Part 5

When Nomusa left the hut, Themba called eagerly, “Are you going to play with me, Nomusa?”

“No, I must weed our mother’s garden.”

“Well, tell me a story, then,” pleaded Themba.

“When I come back. I shall take Dube with me, and you play with Umpondo.”

[Illustration: [Girl]]

When she returned, there was Themba waiting for her. “What about my story?” he demanded.

“Oh, I am so tired now!” said Nomusa.

“You can rest while you tell me the story,” Themba suggested.

“All right. Wait till I get a drink for Dube and me.”

When Nomusa came out, Themba quickly made room for her next to him. “Well, what’s the story going to be about?” he asked, eyes bright with anticipation.

Nomusa thought for a moment, wondering what story to tell. “How would you like to hear about the hyena that tried to eat the moon?”

“Oh, I should like that,” Themba assured her.

“Once upon a time,” said Nomusa, “a hyena chanced upon a bone. She took it up in her jaws and carried it away.

“It happened that the moon was shining very brightly and the water in the stream was very still. The greedy hyena saw the moon’s reflection in the quiet water. Thinking it was a fine big piece of meat, she threw aside her bone in order to grasp it.

“Into the water the hyena plunged her head. But she withdrew it with her mouth empty. The water was now disturbed, and the disappointed hyena could see nothing.

“She sat quietly on the bank, watching the stream. The water became clear again and reflected the image of the moon. The hyena made a fierce spring into the stream, trying to grasp the moon and hold it fast. But she seized only water and returned to the bank with her jaws empty, while the stream became muddy again.

“In the meantime, another hyena had picked up the bone from the bank and had quietly gone away with it. The first hyena kept on snapping at the water until morning came and the moon grew pale and could no longer be seen in the stream. Only then did the hyena look for the bone she had thrown aside to grasp for the moon. The bone was gone.

“Day after day the angry hyena returned to the stream, tramping the bank and muddying the water. Everyone laughed as they saw her run into the stream again and again, snapping and snapping her jaws and catching only water.”

Nomusa looked at Themba, who was leaning drowsily against the hut. “Did you like the story?”

“Hm?” murmured Themba, rousing himself. “If that is the end of the story, I have heard you tell better ones. But thank you,” he added, rising. “I see Somcuba. I am going to play _Ama-hu_ with her.”

The next morning when Nomusa and her mother were preparing the food they heard an odd commotion outdoors. They went out to see what it was about.

“Look at Kangata!” cried Themba.

Kangata was indeed a sight to see. His arms were covered with red circles, and he carried branches of wild cabbage in his arms.

[Illustration: [Children]]

“My father has chosen me to deliver an important message to all the kraals in our neighborhood,” said Kangata, proudly holding aloft his branches of wild cabbage. “I am big now; so I am allowed to run and tell them that the elephant hunt is to be two sleeps away.”

“You must tell them where the hunters are to meet and when,” advised Nomusa. “As soon as they see the wild cabbage in your hand they will know your errand. Remember you must not speak until you are asked. Then tell when and where the hunters are to meet.”

“And how does my boy-girl know all this?” asked Makanya, amused. “It is a pity your father did not choose you as messenger, since you know so well how hunting messages should be given.”

“I know what to say,” Kangata assured them. “I must go quickly to the other kraals and return in time to help Mdingi with the cows.”

[Illustration: [Huts]]

ELEVEN: A Reward for Nomusa

Chief Zitu squatted on his special bamboo mat in the hut of his wife Makanya. He sniffed the food in the bowl Nomusa handed him.

“I think I know what meat this is,” he said to his wife.

“It is Nomusa’s wild boar,” Makanya said, proudly.

“I have heard about it.” Nomusa’s father looked at her keenly. “It is a pity Nomusa is a girl, because she would have made a good hunter. I could use another strong, brave boy to help on this hunt.”

“If I were allowed to go with you on the hunt, I might be able to catch another boar for you on the way,” Nomusa suggested, surprised at her own daring.

“Nomusa! What are you saying!” reproved her mother.

But Zitu smiled good-naturedly and caught her arm in his powerful hand, feeling her hard little muscles. “Nomusa is strong—as strong as many boys older than she is. And she is clever and brave.”

He looked at his daughter again, and then at his wife. “If Nomusa wishes, she may come on the hunt. But she must be sure to cause me no shame.”

Nomusa’s eyes widened with surprise. Makanya was speechless. “Oh, my father, thank you!” Nomusa burst out. “Please let me go with you, yes, yes!” She turned to her mother. “I know Sisiwe will do some of my work.”

