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Nada the Lily-Part1_H.Rider Haggard(1856-1925)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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death wounds. Of the incident of the Missionary and the furnace of



logs, it is impossible to speak so certainly. It came to the writer

from the lips of an old traveller in "the Zulu"; but he cannot



discover any confirmation of it. Still, these kings undoubtedly put

their soldiers to many tests of equal severity. Umbopo, or Mopo, as he



is named in this tale, actually lived. After he had stabbed Chaka, he

rose to great eminence. Then he disappears from the scene, but it is



not accurately known whether he also went "the way of the assegai," or

perhaps, as is here suggested, came to live near Stanger under the



name of Zweete. The fate of the two lovers at the mouth of the cave is

a true Zulu tale, which has been considerablyvaried to suit the



purposes of this romance. The late Mr. Leslie, who died in 1874, tells

it in his book "Among the Zulus and Amatongas." "I heard a story the



other day," he says, "which, if the power of writingfiction were

possessed by me, I might have worked up into a first-class sensational



novel." It is the story that has been woven into the plot of this

book. To him also the writer is indebted for the artifice by which



Umslopogaas obtained admission to the Swazi stronghold; it was told to

Mr. Leslie by the Zulu who performed the feat and thereby won a wife.



Also the writer's thanks are due to his friends, Mr. F. B. Fynney,[1]

late Zulu border agent, for much information given to him in bygone



years by word of mouth, and more recently through his pamphlet

"Zululand and the Zulus," and to Mr. John Bird, formerly treasurer to



the Government of Natal, whose compilation, "The Annals of Natal," is

invaluable to all who would study the early history of that colony and



of Zululand.

As for the wilder and more romanticincidents of this story, such as



the hunting of Umslopogaas and Galazi with the wolves, or rather with

the hyaenas,--for there are no true wolves in Zululand,--the author



can only say that they seem to him of a sort that might well have been

mythically connected with the names of those heroes. Similar beliefs



and traditions are common in the records of primitive peoples. The

club "Watcher of the Fords," or, to give its Zulu name, U-nothlola-



mazibuko, is an historicalweapon, chronicled by Bishop Callaway. It

was once owned by a certain Undhlebekazizwa. He was an arbitrary



person, for "no matter what was discussed in our village, he would

bring it to a conclusion with a stick." But he made a good end; for



when the Zulu soldiers attacked him, he killed no less than twenty of

them with the Watcher, and the spears stuck in him "as thick as reeds



in a morass." This man's strength was so great that he could kill a

leopard "like a fly," with his hands only, much as Umslopogaas slew



the traitor in this story.

Perhaps it may be allowable to add a few words about the Zulu



mysticism, magic, and superstition, to which there is some allusion in

this romance. It has been little if at all exaggerated. Thus the



writer well remembers hearing a legend how the Guardian Spirit of the

Ama-Zulu was seen riding down the storm. Here is what Mr. Fynney says



of her in the pamphlet to which reference has been made: "The natives

have a spirit which they call Nomkubulwana, or the Inkosazana-ye-Zulu



(the Princess of Heaven). She is said to be robed in white, and to

take the form of a young maiden, in fact an angel. She is said to



appear to some chosen person, to whom she imparts some revelation;

but, whatever that revelation may be, it is kept a profound secret



from outsiders. I remember that, just before the Zulu war,

Nomkubulwana appeared, revealing something or other which had a great



effect throughout the land, and I know that the Zulus were quite

impressed that some calamity was about to befall them. One of the



ominous signs was that fire is said to have descended from heaven, and

ignited the grass over the graves of the former kings of Zululand.



. . . On another occasion Nomkubulwana appeared to some one in

Zululand, the result of that visit being, that the native women buried



their young children up to their heads in sand, deserting them for the

time being, going away weeping, but returning at nightfall to unearth



the little ones again."

For this divinepersonage there is, therefore, authority, and the same



may be said of most of the supernatural matters spoken of in these

pages. The exact spiritual position held in the Zulu mind by the



Umkulunkulu,--the Old--Old,--the Great--Great,--the Lord of Heavens,--

is a more vexed question, and for its proper consideration the reader



must be referred to Bishop Callaway's work, the "Religious System of

the Amazulu." Briefly, Umkulunkulu's character seems to vary from the






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