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And when the people of the new town beheld Gopani-Kufa they rejoiced greatly and hailed him as chief. Gopani-Kufa was now as powerful as Insato the King of the Reptiles had been, and he and his family moved into the palace that stood high above the other buildings right in the middle of the town.
Insato conducted Gopani-Kufa to the palace, and showing him his rooms, and the maidens who would wait upon him, told him that they would have a great feast that night, and on the morrow he might name his choice of the riches of Pita and it should be given him. Then he was away. Now Gopani-Kufa had a wasp called Zengi-mizi.
'Help me, said the python, 'for I am Insato, King of all the Reptiles, and will reward you well! Gopani-Kufa considered for a moment, then stabbing the antelope with his assegai, he set the python free. 'I thank you, said the python; 'come back here with the new moon, when I shall have eaten the antelope, and I will reward you as I promised.
'I am Insato, said he, 'but in my own country I take man's shape even as you see me for this is Pita, the land over which I am king. He then took Gopani-Kufa by the hand and led him towards the town.
So that night they feasted, and on the morrow Insato came to Gopani-Kufa and, giving him greeting joyfully, he said: 'Now, O my friend, name your choice amongst my possessions and you shall have it! 'O king! answered Gopani-Kufa, 'out of all your possessions I will have the Mirror, Sipao. The king started. 'O friend, Gopani-Kufa, he said, 'ask anything but that!
Then Shasasa took the Magic Mirror and hid it beneath her pillow, and after that for many years Gopani-Kufa ruled his people both well and wisely, so that all men loved him, and never once did he need to ask Sipao to grant him a wish. Now it happened that, after many years, when the hair of Gopani-Kufa was turning grey with age, there came white men to that country.
'O Gopani-Kufa! hummed the wasp, 'there is nothing now that can be done, for the words of the antelope which you slew are being fulfilled. 'Alas! I am an old man I had forgotten! cried the chief. 'The words of the antelope were true words my reward shall be my undoing they are being fulfilled!
But the king was still much troubled, fearing the loss of Sipao, for the mirror had magic powers, so that he who owned it had but to ask and his wish would be fulfilled; to it Insato owed all that he possessed. As soon as the king left him, Gopani-Kufa again took Zengi-mizi, out of his basket.
Up the Zambesi they came, and they fought long and fiercely with Gopani-Kufa; but, because of the power of the Magic Mirror, he beat them, and they fled to the sea-coast. Chief among them was one Rei, a man of much cunning, who sought to discover whence sprang Gopani-Kufa's power.
Therefore ye will leave the world and take up your home with me in the clouds. And as he spake the heroes became invisible to the people of the Earth, and were no more seen among them. The Magic Mirror From the Senna A long, long while ago, before ever the White Men were seen in Senna, there lived a man called Gopani-Kufa. One day, as he was out hunting, he came upon a strange sight.
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