Part 29 (1/2)

The girl was happy in her new home, for she had a dependent and affectionate nature. The small boy played with the other small boys, and had asked after his mother not more than once or twice; with time he would forget her. About Absalom no one asked, and if they talked about it in their huts, they let it make no difference in their respect for the old umfundisi.

One day the small white boy came galloping up, and when k.u.malo came out to greet him, he raised his cap as before, and k.u.malo found himself warm with pleasure to see his small visitor again.

I've come to talk Zulu again, said the boy. He slid down from his horse, and put the reins round the post. He walked over to the house with the a.s.surance of a man, and dusted his feet and took off his cap before entering the house. He sat down at the table and looked round with a pleasure inside him, so that a man felt it was something bright that had come into the house.

Are the accounts finished, umfundisi?

Yes, they are finished, inkosana.

Were they right?

k.u.malo laughed, he could not help himself.

Yes, they were right, he said. But not very good.

Not very good, eh? Are you ready for the Zulu?

k.u.malo laughed again, and sat down in his chair at the other side of the table, and said, Yes, I am ready for the Zulu. When is your grandfather returning?

I don't know, said the small boy. I want him to come back. I like him, he said.

k.u.malo could have laughed again at this, but he thought perhaps it was not a thing to laugh at. But the small boy laughed himself, so k.u.malo laughed also. It was easy to laugh with this small boy, there seemed to be laughter inside him.

When are you going back to Johannesburg, inkosana?

When my grandfather comes back.

And k.u.malo said to him in Zulu, When you go, something bright will go out of Ndotsheni.

What are you saying, umfundisi?

But when k.u.malo would have translated, the small boy cried out, No, don't tell me. Say it again in Zulu. So k.u.malo said it again.

That means when you are gone, said the small boy, and say the rest again.

Something bright will go out of Ndotsheni, said k.u.malo in Zulu.

Something about Ndotsheni. But it's too hard for me. Say it in English, umfundisi.

Something bright will go out of Ndotsheni, said k.u.malo in English.

Yes, I see. When I go, something bright will go out of Ndotsheni.

The small boy laughed with pleasure. I hear you, he said in Zulu.

And k.u.malo clapped his hands in astonishment, and said, Au! Au! You speak Zulu, so that the small boy laughed with still greater pleasure, and k.u.malo clapped his hands again, and made many exclamations. The door opened and his wife came in, and he said to the small boy, this is my wife, and he said to his wife in Zulu, this is the son of the man. The small boy stood up and made a bow to k.u.malo's wife, and she stood and looked at him with fear and sorrow. But he said to her, You have a nice house here, and he laughed. She said to her husband in Zulu, I am overcome, I do not know what to say. And the small boy said in Zulu, I hear you, so that she took a step backwards in fear. But k.u.malo said to her swiftly, He does not understand you, those are only words that he knows, and for the small boy he clapped his hands again in astonishment and said, Au! Au! But you speak Zulu. And the woman went backwards to the door, and opened it and shut it and was gone.

Are you ready for the Zulu, umfundisi?

Indeed I am ready.

Tree is umuti, umfundisi.

That is right, inkosana.

But medicine is also umuti, umfundisi.

And the small boy said this with an air of triumph, and a kind of mock bewilderment, so that they both laughed together.

You see, inkosana, said k.u.malo seriously, our medicines come mostly from trees. That is why the word is the same.

I see, said the small boy, pleased with this explanation. And box is ibokisi.

That is right, inkosana. You see, we had no boxes, and so our word is from your word.

I see. And motor-bike is isitututu.

That is right. That is from the sound that the motorbike makes, so, isi-tu-tu-tu. But inkosana, let us make a sentence. For you are giving me all the words that you know, and so you will not learn anything that is new. Now how do you say, I see a horse?

So the lesson went on, till k.u.malo said to his pupil, It is nearly twelve o'clock, and perhaps it is time you must go.

Yes, I must go, but I'll come back for some more Zulu.

You must come back, inkosana. Soon you will be speaking better than many Zulus. You will be able to speak in the dark, and people will not know it is not a Zulu.

The small boy was pleased, and when they went out he said, Help me up, umfundisi. So k.u.malo helped him up, and the small boy lifted his cap, and went galloping up the road. There was a car going up the road, and the small boy stopped his horse and cried, my grandfather is back. Then he struck at the horse and set out in a wild attempt to catch up with the car.

There was a young man standing outside the church, a young pleasant-faced man of some twenty-five years, and his bags were on the ground. He took off his hat and said in English, You are the umfundisi?

I am.

And I am the new agricultural demonstrator. I have my papers here, umfundisi.

Come into the house, said k.u.malo, excited.

They went into the house, and the young man took out his papers and showed them to k.u.malo. These papers were from parsons and school-inspectors and the like, and said that the bearer, Napoleon Letsitsi, was a young man of sober habits and good conduct, and another paper said that he had pa.s.sed out of a school in the Transkei as an agricultural demonstrator.

I see, said k.u.malo. But you must tell me why you are here. Who sent you to me?

Why, the white man who brought me.

uJarvis, was that the name?

I do not know the name, umfundisi, but it is the white man who has just gone.

Yes, that is uJarvis. Now tell me all.

I am come here to teach farming, umfundisi.

To us, in Ndotsheni?