African Tales

38. Swati (Swaziland) Untombinde, the Tall Girl

203 38 Untombinde, the Tall Girl 139 Swati (Swaziland)140 by albertine nxumalo It happened. . . . There were some girls, they went to dip ochre. There were four of these girls. The girls set out. Among them was one who was younger, smaller than the other girls. Her name was Ntombinde. So they went, they walked and walked. At length, they arrived at the place where the ochre is dipped, and they dug it up, this ochre. The youngest girl, Ntombinde,141 was the favorite one at home, because she was youngest, she was the last born. And because she was the favored child, these other girls looked down upon her. So it was that, when they were at the ochre pit, they said,“If only she weren’t here. We must do something to hurt Ntombinde. We’ll finish her off here and leave her. When we get home, we’ll say that we don’t know where she disappeared to.” She did not hear them talking. She was absent for a while, having left the road for some reason. When she rejoined them—well, they went on and said nothing. Then they dug up the ochre. They dug and dug at the pit. All the older ones dug first; Ntombinde was the last to do so. Then she went into the pit. While she was digging, before she finished, the other girls came back and filled in the pit over her. Then they departed with the dog. They buried her alive, despite the fact that she cried; they buried her and departed. As they went on, the dog turned back to sniff out where Ntombinde remained. In spite of all its efforts to sniff out her, it could not locate her. The dog even tried to dig her up, but, because the soil was moist, it could not get anywhere. So it gave up and left. It went past these other three girls. And Ntombinde remained there in the pit. Time passed, and at length, another person came to dip ochre as well. This person began to dig in this very spot where everyone had been digging, where the digging was usually done. As she was digging, she was surprised. “Oh, as I dig, there seems to be movement! There is movement here!” She dug and dug and again dug, thinking that she was digging for ochre. She was putting some of it into a dish, and she continued digging. Suddenly, she saw a head appear! “Now what is this? It seems there is a human being here!” The person ran away, leaving everything including the dish behind. She left, and Ntombinde remained inside there. Ntombinde raised herself up then and came out. She went away. The other person had gone, going to tell other people of this. She came and reported it, saying, “As I was digging over there, a human being suddenly appeared! First, I saw the hair appear! Maybe it is still there! Let’s go and inspect!” So they went. When they looked, they found that Ntombinde was not there anymore. She had gone away. This person then said, “But it was here.” These others said,“You are lying! There never was a human being under the soil here!” She protested, saying, “Truly, I swear! She was here! Look carefully, look and see, you’ll find footprints!” They looked closely, and they did indeed find where she had stepped as she came out. They said, “A footprint means nothing! You’re just telling tales!” “Perhaps it’s your own!” She made a print of her foot and said, “Look at it! Does my footprint resemble this one in any way?” They could see that it did not resemble it. Ntombinde had departed—she had come to a forest and climbed a tree, and she remained there in the forest. These people were persuaded now, and they said, “Where has this person disappeared to? What does all this mean?” “How did it happen?” Meanwhile, Ntombinde continued living in the forest there. When the other three girls reached home, their mother asked, “Where is Ntombinde?” They said, “She said she was going to visit uncle’s homestead. She said she would return tomorrow.” “We don’t know why she has not yet returned.” 204 Untombinde, the Tall Girl “Perhaps she decided to stay a little longer.” Their mother then said, “How could you let...