now, my father, I will go back a little, for my tail is long and winds in a doubt, like a river in a plain, and tell of the fate of unslopper gas, when the lion had taken him, as he told it to me in the after years. The lioness bounded away, and in her mouth was unslopper gas. Once he struggled, but she bit him hard, so he lay quiet in her mouth, and looking back, he saw the face of Nada as she ran from the fence of thorns, crying, Save him! He saw her face, he heard her words, then he saw and heard little more, for the world grew dark to him, and he passed, as it were, into a deep sleep. Presently, unslopper gas awoke again, feeling pain in his thigh, where the lioness had bitten him, and heard a sound of shouting. He looked up, near to him stood the lioness that had loosed him from her jaws. She was snorting with rage, and in front of her was a lad long and strong, with a grim face, and a wolf's hide, black and gray, bound about his shoulders in such fashion, that the upper jaw and teeth of the wolf rested on his head. He stood before the lioness shouting, and in one hand he held a large war-shield, and in the other he grasped a heavy club shod with iron. Now the lioness crouched herself to spring, growling terribly, but the lad with the club did not wait for her onset. He ran in upon her and struck her on the head with the club. He smote hard and well, but this did not kill her, for she reared herself up on her hind legs, and struck at him heavily. He caught the blow upon his shield, but the shield was driven against his breast so strongly, that he fell backwards beneath it, and lay there howling like a wolf in pain. Then the lioness sprang upon him and worried him. Still, because of the shield, as yet she could not come at him to slay him. But some slopper gas saw that this might not endure, for presently the shield would be torn aside, and the stranger must be killed. Now in the breast of the lioness still stood the half of the slopper gas's broken spear, and its blade was a span deep in her breast. Then this thought came into the mind of the slopper gas, that he would drive the spear home or die. So he rose swiftly, for strength came back to him in his need, and ran to where the lioness worried at him, who lay beneath the shield. She did not heed him, so he flung himself upon his knees before her, and seizing the half of the broken spear, drove it deep into her, and wrenched it round. Now she saw from slopper gas, and turned roaring, and clawed at him, tearing his breast and arms. Then as he lay, he heard a mighty howling, and behold, grey wolves and black leaped upon the lioness, and rent and worried her, till she fell and was torn to pieces by them. After this the senses of slopper gas left him again, and the light went out of his eyes, so that he was as one dead. At length his mind came back to him, and with it his memory, and he remembered the lioness, and looked up to find her. But he did not find her, and he saw that he lay in a cave upon a bed of grass, while all about him were the skins of beasts, and that his side was a pot filled with water. He put out his hand and, taking the pot, drank of the water, and then he saw that his arm was wasted as with sickness, and that his breast was thick with scars, scarcely skinned over. Now while he lay and wondered, the mouth of the cave was darkened, and through it entered that same lad who had done battle with the lioness, and been overthrown by her, bearing a dead buck upon his shoulders. He put down the buck on the ground, and walking to where on slopper gas lay, looked at him. Oh! he said, your eyes are open. Do then live, stranger. I live, answered on slopper gas, and I am hungry, he said. It is time, said the other, since with toil I bore you here through the forest, for twelve days you have lain without sense, drinking water only. So deeply had the lion clawed you that I thought of you as dead. Twice I was near to killing you that you might cease to suffer an eye to be troubled, but I held my hand because of a word which came to me from one who is dead. Now eat, that your strength may return to you, afterwards we will talk. So I'm slopper gas ate, and little by little his health returned to him, every day a little, and afterwards as they sat at night by the fire in the cave they spoke together. How are you named? asked I'm slopper gas of the other. I am named Galazi the Wolf, he answered, and I am of Zulu blood, I of the blood of Shaka the King. For the father of Senzanka Kona, the father of Shaka was my great grandfather. Whence came you, Galazi? I came from Swaziland, from the tribe of the Halakazi, which I should rule. This is the story. Siguyana my grandfather was a younger brother of Senzanka Kona, the father of Shaka, but he quarreled with Senzanka Kona, and became a wanderer. With certain of the people of the Amptoix, he wandered into Swaziland and sojourned with the Halakazi tribe in their great caves, and the end of it was that he killed the chief of the tribe and took his place. After he was dead my father ruled in his place, but there was a great party in the tribe that hated his rule, because he was of the Zulu race, and would have set up a chief of the old Swaziland blood in his place. Still they could not do this, for my father's hand was heavy on the people. Now I was the only son of my father by his head wife, and born to be chief after him, and therefore those of the Swazi party, and they were many and great, hated me also. So Matta stood till last year in the winter, and then my father set his heart upon killing twenty of the headmen, with their wives and children, because he knew that they plotted against him. But the headmen learned what was to come, and they prevailed upon a wife of my father, a woman of their own blood to poison him. So she poisoned him in the night, and in the morning it was told me that my father lay sick and summoned me, and I went to him. In his hut I found him, that he was writhing with pain. What is it, my father? I said. Who has done this evil? It is this, my son, he gasped, that I am poisoned, and she stands yonder who has done the deed. And he pointed to the woman who stood at the side of the hut near the door, her chin upon her breast, trembling as she looked upon the fruit of her wickedness. Now the girl was young and fair, and we had been friends, yet I say that I did not pause, for my heart was mad in me. I did not pause, but seizing my spear. I ran at her, and though she cried for mercy, I killed her with the spear. That was well done, Galazi, said my father. But when I am gone, look to yourself, my son, for these Swazi dogs will drive you out and rob you of your place. But if they drive you out and you still live, swear this to me, that you will not rest till you have avenged me. I swear it, my father, I answered. I swear that I will stamp out the men of the tribe of Halakazi, every one of them, except those of my own blood, and bring their women to slavery and their children to bonds. Big words for a young mouth, said my father. Yet shall you live to bring these things about, Galazi? This I know of you now in my hour of death, you shall be a wanderer for the few years of your life, child of Siguyana, and wandering in another land you shall die a man's death, and not such a death as Yonder which has given to me. Then, having spoken thus, he lifted up his head, looked at me, and with a great groan he died. Now I passed out of the hut, dragging the body of the dead girl after me. In front of the hut were gathered many headmen waiting for the end, and I saw that their looks were sullen. The chief, my father, is dead, I cried in a loud voice, that I, Galazi, who am the chief, have slain her who murdered him, and I rolled the body of the girl over on her back, so that they might look upon her face. Now the father of the girl was among those who stood before me, he who had persuaded her to the deed, and he was maddened at the sight. What, my brothers, he cried, shall we suffer that this young Zulu dog, this murder of a girl, be chief over us? Never, the old lion is dead, now for the cub! And he ran at me with spear aloft. Never shouted the others, and they too ran towards me, shaking their spears. I waited, I did not hasten, for I knew well that I should not die then. I knew it from my father's last words. I waited till the man was near me. He thrust, I sprang aside and drove my spear through him, and on the daughter's body the father fell dead. Then I shouted aloud and rushed through them. None touched me, none could catch me. The man does not live who can overtake me, when my feet are on the ground and I am away. Yet I might try, said um slupe a gas, smiling, for of all lads among the Zulus he was the swiftest of foot. First walk again, then run, and said Galazi. Take up the tail, quoth him, slupe a gas. It is a merry one. Something