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16 1 metaphor Inevitable Encounters, Tools for Analysis hen I was witnessing performances of oral stories in southern Africa, I slowly became aware of how meaning is generated. Storytellers and their audiences acquainted me with two essential aspects of analysis: a complex form of metaphor and a basic transformational movement . These, I learned, were the basic tools that lead to understanding. Metaphor Of the tools for understanding how stories work, none is more important than metaphor. A Ndebele story reveals the metaphorical process: two men, one from the west and one from the east, are bound to move from the one to the other. This is the metaphorical state of human existence— humans always moving to their other side, their lives composed of this process of movement, a move to completion. Metaphor is more than a connection of two unlike images: it is the process of connection to two images that, while apparently unlike, are in fact precisely the same. Metaphor is that mysterious inevitable movement. A Ndebele Story “Strange Encounters” By Agnes Ncube Agnes Ncube creates a story about two friends whose closeness results in “Strange Encounters.” One goes to the west and settles. He makes a difficult journey to visit his W Inevitable Encounters, Tools for Analysis S 17 friend, then goes back to his home in the west. When he decides once again to return to the east, with the help of two men he cuts brush and fights ogres along the way. Then the other man sets out to visit his friend in the west. The two meet during their journeys . Strangely, they have identical thoughts of following ashes on the path. They meet in the mythic center . . . out there, far from their homes, in a land of heavy brush and ogres, ashes point the way. Two men had been friends for a long time. Then one day one of the men set out to hunt, going toward the west. While on the hunt, he came to a place that had a lot of game. So he settled there, and he built a homestead for himself. After a time, he thought, “I left my friend behind back there. I’d like to go back to see him, but how can I leave my homestead here?” This friend of his was thinking the same thing: “How will I ever see my friend again? Which way should I go to see him?” While he was thinking about this, it began to rain hard. He considered setting out, but he thought, “I’ll have trouble crossing overflowing rivers along the way.” Then, one day, this man who had set out from where they had originally lived, the one who had built a homestead for himself, became the first to make the journey. While he was traveling, he said, “When a person sets out on a journey like this, he should go toward the east, where he came from.” So he went straight in that easterly direction. He traveled on, persisting in his journeying, not knowing what to expect. Then, suddenly, he was there with his friend, who was very surprised at their meeting after so many days and years. “Where have you come from?” They greeted each other, rejoiced with each other. All was well, and this one told him that he had found a beautiful site and had built a homestead. After a time, the man’s sojourn came to an end. He had to return to his homestead. So he set out—going west, sleeping along the way, stopping as he went along. At length, he arrived at his home. The inganu (2S-2349) was performed by Agnes Ncube, a Ndebele woman, about thirtyfive years old, on Tuesday, November 14, 1972, in her home at Lukatsi, Matopo/Gulati, at about 9:30 am, before an audience of one woman, one man, and three children, all Ndebele. 18 S Metaphor After a time, he began to consider again whether he should return to his old home in the future. But he knew now that where he wanted to go, that place in the east, was a long distance. “I might come across wild animals and ogres.” Then he thought, “On the other hand, if I don’t get up and go back there, what will happen?” So the man looked back and prepared to set out, knowing that to the east of his homestead was much fearsome, grassy land. He decided that he must have two men to...

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