Legends of the Lost Sacred Kingdom

By K.A. Nephawe.

The Vhangona people, natives of the sacred kingdom of Mapungubwe, had embraced their mythological beliefs indoctrinated throughout generations. Traditional healers had used supernatural powers vested upon them by their ancestors to protect their monarchy from any calamities.

However, the malevolent monster from the forbidden mountains had begun to terrorize the kingdom. Aristocrats and untouchables of the tribe convinced their great king that the monster could not be defeated. Regrettably, not even their powerful wizard and his waters of Babele could stand against the monsters wrath.

Will they succeed in rescuing the missing girl captured by the monster? Their actions could put the entire kingdom on the verge of extinction. The monster could disguise itself, use her body to re-enter their land, and destroy their kingdom.

As their last resort, the most decorated traditional healer and his explorers should find the untraceable fountains of Lunandau, the land of supernatural, home of the sacred white spirits.

Great witchdoctors, nobles, and untouchables had embarked on a journey to Lunandau before, but there was yet a single person to return.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Oct 16, 2014
• ISBN: 9781496993908

K.A. Nephawe.

Professor K. A. Nephawe was born in the rural areas of the former Venda homeland (The Land of Legend) in South Africa. He was inspired by his late grandmother about narrating folklores at an early age. In coherence with his culture, elders would sit with youth around the fires at night, narrating folklore relating to their cultural adventures and heritage. This equipped him with imagination and skills to become a great legend chronicler of his generation.

Book preview

PROLOGUE

This was a gathering of its own kind, according to the elders.

This was by far the biggest gathering at the king’s kraal in the history of the Vhangona kingdom. For the first time ever, people from all walks of life, all villages in the kingdom, and afar had been summoned to change the path of history of this tribe.

Men and women, priests and witches, monarchs and commoners, as well as youth and elders, had ascended unto the king’s kraal.

Never before in the kingdom had any gathering assumed such significance. It was not in Vhangona’s custom to deliberate on such matters in mass meetings at Mapungubwe, home of the leopards, their very palace.

Undoubtedly, it was the agenda that attracted people from other villages as far as Ha-Makuleke, which was the farthest village from the Mapungubwe headquarters.

Under normal circumstances, the villagers, along with chiefs or headmen, would gather at congressional places in their respective villages or districts to discuss matters pertinent to their own localities.

If the problem could not be resolved at that level, it was only then that the chief or headman would then refer the matter forward to the power that be, the one at whom a finger should not be pointed, the great king of the Vhangona people, Thovhele Gandamipfa.

Even then, the matter would be discussed by only the traditional council, not by the general masses and outsiders.

On this day, the traditional norms had to be broken. Everyone had to be part of this gathering. To that end, no one would dare to miss this summit.

However, there was one noticeable absentee, a wizard called Dambuwo, who was also a noble and a member of the royal council.

As the great king of the Vhangona addressed the masses gathered, he was completely justified to be coercive rather than adopting his usual charismatic way of dealing with day-to-day matters. Even the masses agreed that it was indeed within his jurisdiction to rule with an iron fist on the matter. His subjects would be expected, as was customary, to respond with acquiescence.

When Thovhele Gandamipfa took the platform at this gathering, he did not speak. He roared. The Vhangona were very particular when it came to their identity. One did not speak to (nor of) the king using the ordinary day-to-day language, but he engaged a royal dialect completely dissimilar to that of the commoners.

After uttering a few phrases, all men would howl after him as a sign of praise and respect:

"The one who should not be pointed at,

The powerful of the powerful,

The magnanimous one,

The bravest of the brave,

The Leopards of the North … The Great!"

It was always the case that the people would end up with the expression, The Great! This stemmed from the fact that the royal council always referred to him as The Great King of Mapungubwe. Therefore, people were accustomed to addressing him by this name.

Although it could be quite a big offence to nickname the king in these parts of the world, Thovhele Gandamipfa seemed to be fond of this name. It was alleged that the custom of dubbing their kings The Great King started during the reign of his forefather, the late Thovhele Shiriyadenga.

As men continued to howl, all women would bow their heads because they were not supposed to look directly at the king. In fact, women were not supposed to have direct eye-to-eye contact with the king. If one were to be caught doing so, it could be interpreted as her fancying him.

As the king continued to roar, he reckoned that there was nothing that could be done at that time to remedy the status quo.

This is how he had put it: Even if I were to send men to the mountains to rescue the girl in the hands of the monster, would she still be alive? And for argument’s sake, let’s assume that she could still be alive. Would she still be herself?

Although Thovhele Gandamipfa looked disheartened, he seemed quite convinced that there was no other solution out of the quagmire.

As it stands, this matter is harder than digging for the roots of a stone, Thovhele Gandamipfa continued. Literally, this reinforced that there would be no light at the end of the tunnel, as the stones had no roots.

The Vhangona were fond of metaphors. It was very rare that a person belonging to the tribe would give a speech and not use some figurative way of speaking. It was an old adage that the Vhangona were unparalleled for their tricky speeches and narrating fairy tales dating back as many years as the donkey’s age.

The king’s final words at the gathering were that of a typical sagacious elder, Our forefathers have warned us for many generations that we should not hunt anything we cannot kill.

CHAPTER 1

People Should Not Play with Fire

The people could hardly blame their king for condemning any rescue mission. In fact, the king’s verdict merely strengthened what his right-hand man, Gambana, had remarked earlier on during the proceedings.

As traditional and indeed by their cultural norm, Thovhele Gandamipfa had requested Gambana to brief the people about the matter at hand.

Gambana was the most powerful traditional healer, referred to as a sangoma, in the kingdom at that time.