is left to tell, stranger. I fled from the country of the Halakazi, nor did I linger at all in the land of the Swazis, but came on swiftly into the Zulu. Now it was in my mind to go to Shaka and tell him of my wrongs, asking that he would send an impi to make an end of the Halakazi. But while I journeyed, finding food and shelter as I might, I came one night to the kral of an old man who knew Shaka, and had known Sigur Yana, my grandfather, and to him, when I had stayed there two days, I told my tale. But the old man counselled me against my plan, saying that Shaka the king did not love to welcome shoot sprung from the royal stock, and would kill me. Moreover the man offered me a place in his kral. Now I held that there was wisdom in his words, and thought no more of standing before the king to cry for justice, for he who cries to kings for justice sometimes finds death. Still I would not stay in the kral of the old man, for he had sons to come after him, who looked on me with no liking. Moreover I wished to be a chief myself, even if I lived alone. So I left the kral by night and walked on, not knowing where I should go. Now on the third night I came to a little kral that stands on the farther side of the river at the foot of the mountain. In front of the kral sat a very old woman basking in the rays of the setting sun. She saw me and spoke to me, saying, young man, you are tall and strong and swift of foot. Would you earn a famous weapon, a club, that destroys all who stand before it? I said that I wish to have such a club, and asked what I should do to win it. You shall do this, said the old woman, tomorrow morning at the first light, you shall go up to Yonder Mountain. And she pointed to the mountain where you are now stranger, on which the stone which sits forever waiting for the world to die. Two thirds of the way up the mountain, you will come to a path that is difficult to climb. You shall climb the path and enter a gloomy forest. It is very dark in the forest, but you must push through it till you come to an open place with a wall of rock behind it. In the wall of rock is a cave, and in the cave you will find the bones of a man. Bring down the bones in a bag, and I will give you the club. While she spoke thus people came out of the kral and listened. Do not heed her, young man, they said. Unless you are weary of life, do not heed her, she is crazy. The mountain is haunted, it is a place of ghosts. Look at the stone which who sits upon it. Evil spirits live in that forest, and no man has walked there for many years. This woman's son was foolish. He went to Yonder in the forest, saying that he cared nothing for ghosts, and the amatongo, the ghost folk, killed him. That was many years ago, and none of dared to seek his bones. Ever she sits here and asks of the passersby, that they should bring them to her, offering the great club for a reward. But they dare not. They lie, said the old woman. There are no ghosts there. The ghosts live only in their cowardly hearts. There are but wolves. I know that the bones of my son lie in the cave, for I have seen them in a dream. But alas my old limbs are too weak to carry me up the mountain path, and all these are cowards. There is no man among them since the Zulus killed my husband, covering him with wounds. Now I listened answering nothing, but when all had done, I asked to see the club which should be given to him who dared to face the amatongo, the spirits who lived in the forest upon the ghost mountain. Then the old woman rose, and creeping on her hands went into the hut. Presently she returned again, dragging the great club after her. Look at it, stranger! Look at it! Was there ever such a club? Angalasi held it up before the eyes of Omslopagas. In truth, my father, that was a club, for I, Mopo, saw it in after-days. It was great and knotty, black as iron that had been smoked in the fire, and shod with metal that was worn smooth with smiting. I looked at it, went on Galasi, and I tell you, stranger, a great desire came into my heart to possess it. How is this club named? I asked of the old woman. It is named Watcher of the Fords, she answered, and it has not watched in vain. Five men have held that club in war, and a hundred and seventy-three have given up their lives beneath its strokes. He who held it last, slew twenty before he was slain himself, for this fortune goes with the club, that he who owns it shall die holding it, but in a noble fashion. There is but one other weapon to match with it in Zululand, and that is the great Axe of Jikiza, the chief of the people of the Axe, who dwells in the Kral Yonder, the ancient horn-hafted Imbubusi, the groan-maker that brings victory. Where Axe, groan-maker and club, Watcher of the Fords, side by side, there are no thirty men in Zululand who could stand before them. I have said, choose, and the aged woman watched me cunningly through her horny eyes. She speaks truly now, said one of those who stood near, let the club be young man, he who owns it smites great blows indeed, but in the end he dies by the Asagai, none dare own the Watcher of the Fords. The good death and a swift, I answered, and pondered a time, while still the old woman watched me through her horny eyes. At length she rose. She said, the Watcher is not for this one, this is but a child, I must seek me a man, I must seek me a man. Not so fast, old wife, I said, will you lend me this club to hold in my hand while I go to find the bones of your son, and to snatch them from the people of the ghosts? Lend you the Watcher, boy, nay, I should see little of you again, or of the good club either. I am no thief, I answered, if the ghosts kill me you will see me no more, or the club either, but if I live I will bring you back the bones, or if I do not find them, I will render the Watcher into your hands again. At the least I say that if you will not lend me the club, then I will not go into the haunted place. Boy, your eyes are honest, she said, still peering at me. Take the Watcher, go seek the bones, if you die let the club be lost with you, if you fail bring it back to me, but if you win the bones then it is yours, and it shall bring you glory, and you shall die a man's death at last, holding him aloft among the dead. So on the morrow at dawn I took the club Watcher in my hand, and a little dancing shield, and made ready to start. The old woman blessed me and bade me farewell, but the other people of the Kral mocked, saying, a little man for so big a club, beware little man, lest the ghosts use the club on you. So they spoke, but one girl in the Kral, she is a granddaughter of the old woman, led me aside, praying me not to go, for the forest on the Ghost Mountain had an evil name, non-dead walk there, since it was certainly full of spirits who howled like wolves. I thanked the girl, but to the others I said nothing, only I asked of the path to the Ghost Mountain. Now, stranger, if you have strength, come to the mouth of the cave and look out, for the moon is bright. So I'm sloppigas rose and crept through the narrow mouth of the cave. There above him a great grey peak towered high into the air, shaped like a seated woman, her chin resting upon her breast, the place where the cave was, being as it were, on the lap of the woman. Below this place the rock sloped sharply, and was clothed with little bushes. Lower down yet was a forest, great and dense, that stretched to the top of a cliff, and at the foot of the cliff, beyond the waters of the river, lay the wide plains of Zululand. Yonder, stranger, say Galasi, pointing with the club, watcher of the fords, far away to the plain beneath. Yonder is the Kral where the aged woman dwelt. There is the cliff rising from the plain, up which I must climb. There is the forest where dwell the Amatongul, the people of the ghosts. There on the hither side of the forest runs the path to the cave, and here is the cave itself. See this stone lying at the mouth of the cave, it turns thus, shutting up the entrance-hole. It turns gently, though it is so large, the child may move it, for it rests upon a sharp point of rock. Only mark this, the stone must not be pushed too far. But look, if it came to here, and he pointed to a mark in the mouth of the cave, then that man need be strong who can draw its back again. Though I have done it myself, who am not a manful grown. But if it pass beyond this mark, then, see, it will roll down the neck of the cave, like a pebble down the neck of a gourd. And I think that two men, one striving from within, and one dragging from without, scarcely could avail to push it clear. Look now, I close the stone as is my custom of a night, so, and he grasped the rock and swung it round upon its pivot, on which it turned as a door turns. Thus I leave it, and though, except those to whom the secret is known, none would guess that