The covenant - James A. Michener [278]
'I bring words, my people,' she intoned in solemn accents. 'I have dreamed these many nights and I have seen the evil that attacks our cattle. I have walked in darkness and Lord-of-the-Sky has made all things known.'
She began to dance, her bare feet slapping the earth, and when her pace had increased to leaps and bounds, the onlookers sang to give her encouragement, for they knew that she was reaching out for the spirits of the clan's ancestors. There was not one in the audience who doubted a life after death; they were also convinced that spirits who had gained more than the normal wisdom of the earth guided the destinies of the clan through the being of the diviner. Words that fell from her mouth were not hers, but the wishes and judgments of their forebears; they must be obeyed.
Suddenly she stopped dancing to take from a gourd at her side a pinch of snuff. When this caused a paroxysm of sneezing, the onlookers applauded, for they knew that spirits of the dead dwelt deep within the body of the living, and any tempestuous sneeze released their powers. Now came a hysterical screech of laughter, following which the diviner slowly and dramatically sank to the earth. Squatting, she took the cloak from her shoulders and placed it over her knees so that it cast a shadow before her. Opening a skin bag, she exhaled into it a pungent odor of the herbs she had been chewing and then removed from it the charms which would encourage the spirits to identify the contaminating wizard. For each item she laid before her she chanted words of praise:
'Oh, Claw of Great Leopard slayer of the weak . . .
In my hand, Little Rock, trembler of the stream of sorrow . . .
Fly to me, Talon of Hawk, watcher of all from above . . .
Hear my voice, Flower of Night, keeper of eternal darkness . . .'
With a flourish she threw the items on the ground in front of her, swaying above them. Keeping her head downcast for a long time, she muttered and moaned, then pointed with her left forefinger at one grisly treasure and another. All were silent, for the terrible moment was at hand. Finally she rose and walked boldly toward the chief, and many gasped, for it seemed that she was about to accuse him.
'They have given me the answer, my Chief!'
'What did they show?'
'A great black beast with a hundred legs and a hundred eyes and the mightiest of horns. And it was revered by my chief, for it was the fattest animal in the land, because in it dwelt all those that had gone before. But this great beast was grieved. At a time when your cattle are ailing, one of those men out there'and here she pointed generally at the silent crowd
'one of them, at this time of sorrow, did not lament. One of them was happy that the animals are sick.'
'Who was that one, Mother-with-Eyes-That-See-Everything?'
'The one who sings like a bird has brought this evil.'
When the diviner had said these fatal words, Nxumalo remembered immediately that his father sometimes 'sang like a bird' with his whistling, and he had a terrifying premonition that Ndela might be the man carrying the evil spirit that caused the cattle sickness. He watched with horror as the diviner began to stalk among the people, her wildebeest switch dangling loosely at her side. Whenever her eyes met those of another, the one under scrutiny would shake with fear, then breathe again as she passed on.
But when she reached Ndela, the whistler, she leaped high in the air, screaming and gesticulating, and when she came down, the switch was pointing directly at him. 'Him!' she shrieked. 'The happy one! The ravager of cattle!'
A cry rose from the crowd, and those nearest Ndela moved away. The great hump beneath the animal skins on the diviner's back was accented as she twisted about to address the chief: 'Here is the wizard, the one who has brought the evil.'
Briefly the chief consulted with his councillors, and when they nodded, four warriors seized Ndela and dragged him forward. 'Did you whistle?'