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Updated: June 24, 2025
Scarcely will Unandi, my mother, sleep well, seeing that so little blood has been shed on her grave surely her spirit will haunt my dreams. Yet, because of the gentleness of my heart, I declare this mourning ended. Let my children eat and drink, if, indeed, they have the heart." "Happy are the people over whom such a king is set," I said in answer.
She sank bank, there was silence, and we looked one upon another. Then Unandi spoke. "Give me your hand, Mopo, and swear that you will be faithful to me in this secret, as I swear to you. A day may come when this child who has not seen the light rules as king in Zululand, and then in reward you shall be the greatest of the people, the king's voice, whisperer in the king's ear.
Then she put up her hand, and drew the assegai from her side. "So shalt thou die also, Chaka the Evil!" she cried, and fell down dead there in the hut. Thus, then, did Chaka murder his mother Unandi. Now when Baleka saw what had been done, she turned and fled from the hut into the Emposeni, and so swiftly that the guards at the gates could not stop her.
Then Inguazonca, brother of Unandi, Mother of the Heavens, fell upon Masilo and ended him, but was hurt himself in so doing. Now I looked at Chaka, who stood shaking the little red spear, and thought swiftly, for the hour had come. "Help!" I cried, "one is slaying the King!"
I looked round to see who it was, then fell upon the ground in salutation, for before me was Unandi, mother of the king, who was named "Mother of the Heavens," that same lady to whom my mother had refused the milk. "Hail, Mother of the Heavens!" I said. "Greeting, Mopo," she answered. "Say, why does Baleka weep? Is it because the sorrow of women is upon her?"
Moreover, it came about that Unandi and Baleka could not restrain their fondness for this child who was called my son and named Umslopogaas, but who was the son of Chaka, the king, and of the Baleka, and the grandson of Unandi. So it happened that very often one or the other of them would come into my hut, making pretence to visit my wives, and take the boy upon her lap and fondle it.
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.
With the spear that pierced thy breast, Unandi, shall the breast of Chaka be also pierced, and, ye wives and children of Mopo, the hand that pierces shall be the hand of Mopo. As I guide him so shall he go. Ay, I will teach him to wreak my vengeance on the earth! Pass in, children of my people pass in to the judgment, for the doom of Chaka is written." Thus I dreamed, my father.
Then I, Mopo, sprang forward and picked from the ground that little assegai handled with the royal wood the same assegai with which Chaka had murdered Unandi, his mother, and Moosa, my son, and lifted it on high, and while I lifted it, my father, once more, as when I was young, a red veil seemed to wave before my eyes. "Wherefore wouldst thou kill me, Mopo?" said the king.
"Nay, she wept not. She said, 'My lord's will is my will." "Good! Had she wept she had been slain also. Who was with her?" "The Mother of the Heavens." The brow of Chaka darkened. "Unandi, my mother, what did she there? My myself I swear, though she is my mother if I thought" and he ceased. Thee was a silence, then he spoke again.
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