a cave was here. Yet it can be rolled back with a push of the hand. But enough of the stone, enter again, wanderer, and I will go forward with my tail, for it is long and strange. I started from the clowl of the old woman, and the people of the clowl followed me to the brink of the river. It was in flood, and few had dared to cross it. Aha! they cried. Now your journey is done, little man. Watch by the ford, you who would win the watcher of the ford. Beat the water with the club, perhaps so it shall grow gentle that your feet may pass it. I answered nothing to their mocking, only I bound the shield upon my shoulders with a string, and the bag that I had brought I made fast about my middle, and I held the great club in my teeth by the thong. Then I plunged into the river and swam. Twice, stranger, the currents bore me under, and those on the bank shouted that I was lost. But I rose again, and in the end I won the father's shore. Now those on the bank mocked no more. They stood still, wondering, and I walked on till I came to the foot of the cliff. That cliff is hard to climb, stranger. When you are strong upon your feet I will show you the path. Yet I found a way up it, and by midday I came to the forest. Here on the edge of the forest I rested a while, and ate a little food that I had brought with me in the bag. But now I must gather up my strength to meet the ghosts, if ghosts there were. Then I rose and plunged into the forest. The trees are great that grow there, stranger, and their leaves are so thick that in certain places the light is as that of night when the moon is young. Still I wended on, often losing my path. But from time to time between the tops of the trees, I saw the figure of the grey stone woman who sits on the top of Ghost Mountain, and shaped my course towards her knees. My heart beat as I travelled through the forest in dark and loneliness, like that of the night. And ever I looked round, searching for the eyes of the amatongo. But I saw no spirits, though at times great spotted snakes crept from before my feet, and perhaps these were the amatongo. At times also I caught glimpses of some grey wolf as she slunk from tree to tree watching me, and always high above my head the winds sighed in the great boughs with a sound like the sighing of women. Still I went on, singing to myself as I went, that my heart might not faint with fear, and at length towards the end of the second hour the trees grew fewer, the ground sloped upwards, and the light poured down from the heavens again. But, stranger, you are weary, and the night wears on. Sleep now, and tomorrow I will end the tale. Say, first, how are you named? I am named Umslopagas, son of Mopo, he answered, and my tale shall be told when yours is done. Let us sleep. Now when Galazi heard this name he started and was troubled, but said nothing. So they laid them down to sleep, and Galazi wrapped Umslopagas with the skins of bucks. But Galazi the wolf was so hardy that he lay on the bare rock and had no covering. So they slept, and without the door of the caves, the wolves howled, senting the blood of men. End of Chapter 12 Chapter 13 of Narda the Lily by H. Ryder Haggard This Librivox recording is in the public domain. Galazi becomes king of the wolves. On the morrow, Umslopagas awoke, and knew that the strength was growing on him fast. Still, all that day he rested in the cave, while Galazi went out to hunt. In the evening he returned, bearing a buck upon his shoulders, and they skinned the buck and ate of it as they sat by the fire. And when the sun was down, Galazi took up his tail. Now, Umslopagas, son of Mopo, here, I had passed the forest, and had come as it were to the legs of the old stone witch, who sits up aloft there, forever waiting for the world to die. Here the sun shone merrily. Here lizards ran, and birds flew to and fro, and though it grew towards the evening, but I had wandered long in the forest, I was afraid no more. So I climbed up the steep rock, where little bushes grow like hair on the arms of a man, till at last I came to the knees of the stone witch, which are the space before the cave. I lifted my head over the brink of the rock, and looked, and I tell you, Umslopagas, my blood ran cold and my heart turned to water, for there, before the cave, rolled wolves many and great. Some slept and growled in their sleep, some gnawed at the skulls of dead game, some sat up like dogs, and their tongues hung from their grinning jaws. I looked, I saw, and beyond I discovered the mouth of the cave, where the bones of the boy should be. But I had no wish to come there, being afraid of the wolves, for I knew that these were the ghosts who live upon the mountain. So I bethought me that I would fly and turn to go, and Umslopagas, even as I turned, the great club, watcher of the fords, swung round and smote me on the back, with such a blow as a man smites upon a coward. Now whether this was by chance, or whether the watcher would shame him who bore it, say you, for I do not know. At the least, shame entered into me. Should I go back to be mocked by the people of the Kral and by the old woman, and if I wish to go, should I not be killed by the ghosts at night in the forest? Nay, it was better to die in the jaws of the wolves and at once. Thus I thought in my heart, then, tarrying not, lest fear should come upon me again, I swung up the watcher, and crying aloud the war cry of the Halakazi, I sprang over the brink of rock and rushed upon the wolves. They too sprang up and stood howling with bristling hides and fiery eyes, and the smell of them came into my nostrils. Yet when they saw it was a man that rushed upon them, they were seized with sudden fear, and fled this way and that, leaping by great bounds from the place of rock, which is the knees of the stone witch. So that presently I stood alone in front of the cave. Now, having conquered the wolf-ghosts, and no blow struck, my heart swelled within me, and I walked to the mouth of the cave, proudly, as a cock walks upon a roof, and looked in through the opening. As it chanced, the sinking sun shone at this hour, full into the cave, so that all its darkness was made red with light. Then, once more, I'm slop a gas, I grew afraid indeed, for I could see the end of the cave. Look now, there is a hole in the wall of the cave, where the fire-light falls below the shadow of the roof, twice the height of a man from the floor. It is a narrow hole, and high is it not, as though one had cut it out with iron, and a man might sit in it, his legs hanging towards the floor of the cave. I am slop a gas, a man might sit in it, might he not, and there a man sat, or that which had been a man. There sat the bones of a man, and the black skin had withered on his bones, holding them together, and making him awful to see. His hands were open beside him, he leaned upon them, and in the right hand was a piece of hide from his mucca. It was half-eaten, I'm slop a gas, he had eaten it before he died. His eyes also were bound round with a band of leather, as though to hide something from their gaze. One foot was gone, one hung over the edge of the niche towards the floor, and beneath it on the floor, red with rust, lay the blade of a broken spear. Now, come hither, I'm slop a gas, place your hand upon the wall of the cave, just here. It is smooth, is it not, smooth as the stones on which women grind their corn. What made it so smooth, you ask, I will tell you. When I peered through the door of the cave, I saw this. On the floor of the cave lay a she-wolf, panting, as though she had galloped many a mile. She was great and fierce. Near to her was another wolf, he was a dog, old and black, bigger than any I have seen, a very father of wolves, and all his head and flanks were streaked with grey, but this wolf was on his feet. As I watched, he drew back nearly to the mouth of the cave. Then, of a sudden, he ran forward and bounded high in the air towards the withered foot of that which hung from the cleft of the rock. His pad struck upon the rock here where it is smooth, and there for a second he seemed to cling, while his great jaws closed with a clash, but a spear's breadth beneath the dead man's foot. Then he fell back with a howl of rage, and drew slowly down the cave. Again he ran and leaped, again the great jaws closed, again he fell down howling. Then the she-wolf arose, and they sprang together, striving to pull him down who sat above, but it was all in vain. They could never come nearer than within a spear's breadth of the dead man's foot. And now, I'm stop a gas, you know why the rock is smooth and shines. From month to month and year to year, the wolves had raven there, seeking to devour the bones of him who sat above. Night upon night they had leapt, thus against the wall of the cave, but never might their clashing jaws close upon his