Zulu (African people) -- Fiction; Zululand (South Africa) -- History -- Fiction
Well, with these folk Rachel was intimate. She could talk to the
warrior of his wars, to the woman of her garden and her children to the
children of that wonder world which surrounds childhood throughout the
universe. And yet there was never a one of these but lifted the hand to
her in salute when her shadow fell upon them. To them all she was the
Inkosazana, the Great Lady. They would laugh at her father and mimic
him behind his back, but Rachel they never laughed at or mimicked. Of
her mother also, although she kept herself apart from them, much the
same may be said. For her they had a curious name which they would not,
or were unable to explain. They called her
“Flower-that-grows-on-a-grave.” For Mr. Dove their appellation was less
poetical. It was “Shouter-about-Things-he-does-not-understand,” or,
more briefly, “The Shouter,” a name that he had acquired from his habit
of raising his voice when he grew moved in speaking to them. The things
that he did not understand, it may be explained, were not to their
minds his religious views, which, although they considered them
remarkable, were evidently his own affair, but their private customs.
Especially their family customs that he was never weary of denouncing
to the bewilderment of these poor heathens, who for their part were not
greatly impressed by those of the few white people with whom they came
in contact. Therefore, with native politeness, they concluded that he
spoke thus rudely because he did not understand. Hence his name.
But Rachel had other friends. In truth she was Nature’s child, if in a
better and a purer sense than Byron uses that description. The sea, the
veld, the sky, the forest and the river, these were her companions, for
among them she dwelt solitary. Their denizens, too, knew her well, for
unless she were driven to it, never would she lift her hand against
anything that drew the breath of life. The buck would let her pass
quite close to them, nor at her coming did the birds stir from off
their trees. Often she stood and watched the great elephants feeding or
at rest, and even dared to wander among the herds of savage buffalo. Of
only two living things was she afraid—the snake and the crocodile, that
are cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field,
because being cursed they have no sympathy or gentleness. She feared
nothing else, she who was always fearless, nor brute or bird, did they
fear her.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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