Author: Henryk Sienkiewicz
Category: Nonfiction
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were not muffled by the walls of the hut.
"Oh, how stupid are M'Rua and his children!" shouted Kali.
Stas gave the drum back to Kali while the latter began to make a noisewith it with such zeal that for a while a word could not be heard. Whenfinally he had enough, he flung the drum at M'Rua's feet.
"This is your Mzimu," he exclaimed, with great laughter.
After which he began with the usual negro exuberance of words toaddress the warriors; at which he was not at all sparing of jeers atthem and at M'Rua. He declared to them, pointing at Kamba, that "thatthief in the cap made of rat's skin" cheated them through many rainyand dry seasons and they fed him on beans, flesh of kids, and honey. Isthere another king and nation as stupid in the world? They believed inthe power of the old deceiver and in his charms, and look now, how thatgreat fetish-man hangs from the elephant's trunk and is crying "Aka!"to arouse the pity of the white master. Where is his power? Where arehis charms? Why does not any wicked Mzimu roar in his defense? Ah! Whatis this, their Mzimu? A clout of monkey skin and piece of wood hollowedthrough decay which the elephant will tread to pieces. Among theWahimas, neither the women nor the children would be afraid of such aMzimu, and M'Rua and his men fear him. There is only one genuine Mzimuand one really great and powerful master. Let them pay honors to them;let them bring as many gifts as they possibly can, as otherwisecalamities, of which they hitherto have not heard, will befall them.
For the negroes even these words were unnecessary as the fetish-man,together with his wicked Mzimu, appeared so vastly weaker than the newdivinity and the white master, that it sufficed most fully to make themdesert him and load him with contempt. So they commenced anew to"yancig" with even greater humility and haste. But as they were angryat themselves because they had allowed Kamba to cheat them for so manyyears, they wanted, by all means, to kill him. M'Rua himself beggedStas to allow him to bind and keep him until he could devise asufficiently cruel death. Nell, however, was determined to spare hislife, and as Kali had announced that wherever the "Good Mzimu" sojournshuman blood cannot be shed, Stas consented only to the expulsion of thehapless fetish-man from the village.
Kamba, who expected that he would die in the most ingeniously devisedtortures, fell on his face before the "Good Mzimu" and, blubbering,thanked her for saving his life. From beyond the stockade women andchildren poured, for the news of the arrival of the extraordinaryguests had already spread over the whole village, and the desire to seethe white Mzimu overcame their terror. Stas and Nell for the first timesaw a settlement of real savages, which even the Arabs had notsucceeded in reaching. The dress of these negroes consisted only ofheath or skins tied around their hips; all were tattooed. Men as wellas women had perforated ears, and in the opening, chunks of wood orbone so big that the expanded lobes reached the shoulders. In the lowerlips they carried "peleles," that is, wooden or bony rings as large assaucers. The more distinguished warriors and their wives had aroundtheir throats collars of iron or brass wire so high and stiff that theycould barely move their heads.
They apparently belonged to the Shilluk tribe, which extends far intothe east, for Kali and Mea understood their speech excellently and Staspartly. They did not have, however, limbs as long as their kindredliving on the overflowing banks of the Nile; they were broader in theshoulders, not so tall, and generally less like wading birds. Thechildren looked like fleas and, not being yet disfigured by "peleles,"were, without comparison, better looking than the older people.
The women, having first from a distance sated their eyes with lookingat the "Good Mzimu," began to vie with the warriors in bringing giftsto her, consisting of kids, chickens, eggs, black beans, and beerbrewed of millet. This continued until Stas stopped the afflux ofsupplies; as he paid for them liberally with beads and colored percale,and Nell distributed between ten and twenty looking-glasses inheritedfrom Linde, immense joy reigned in the whole village; and around thetent, in which the little travelers sought shelter, shouts, happy andfull of enthusiasm, continually resounded. After that, the warriorsperformed a war-dance in honor of the guests and fought a sham battle,and finally they proceeded to form a blood brotherhood between Kali andM'Rua.
