Mangi only trusted Rango.
He was his eyes, his spy and secret counsellor. Rango loved Mangi a lot and he
had intertwined his life with his. The day Mangi died he would die also he had
no other life. A message was passed to him that Mangi wanted to see him. He
made his way there before Mangi had arrived.
MANGI
Rango, Rango
my friend I would have fallen into a trap unless you had warned me. I would
have not known who my enemies are but you uncovered their malice and hypocrisy.
Who else can I trust except for the almighty Rango, all reliable and
trustworthy?
RANGO
You called
me chief?
MANGI
Yes I did.
Someone visited my heart today. For a long time I thought I had sealed it so
well and I only had the key to open or close it but I fooled myself. I had gone to see the new mistress. She is
beautiful. I have never seen such beauty amongst my own country man. Now I know
why Mukunda was a changed man that night. I have been changed too.
RANGO
He…he...He,
what else can change a man except for love.
MANGI
Love happens
my friend love happens. Normally we do not choose who to love, love chooses for
us. We forget the boundaries, we forget the limitations with love all things
are possible.
RANGO
Chief, are
you in love with foreign mistress?
MANGI
I do not
know Rango; I guess I will have to find out. What I need you to do is to watch
Mukunda for me make sure he does not get close to the mistress and also protect
the mistress no one should hurt her. When the sunsets today and when no one is
walking I want you to take one of my unused beds to the mistress.
What else can change a man
except for love? The news of the foreign lady had been preached in every hill
and valley of the Barwa lands. People talked about it in the morning, at the
beer halls, at church and around the fire at night. The story was different
now; it was now about two brothers that fell in love with a foreign mistress.
One of them was a chief.
WOMAN 1
Woman of
Barwa, where has your beauty gone? Where has your art of capturing a man’s
heart gone to? Have you stopped bathing, have you stopped smiling and have all
your breasts fallen. Where were the
young Barwa women when the foreign mistress captured the heart of our sons? Has
beauty and love in our land fallen so short that an outsider has to come and
give it to our sons? Or it’s your laziness and rush to open those legs not
knowing that the secret to capture a man’s heart is not hidden within those
legs but it’s inside your heart. Where is love?
WOMAN 2
MaKhumalo,
the women are still there and they are beautiful. They have always been
beautiful and they will always be beautiful. I cannot believe it that Mangi has
also fallen prey to this woman’s device. Our last hope has failed us.
WOMAN 3
Has the
woman fallen in love with both of them?
WOMAN 2
No
WOMAN 3
Then how do
you know that the brothers have fallen for her?
WOMAN 2
The same way
we found out that you were in love with Siziba. You cannot keep a secret in
Barwa. What you do beneath the hills will be sung at the mountain top. What you
hide under water you will find on the surface. Mangi is a changed man also.
WOMAN 3
Woman you
have not answered me. Who is in love with the mistress and who does the
mistress love?
WOMAN 2
We do not
know but rumor tells us that the brothers are at war. They both want the same
woman but there is room enough for one only. It has been heard that Mukunda has
been getting support from a few tribal elders to plot a coup on Mangi’s
chieftainship. While Mangi on the other side is using his position and
influence to protect the mistress.
Woman 1
Pity of
pities, who has bewitched our sons? What is it that this woman has that our
sons have not seen amongst our daughters? This is not only a shame to our
people, it is a shame to us woman for we have failed to raise a queen for our king.
My heart is heavy I have little to say let me go back home to my sons.
They all carried their
water home. They did not talk much that day only thoughts reigned in their minds.
#keep reading
written by Hawulethu Patrice Dube
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