"Fetch me that flower; the herb I showed thee once;
The juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid,
Will make or man or woman madly dote
Upon the next live creature that it sees."
_A Midsummer Night's Dream_.
"Ca, 'mntan 'am (no, my child), I am too old, as you can see for
yourself; my memory is no longer good, and all these things happened so
very long ago. Besides, you have not yet told me why you want me to
talk about these old days, you white people are so wise you cannot
require to learn from an old woman such as I. Hear him now, what can
the great people who live beyond the sea in those big houses you show me
the shadows (pictures) of, and of which I never can tell the top from
the bottom, want to know about the dead and gone Bacas? Yes, yes, I
have heard all this before from you, and you know I only promised to
talk on condition that you told me the true reason why you wanted to
write down my words.
"You white people are _very_ sly; you know most things, yet one thing
you are always trying to learn, all of you: the magic of the native.
And what is our magic compared with yours? With us the `isanuse'
(witch-doctor) calls to all in a loud voice, boasting of what he knows,
yet you `abelungu' (white people) are for ever trying to persuade the
natives that you are not wizards. Don't tell me. Does not one of you
speak with your mouth close to the end of an iron string at Umzimkulu,
while another listens at Matatiele where the string passes over the big
poles, and hear the words spoken? and this over a distance which it
takes a man six days to walk. I know myself that such is the case,
because when my grand-daughter's baby was born at Umzimkulu last spring,
did I not learn it from the pink paper which the constable read to me on
the same day. I asked Rachel particularly about the date afterwards,
and she swore to me that the child was born two days before the new
moon, and that was the day on which the constable came.
"Did you not yourself open the eye of a box at me, with a click, and
show me the next day the water-shadow of myself upon paper; and was not
the very torn place in my blanket, which I had not yet mended, there
too? Magic, _I_ know magic when I see it.
"Yes, I am very old. I remember, like it were yesterday, the time when
Ncapay was killed by the Pondos, when he and his `impi' were driven over
the cliff on the Umzimvubu, and I have seen our chief, Makaula, herding
calves when he was a boy. My first husband was old Palelo (he died when
I was away at Umzimkulu), and my second was Momlotyolo, who got his head
broken with a club in a fight with the Pondomisi. He came home with his
head tied up, and laid himself down on a mat. Next day he could not
speak. He lay snoring for five days, and then died in a fit. I had
only been married to him three years, and we had three children. The
first was a girl, she died when still a child, and the second a boy whom
we called Tutani. He was drowned trying to cross the Umzimvubu after a
beer-drink.
"The first time I was married? That is long ago, and I have almost
forgotten all about it. We were then living in what is now Cweraland.
I was quite a young girl when old Palelo took me as his wife. Yes, he
had six other wives then living, and several others had died. Palelo
was a very old man, but he was rich and my father was poor. Eighteen
head of cattle were given as my dowry, and a new hut was built for me.
In this hut old Palelo nearly lived for two years, and I was quite glad
when I heard that he was paying `lobola' for another girl, as I knew
that when he married her, he'd leave me alone for a time.
"Who told you that I went to Umzimkulu? So, so, I had forgotten
mentioning it. Well, I suppose I may as well tell you everything about
it now, because you might hear it spoken of by others who do not know
all that happened, and thus come to think evil of me, not knowing that
it was Lamla's fault, and that I was blameless.
"You have heard of the charm which a man places upon a woman to make her
follow him. Perhaps you do not believe in such things, eh? I thought
not. It is strange what a lot of true things you wise people disbelieve
in. Well, well, if you do not believe in such things why do you want to
hear about them? I think I know the reason, but it runs on a different
spoor to that of your words. Whether you believe in them or not, these
things exist. I have lived much longer than you in spite of the drought
on the top of your head, and I have not only seen, but experienced the
effect of such a charm. No, no, although you are old enough to know
better, you are also old enough to have seen that the eyes of a young
woman do not shine on you as on younger men, and this knowledge might
lead you into mischief.
"Well, I will tell you of some, but not of the strongest. There are
many things which can be used as charms, and some work quite differently
from others. Some are of use only to a young man, and some to one who
is old. There is the `duba' (wild garlic: _Tulbaghia alliacea_) which
is pounded up with fat and clay, and kept in the tip of a goat's horn.
