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Updated: June 23, 2025
"Greeting to you!" said the woman. "Good-morrow!" answered my mother. "What do you seek?" "Food, and a hut to sleep in," said the woman. "I have travelled far." "How are you named? and what is your people?" asked my mother. "My name is Unandi: I am the wife of Senzangacona, of the Zulu tribe," said the stranger.
"What is your name, boy?" he said to me as a big rich man speaks to one who is little and poor. "Mopo is my name," I answered. "And what is the name of your people?" I told him the name of my tribe, the Langeni tribe. "Very well, Mopo; now I will tell you my name. My name is Chaka, son of Senzangacona, and my people are called the Amazulu. And I will tell you something more.
Then he stood up and lifting his great axe, he saluted the image with the word "Makosi!" the salute that is given to great wizards because they are supposed to be the home of many spirits. "It is the big Medicine, the Medicine itself," he said, "that which has been known in the land since the time of Senzangacona, the father of the Zulu Royal House, and as it is said, before him."
Have I not heard how you led the Tulwana against the Usutu and stamped flat three of Cetywayo's regiments in the days of Panda, although, alas! because of an oath of mine I lifted no steel in that battle, I who will have nothing to do with those that spring from the blood of Senzangacona perhaps because I smell too strongly of it, Macumazahn.
Mother of the Heavens, take thou the doom of the Heavens! Thou wouldst give me a son to slay me and rule in my place; now, in turn, I, thy son, will rob me of a mother. Die, Unandi! die at the hand thou didst bring forth!" And he lifted the little assegai and smote it through her. For a moment Unandi, Mother of the Heavens, wife of Senzangacona, stood uttering no cry.
Now I was certain that he intended to bring about another war between the English and the Zulus, knowing well that in the end the latter would be destroyed, and with them the royal House of Senzangacona which he had sworn to level with the dust. Had he not told me as much years ago, and was he one to go back upon his word?
"Listen!" exclaimed Cetewayo, "a dog that howls! Methinks that it stands upon the roof of the House of Senzangacona. And an owl that hoots. Methinks that owl has its nest in the world of Spirits! Are these good omens, Councillors? I trow not. I say that I will not decide this matter of peace or war.
"Why, this calf is such another one as was dropped long ago in the kraal of Senzangacona!" he said. "As I was, so is this boy. Go on, lad, in that path, and thou mayst find those who shall cry the royal salute of Bayete to thee at the end of it. Only keep out of my way, for two of a kind might not agree. Now begone!"
And yet I am not happy, for after all it was the House of Senzangacona and not the people of the Zulus, that harmed me and mine, and Cetewayo still lives. While the queen bee remains there may be a hive again. While an ember still glows in the dead ashes, the forest may yet be fired. Perhaps when Cetewayo is dead, then I shall be happy.
"Hearken to me, Spirits of the House of Senzangacona" here he addressed about a dozen of Cetewayo's ancestors by name, going back for many generations. "Hearken to me, O Princess of Heaven, appointed by the Great-Great to be the guardian of the Zulu race.
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