foot. One foot they had indeed, but the other they could not come by. Now as I watched, filled with fear and wonder, the she-wolf, her tongue lolling from her jaws, made so mighty a bound that she almost reached the hanging foot, and yet not quite. She fell back, and then I saw that the leap was her last for that time, for she had over sprung herself, and lay there howling, the black blood flowing from her mouth. The wolf saw also, he drew near, sniffed at her, then, knowing that she was hurt, seized her by the throat and worried her. Now all a place was filled with groans and choking howls, as the wolves rolled over and over beneath him who sat above, and in the blood-red light of the dying sun, the sights and sounds were so horrid that I trembled like a child. The she-wolf grew faint, for the white fangs of her mates were buried in her throat. Then I saw that now was the time to smite him, lest when he had killed her he should kill me also. So I lifted the watcher and sprang into the cave, having it in my mind to slay the wolf before he lifted up his head, but he heard my footsteps, or perhaps my shadow fell upon him. Loosing his grip he looked up, this father of wolves, then, making no sound, he sprang straight at my throat. I saw him, and whirling the watcher aloft, I smote with all my strength. The blow met him in mid-air, it fell full on his chest and struck him backwards to the earth, but there he would not stay, but rising before I could smite again, once more he sprang at me. This time I leapt aside and struck downwards, and the blow fell upon his right leg and broke it, so that he could spring no more. Yet he ran at me on three feet, and though the club fell on his side, he seized me with his teeth, biting through that leather bag, which was wound about my middle into the flesh behind. Then I yelled with pain and rage, and lifting the watcher end-ways, drove it down with both hands, as a man drives the stake into the earth, and that, with so great a stroke, that the skull of the wolf was shattered like a pot, and he fell dead, dragging me with him. Presently I sat up on the ground, and placing the handle of the watcher between his jaws, I forced them open, freeing my flesh from the grip of his teeth. Then I looked at my wounds, they were not deep, for the leather bag had saved me, yet I feel them to this hour, for there is poison in the mouth of a wolf. Presently I glanced up, and saw that the she-wolf had found her feet again, and stood as though unhurt. For this is the nature of these ghosts some slupper-gas, that though they fight continually, they cannot destroy each other, they may be killed by man alone, and that hardly. There she stood, and yet she did not look at me, or on her dead mate, but at him only who sat above. I saw and crept softly behind her, then, lifting the watcher, I dashed him down with all my strength. The blow fell on her neck and broke it, so that she rolled over, and at once was dead. Now I rested awhile, then went to the mouth of the cave, and looked out. The sun was sinking, all the depth of forest was black, but the light still shone on the face of the stone woman, who sits for ever on the mountain. Here then I must bide this night, for though the moon shone white and full in the sky, I dared not when towards the plains alone with the wolves and the ghosts, and if I dared not go alone, how much less should I dare to go bearing with me him who sat in the cleft of the rock. Nay, here I must bide, so I went out of the cave to the spring which flows from the rock on the right yonder, and washed my wounds and drank. Then I came back and sat in the mouth of the cave, and watched the light die away from the face of the world. While it was dying there was silence, but when it was dead the forest awoke. A wind sprang up and tossed, till the green of its bows waved like troubled water, on which the moon shines faintly. From the heart of it, too, came howlings of ghosts and wolves that were answered by howls from the rocks above. Hark, an unslopper gas, such howlings as we hear tonight. It was awful here in the mouth of the cave, for I had not yet learned the secret of the stone, and if I had known it, should I have dared to close it, leaving myself alone with the dead wolves, and him whom the wolves had struggled to tear down. I walked out yonder onto the platform and looked up. The moon shone full upon the face of the stone which who sits aloft for ever. She seemed to grin at me, and oh, I grew afraid, for now I knew that this was a place of dead men, a place where spirits perched like vultures in a tree, as they sweep round and round the world. I went back to the cave, and feeling that I must do something, lest I should go mad. I drew to me the carcass of the great dog-wolf which I had killed, and taking my knife of iron, I began to skin it by the light of the moon. For an hour or more I skinned, singing to myself as I worked, and striving to forget him who sat in the cleft above, and the howlings which ran about the mountains. But ever the moonlight shone more clearly into the cave, now by it I could see his shape of bone and skin, eye, and even the bandage about his eyes. Why, had he tied it there? I wondered, perhaps to hide the faces of the fierce wolves as they sprang upwards to grip him, and always the howlings grew nearer. Now I could see grey forms creeping to and fro in the shadows of the rocky place before me. Ah, there before me glared two red eyes, a sharp snout sniffed at the carcass which I skinned. With a yell I lifted the watcher and smoked. There came a scream of pain and something galloped away into the shadows. Now the skin was off, I cast it beside me and seizing the carcass, dragged it to the edge of the rock and left it. Presently the sound of howlings grew nearer again, and I saw the grey shapes creep up one by one. Now they gathered round the carcass, now they fell upon it and rent it, fighting horribly till all was finished. Then, licking their red chops, they slunk back into the forest. Did I sleep or did I wake? Nay, I cannot tell, but I know this, that all of a sudden I seemed to look up and see. I saw a light, the chansome slupper-gas, it was the light of the moon shining upon him that sat aloft at the end of the cave. It was a red light, and he glowed in it as glows a thing that is rotten. I looked or seemed to look, and then I thought that the hanging jaw moved, and from it came a voice that was harsh and hollow, as of one who speaks from an empty belly, through a withered throat. Hail Galazi, child of Siguriana, said the voice. Galazi, the wolf, say what dost thou hear in the ghost mountain, where the stone witch sits for ever waiting for the world to die? Then, um slupper-gas, I answered or seemed to answer, and my voice too sounded strange and hollow. Hail dead one, who sits us like a vulture on a rock. I do this on the ghost mountain. I come to seek thy bones and bear them to thy mother for burial. Then, yeah, many a year, I sat aloft Galazi, answered the voice, watching the ghost wolf sleep and leap to drag me down, till the rock grew smooth beneath the wearing of their feet. So I sat seven days and nights, being yet alive, the hungry wolves below, and hunger gnawing at my heart. So have I sat many and many a year, being dead in the heart of the old stone witch, watching the moon and the sun and the stars, harkening to the howls of the ghost wolves as they ravened beneath me, and learning the wisdom of the old witch who sits above in everlasting stone. Yet my mother was young and fair when I trod the haunted forest, and climbed the knees of stone. How seems she now, Galazi? She is white and wrinkled and very aged, I answered. They call her mad, yet at her bidding I came to seek thee, dead one, bearing the watcher that was thy father's and shall be mine. It shall be thine, Galazi, said the voice, for thou alone hast dared the ghost to give me sleep and burial. Hark, and thine also shall be the wisdom of the old witch, who sits aloft for ever, frozen into everlasting stone. Thine and one others, these are not wolves that thou hast seen, that is no wolf which thou hast slain. Hey, they are ghosts, evil ghosts of men who lived in ages gone, and who must now live till they be slain by men. And knowest thou how they lived, Galazi, and what was the food they ate? When the light comes again, Galazi, climb to the breasts of the stone witch, and look into the cleft which is between her breasts. There shall thou see how these men lived. Now this doom is on them. They must wander, gaunt and hungry, in the shape of wolves, haunting that ghost mountain where once they fed, till they are led forth to die at the hands of men. Because of their devouring hunger have they leapt from year to year, striving to reach my bones. And he whom thou hast slain was the king of them, and she at his