As if her father had already arranged everything, he declared, “Mdingi lost the cow, and you found her, so he will not go on the hunt this time. Kangata, of course, is too young. Between your brothers and Sisiwe, your mother will be able to get her work done.” Zitu pushed away his bowl, saying, “I have finished.”

Makanya handed him some white clay with which to remove the grease from his fingers. When Nomusa brought him the water gourd again, he rinsed his mouth and with his fingers rubbed the food from his teeth. He was clean again.

The business of the hunt settled, Zitu gave his attention to his wife and baby. Nomusa slipped quietly out of the hut.

She felt as if she would burst with joy and looked for someone to tell. Themba was standing outside the hut, looking lonely. To relieve her feelings, Nomusa picked him up, pulled his hair gently, and turned him upside down until his little pink heels wriggled in the air. Themba squealed with delight, and Dube hopped up and down, bewildered at this curious kind of play.

Sisiwe came along, bearing vegetables from her mother’s garden.

“Oh, Sisiwe,” Nomusa cried, “our father says I may go on the elephant hunt!”

Sisiwe was too surprised to say anything.

“Will you take care of Dube for me while I am gone?” Nomusa asked.

“Of course, my sister,” Sisiwe answered. “And I will help your mother, too,” she added generously. “Yo, Nomusa, what do you think the other girls will say?”

There were no preparations to make for the trip, and the two days before the hunters were to meet were very long ones for Nomusa. She would have liked to talk about the hunt with her family. But she did not, because she saw Mdingi was hurt because she was going and he was not. Perhaps he really should be the one to go. Still, her father had said plainly that Mdingi would not be allowed to go, since he had lost the cow.

Timidly she spoke to Mdingi about her feelings. “I wish you were going on the hunt, my brother.”

“It is no matter,” Mdingi said indifferently.

But he was unhappy, Nomusa knew. How she wished there were something she could do to help him! If only Zitu knew how clever Mdingi was at composing songs and stories, how much he knew about birds and animals! And even so, he was a better shot with the bow and arrow than most of the boys. He had proved that at Damasi’s party.

It was just that Mdingi did not care as a boy should for shooting and hunting and such things. Still, his pride was hurt when the chief chose his daughter to go with him on the elephant hunt instead of his son.

At dawn on the morning of the departure, Nomusa crept out of her hut very quietly, taking with her the empty water jar. She would leave everything in readiness for her mother when she awoke.

There would be just time enough to fetch the water, grind some mealie corn, and stir up the fire before it would be time to leave.

When she carried Dube over to Sisiwe’s hut, he complained sleepily at being disturbed.

“It is going to be hard for me to leave you, little Dube,” Nomusa said to him.

She fastened a cord to an outer post of Sisiwe’s hut and attached the other end around Dube’s neck. Then she gave him a bowl of _amasi_, which he dearly loved. Soon he began eating; the curds were too good to ignore.

While Dube ate, Nomusa looked in the direction of her father’s hut to see if any of the hunters had yet arrived. She saw two glistening hunters entering through the kraal gate, their spears and large shields held close to their bodies. Nomusa left Dube abruptly and ran back to her hut. She had forgotten to get a handful of fat to rub on her body to make it glisten like the bodies of the other hunters. She had heard that fat made one active and supple.

Rubbing and polishing herself did not take long. Nomusa had done her work well, and she was ready to leave the hut. With a final glance to see that all was prepared for her mother when she awoke, she decided that she could now leave. She had just got outside without awakening any of her family when she heard an insistent call. “Nomusa, wait!”

Startled, she turned round and saw Mdingi with a bow and arrows in his hand. Her heart leaped. Had he determined to go and make her stay behind?

“What is it?” asked Nomusa.

“Here. Take these with you. You will need a good weapon,” and he offered her the bow and arrows.

“They are your best bow and arrows!” exclaimed Nomusa, too surprised even to touch them.

“Ay, but I want you to have them. I am disappointed that I have to stay at home, but I am not angry with you.”

Overcome by Mdingi’s generosity, Nomusa did not know what to say. She hesitated to take the offered bow and arrows, but finally did so. “You are good, my brother. I am sorry it is not you who will use the bow and arrows. I shall take good care of them.”

“It matters not about them. Only see to it that no harm comes to _you_,” Mdingi said. “We shall be awaiting your return.”

He touched her arm affectionately and ran to the cattle kraal without another word.

[Illustration: [Children]]

[Illustration: [Huts]]

TWELVE: Off to the Hunt

Nomusa’s father had already come out of his hut to greet the hunters who had coughed their notice of arrival. He was standing in front of his two tall neighbors, laughing and talking with them.

As Nomusa came up to her father, carrying Mdingi’s bow and arrows, she politely said, “_Bayete!_”

Zitu said proudly, “Here is Nomusa, my daughter.” Then, looking at her with a twinkle in his eye, he added, “She will show us how to catch wild boars. She is an expert.”

