NINE: Wild Boar
Outdoors it was dark and still. Who could find a monkey now? From somewhere far off Nomusa could hear the shouts of the older boys. In the waning moonlight she began walking toward the huts in which she had not made a search. How thankful she was that there were still places to search.
Walking toward the hut nearest the kraal entrance, she was suddenly startled by a long black shadow that seemed to withdraw hastily as she approached. Nomusa stood still, frightened but curious. Something was prowling outside the kraal fence. There was no doubt of that.
Again the shadow passed the kraal entrance, as if deciding whether it should come in or not. Nomusafelt goose flesh creep over her whole body. Was it a wild animal about to attack them? What should she do? She had no weapon with which to drive it off or kill it. She wanted to run or shout for help. The children might be in great danger if she did not act quickly. But if she screamed to attract the attention of Damasi’s father and uncle, she might cause whatever it was to rush in at once and attack.
[Girl]
Again she saw the indistinct form. At the same time, as the moon reappeared from under the clouds, Nomusa’s eye caught the glint of something long and pointed lying next to one of the huts. Could it be a spear? What a lucky thing if it was a weapon of some kind! When the shadow disappeared again and the moon floated under the clouds once more, Nomusa dashed to the object she hoped was a spear. Yo! It was. She picked it up just as if she had been accustomed to holding such weapons all her life. Nomusa did not doubt for a moment that she would know how to handle it. Often enough she had watched the men and boys throwing spears. Secretly she had even practiced with long, heavy sticks.
She felt the point of the spear with her finger. It was very sharp. She began moving cautiously. Nomusa’s hair fairly stood on end as she saw that the black thing was a wild boar. Only too well she knew how fierce a wild boar could be. Every Zulu feared and hated this vicious beast with his dangerous tusks. Standing with her back flattened against the kraal fence, close to the entrance, with spear up and ready, Nomusa hid in thedeep shadow. She waited tensely for the boar to venture in. The wind, fortunately, was blowing in such a direction that the boar couldn’t get her scent. Her upraised arm trembled a bit, then became steady as she waited.
Soon the boar’s ugly head appeared within the kraal entrance not far from Nomusa. He had decided to come in. It was a rare chance for him. Ordinarily the kraal fence was entirely closed, but tonight, because the older boys were out, the kraal gate was left open for them. Slowly the beast moved his clumsy body through the kraal entrance. Once within, he lowered his head as if he had got a whiff of something and, with a snort, got ready to rush in the direction of the hut where the girls were playingngelitshe.
There was no time to lose. With all her might, Nomusa hurled her spear at the neck of the boar.Hau!The spear caught him in the throat. With an enraged snort, he rushed toward Nomusa, the spear still sticking in his neck. He stumbled, and got up again. His roars, mingled with grunts of pain, woke up Damasi’s father and uncle, as well as everyone else who had beenasleep. Intombi and Sisiwe rushed out of the hut, followed by the other girls. When they saw the wounded boar they ran behind the hut.
The boar had now fallen, close to one of the huts. He made powerful efforts to raise himself and almost got up, when Damasi’s father dashed up. He let fly an arrow from his bow, and the boar fell dead.
Nomusa ran to the side of Damasi’s father. “How glad I am you came!”
Amazed, he asked, “Was it you who hurled the spear?”
Nomusa nodded.
Everyone crowded round the dead boar in astonishment.
Damasi’s father said: “Nomusa is a brave girl. It was she who discovered the boar and wounded him. She has saved us from great danger. I shall tell her father, Chief Zitu, about her bravery.”
There were loud cries of agreement. “Hau! Yo!”
Damasi’s father put his arm around Nomusa’s shoulder. “Come and rest. You are weary.”
She followed him obediently. Unrolling a mat in thelittle hut occupied by Damasi’s mother and his baby brother, she threw herself upon it, exhausted. Only now did Nomusa realize fully the great danger she had been in and how lucky she had been. Oh, how tired and sleepy she was! Yawning, she put her arm under her head as a pillow and was about to fall asleep when there flashed through her mind the memory of her lost monkey, whom she had forgotten in all the excitement.
Her eyes filled with tears and she tried to swallow the lump in her throat. She buried her head in her arms. The joy of the day was entirely gone. Though she had been a brave hunter but a short time before, now she was only a small girl crying bitterly over a lost pet.
At last she dozed off and fell to dreaming of her search through deep and dangerous forests for her little monkey.
Muttering restlessly, Nomusa tossed from side to side in her sleep. She put her hand on her neck to scratch herself. Suddenly she felt something soft and warm moving across her shoulders and the back of her neck. She woke up with a start and clutched at the thing with both hands. There was a squeal of pain as shepulled it forward. Her fright turned to joy as she saw that what she held in her hand was the tail of a monkey. Dube!
“Oh, I have hurt you!” cried Nomusa, taking Dube in her arms and hugging him.
Damasi’s mother smiled and said, “I am glad you like the little monkey. Damasi went to a great deal of trouble to get him when he was tending the cows in the pasture. He kept him as a pet for himself until you won him as a prize.”
Just then Damasi’s baby brother wailed. “Tula!We must be quiet now,” warned Damasi’s mother, and then, lying down on the mat next to the baby, she began nursing him. Soon he fell asleep again. Nomusa lay down on her mat, too, drawing Dube close to her.
“Where did you go to, you bad little Dube?” she whispered to him affectionately.
“Tchirk? Tchirk?” Dube answered, snuggling beside her. The warmth of his body next to her shoulder soothed Nomusa into a sleep from which she did not waken until she heard loud calls of “Come! Come! Time to go back to our kraals. Hurry, we are going!”
The sun was just rising above the horizon. The sky was lined with rose and deep blue, but the early morning air was cool, and the waiting children jumped about to keep warm. Pink and red flowers dotted the fields a short distance away, and a few birds were beginning to twitter.
The older boys straggled back into their groups exhausted and irritable because they had not slept all night. But they were aroused into curiosity by cries of “Did you hear? Don’t you know?”
“What? What? Tell us,” they demanded eagerly.
“Nomusa and her wild boar. She hit it with a spear. You can see it over there—behind the cattle kraal.”
Those who had not yet seen the dead boar ran off at once, to return full of astonishment. They all agreed Nomusa was as good as any boy. Sisiwe had to admit that it was lucky for all of them that Nomusa liked shooting and hunting.
Nomusa was surrounded by the girls in her group, who gazed upon her with pride and envy. What a lot she would have to tell Themba! She could hardly waitto see his face when she showed him the monkey. She knew he would ask her to tell him the story of the boar over and over again.
There was a loud whistle. The children fell into lines, waving good-by to Damasi and his brothers and sisters and cousins. Tired and bedraggled, the children marched off. Some pushed each other ill-humoredly and quarreled on the way home, but finally they reached their kraals in time to begin their various duties—the boys going off to the pasture, the girls to their tasks. The boys hoped to make up their lack of sleep while tending the cows; but the girls knew they would have to wait until evening before they slept again. As soon as Nomusa entered her kraal with her brothers and sisters, she went directly to her hut to start her work.
In a few moments Nomusa was out of the hut again, headed for the stream with Dube perched on the empty water jar that rested on her hip. She fairly danced along the path as she looked at Dube and thought, “Never will my trips for water be tiresome again.” She tweaked his ear gently, and Dube looked up at her and said, “Tchirk, tchirk.”
[Huts]