side was their queen. Now, Galazi the wolf, this is the wisdom that I give thee. Thou shalt be king of the ghost wolves, thou and another whom a lion shall bring thee. Good the black skin upon thy shoulders, and the wolves shall follow thee. All the three hundred and sixty, and three of them that are left, and let him who shall be brought to thee, good on the skin of gray, where ye twain lead them, there shall they raven, bringing you victory till all are dead. But know this, that there only may they raven, where in life they ravened, singing for their food. Yet that was an ill gift thou took us for my mother, the gift of the watcher. For though without the watcher thou had never slain the king of the ghost wolves. Yet bearing the watcher thou shalt thyself be slain. Now on the morrow carry me back to my mother, so that I may sleep where the ghost wolves leap no more. I have spoken, Galazi. Now the dead one's voice seemed to grow ever fainter and more hollow as he spoke, till at the last I could scarcely hear his words. Yet I answered him, asking him this. Who is it then that the lion shall bring to me to rule with me over the ghost wolves, and how is he named? Then the dead one spoke once more very faintly, yet in the silence of the place I heard his words. He is named Umslopagas the slaughterer, son of Shaka, lion of the Zulu. Now Umslopagas started up from his place by the fire. I am named Umslopagas, he said. But the slaughterer am I not named, and I am the son of Mopo, and not the son of Shaka, lion of the Zulu. You have dreamed a dream, Galazi, or if it was no dream, then the dead one lied to you. The chance this was so Umslopagas, answered Galazi the wolf. Perhaps I dreamed, or perhaps the dead one lied. Nevertheless, if he lied in this matter, in other matters he did not lie, as you shall hear. After I had heard these words or had dreamed that I heard them, I slept indeed, and when I woke the forest beneath was like the clouds for mist, but the gray light glinted upon the face of her who sits in stone above. Now I remembered the dream that I had dreamed, and I would see if it was all a dream. So I rose, and leaving the cave, found a place where I might climb up to the breast and head of the stone which. I climbed, and as I went the rays of the sun lit upon her face, and I rejoiced to see them. But when I drew near, the likeness to the face of a woman faded away, and I saw nothing before me, but rugged heaps have piled up rock. For this Umslopagas is the way of witches, be they of stone or flesh. When you draw near to them, they change their shape. Now I was on the breast of the mountain, and wandered to and fro a while between great heaps of stone. At length I found, as it were, a crack in the stone, thrice as wide as a man can jump, and in length the half a spear's throw. And near this crack stood great stones blackened by fire, and beneath them broken pots and a knife of flint. I looked down into the crack, it was very deep and green with moss, and tall ferns grew about in it, for the damp gathered there. There was nothing else, I had dreamed a lying dream. I turned to go, then found another mine, and climbed down into the cleft, pushing aside the ferns. Beneath the ferns was moss, I scraped it away with the watcher. Presently the iron of the club struck on something that was yellow and round like a stone, and from the yellow thing came a hollow sound. I lifted it Umslopagas, it was the skull of a child. I dug deeper and scraped away more moss, till presently I saw. Beneath the moss was nothing but the bones of men, old bones that had lain there many years. The little ones had rotted, the large ones remained. Some were yellow, some black, and others still white. They were not broken, as are those that tyenas and wolves have worried, yet on some of them I could see the marks of teeth. Then Umslopagas I went back to the cave, never looking behind me. Now when I was come to the cave I did this. I skinned the she-wolf also. When I had finished the sun was up, and I knew that it was time to go, but I could not go alone. He who sat aloft in the cleft of the cave must go with me. I greatly feared to touch him, this dead one who had spoken to me in a dream, yet I must do it. So I brought stones and piled them up till I could reach him. Then I lifted him down, for he was very light, being but skinned bones. When he was down I bound the hides of the wolves about me. Then, leaving the leather bag into which he could not enter, I took the dead one and placed him on my shoulders as a man might carry a child. But his legs were fixed somewhat apart, and holding him by that foot which was left on him, I set out for the kral. Down the slope I went as swiftly as I could, but now I knew the way, seeing and hearing nothing except once, when there came a rush of wings, and a great eagle swept down at that which sat upon my shoulders. I shouted and the eagle flew away. Then I entered the dark of the forest. Here I must walk softly, lest ahead of him I carried should strike against the bows and be smitten from him. For a while I went on thus till I drew near to the heart of the forest. Then I heard a wolf howl on my right, and from the left came answering howls, and these again were answered by others in front of and behind me. I walked on boldly, for I dared not stay, guiding myself by the sun, which from time to time shone down on me, redly through the bows of the great trees. Now I could see forms gray and black, slinking near my path, sniffing at the air as they went, and now I came to a little open place, and behold, all the wolves in the world were gathered together there. My heart melted, my legs trembled beneath me, on every side were the brutes, great and hungry. I stood still with clubber loft, and slowly they crept up, muttering and growling as they came, till they formed a deep circle round me. Yet they did not spring on me, only drew nearer and ever nearer. Presently one sprang indeed, but not at me. He sprang at that which sat upon my shoulders. I moved aside, and he missed his aim, and coming to the ground again, stood there growling and whining like a beast afraid. Then I remembered the words of my dream, if dream it were, how that the dead one had given me wisdom that I should be king of the ghost wolves, I and another whom a lion should bear to me, if it was not so, how came it that the wolves did not devour me? For a moment I stood thinking, then I lifted up my voice and howled like a wolf, and lo, I'm sloppig ass, all the wolves howled in answer with a mighty howling. I stretched out my hand and called to them. They ran to me, gathering round me as though to devour me. But they did not harm me, they licked my legs with their red tongs, and fighting to come near me, pressed themselves against me, as does a cat. One indeed snatched at him who sat on my shoulder, but I struck him with the watcher, and he slunk back like a whipped hound. Moreover, the others bit him so that he yelled. Now I knew that I had no more to fear, for I was king of the ghost wolves. So I walked on, and with me came all the great pack of them. I walked on and on, and they trotted beside me silently, and the fallen leaves crackled beneath their feet, and the dust rose up about them, till at length I reached the edge of the forest. Now I remembered that I must not be seen thus by men, lest they should think me a wizard and kill me. Therefore at the edge of the forest I halted, and made signs to the wolves to go back. At this they howled piteously, as though in grief. But I called to them that I would come again and be their king, and it seemed as though their brute hearts understood my words. Then they all went, still howling, till presently I was alone. And now I'm sloppigas, it is time to sleep. Tomorrow night I will end my tale. End of chapter 13 Chapter 14 of Narda the Lily by H. Ryder Haggard This Librivox recording is in the public domain. The Wolf Brethren Now, my father, on the morrow night, once again I'm sloppigas and Galazy the Wolf, sat by the fire in the mouth of their cave. As we sit tonight, my father, and Galazy took up his tail. I passed on till I came to the river. It was still full, but the water had run down a little so that my feet found foothold. I waded into the river, using the watcher as a staff, and the stream reached to my elbows but no higher. Now one on the father bank of the river saw that which sat upon my shoulders, and saw also the wolf's skin on my head, and ran to the kral crying, Here comes one who walks the waters on the back of a wolf! So it came about as I drew towards the kral. All the people of the kral were gathered together to meet me, except the old woman who could not walk so far. But when they saw me coming up the slope of the hill, and where they knew what it was that sat upon my shoulders, they were smitten with