Those who were not going on the hunt were already awakened by the noise of the hunters; they hurried to stand a short distance off in order to watch what was going on. Although Themba could not see his sister, Nomusa could see him staring, wide-eyed, curious about all that was going on. More and more hunters arrived with their dogs, until there were about forty men and boys and a dozen dogs.

Nomusa heard one of the hunters saying, “I starved my dog three days to make him keen for this hunt.”

“Ay,” answered another, “mine is like a hyena. He has had no food for a long time, either. Are you sure the bitter bark you told me to chew on the morning of the hunt will strengthen my wind? So far I do not feel its benefit.”

“Yo! It has never failed,” said the first. “Look, over there. Someone is sweeping one of the huts. Bad luck! In our kraal, no one is allowed to sweep on the morning of the hunt, lest we return empty-handed.”

The moment Nomusa heard this, she was filled with such dread at this bad omen that she crept out between the long black legs of the hunters, ran to Themba, and said, “Go quickly and tell Somcuba’s sister that there must be no sweeping on the morning of the hunt, or we shall have bad luck.”

Themba hurried off to carry out Nomusa’s order.

[Illustration: [Family]]

Now that all the hunters had assembled, they formed little bands of relatives or close neighbors. First they began by saluting their chief, dancing before him. Each group danced and rushed around the kraal, yelling and boasting of their courage and strength. Then they formed a huge circle around their chief and stood respectfully before him.

Nomusa’s father began to instruct them as to their positions in the hunt. Every time he finished a sentence, the hunters would strike on the ground with their spears and shout, “_Tshilo!_”

Zitu said, “You all know the rules of the hunt, but in case anyone has forgotten, I shall tell you again that the first man to draw the blood of the prey is the owner. The next man to stab it can claim a leg, and if it is necessary for a third to strike, he may have a shoulder. The chief receives a leg from every animal.” He looked around with a severe expression to see if everyone was paying attention, and continued. “If a small animal is killed, the hunter who has killed it must immediately carry it to me and claim it as his own. In this way there can be no quarrels. You have all heard?”

There were loud calls of “_Yo!_” “_Hau!_” “It is understood.”

“We go now,” said Nomusa’s father.

A happy murmur rose through the crowd, accompanied by the clink of metal weapons as the hunters arranged their shields, spears, bows and arrows, and liana ropes. The journey began.

Nomusa could hardly believe they were really on their way. Filing out of the kraal close behind Zitu, she turned her head hastily to see if she could catch a last glimpse of Dube. Perhaps Sisiwe was in the crowd, holding the little monkey, but Nomusa’s view was blocked by a solid wall of moving men. It was hopeless to try to see anything behind them.

As they marched along, the warming rays of the rising sun fell on the dew-soaked ground which looked so green and fresh. The wet grass swished damply against the hunters’ naked bodies. Nomusa wondered what the elephant country would be like. Would it be as rolling, would there be as many narrow little streams, would there be wide meadows? Nomusa had never been further than Damasi’s kraal on its flat-topped hill. She had often tried to imagine what the country might be like far beyond. That there were places where there were eland, lions, elephants, inyala, sassaby, and springbok she knew from having heard stories of previous hunts. She had heard that there was even a world of water called an ocean, if one kept walking east as far as one could go.

The hunters talked and laughed, now and then pointing to some indistinct moving object off in the distance. Their curiosity and laughter were easily aroused. It interested Nomusa to see how playful these grown men were. They behaved no more seriously than her small brothers. Only her father remained dignified, walking ahead with a long stride, eyes alert, ears keen.

After Nomusa had walked behind him for some time, Zitu unexpectedly turned his head in her direction as if he had suddenly remembered that Nomusa was with them. He looked at her and said, “We have far to go. I hope you do not tire easily.”

“That I do not,” answered Nomusa, looking into Zitu’s friendly eyes. At the moment it was difficult to imagine how fierce and angry he could be. Should she dare to ask him how far they were to walk before they reached elephant country? It would be useful to know, so that she would not be expecting to see elephants crash out at them all along the way. Not that she was afraid, but it was good to know what to expect.

“Come, Nomusa. Walk along beside me,” suggested her father. “It will make it easier for you if you have anything to ask.”

Quickly Nomusa ran forward, trying to match her step to his. She thought her father even slowed up a little so that she would not have to take little running steps to keep up with him.

“Is it far to the elephant country?” asked Nomusa.

“It is about five sleeps away,” Zitu answered, his eyes on the path ahead. “It may be nearer or farther than that. Much depends on whether herds of elephants are moving south or north, and whether we walk along speedily and without any mishap. We are headed for some high country and wide rivers where elephants like to wander.”

