“Nongqawuse is a dreamer. That is precisely why we are gathered here, to see what we can do to save the people from her false prophecies,” responded Nxito.
“So it is true what we have heard, Twin-Twin; your brother is a staunch Believer!” said Ned.
“He will change soon enough,” Twin-Twin assured his friends.
“Don’t talk for me, child of my mother. I have my own mouth. I have seen miracles at the mouth of the Gxarha River with my own eyes. Even your own nephew, Tat’uNxito, King Sarhili himself; I was with him when he saw the miracles. That is why he has issued the formal commands, the imiyolelo, that the amaXhosa nation should obey the instructions of the great prophetess.”
Twin-Twin was fuming.
“Who invited you here, eh?” he asked. “This is a meeting of Unbelievers. We are here because we think that King Sarhili is being misled. And you come with your nonsense!”
“Wait, my sons,” said Nxito. “Children of a person should not fight on these matters. If we talk about things we’ll find solutions.”
Although Twin was alone against five Unbelievers he felt very strong. He had only to think of the prophetesses Nongqawuse and Nombanda to feel inspired. He was not afraid of these Unbelievers. He was going to debate with them. He was going to convert them. It was his duty to make them see the light. Some of them might be elders of the nation. Or learned men who worked at white people’s hospitals. Or sons of great prophets. But they were lost souls. He would not keep quiet. He would not be intimidated into silence. The future of the amaXhosa nation was at stake here.
“You cannot stop the people from believing in their own salvation!” shouted Twin. “A black race across the sea, newly resurrected from the dead, is surely coming to save us from the white man. Even the armies of The Man Who Named Ten Rivers cannot stand against it! You saw what happened to Cathcart!”
The Man Who Named Ten Rivers was Sir George Grey, the man who had taken over as governor of the Cape Colony after Cathcart’s death. He had arrived with great enthusiasm with a mission to civilize the natives. Those amaXhosa who had become amaGqobhoka — the Christian converts, that is — believed in Grey. People like Ned who were on good terms with white people came back with stories of Grey’s greatness. He had been a governor in Australia and New Zealand, they said, where his civilizing mission did many wonderful things for the natives of those countries. Of course he had to take their land in return for civilization. Civilization is not cheap. He had written extensively about the native people of those countries, and about their plants. He had even given names to ten of their rivers, and to their mountain ranges. It did not matter that the forebears of those natives had named those rivers and mountains from time immemorial. When Ned told them about the naming of the rivers, a derisive elder had called Grey The Man Who Named Ten Rivers. And that became his name.
“Don’t tell me about The Man Who Named Ten Rivers!” said Twin-Twin. “Like all the others he is a thief. Just as he stole the land of the people of countries across the seas, he stole the land of the amaXhosa and gave it to the amaMfengu. He stole more of our land to settle more of his people!”
Both Ned and Mjuza were up in Grey’s defense. Grey was different from former governors, they said. Grey was a friend of the amaXhosa. Grey was a great reader of the Bible — the big book that talked about the true salvation that would come through the blood of the son of the true god. Grey believed that all men were equal — well, almost equal — as long as they adopted a civilized mode of dress and decent habits. Grey was interested in the health and education of the amaXhosa — that was why he established schools and the Native Hospital. Grey was a great lover of the amaXhosa nation, and was interested in their folk stories, in their animals and in their plants. Instead of being derisively called The Man Who Named Ten Rivers, Grey should be called The Great Benefactor of the Non-European Peoples of the World. Grey was a wonderful man whose only motive for coming to and ruling the land of the amaXhosa was to change the customs of the barbarous natives and introduce them to British civilization. The land that he had grabbed in the process was really a very small price to pay for the wonderful gift of civilization.
“Nonsense,” said Twin-Twin, who was losing patience with his fellow Unbelievers. “The only reason your Grey came here is because the white people are full in their country. So they came here to steal our land.”
Twin was enjoying this disagreement among the Unbelievers.
“And these are your friends, my brother? These people who believe in the rule of the white man and in his god?” he asked mockingly.
This made Twin-Twin very uncomfortable. His unbelief in the false prophets — beginning with Mlanjeni and now including Nongqawuse and all the others who were emerging and preaching the same cattle-killing message — had forced him to form a strange alliance with people who had deserted their own god for the god of the white man. People like Ned and Mjuza, who were descendants of amaXhosa heroes but were now followers of white ways. Nxito, however, was like him. His unbelief in Nongqawuse was not unbelief in the rites, rituals, and customs of the amaXhosa, and in the god who had been revealed by the likes of Ntsikana and Nxele. Mdalidephu. Qamata. Mvelingqangi. The one who was worshipped by his forefathers from the beginning of time. The one whose messengers were the ancestors.
When Twin left his brother’s homestead he was a depressed man. He realized that his brother was too far gone to be saved. He was in cahoots with dangerous people who were servants of the colonial masters.
During the weeks that followed he learned that Mjuza was sometimes seen in the company of John Dalton, the colonial army officer who had fought in the War of Mlanjeni. Dalton was often sent by the magistrates of The Man Who Named Ten Rivers to discipline those amaXhosa chiefs who did not toe the colonial line. When Dalton’s name was mentioned, Twin always saw his father’s head being tossed into a boiling pot. How could Twin-Twin associate with Mjuza, who was a lackey of the people who had rendered Xikixa headless? Was this the end of the road for their twinhood?
It was like that in many families. Believing brothers fought against unbelieving brothers. Unbelieving spouses turned against believing spouses. Unbelieving fathers kicked believing sons out of their homesteads. Unbelieving sons plotted the demise of believing fathers. Unbelieving fathers attempted to kill believing sons. Siblings stared at each other with eyes full of blood. Many amaXhosa killed their cattle in order to facilitate the resurrection. Many others killed them unwillingly under the threat of their believing relatives.
The amaXhosa people called the Believers amaThamba — those whose hearts were soft and compassionate. The clever ones, whose heads caught fast. The generous ones. The Unbelievers were called amaGogotya — the hard ones. The unbending ones. The selfish and greedy men who wanted to hoard their cattle and thereby rob the entire amaXhosa nation of the sweet fruits of the resurrection.
Whenever Twin’s spirit was beginning to flag, he went to the place of miracles with Qukezwa. And there they ate and danced until midnight. They drank sorghum beer. And early in the morning hours they saw cattle in the bushes and in the sea. Some of the people could even see their old friends and relatives who had long been dead. One morning Twin himself saw the risen heroes emerge from the sea. Some were on foot, others were on horseback, passing in a glorious but silent parade, then sinking again among the waves.
The following day Twin and Qukezwa went home and slaughtered more of their cattle with greater vigor. At the same time they proceeded to enlarge their kraals in anticipation of the new cattle, and to renovate their houses so that the new people — the resurrected relatives — could be welcomed in newly thatched huts.