Chapter 954 Sacred Tradition (2/2)

Finally, he tasted the famous stewed and roasted leopard meat cooked by the local tribe. He filled his stomach and they went to the room arranged by the lion hunter for a rest.

The next morning, they had a plentiful breakfast. There was corn porridge, roasted corn, steamed corn, corn sweet sauce, fried corn kernels, corn kernels with meat sauce and so on.

All in all, the local love of corn was fully shown in this breakfast.

At breakfast, the lion hunter said, ”You are free to move around later. Around ten o'clock, go to the place where we saw the war dance last night. There will be an old ceremony there.”

”Something to look forward to? What ritual is this? What is the secret about?”

The lion hunter winked and said, ”rituals that men and women love.”

His mysterious attitude aroused the curiosity of Li Du and his group. After wandering around town for a while, Li Du and the others turned their steps to the open place where they saw people gathering.

The crowd consisted of young men and women, though some of the faces were prematurely lined. The Zulu people were always engaged in agriculture, animal husbandry, and hunting. Their outdoor life made them age sooner than they would have otherwise.

Li Du could not tell how old the men and women actually were. He estimated that they were actually youngsters no more than 15 or 16 years old.

When they arrived, an old woman with a lump of mud on her forehead came up, waved and shouted, ”taluru, tabaluru!”

”What does that mean?” wondered Li Du.

Lu Guan scratched his head and said, ”It seems to be the Zulu words for go away. I heard it several times last night, but I didn't really pay attention.”

Li Du looked back and saw the lion hunter smiling at them not far away. Some men around him were smiling as well.

See this, Li Du realized that they were fooled by the lion hunter.

He hurried away, but the old lady caught Sophie by the hand and mumbled something to her. Li Du did not know what she said, but she sounded very kind.

”Tell Miss Sophie to stay, and you get out of here, or you'll be beaten!” said the lion hunter.

Li Du frowned and asked, ”What's going on? Have you tricked us?”

”No, no. There really is an ancient sacred ritual to test the purity of boys and girls,” laughed the lion hunter.

Li Du looked back at the girls in the distance, and at a clearing surrounded by a long cloth. He thought he understood what the lion hunter meant and asked, ”Are there actually things like this?”

The lion hunter shrugged his shoulders and said, ”Perhaps you know that we Zulus have a tradition of making sacrifices to the goddesses, and that's what you see now.”

How could Li Du possibly know of such a tradition? The others were looking confused as well.

The lion hunter told them, ”According to the belief of our people, if the goddess does not get due respect, there will be natural and man-made disasters, and humans, in particular women asking for the blessing of the goddess, must keep their virginity.”

Li Du shook his head and said, ”If you really believe in this goddess, you should not maintain the polygamy system.”

The lion hunter went on as if he heard nothing, ”So this is a tradition that was lost, but has been recovered over the years.”