Nomusa listened carefully. That was just what she wanted to know. Proudly she walked, letting nothing escape her notice. Oh, there was a crested crane! She had never seen one before, but she knew what it was. “Look, Father!” urged Nomusa excitedly.

“Not good to eat,” Zitu replied, indifferent.

[Illustration: [Bird]]

Nomusa was about to say that she had pointed it out for its beauty and not as something to eat, but she checked herself. Perhaps hunters should not think of things along the way except as a possibility for food or for exchange, like elephants’ tusks.

She now walked along silently, thinking of the red bush lily she saw in one place, of the grassland flowers she saw in another. The farther they walked from the kind of country she was used to, the more different trees and wild flowers she saw. She must remember to tell Sisiwe about the gladioli she saw growing wild next to that narrow stream at which they stopped to drink. She would hardly believe it. And the birds! Even Mdingi had never seen so many. A flying hammerkopf attracted her attention as it snapped up frogs in a marshy pool.

After some distance, Nomusa saw her father wiping his perspiring brow with the back of his hand. “The sun is high,” he declared. “In a little while we must stop to eat and rest until the sun’s rays are not so hot.”

[Illustration: [Bird]]

When they reached a clear running stream, the chief turned and called to the hunters, “Here! A good place for eating and resting.”

Immediately all came together, and as if they had already agreed on what was to be done, some left to go off into the woods to look for small animals, others began gathering brushwood for a fire. Several took out of a small sack some mealies and yams.

Nomusa looked at everything with the liveliest interest. She quenched her thirst in the swiftly moving stream and then hurried to help carry twigs and branches to the blazing fire. Zabala, Damasi, and the other boys did their share of the work, obeying the orders of the older hunters.

Before long the hunters returned one by one with rabbits, partridges, some quail, and a guinea hen, which they set to cleaning and roasting.

As they waited for the food to cook, Nomusa rested. Soon Damasi came to her, holding two half-cooked partridge legs. “For you,” he said, offering Nomusa one.

When everyone had eaten, the hunters lay on the grassy bank under the protecting shade of tall plane trees. They rested or slept until Zitu gave the signal to start off again.

Towards evening Nomusa felt so weary as she trudged along that she could hardly wait for her father to call a halt. And though she did not like to admit it, even to herself, distant sounds of animals half frightened her. She heard the hoarse growl of a lion and barks she could not identify. Nomusa looked at the others, but they went on as if they had heard nothing. With the early moon climbing high over the horizon, there was still plenty of light to walk by so long as they kept to the open spaces. At last, however, it was necessary to stop, for a dark wood lay in front of them which the moon’s rays could not penetrate. Zitu called a halt.

Now a very large fire was made. It would not be used only for cooking and warming purposes; it would have to last all through the night to keep away prowling animals, as well. Tonight there was no time for any of them to hunt for food, and they depended on what they still had in their sacks of mealies and yams. The food, though not plentiful, was filling; and when each had eaten his share, he lay down to sleep, close to the fire. Nomusa was glad to hear Zitu appoint one of the hunters as sentinel.

Nomusa was lying on her back looking up into the star-studded sky, wondering how far they were from their kraal, when she saw something moving high up in the trees. Her heart thumped wildly. She was about to move over quietly to warn her father, when she saw the leaves stir again. A baboon! _Hau!_ There was another, holding a baby. A baboon family was nesting in the tree.

Suddenly there was a muffled squeal as one of the mothers slapped her baby and grabbed it by the hair on the back of its head. Apparently it had put something in its mouth that it should not have. The mother baboon stuck her finger into the baby’s mouth and pried out what it was eating. The howl from the baby caused dozing hunters to reach for their weapons. Then they saw the baboons, and one said, “They will not bother us if we do not bother them.”

[Illustration: [Bird]]

A loud bark came from the father baboon. He seemed to be scolding and saying, “Stop that awful noise!” The cries ceased, and all was still in the baboon family once more. Everything seemed safe and peaceful, and Nomusa fell asleep.

[Illustration: [Huts]]

THIRTEEN: An Unexpected Feast

The following morning the direction the hunters took led them toward high land. The air was gray and a little misty. Out of the mist Nomusa heard a voice calling out to her. It was Damasi’s. His teeth flashed white as he smiled at Nomusa. They walked along side by side, saying little; the long climb made them both rather short of breath.

“It is a long way to the elephant country,” Nomusa said at last.

“Yes,” Damasi replied. “Some say five sleeps away, some say more.”

By noonday they were high up in the hills. Below them they saw the rolling, grassy plains. The hot rays of the sun were beginning to make the air before Nomusa’s eyes appear in crooked, glassy waves.