If a young man touch a young woman with this it will make her think of
him night and day, until the `umdhlemnyana' (a kind of hysteria) seizes
her. This will never leave her unless he releases her, or she can steal
the charm from where he has to keep it, wrapped in a skin, in the roof
of his dwelling. Then there is the `insonga 'mazwe' (literally `turner'
or `wrapper up' of words--_Commelyna speciosa_--a little blue, furry
flower, with bright yellow anthers). If a young man bathes, and then
rubs himself all over with this, his words become so wise and sweet to
the ear, that no woman can deny him anything. Besides, there is that
stuff which can be bought at the big stores, `zamlandela' (camphor;
literally `that which leads,' or `induces'). If a young man rub his
hands with this, and he touch a girl on the cheeks, she will dream of
him whether she be asleep or awake. There are other things; roots and
flowers which, if placed by a man in the water-pool at which the girls
drink, or in which they bathe in hot weather, will have such an effect
that their fathers and brothers will want to shed blood. Then there is
another flower which, if broken up and scattered on a path along which a
woman walks, will make her follow the man who scattered it wheresoever
he leads her. It was in this way I was charmed and led away to
Umzimkulu, where I dwelt for a year.
"Lamla came to dwell in our neighbourhood nearly two years after I had
married old Palelo. He was a young man of Umzimkulu. He had been
obliged to flee for a time from there on account of having broken the
law. He was related to some people of a kraal near ours, and with them
he stayed. He was a very big man and a strong dancer, and was nearly
always laughing.
"Old Palelo had many sons and daughters, and as he was rich, there was
plenty of feasting at our kraal. Lamla often visited my hut and seemed
to be very fond of talking to Palelo about old times, and about the
deeds my husband had done in his youth. The two would often sit over
the fire, far into the night, and I used to lie on my mat, my head
covered with a kaross, listening. There was a little hole in the
kaross, and through this I used to watch Lamla, who always sat with his
face towards me. I do not know how it was, but somehow that part of the
kaross with the hole in it was always just in front of my eyes. It was
strange to see how fond old Palelo was of Lamla; I think it was because
Lamla listened to him so quietly, and just let him talk.
"Lamla said very little to me on these occasions, but we used often to
meet when I went down to the pool to fetch water, or to the millet-field
to hoe. I did not altogether like meeting him alone, because the way in
which he talked and went on annoyed me. It was not so much his words as
his ways that made me angry. Whenever we were alone he mimicked old
Palelo--his walk, his voice, his way of taking snuff--everything.
Although I could not keep from laughing, I did not like Lamla to go on
like this. He said he meant to make himself so like Palelo that none
would be able to tell one from the other, and that he came to practise
before me, so that I could tell him how he was getting on.
"Sometimes he would tell me about what a lot of girls were in love with
him at Umzimkulu, and when I told him to go back to them and not trouble
me any more, he said he had got so fond of Palelo that he could not bear
to think of departing. Occasionally he would come down to the field
where I was hoeing, and if it were a hot day would make me sit with him
under a tree, chewing `imfe' (sweet reed), and listening while he blew
music on the `ugwalo' (a musical instrument formed of a single string
attached to a quill, and stretched along a stick), or talking nonsense.
"One day as I was returning from the pool carrying a pot of water, I met
Lamla coming out of the bush with a lot of yellow flowers in his hands.
I inquired as to what he was going to do with these, and he said he was
going to do some `doctoring.' `Who, then, is sick?' I asked. `I am,'
he replied. I laughed at this, because at the dance the day before he
had tired all the others out. `Do you know what sickness these are to
cure?' he asked, looking at me very hard. `No,' said I, `unless it be
the sickness that makes people think they are not themselves; that is
the only sickness you have got.' `Why, you are almost as good as a
doctor yourself,' he replied; then he laughed and went away.
"Next morning I saw some little bits of yellow stuff on the ground just
outside my hut, and also strewn along the pathway leading to the
millet-field. I picked a piece up, and found it to be very like a
portion of a flower such as Lamla had been carrying when I met him
coming out of the bush. I soon picked up a whole flower. This, without
considering what I was doing, I stuck into the carrying-hole of my left
ear. Then it suddenly seemed as if something began to sing inside me,
and I felt very happy, but rather frightened.
"On that day I could not work. I felt as if quite changed in every way.
I could not forget the yellow flowers, or Lamla. I just stuck my hoe
into the ground and went to the spot under the big tree where he and I
used to sit. It was very hot, so I lay down and soon fell fast asleep.
