INSERT 6

Back at the house preparations had already started. The King was so happy about the arrival of his second son into this world, he was boasting in pride amongst his council men.

“Ke entse ngwana monna thaka ntatae,

Kepi ntho etlo le tjhekelang baradi

Mosenene sedula mokoting hae kgore

Bosiu le motshehare o dula ale malala a laotswe

Lepe se rathang pakeng tsa mangwele

Tsena tsohle le di botse baradi lapeng

Ha osena baradi o botse mosadi mma bana

Mohlomong a ka o phethela palenyana”

He said, followed by a brief chuckle. Pacing up and down praising his newly born son with excitement written all over his face in capital letters. Having a son meant a lot to him because it meant the ancestors where in his side. They had many sleepless nights desperately praying for a child. They struggled conceiving a child for so long that they no longer had the luxury of praying for a child of any specific gender. The fact that he got a boy made him very grateful that he felt he had to make a celebration and slaughter a cow for his ancestors. He never liked the idea of having a daughter. “Hase nna a tlo etsang ngwana wa sepalangwang nna, tseo ke tsa dipatjatsi tse kang bo Lebeko banna ba kwalang mahlo haba rota. NNA KE ROTA KE TONNE MAHLO” He said, followed by a laugh and the council men died of laughter. His laugh was normally funnier than the joke when he was high, you would never take him seriously after hearing him laugh. That was the main reason why he never smoked marijuana in public, he always blazed in the comfort of his own home. The whole Kingdom knew him as a very strict and serious person and never dreamt of being in his bad books. He showed his friendly side to the people very close to him being his best friend Lebeko and his family. You can imagine the surprise on the faces of people who kept flooding in for the big celebration.

Lebeko was his childhood friend and he was the King’s hand. It is safe to say no one knew the King better than him, because the King’s parents both passed on and he was their only child. He was a very wise man who lived with his beautiful wife MaLerato and his two lovely daughters Lerato (10) and Nthabiseng (6). The King always mocked him for having girls only. He never took it personally because that’s how they usually joked around. There was a lot of commotion in the yard. The boys were battling the cow out of the kraal, the women were picking vegetables from the plantation, the King and his councilmen where sitting under the tree while Lebeko was assigning work to the men who were coming in for the celebration. “LETSEKA MONNA THUSA BASHANYANA BANE HO NTSHA KGOMO EO KA SAKENG…. MAHLOMOLA TJHEKANG MOKOTI MOO…. TEBOHO LATANG DITULO LEFE BATHO BA NTSENG BA KENA…”. The children were running around the yard playing. “Haele ngwana enwa a dulang a le mamima!!! PITSO TLO KWANO” Gogo said in the middle of a conversation with women who were sitting by the fire. “GOGO?” Pitso replied. “TLO KWANO KA O BITSA TSEBE TSA MMAO TOWE” Gogo yelled. Pitso stopped playing and ran to her. Gogo angrily grabbed him by the neck and pulled his face to hers “Hake tsebe otlo ba Morena ya jwang o ntse o hlwephetsa mamina tjena” ... She said just before she locked her lips with Pitso’s nose and pulled all the mucus out. “TSHWAAAA” she spit the mucus out on the ground and kicked the soil to cover it. “Tsamaya olo bapala” she said and went on with her conversation with the women she was sitting with.

The girls who went ahead of the envoy to tell Ntswaki the bad news got to the river but there was no sign of her. They looked around, up and down the stream but Ntswaki was nowhere to be seen. When they were all ready to give up, one of the girls saw grass moving as though something is hiding there. They got curious and they decided to go and check. They were all scared but curiosity got the better of them. They got there and they couldn’t believe what they saw with their eyes. Ntswaki was……

The end