fear. Yet they did not run because of their great wonder. Only they walked backward before me, clinging each to each and saying nothing. I too came on silently till at length I reached the kral, and before its gates sat the old woman basking in the sun of the afternoon. Presently she looked up and cried, What hails you, people of my house, that you walk backwards like men bewitched? And who is that tall and deftly man who comes to order you? But still they drew on backward, saying no word. The little children clinging to the women, the women clinging to the men, till they had passed the old wife, and ranged themselves behind her like a regiment of soldiers. Then they halted against the fence of the kral. But I came on to the old woman, and lifted him who sat upon my shoulders, and placed him on the ground before her, saying, Woman, here is your son. I have snatched him with much toil from the jaws of the ghosts. And there are many up yonder. All save one foot which I could not find. Take him now and bury him, for I weary of his fellowship. She looked upon that which sat before her. She put away her withered hand, and drew the bandage from his sunken eyes. Then she screamed aloud a shrill scream, and flinging her arms about the neck of that dead one she cried. It is my son whom I bore, my very son whom for twice ten years and half a ten I have not looked upon. Greeting, my son, greeting. Now shall thou find burial, and I with thee, I, I with thee. And once more she cried aloud, standing upon her feet with arms outstretched. Then, of a sudden, a foam burst from her lips, and she fell forward upon the body of her son, and was dead. Now silence came upon the place again, for all were fearful. At last one cried, How is this man named who has won the body from the ghosts? I am named Galazi, I answered. Nay, said he. The wolf I you named. Look at the wolf's red hide upon his head. I am named Galazi, and the wolf you have named me. I said again. So be it. I am named Galazi the wolf. Me thinks he is a wolf, said he. Look now at his teeth, how they grin. This is no man, my brothers, but a wolf. No wolf and no man, said another, but a wizard. None but a wizard could have passed the forest and won the lap of her who sits in stone forever. Yes, yes, he is a wolf. He is a wizard, they screamed. Kill him. Kill the wolf wizard before he brings the ghosts upon us. And they ran towards me with uplifted spears. I am a wolf indeed, I cried. And I am a wizard indeed. And I will bring wolves and ghosts upon you ere all is done. And I turned and fled so swiftly that soon they were left behind me. Now as I ran I met a girl. A basket of meelies was on her head, and she bore a dead kid in her hand. I rushed at her howling like a wolf, and I snatched the meelies from her head and the kid from her hand. Then I fled on, and coming to the river I crossed it, and for that night I hid myself in the rocks beyond, eating the meelies and the flesh of the kid. On the morrow at dawn I rose and shook the dew from the wolf hide. Then I went on into the forest and howled like a wolf. They knew my voice, the ghost wolves, and howled in answer from far and near. Then I heard the pattering of their feet, and they came round me by tens and by twenties and fawned upon me. I counted their number. They numbered three hundred and sixty and three. Afterwards I went on to the cave, and I have lived here in the cave, on Sloppa gas, for nigh upon twelve moons, and I have become a wolfman, for with the wolves I hunt and raven, and they know me, and what I bid them, that they do. Stay on Sloppa gas, now you are strong again, and if your courage does not fail you, you shall see this very night. Come now, have you the heart on Sloppa gas? Then on Sloppa gas rose and laughed aloud. I am young in years, he cried, and scarcely come to the full strength of med. Yet hitherto I have not turned my back on lion, or witch, or wolf, or man. Now let us see this impi of yours, this impi black and grey that runs on four legs, with fangs for spears. You must first bind on the she-wolf's hide, and Sloppa gas. Else before a man could count his fingers twice, there would be little enough left of you. Bind it about the neck and beneath the arms, and see that the fuzzlings do not burst, lest it be the worst for you. So on Sloppa gas took the grey wolf's hide, and bound it on with thongs of leather, and its teeth gleamed upon his head, and he took a spear in his hand. Galazi also bound on the hide of the king of the wolves, and they went out on to the space before the cave. Galazi stood there a while, and the moonlight fell upon him, and on Sloppa gas saw that his face grew wild and beast-like, and that his eyes shone, and his teeth grinned beneath his curling lips. He lifted up his head, and howled out upon the night. Thrice Galazi lifted his head, and thrice he howled loudly, and yet more loud, but before ever the echoes had died in the air, from the heights of the rocks above, and the depths of the forest beneath, from the east and the west, from the north and the south, there came howlings in answer. Nearer they grew and nearer, now there was a sound of feet, and a wolf great and grey bounded towards them, and after him many another. They came to Galazi, they sprang upon him, fawning round him, but he beat them down with the watcher. Then of a sudden they saw him, Sloppa gas, and rushed at him, open-mouthed. Stand and do not move, cried Galazi, be not afraid. They have always fondled dogs, answered him, Sloppa gas. Shall I learn to fear them now? Yet though he spoke boldly, in his heart he was afraid, for this was the most terrible of all sights. The wolves rushed upon him, open-mouthed, from before and from behind, so that in a breath he was well-nigh hidden by their forms. Yet no fang pierced him, for as they leapt, they smelt the smell of the skin upon him, and dropped down at his feet, fawning and licking him. Then of Sloppa gas saw that the wolves leapt at him no more, but the she-wolves gathered round him who wore the she-wolf's skin. They were great and gaunt and hungry, all were full-grown. There were no little ones, and their number was so many, that he could not count them in the moonlight. From Sloppa gas, looking into their red eyes, felt his heart become as the heart of a wolf, and he too lifted up his head and howled, and the she-wolves howled in answer. The pack is gathered, now for the hunt, cried Galasi. Make your feet swift, my brother, but we shall journey far tonight. Ho, black fang, ho, gray snout, ho, my people, black and gray, away, away! He spoke and bounded forward, and with him went some Sloppa gas, and after them streamed the ghost-wolves. They fled down the mountain-sides, leaping from boulder to boulder like bucks. Presently they stood by a cloof that was thick with trees. Galasi stopped, holding up the watcher, and the wolf stopped with him. I smell a quarry, he cried. In, my people, in! Then the wolves plunged silently into the great cloof, but Galasi and them Sloppa gas drew to the foot of it and waited. Presently there came a sound of breaking boughs, and lo, before them stood a buffalo, a bull who loat fiercely and sniffed the air. This one will give us good chase, my brother. See, he is gaunt and thin. Ah, that meat is tender which my people have hunted to the death. As Galasi spoke, the first of the wolves drew from the covert, and saw the buffalo. Then, giving tongue, they sprang towards it. The bull saw also and dashed down the hill, and after him came Galasi and them Sloppa gas, and with them all their company, and the rock shook with the music of their hunting. They rushed down the mountain-side, and it came into the heart of them Sloppa gas, that he too was a wolf. They rushed madly, yet his feet were swift as the swiftest. No wolf could outstrip him, and in him was but one desire, the desire of prey. Now they neared the borders of the forest, and Galasi shouted. He shouted to Grey Snout and Black Fang, to blood and to death grip, and these four leaped forward from the pack, running so swiftly that their bellies seemed to touch the ground. They passed about the bull, turning him from the forest, and setting his head up the slope of the mountain. Then the chase wheeled, the bull leaped and bounded up the mountain-side, and on one flank lay Grey Snout and Death Grip, and on the other lay Blood and Black Fang, while behind came the wolf brethren, and after them the wolves with lulling tongs. Up the hill they sped, but the feet of them Sloppa gas never wear it. His breath did not fail him. Once more they drew near the lap of the Grey Witch where the cave was. On rushed the bull mad with fear. He ran so swiftly that the wolves were left behind, since here for a space the ground was level to his feet. Galasi looked on them Sloppa gas at his side and grinned. You do not run so