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Another
story from the talented pen of MARILYN PENNY.
Marilyn lived for many years in Swaziland and during that time learnt to
speak, read and write Siswati fluently. Her
charming stories of Chema and his family are especially written for African
Heritage. So make a big mug of
coffee, grab a rusk and enjoy!
Gogo's
surprise It
was that funny time in late afternoon just before the curtain of night falls
like an invisible velvet sheet over the veld. Not day.....and not night.....that
time when the brown owl spins its head, fluffs its shoulder pads and nods wisely
at the large African moon as it sits ponderously in the baobab trees. That
time when the lioness stretches langorously, sharpening her hooked claws on the
dusty earth, the fall of night ..... the most dangerous time of all.... When
most animals become virtually blind, and slinky shadows melt in and out of the
bush and one is not certain whether to be more afraid. Chipo
gazed excitedly at her big brother Chema as he stepped into the fire circle. How
tall he was! How strong! How clever.....after all he went to the mission school,
and it was said that he had learned the magic of reading and writing .... that
strange power that enabled a person to send messages many many miles by drawing
strange pictures on a piece of paper, affixing a likeness of a woman with a
pointy hat on her head, and giving it to Baba Fakudze when he went to town. ......Town!
The little girls eyes glazed over for a moment as she tried to imagine a very
big homestead where there were a lot of people .... many more than ten! It
was said that there were Malungus there that never aged! Women that by magic
remained young for many more years than they rightly should, and men who spent
much time chasing little white balls with hunting sticks
around a very green and clear part of the bush...a place where there was
no trees. (These Malungus were not clever at all ...... everyone knew that no
food animals remained out in the open! ..... maybe one day clever Chema could
enlighten them and tell them that they would be a lot more successful at their
hunt - were they to try using the hunting sticks in thicker bush!) She
rose up off her hunkers and approached her bigger brother. "I see you"
she greeted him. "Saubona" he replied smiling, and ruffled her wiry
hair with a grubby hand. "Kunjani?" ...... "Ooh Kona......it is
good" she replied shyly......(one should always appear coy and shy in the
presence of men ..... even if it is your brother.) She
skipped ahead of him to the entrance of her grandmothers hut. "Chema
is home" she announced as the ducked into the darkness beyond the lintel. There
was a loud sniff from within. Gogo was pinching into the treasured tin of Wilson
no.99 snuff ..... "ATSHOOOOOOO" she thundered, and Chipo momentarily considered making
a hasty exit out of the room! Fortunately Chema was right behind her ...... what
a noise gogo made with the brown powder! Like
the angry heavens just before a sudden summer downpour! "Saubona
gogo" "Yebo
mfaana......and how was the magic of the Mfundisi today?" "Mmmmm
we learnt about King Georgi, .... the same one that met with our great warrior
king Sobhusa at Goedgegan ...... and then they named the place
Nhlangano...the kings meeting place.....he that wore a great chamber pot
on his head and even called it a Piss Helmet ! " "Nkosiyami,"
gogo frowned wrinkling her forehead so that it now resembled a miniature Mahamba
gorge, .... "Have these pale white people no shame that their king wears a
Piss pot on his head! ...what kind of uneducated people would do such a thing
and disgrace the head of their Ngwenyama ? " Chema
shrugged ... "Anhazi gogo, it is a bewilderement even to me." The
old lady sniffed again to show her disdain, and pushed past the two children. "All
this talking of passing water...now I must go and relieve myself!" she
mumbled and headed towards the edge of the boma. The
family used one particular area of scrubland fifty yards or so from the
homestead for their toiletries, and were scrupulous about the interment of any
excretions. To this end the old woman carried
a small badza or broadblade hoe with her in order to appease the
ancestors and not offend them. "Chipo!"....she
squawked, " accompany me child, I am blinder than the fruit bat that dances
in the banana trees. You must lead me." Obediently
the child stepped in front of her grandmother, and the old woman placed her left
hand on the little girls thin right shoulder. Together they made their way out
of the circle of firelight into the darkening shadows of the African twilight. Overhead
the nightjars swooped and screeched, and gnats swarmed, as if surfing on the
warm caressing breezes. The child led her grandmother towards the designated
bushes and halted when the old woman squeezed her arm, waiting patiently as she
heard gogo crouch, put the badza down and lift her ankle-length skirt. For
one fleeting moment there was just the sounds of the African night, .... the
Christmas beetles' sawing in harmony, distant frogs serenading their lady-loves
in the reeds by the muddy river bed, when suddenly gogo let out a screech that
was so loud and so unexpected that it ended all the noises of nature, and for a
few seconds, there was absolute silence! Not a sound in the whole world! Chipo
meantime was so jolted by the noise emanating from her grandmothers wide open
and toothless mouth, that she lifted what seemed to six inches in the air, and
landed very inelegantly on her bony little behind on a white-ant mound. Without
another thought, and as if made of elastic she shot straight up again and sped
off in no specific direction, her heart pounding, and her breath coming in
ragged little gasps. She
wondered if a Tokolosh had attacked her granny and had its wicked way with her.
What else could have made her scream like that? The child still ran,
peering fearfully over her shoulder, and presently she slowed and stopped at a
safe distance from the figure hopping around behind her. "Yini Mage?"
she cautiously warbled, her voice giving away her fear. "What is wrong?
what is it?" The
old woman was still hopping around clutching her behind making little moaning
sounds. "Buya sissie! ..... come here quickly! ...Qababga okona le nyoka!" "I
think I have been bitten by a snake." Chipo
hesitantly approached, and cast her eyes around in fear for the slithery
culprit. There was none to be seen. "Are you sure Gogo...did you see it?
" "Of
course not," the old woman replied angrily, "Whenever do you see the
evil nyoka child....are you stupid now! But Aieeeeeee I can feel a tooth sissie....it
is embedded in myself .... I am going to die...Wa hamba yifa!" Chipo
was overcome with curiosity. She had never seen a snakes tooth close up before,
in fact she did not even know that they had teeth ...exactly...."Let me see
Gogo! " she asked, and gogo turned around sweeping her skirt up once more. The
child tremulously approached. She peered at her grandmothers exposed and very
wrinkled buttocks and began to giggle. "This
is no laughing matter! " gogo reprimanded her,"I am going to
die!" "No
you are not grandmother," the child replied, smothering her mouth so as not
to let out a hoot of laughter...she leant forward and tugged at the long white
thorn. "Nango lo manyoka!.....here is the snake!" |
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