Owing to the absence of Kamba, who for this ceremony was usuallyindispensable, his place was taken by an old negro sufficientlyconversant with the adjuration. The latter, having killed a kid andextracted its liver, divided it into fair-sized morsels; after which hebegan to turn a kind of spinning-wheel with his hand and foot and,gazing now at Kali and then at M'Rua, addressed them in a solemn voice:
"Kali, son of Fumba, do you desire to eat a piece of M'Rua, the son ofM'Kuli, and you, M'Rua, son of M'Kuli, do you desire to eat a piece ofKali, the son of Fumba?"
"We do," announced the future brethren.
"Do you desire that the heart of Kali should be the heart of M'Rua andthe heart of M'Rua the heart of Kali?"
"We do."
"And the hands and the spears and the cows?"
"And the cows!"
"And everything which each one possesses and will possess?"
"And what he possesses and will possess."
"And that there should not be between you falsehood, nor treachery, norhatred?"
"Nor hatred!"
"And that one shall not pilfer from the other?"
"Never!"
"And that you shall be brethren?"
"Yes!"
The wheel turned more and more rapidly. The warriors, gathered around,watched its revolutions with ever-increasing interest.
"Ao!" exclaimed the aged negro, "if one of you deceives the other bylies, if he betrays him, if he steals from him, if he poisons him, mayhe be accursed!"
"May he be accursed!" repeated all the warriors.
"And if he is a liar and is plotting treason, let him not swallow theblood of his brother, and let him spit it out before our eyes."
"Oh, before our eyes!"
"And let him die!"
"Let him die!"
"Let him be torn to pieces by a wobo!"
"Wobo!"
"Or a lion!"
"Or a lion!"
"May he be trampled upon by an elephant and a rhinoceros and a buffalo!"
"Oh--and a buffalo!" repeated the chorus.
"May he be bit by a snake!"
"Snake!"
"And may his tongue become black!"
"Black!"
"And his eyes sink to the back of his head!"
"To the back of his head!"
"And may he walk on his heels upward!"
"Ha! on his heels upward!"
Not only Stas but Kali bit his lips in order not to burst out laughing.In the meantime adjurations were repeated, more and more horrible, andthe wheel kept spinning so quickly that the eyes could not keep pacewith its whirl. This continued until the old negro entirely lost hisstrength and breath.
Then he squatted on the ground, and for some time nodded his head inboth directions in silence. After a while, however, he rose and takinga knife, cut with it the skin at Kali's shoulder and smearing a pieceof kid's liver with his blood, shoved it into M'Rua's mouth; the otherpiece smeared in the king's blood he shoved into Kali's mouth. Bothswallowed so quickly that their wind-pipes began to play, and theireyes bulged out; after which they grabbed hold of hands in sign ofloyal and everlasting friendship.
The warriors on the other hand began to shout with glee:
"Both swallowed; neither spat it out; therefore they are sincere andthere is no treachery between them."
And Stas in his soul thanked Kali that he had acted as his proxy atthis ceremony, for he felt that at the swallowing of "a piece" of M'Ruahe undoubtedly would have given proof of insincerity and treachery.
From that moment, however, the little travelers were not threatened onthe part of the savages with deceit or any unexpected attacks; on thecontrary they were treated with a hospitality and an esteem almostgod-like. This esteem increased when Stas, after making an observationon a barometer, a great heritage from Linde, predicted rain,
and whenrain fell that very same day quite copiously, as though the massica*[*The spring rainy season, which had just passed.] desired to shake offthe rest of its supplies upon the earth, the negroes were convincedthat this downpour was the gift of the "Good Mzimu" and their gratitudeto Nell was unbounded. Stas joked with her about this, saying thatsince she had become a negro divinity he would proceed alone on hisfurther journey and leave her in M'Rua's village, where the negroeswould erect for her a chapel of ivory, and would bring beans andbananas to her.
But Nell had no uncertainty, and, standing on her little toes,whispered in his ear, according to her custom, only