"I had a strange dream. I thought that Lamla came to me with a lot of
yellow flowers tied around his head in the way the Pondos tie the
`imvani' (wild asparagus) when they want rain to fall. I thought he
kept changing into old Palelo, and then back into himself again, and
that I was running away from him and at the same time feeling sorry that
he could not catch me. Just as I thought he had caught me, I woke up
suddenly, and there he stood.
"I got such a fright that I screamed out and then began to weep. Lamla
sat down next to me. I told him to leave me alone, but he would not, so
I jumped up and ran away home.
"That night I could eat nothing, and the `umdhlemnyana' sickness seized
me so badly that old Palelo became quite frightened, and said he would
fetch the witch-doctor next day to see who had bewitched me. When I
felt better I lay down to try and sleep, but it was of no use. I
dreamed of Lamla's coming, but when it got late and he had not come, I
felt like a long-tailed finch trying to fly against the wind on a wet
day. I kept wondering as to where he was, and the thought that he might
be at a feast at another kraal where there was a girl who I knew liked
him, troubled me so much that I got another `umdhlemnyana' fit, and when
old Palelo came to me with a pot of water, I threw the water all over
him, and broke the pot. This made me feel a little better, so I lay
quiet, pretending to be asleep.
"Old Palelo went to sleep on his mat, but I lay long awake, until at
length I felt I could not stay in the hut any longer; something seemed
to draw me outside. I took my kaross and left the hut. The moon was
large and yellow. The stream of water in the kloof just below was
making a noise exactly like some one speaking, and at length I found
out what it was saying. It was
`lam-lam-lam-la-la-la-lam-la-la-lam-la-lam-la-lam-la,' that the water
was calling out over and over again as it ran over the stones. Lamla
seemed to be all about me, and I kept looking behind me to see if he was
not there.
"A jackal up on the hill was calling out `yonk, yonk, yonk, yow-a-a-ow,'
like a man singing through his nose. The bats and night-jars were
flitting about, and two owls were crying out to each other among the
tops of the yellow-wood trees.
"I first sat down near the hut, but old Palelo was snoring like a big
frog, so I walked away beyond the cattle kraal, and laid myself down on
the short, green grass, which was cool and wet with dew.
"All this time I could think of nothing but Lamla, and I kept wondering
why this should be so. Why did I feel so strange and so changed? My
thoughts went back to the first time I had seen him. It was at the
wedding feast of one of Palelo's daughters. I remember thinking I had
never seen any one dance so well. Then I went over, one by one, all the
occasions upon which we had since met. Although they were many I think
I remembered every one of them. I began to laugh when I thought of the
way he used to mimic my husband. Then I thought of the long talks in
the hut at night, so I lay back and covered myself up with the kaross,
looking through the same little hole at a post standing near me, and
trying to imagine it was Lamla, giving his ears to Palelo and his eyes
to me.
"Next I remembered his coming out of the bush with the yellow flowers,
and this set me thinking of what had been strewn on the path. Then I
suddenly understood the whole thing--I was bewitched. Lamla had said
the flowers were for medicine, and this was what he had meant, the
rogue.
"When the thought first struck me I felt very much frightened, and I
jumped up, meaning to run into the hut at once. However, I remained
where I was for a little time, and then my fright seemed to pass away.
Then I walked on a few yards and sat down on the grass.
"I listened to the water calling out Lamla's name, and thought seriously
over the whole matter of Lamla and his doings. After considering for a
while I concluded that in spite of the `umdhlemnyana' sickness, being
bewitched was, after all, not so very terrible. I had often heard of
girls being charmed in this way, and I knew that one cure for it was to
follow the man about, and make him take off the charm. `Ah, ha, my
friend Lamla,' thought I, `I am up to your ways and tricks, and will let
you know it the next time we meet. You have not got a silly girl to
deal with this time, but a woman who has been married nearly two years,
and who can take care of herself very well, in spite of the
"umdhlemnyana."'
"The dogs suddenly began to bark all together, and then they rushed
round to the back of the cattle kraal, where they all ceased barking.
Just afterwards a man walked out into the moonlight from behind the
kraal-fence, and came slowly towards me. It was Lamla. The dogs knew
him, and were running after him and fawning.
"He came up to where I was sitting, and without saying a word took my
hands in his and drew me gently towards him. I stood up, and then he
walked on, and I followed. I could not have resisted then, even if I
had wanted to, but I do not think I wanted to at all. You see, the
charm had influenced me more strongly than I had thought. I was no
longer myself, but just Lamla and nothing else.
