Adventure, January 20, 1922 — page 132: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

T30 Africa, for giras all over the continent al- ways commune with themselves at two dis- tinct times in the twenty-four-hour day— at early midday when the sun is at its high- est meridian point, when everything alive is hardly moving because of the terrific noonday sun, and the silent period just at sundown, when the whole living world seems to have died. _It is then that they vula their minds to receive impressions of the happenings of the day. The individual gira informs two or three persons that an event has happened in a certain portion of the country, hundreds and sometimes, in a tribe unrelated to his own, a thousand miles or so away. The persons so informed by him hurry off to inform different friends of their news—and it spreads like wild fire. Months and months later the story of the disaster, calamity, or whatever the nature of the in- cident, is related by foot-sore wayfarers, who may have been involved or who have been witnesses of the calamity, and thereby confirm the gira’s “‘mind-sighting” and give him more power over the whole of the com- munity and the tribe, not to mention the respect and fear which it inspires in the inkost. Thus it comes about that the giva is in every sense of the word “the power behind the throne.” He, however, has quite a few personal spites, and vents his feelings in different ways. In the mykas that had passed Upina’s domestic household had increased. Though he still had only two abafazi, yet he had four abanitwana by his second one. From his first umfazi an interesting family event was expected at this time, and Upina went about with a hungry light in his eyes and a half smile on his lips. A few days later, as if trying to make up for the lack of at- tention that he had paid Malanga the stork left ama wele behind him. These two pinky-pink brown babies’ ar- rival caused a great diversion of opinion, not so much that they were ama wele, but because they were ntombt ne nkwenkwe or boy and girl. When it became known, heads were shaken and prophecies uttered to the effect that “omye kuko vyaku fa—one of them will die.”” Among these pessimis- tic prophets was Upina’s second wife, who had been given to him as a reward for his valor in the first raid he had taken part in. The feeling between the two abafazi had not improved, as both were in a con- Adventure stant state of quarrelsome peacefulness, even though the wkosi’s umfazi wase ku mene—the right-hand or first wife of the king—whose name was ‘No Ncumayo” (the smile—which gave a direct index to her character) and who was the head um- fazt of a household comprising twenty-four other abafazi—had tried to better the situa- tion. She had experienced the same feeling as Upina when the ivkosi had brought back the umfazi ost bina many many nyaka ago. With her depth of understanding and kind- liness, she had Shown Malanga a way to close the breach between_her and the other woman, but Malanga’s heart was embit- tered against the other umfazi and the kindly intentioned words had no effect on her. The usual procedure was gone through and the two babies had to suffer the same inflictions of the body with the attendant pain. After the finger-chopping, a week or so later, the ntombi (girl) became yafa; it developed a croupy cough and the little right arm began to swell. The little boy brother, with the strange inexplicableness of twins, thrived and was in the best of health; but as the days went swiftly by the little sister grew worse and worse. The gira’s umfazt came two or three times but did not seem to do the child any good. In desperation the mother asked that the gira himself come and visit the child. A messenger was sent to his home and informed the gira that he was asked to visit an um tana ofayo. In no mean terms he informed the messenger that he visited no children. ‘The messenger went back and told Malanga what the gira had said. Malanga appealed to Upina to go to the inkosi and have the gira come and visit the infant by royal mandate. Upina refused, but Malanga pleaded with him all through the night, and by morning she had a prom- ise from him that he would see the inkosi early in the morning of that day. He stepped out of Malanga’s hut on his way to see the inkosi. Half way there, he met his second wmfazt who asked him— “U ya pina u nxmile nje?” “Ndt yaku mbana inkosi ngom tana ofaya. —To see the king about the sick child,” he replied. “Nee gira?” “6 Baye.’? “Vol Aba niawana mbam mbe mbe nga fumi gira.—Pooh! My children never needed : COmicloooks (C@