“Nya,” he piped, tapping her on the shoulder,
“thy Ghost has deserted thee, old woman, thy
tree is down. See, I spit upon it,” and
he did so. “Thou art no longer Mother of
the Trees; thou art only the old woman Nya. The
Ghost people, the Dream people, the little Grey people,
have a new queen, and I am her minister, for I rule
her Spirit. Yonder she stands,” and he
pointed at the tall and glittering Rachel. “Now,
thou new-born Mother of the Trees, who wast the Inkosazana
of the Zulus, obey me. Give death to this old
woman, the Red Death, that her spirit may be spilt
with her blood, and lost for ever. Give it to
her with that spear in thy hand, while I hide my eyes,
and reign thou in her place through me,” and
he bowed his head and waited.
“Not the Red Death, not the Red Death,”
wailed Nya. “Give me the White Death and
save my soul, Beautiful One, and in return I will give
thee something that thou desirest, who am still the
wisest of them all, although my Tree is down.”
Noie whispered for a while in Rachel’s ear.
Then while all the dwarf people gathered beneath them,
watching, Rachel bent forward, and putting her arms
about the trembling creature, lifted her up as though
she were a child, and held her to her bosom.
“Mother,” she said, “I give thee
no death, red or white; I give thee love. Thy
tree is down; sit thou in my shadow and be safer On
him who harms thee”—and she looked
at Eddo—“on him shall the Red Death
fall.”
THE MOTHER OF THE TREES
When Eddo understood these words he lifted his head
and stared at Rachel amazed.
“This is thy doing, Bastard,” he said
savagely, addressing Noie, who had translated them.
“I have felt thee fighting against me for long,
and now thou causest this Inkosazana to defy me.
It was thou who didst work upon that old woman, thine
aunt, to command that the white witch should be brought
hither, and because as yet I dared not disobey, I made
a terrible journey to bring her. Yes, and I did
this gladly, for when my eyes fell upon her, there
in the town of Dingaan, I saw that she was great and
beautiful, but that her Spirit had gone, and I knew
that I could make her mouth to speak my words, and
her pure eyes to see things that are denied to mine,
even the future as, when I bade her, she saw it yonder
in the court of Dingaan. But now it seems that
her Spirit has returned to her, so that there is no
room for mine in her heart, and she speaks her own
words, not my words. And thou hast done this
thing, O Bastard.”
“Perhaps,” answered Noie unconcernedly.
“Thou thinkest,” went on Eddo, in his
fury beating the bole on which he sat, “thou
thinkest to protect that old hag, Nya, because her
blood runs in thee. But, fool, it is in vain,
for her tree is down, her tree is down, and as its
leaves wither, and its sap dries up, so must she wither
and her blood dry up until she dies, she who thought
to live on for many years.”