It was Vhangona’s custom that the king would have a traditional healer as part of his tribal council. Gambana’s duties included providing protection by use of his herbs and supernatural powers, repelling witches, healing the sick, and providing wisdom and guidance to the king. This implied that Gambana performed duties of a bodyguard, a medical doctor, a spin doctor, a political advisor, and a spokesperson.

In the kingdom, a person of Gambana’s calibre was automatically part of the tribal council, arguably second in command to the powers that be.

Gambana was vehement and vociferous in briefing the people about the dilemma. According to him, the dilemma was insurmountable.

He reminded the people that since the beginning of the scandal, which started during the Year of the Locusts, no men have ever returned from the alleged parts of the mountain, except Tshiginga from Gogobole several years ago.

Unfortunately, Tshiginga would not reveal anything to anyone. Rumour had it that it was the silence that kept Tshiginga alive. Otherwise, Dada would have cast his evil spell and eliminated him for good.

As the Vhangona were naturally very superstitious, it was believed that not any ordinary individual could speak freely about a man called Dada, who at the time evidently resided in the part of the mountain referred to as Ha-Dada. All things about him could be said but only in an ambiguous way and therefore without any unswerving reference to his name. It was to the discretion of the listener to extrapolate on who the subject of the matter was.

It was believed that only people of certain powers, especially certain sangoma like Gambana, possessed immunity against Dada’s evil powers. This group of people could speak freely about him.

In fact, most of the sangoma were considered to be in an untouchable class of their own.

Indeed, nothing happened by Murphy’s Law in this part of the world. There were those with powers who could make malicious things happen to good people. There were even those who could make it rain so that they could strike others with lightning. There were even those who could make others disappear from the eyes of ordinary earth, have them buried, and later command them to work for them as zombies for eternity.

Moreover, there were the untouchables like Gambana with special powers to automatically redirect evil spirits against them back to senders. Lastly, of course, the majority of people were Tom, Dick, and Harry. Anything could easily happen to them.

It was unequivocal that parts of Gambana’s introductory remarks would be bold and artistic: We want everything to be in the open for those who have ears to listen.

As he proceeded, he told the masses that Dada was once a man. However, he was not just any men but a powerful sangoma. It became evident to the masses that he was perhaps more powerful than Gambana himself.

The people were told that Dada used to live in Mavhuwa village on top of the hill. During his heyday, he used to heal people from all sorts of troubles by using his supernatural powers. He was a well-renowned witchdoctor, a medicine men, and a skilled herbalist who entrusted his supernatural skills. Unlike many other traditional healers, he was so self-assured that he would never ask a patient to describe their troubles. He would throw the bones and ask the ancestors to reveal it all, Gambana explained to the masses.

Gambana told the story of Dada as if he were the only one who knew about it. Gambana conveyed to the masses that the good-old Dada lived with a huge python, which, depending on the disease, would swallow the patient whole and sometimes keep them for days, weeks, or even months. They would later be released pure and clean. He declared that Dada’s powers were unparalleled in the whole tribe. Only a few other traditional healers in any other tribe could ever possess such powers, he said.

Most of the youth never really believed some of the stories told about Dada. It was inconceivable that a man could be that powerful. Some of the stories about Dada simply underlined how legendary he had become, although he was dreaded for obvious reasons.

One thing was clear, according to Gambana, though, that Dada was once a hero. However, he was not going to elaborate on how he had turned into a villain.

It was apparent that the elders would not reveal what had transformed Dada’s character. They further discouraged the youth from questioning it.

Some of the things that happened in their tribe were better left untold. It is one of those things, the elders would say in regard to matters they do not wish to reveal.

It was enough for everyone to know that Dada was immortal. He had survived several generations.

Although most of the previous stories were farfetched, the recent scandal brought about corroboration of his existence. Consequently, this urgent gathering was convened at Mapungubwe.

As Gambana proceeded, he directed his attention to the specifics in relation to the matter at hand.

A girl was captured at the top of the mountains where she and her friends were collecting firewood. Fortunately, her friends made it to the open land and are being taken care of in a secret place. The dilemma is whether the captured girl is to be rescued or not. That is one of the many reasons we have all gathered here.

The most decorated sangoma convinced the people that no men would be able to return if they tried to rescue the girl from the monster.

He told the masses that he had communicated with other prominent sangomas from other kingdoms, including the Tsonga, Zulu, Ndebele, and Shona tribes, and they anonymously advised that no one should try to rescue the captured girl.

My great king, anything that belongs to the girl should never re-enter the village. If she were to be brought back to the village, alive or dead, it would have catastrophic effects to the whole tribe. Dada would use her body to re-enter the village. Dada’s evil powers would suck the life out of everything that breathes air in the entire kingdom, Gambana progressed annotatively.

He paused and then relayed his attention to the other girls who seemed to have cheated death. The powers vested in me by the spirit of our ancestors warned me not to allow the girls to talk to the masses.

He then explained that the girls would be taken to a dark cave on the outskirts of the mountain, adjacent to the sacred Tshatshingo potholes. Whilst there, several rituals would be performed by an elite assembly of sangomas.

Gambana’s final words were both typical and fervent, "The spirits vested in me by Raluvhimba, the great god of Vhangona, instructed me to warn the people not to play with fire."

CHAPTER 2

The Mountains of Ha-Dada

It was the day before yesterday when the girls woke at dawn and headed to the mountains to collect firewood. They left so early that when the cocks crowed to signal dawn, the girls were already on their way.

Although Madembe and his sister Makhadzi slept in the same hut, he did not hear her when she left the house.

It was the Vhangonas’ custom that women would climb the mountains as early as possible to collect firewood. Although it was the norm to send an elder with the girls for precautionary measures and to provide guidance, Makhadzi and her friends were allowed to leave without supervision. They had been collecting