Now, my father, how shall I, whose days are few, tell you of all the
matters that happened after the dead of Chaka? Were I to speak of them
all they would fill many books of the white men, and, perhaps, some of
them are written down there. For this reason it is, that I may be
brief, I have only spoken of a few of those events which befell in the
reign of Chaka; for my tale is not of the reign of Chaka, but of the
lives of a handful of people who lived in those days, and of whom I
and Umslopogaas alone are left alive--if, indeed, Umslopogaas, the son
of Chaka, is still living on the earth. Therefore, in a few words I
will pass over all that came about after the fall of Chaka and till I
was sent down by Dingaan, the king, to summon him to surrender to the
king who was called the Slaughterer and who ruled the People of the
Axe. Ah! would that I had known for certain that this was none other
than Umslopogaas, for then had Dingaan gone the way that Chaka went
and which Umhlangana followed, and Umslopogaas ruled the people of the
Zulus as their king. But, alas! my wisdom failed me. I paid no heed to
the voice of my heart which told me that this was Umslopogaas who sent
the message to Chaka threatening vengeance for one Mopo, and I knew
nothing till too late; surely, I thought, the man spoke of some other
Mopo.
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