ill, my brother, who have been sick of late. See now, if you can outrun me, who shall touch the quarry first? Now the bull was ahead by two spear throws, from Sloppa gas looked and grinned back at Galasi. Good, he cried, away. They sped forward with a bound, and for a while it seemed to him Sloppa gas, as though they stood side by side. Only the bull grew nearer and nearer. Then he put out his strength and the swiftness of his feet, and lo, when he looked again he was alone and the bull was very near. Never were feet so swift as those of them Sloppa gas. Now he reached the bull as he laboured on. From Sloppa gas placed his hands upon the back of the bull and leapt. He was on him, he sat him as you white men sit a horse. Then he lifted the spear in his hand, and drove it down between the shoulders to the spine, and of a sudden the great's buffalo staggered, stopped, and fell dead. Galasi came up. Who now is the swiftest Galasi? cried, on Sloppa gas. Ah, you are you, or your wolf host. You are the swiftest, on Sloppa gas, said Galasi, gasping for his breath. Never did a man run as you run, nor ever shall again. Now the wolves streamed up and would have torn the carcass, but Galasi beat them back, and they rested a while. Then Galasi said, let us cut meat from the bull with a spear. So they cut meat from the bull, and when they had finished, Galasi motioned to the wolves, and they fell upon the carcass, fighting furiously. In a little while nothing was left except the large bones, and yet each wolf had but a little. Then they went back to the cave and slept. Afterwards some Sloppa gas told Galasi all his tail, and Galasi asked him if he would abide with him and be his brother, and rule with him over the wolf-kind, or seek his father Mopo at the Kral of Shaka. Whom Sloppa gas said it was rather in his mind to seek his sister Narda, for he was weary of the Kral of Shaka, but he thought of Narda day and night. Where then is Narda, your sister? asked Galasi. She sleeps in the caves of your people Galasi, she turries with the halakazi. Stay a while, of Sloppa gas, cried Galasi. Stay till we are men indeed, then we will seek this sister of yours and snatch her from the caves of the halakazi. Now the desire of this wolf-life had entered into the heart of them Sloppa gas, and he said that it should be so, and on the morrow they made them blood brethren to be one till death, before all the company of ghost-wolves, and the wolves howled when they smelt the blood of men. In all things thenceforth these two were equal, and the ghost-wolves hearkened to the voice of both of them, and on many a moonlight night they and the wolves hunted together, winning their food. At times they crossed the river, hunting in the plains, for game was scarce on the mountain, and the people of the Kral would come out, hearing the mighty howling, and watch the pack sweep across the belt, and with them a man or men. Then they would say that the ghosts were abroad, and creep into their huts, shivering with fear. But as yet the wolf-brethren and their pack killed no men, but game only, or at times elephants and lions. Now when Umslopigas had abode some moons in the Witch Mountain, on a night he dreamed of Narda, and awakening soft at heart, bethought him that he would learn tidings concerning me, his father, Mubbo, and what had befallen me, and her whom he deemed his mother, and Narda his sister, and his other brethren. So he clothed himself hiding his nakedness, and leaving Galazi, descended to that Kral where the old woman had dwelt, and there gave it out that he was a young man, a chief son from a far place who sought a wife. The people of the Kral listened to him, though they held that his look was fierce and wild, and one asked if this were Galazi the wolf, Galazi the wizard. But another answered that this was not Galazi, for their eyes had seen him, Umslopigas said that he knew nothing of Galazi, and little of wolves, and lo, while he spoke, there came an impie of fifty men, and entered the Kral. Umslopigas looked at the leaders of the impie, and knew them for captains of Shaka. At first he would have spoken to them, but his echlosi bade him hold his peace. So he sat in a corner of the big hut, and listened. Presently the headman of the Kral who trembled with fear, for he believed that the impie had been sent to destroy him, and all that were his, asked the captain what was his will. A little matter, and a vein, said the captain. We are said by the king to search for a certain youth, Umslopigas, the son of Mopo the king's doctor. Mopo gave it out that the youth was killed by a lion near these mountains, and Shaka would learn if this is true. We know nothing of the youth, said the headman, but what would ye with him? Only this answered the captain, to kill him. That is yet to do, thought Umslopigas. Who is this Mopo? asked the headman. An evil doer whose house the king has eaten up, man, woman, and child, answered the captain. End of chapter 14 Chapter 15 of Narda the Lily by H. Ryder Haggard This Librivox recording is in the public domain. The death of the king's slayers When Umslopigas heard these words, his heart was heavy, and a great anger burned in his breast, for he thought that I, Mopo, was dead with the rest of his house, and he loved me. But he said nothing, only watching till none were looking, he slipped past the backs of the captains, and won the door of the hut. Soon he was clear of the Kral, and running swiftly, crossed the river, and came to the Ghost Mountain. Meanwhile the captain asked the headman of the Kral, if he knew anything of such a youth, as he for whom they sought. The headman told the captain of Galazi the Wolf, but the captain said that this could not be the lad, for Galazi had dwelt many moons upon the Ghost Mountain. There is another youth, said the headman, a stranger, fierce, strong and tall, with eyes that shine like spears. He is in the huts now, he sits yonder in the shadow. The captain rose and looked into the shadow, but Umslopigas was gone. Now this youth is fled, said the headman, and yet none saw him fly. Perhaps he also is a wizard. Indeed, I have heard that now there are two of them upon the Ghost Mountain, and that they hunt there at night with the Ghost Wolves, but I do not know if it is true. Now I am minded to kill you, said the captain in Wrath, because you have suffered this youth to escape me. Without doubt it is Umslopigas, son of Mopo. It is no fault of mine, said the headman, these young men are wizards who can pass hither and thither at will. But I say this to you, captain of the king, if you will go on the Ghost Mountain, you must go there alone with your soldiers, for none in these parts dare to tread upon that mountain. Yet I shall dare to-morrow, said the captain. We grow brave at the Kral of Shaka. There men do not fear spears or ghosts or wild beasts or magic, but they fear the king's word alone. The sun sets, give us food. Tomorrow we will search the mountain. Thus, my father, did this captain speak in his folly, he who should never see another sun. Now Umslopigas reached the mountain, and when he had passed the forest of which he had learned every secret way, the darkness gathered, and the wolves awoke in the darkness and drew near howling. Umslopigas howled in answer, and presently that great wolf Deathgrip came to him. Umslopigas saw him and called him by his name, but, behold, the brute did not know him and flew at him growling. Then Umslopigas remembered that the she-wolf's skin was not bound about his shoulders, and therefore it was that the wolf Deathgrip knew him not. For though in the daytime when the wolf slept, he might pass to and fro without the skin. At night it was not so. He had not brought the skin, because he dared not wear it in the sight of the men of the Kral, lest they should know him for one of the wolf brethren, and it had not been his plan to seek the mountain again that night, but rather on the morrow. Now Umslopigas knew that his danger was great indeed. He beat back Deathgrip with his carry, but others were behind him, for the wolves gathered fast. Then he bounded away towards the cave, and he was so swift of foot that the wolves could not catch him, though they pressed him hard, and once the teeth of one of them tore his mucha. Never before did he run so fast, and in the end he reached the cave and rolled the rock too, and as he did so, the wolves dashed themselves against it. Then he clad himself in the hide of the she-wolf, and pushing aside the stone came out, and lo! the eyes of the wolves were opened, and they knew him for one of the brethren who ruled over them, and slunk away at his bidding. Now Umslopigas sat himself down at the mouth of the cave, waiting for Galazi, and he thought, presently Galazi came, and in few words Umslopigas told him all his tale. You have run a great