"I followed Lamla down the hill along the path to the millet-field, and
then we sat down under the tree. The dogs came too, and Lamla got very
angry because he could not at first manage to drive them back. `Lamla,'
said I, `you have bewitched me with those yellow flowers, and we will
both be killed by Palelo's sons.' `No,' said he, `it is you that have
bewitched me, and I only used those flowers to cure myself.'
"After a while we went on together, Lamla leading me by the hand. When
we reached a little bush near the kraal he was living at, he left me for
a short time, and then he returned with two bundles, one of which he
gave me to carry. We walked on all night. Just before daybreak we
turned to the left and entered a thick forest. Here we spent the day.
We did not light a fire. Lamla had brought some millet already boiled,
in a skin bag. We ate this, and also some roots which he dug up with
the blade of his spear. From a hollow tree he brought some of the
sweetest honey I have ever tasted. He did not seem to mind the bees
stinging him at all.
"All this time we hardly spoke a word. In the afternoon we were sitting
together hidden in some thick, green brushwood; I heard a rustle and,
looking up, saw a long green snake gliding through the branches just
over Lamla's head. I called out: `Look, there is a snake.' He just
smiled and, without standing up, killed the snake with one blow of his
stick. It nearly fell on him, so I screamed out, but he laughed and
comforted me and said that he had been doctored by a great wizard
against all dangerous things except me.
"Then he asked me how I liked being bewitched. I replied: `I like it
very well now, because the charm is on me, but I know that by and by I
will be very angry.' He laughed very loud at this. Afterwards he asked
me if I knew what had really happened. I answered: `Yes, Lamla, you
wicked man, you have bewitched me and made me follow you away from my
home.' `No, you are mistaken,' said he, `I am not Lamla at all, but
your husband Palelo in Lamla's body; Lamla is still at the kraal in the
body of Palelo.' I could not understand how this could be, and I now
know that he was talking nonsense, but at the time the charm was so
strong on me that I would have believed anything he told me.
"That night we crossed the Umzimvubu, and reached the big forest below
the Tabankulu. Here we laid down and slept. The sun was high when we
awoke. We travelled on through the forest, and again rested and spent
the night on the other side.
"Next day we went on without concealment through the open country. We
were now in Pondoland, so had nothing to fear, so we just wandered on
quietly from kraal to kraal, getting food in plenty; for Lamla had such
pleasant ways, especially with the women, that we were always made
welcome. Lamla said I was his wife, whom he had fetched from the
Pondomisi country, and no one seemed to doubt his words.
"When we reached the Baca country at Umzimkulu, we went straight to the
kraal of Lamla's father, and when he told his relations that I was his
wife, and that he had paid `lobola' for me, they all laughed at him, and
asked whether horns or feathers grew on the `lobola' cattle. I did not
see at the time why they should have doubted his words, but I found out
the reason afterwards.
"At first we lived very happily, for the charm was still strong upon me,
but after some months Lamla began to go away from home very often, and
then I heard that he was courting another girl. Well, he married her,
and she and I quarrelled, and he took her part and beat me, so I became
very miserable. It was nearly a year after we came to Umzimkulu that my
baby, a boy, was born.
"One day, when my baby was over a month old, who should walk up to the
kraal but the Matshoba, old Palelo's `great son.' I picked up the child
and ran away into the bush, but next day I got hungry and had to return.
Matshoba was not very angry. It turned out that Palelo was dead.
Matshoba said that I must return with him. I was not sorry to do so,
because the charm had now quite passed away from me.
"Matshoba brought a law case before the chief against Lamla for taking
me away. I told all about the charm which had been used, and Lamla did
not deny having used it. He was ordered by the chief to pay ten head of
cattle as a fine. These his father had to pay, because Lamla had no
cattle of his own. The chief said that if Lamla's father had got him a
wife Lamla would not have gone about bewitching the wives of other
people. When the cattle were paid the chief took five head, and
Matshoba and I drove the other five to my old home. Soon afterwards I
was married to Momlotyolo.
"My baby grew up and became just like his father both in appearance and
ways. When quite a young man he was `smelt out' for bewitching one of
the wives of the chief, and had to flee for his life. I have never
heard of him since.
"No, no; I am not going to tell you anything more about the flower. It
was not a yellow flower at all, but one of quite another colour.
Besides, it is a young man's charm, and therefore would be of no use to
you."