ISSN: 2397-9607 Issue 456
In this 456th issue of the Baba Indaba’s Children’s Stories series, Baba Indaba narrates the Zulu Legend ‘The Boy Chaka Prophesises”.
ONCE, UPON A TIME, a long, long time ago and far, far away, in Kwa Zulu – which means the Home of the Zulu, an old story teller named Zweete, also known as Mopo, and with doctor retold the story of when he first met the boy Chaka, who was later to become the most powerful of all the Zulu Kings.
Mopo was born of the Langeni tribe, which means People of the Sun. This was time before the Zulus were a people, one evening, when I was still little, standing as high as a man’s elbow only, I went out with my mother below the cattle kraal (enclosure) to see the cows driven in. My mother was very fond of these cows, and there was one with a white face that would follow her about. She carried my little sister Baleka riding on her hip; Baleka was a baby then. We walked till we met the lads driving in the cows.
Presently we saw a woman walking towards us across the plain. She walked like one who is tired. On her back was a bundle of mats, and she led by the hand a boy of about my own age, but bigger and stronger than I was. We waited a long while, till at last the woman came up to us and sank down on the veldt (plain), for she was very weary. We saw by the way her hair was dressed that she was not of our tribe.
After greeting each other, my mother asked, “How are you named?—and what is your people?” asked my mother.
“My name is Unandi: I am the wife of Senzangacona, of the Zulu tribe, ” said the stranger.
Now there had been war between our people and the Zulu people, and Senzangacona had killed some of our warriors and taken many of our cattle. So, when my mother heard the speech of Unandi she sprang up in anger.
“You dare to come here and ask me for food and shelter, wife of a dog of a Zulu!” she cried; “begone, or I will call the girls to whip you out of our country.”
But then the boy spoke with vehemence that belied his size.
What did he say and what  happened next you ask…? Well it happened as it has been written. But where did the go and where did they end up. To find the answers to these questions, and others you may have, you will have to download and read this story to find out!
INCLUDES LINKS TO DOWNLOAD 8 FREE BABA INDABA STORIES
Baba Indaba is a fictitious Zulu storyteller who narrates children’s stories from around the world. Baba Indaba translates as ‘Father of Stories’.
Each issue also has a ‘WHERE IN THE WORLD – LOOK IT UP’ section, where young readers are challenged to look up a place on a map somewhere in the world. The place, town or city is relevant to the story. HINT – use Google maps.
BUY ANY of the 450+ BABA INDABA CHILDREN’S STORIES at https://goo.gl/LXNM
10% of the profit from the sale of this book will be donated to charities.
===========
KEYWORDS/TAGS: Baba Indaba, Children’s stories, Childrens, Folklore, Fairy, Folk, Tales, bedtime story, legends, storyteller, fables, moral tales, myths, happiness, laughter, , assegai, Baleka, beautiful, blood, bones, cattle, Chaka, children, cow, cows, died, Dingaan, evil, father, gave, Ghost, gourd, grass, heart, Impi, king, kraal, Langeni, Mopo, Mountain, Nada, regiment, run, Shaka, Senzangacona, Spear, Sun People, Tshaka, travel, Umslopogaas, Unandi, veldt, vultures, water, white-faced, wife, world, Zulu, general