risk, my brother, said Galazi, but now, this said Umslopigas, these people of ours are hungry for the flesh of men, let us feed them full on the soldiers of Shaka, who sit yonder at the kral, seeking my life. I would take vengeance for Mopo my father, and all my brethren who are dead, and for my mothers the wives of Mopo. What say you? Galazi laughed aloud. That will be merry, my brother, he said. I am weary of hunting beasts, let us hunt men to-night. I to-night, said Umslopigas, nodding, I long to look upon that captain as a maid longs for her lover's kiss, but first let us rest and eat for the night is young, then Galazi summon our impi. So they rested and ate, and afterwards went out, armed, and Galazi howled to the wolves, and they came in tens and in twenties till all were gathered together. Galazi moved among them, shaking the watcher as they sat upon their haunches, and followed him with their fiery eyes. We do not hunt game to-night, little people, he cried, but men, and you love the flesh of men. Now all the wolves howled as though they understood, then the pack divided itself as was its custom, the she-wolves following Umslopigas, the dog-wolves following Galazi, and in silence they moved swiftly down towards the plain. They came to the river and swam it, and there eight spear-throws away on the farther side of the river stood the kral. Now the wolf-brethren took council together, and Galazi with the dog-wolves went to the north gate, and Umslopigas with the she-wolves to the south gate. They reached them safely and in silence, for at the bidding of the brethren the wolves ceased from their howlings. The gates were stopped with thorns, but the brethren pulled out the thorns and made a passage. As they did this, it chanced that certain dogs in the kral heard the sound of the stirred bows, and awakening caught the smell of the wolves that were with Umslopigas, for the wind blew from that quarter. These dogs ran out marking, and presently they came to the south gate of the kral, and flew at Umslopigas, who pulled away the thorns. Now, when the wolves saw the dogs, they could be restrained no longer, but sprang on them and tore them to fragments, and the sound of their worrying came to the ears of the soldiers of Shaka, and of the dwellers in the kral, so that they sprang from sleep, snatching their arms. And as they came out of the hut, they saw her in the moonlight, a man wearing a wolf's side, rushing across the empty cattle kral, for the grass was long and the cattle were out at grays, and with him countless wolves blackened gray. Then they cried aloud in terror, saying that the ghosts were on them, and turned to flee the north gate of the kral. But behold, here also they met a man clad in a wolf's skin only, and with him countless wolves blackened gray. Now some flung themselves to earth, screaming in their fear, and some strove to run away, but the greater part of the soldiers, and with them many of the men of the kral, came together in knots, being minded to die like men at teeth of the ghosts, and that's though they shook with fear. Then umslop a gas howled aloud, and howled Galazi, and they flung themselves upon the soldiers, and the people of the kral, and with them came the wolves. Then a crying and a baying rose up to heaven, as the gray wolves leaped and bit and tore. Little they heeded the spears and curries of the soldiers, some were killed, but the rest did not stay. Presently the knots of men broke up, and to each man wolves hung by twos and threes, dragging him to earth. Some few fled indeed, but the wolves hunted them by gaze and sent, and pulled them down before they passed the gates of the kral. The wolf brethren also ravened with the rest. Busy was the watcher, and many bowed beneath him, and often the spear of unslop a gas flashed in the moonlight. It was finished, none were left living in that kral, and the wolves growled sullenly as they took their fill, they who had been hungry for many days. Now the brethren met and laughed in their wolf joy, because they had slaughtered those who were sent out to slaughter. They called to the wolves, bidding them search the huts, and the wolves entered the huts as dogs enter a thicket, and killed those who lurked there, or drove them forth to be slain without. Presently a man, great and tall, sprang from the last of the huts, where he had hidden himself, and the wolves outside rushed on him to drag him down. But unslop a gas beat them back, for he had seen the face of the man. It was that captain whom Shaka had sent out to kill him. He beat them back, and stalked up to the captain, saying, greeting to your captain of the king. Now tell us what is your errand here, beneath the shadow of her who sits in stone? And he pointed with his spear to the gray witch on the ghost mountain, on which the moon shone bright. Now the captain had a great heart, though he had hidden from the wolves, and answered boldly, What is that to you, wizard? Your ghost wolves have made an end of my errand, let them make an end of me also. But not in haste, captain, said unslop a gas. Say, did you not seek a certain youth, the son of Mopo? That is so, answered the captain. I sought one youth, and I have found many evil spirits. And he looked at the wolves, tearing their prey, and shuddered. Say, captain, quoth them, slop a gas, drawing back his hood of wolves hide, so that the moonlight fell upon his face. Is this the face of that youth whom you sought? It is the face! answered the captain, astonished. Aye, laughed unslop a gas, it is the face! Fool! I knew your errand and heard your words, and thus have I answered them. And he pointed to the dead. Now choose, and swiftly, will you run for your life against my wolves? Will you do battle for your life against these four? And he pointed to gray snout, and to black fang, to blood, and to death-grip, who watched him with slavering lips. Oh, will you stand face to face with me, that if I am slain, with him who bears the club, and with whom I rule this people black and gray? I fear ghosts, but of men I have no fear, though they be wizards. Answered the captain. Good! cried unslop a gas, shaking his spear. Then they rushed together, and that fray was fierce. But presently the spear of unslop a gas was broken in the shield of the captain, and he was left weaponless. Now unslop a gas turned and fled swiftly, bounding over the dead, and the wolves who preyed upon them, and the captain followed with uplifted spear, and mocked him as he came. Galassi also wondered that unslop a gas should fly from a single man. Hither and thither fled unslop a gas, and always his eyes were on the earth. Of a sudden, Galassi, who watched, saw him sweep forward like a bird, and stooped to the ground. Then he wheeled round, and lo, there was an axe in his hand. The captain rushed at him, and unslop a gas smote as he rushed, and the blade of the great spear that was lifted to pierce him fell to the ground, hewn from its shaft. Again unslop a gas smote. The moon-shaped axe sank through the stout shield, deep into the breast beyond. Then the captain threw up his arms, and fell to the earth. Ah! cried unslop a gas. You saw to youth to slay him, and have found an axe to be slain by it. Sleep softly, captain of Shaka. Then unslop a gas spoke to Galassi, saying, My brother, I will fight no more with the spear, but with the axe alone. It was to seek an axe that I ran to and fro like a coward, but this is a poor thing. See, the aft is split because of the greatness of my stroke. Now this is my desire to win that great axe of Jikiza, which is called Grownmaker, of which we have her tell, so that axe and club may stand together in the fray. That must be for another night, said Galassi. We have not done so ill for once. Now let us search for pots and corn, of which we stand in need, and then to the mountain before dawn finds us. Thus then did the wolf-brother and bring death on the impie of Shaka, and this was but the first of many deaths that they wrought with the help of the wolves. Forever they ravened through the land at night, and falling on those they hated, they ate them up, till their name and the name of the ghost wolves became terrible in the ears of men, and the land was swept clean. But they found that the wolves would not go abroad to worry everywhere. Thus on a certain night they set out to fall upon the crawls of the people of the axe, where dwelt the chief Jikiza, who was named the unconquered, and owned the axe-grown maker. But when they neared the crawl, the wolves turned back and fled. Then Galassi remembered the dream that he had dreamed, in which the dead one in the cave had seemed to speak, telling him that there only where the men-eaters had hunted in the past might the wolves hunt today. So they returned home, but Omslopagas set himself to find a plan to win the axe.