CHAPTER 8

Bakuma sat in the shade of the reed fence preparing the evening meal of
boiled bananas. From her slender neck swung the precious amulet at which,
as if to reassure herself of its safety, she clutched occasionally. Her
half-sister, who had not yet passed through the initiation at maturity,
sprawled upon her belly in the dwindling rays of the sun, scratching her
woolly head. Beyond her were two slaves tending a fire beneath two large
calabashes, preparatory to the brewing of banana beer, which had of course
to be done by the chief widow, Bakuma's half-sister's mother.

The mind of Bakuma was occupied by percepts of the charms of Zalu Zako;
particularly as memorised on that afternoon by the river when the effect
of the love charm had begun to work. These memories, as sweet as they
would have been to any maid, were shot with gay colours by the words of
the wizard; for he had assured her that with the toe-nail and hair to work
magic upon, Zalu Zako would be bewitched by her charms for all time. And
she had obtained them! She could have gotten the goat, not a skinny goat
as described under the inhibiting influence of a wild hope that the wizard
would relent. Her cousin, smarting under the reproaches of her husband,
had such a goat, fat as goats in Wongolo go, and she was eager to exchange
it or anything for an infallible charm against sterility. Bakuma feared to
part with the charm, yet the matter was pressing; immediately she was the
wife of Zalu Zako she would be in a position to purchase all the charms in
the village.

But difficult to obtain as they were, for as everybody knows no man leaves
portions of himself around that may fall into the hands of an enemy to
work magic upon, least of all a rich man, "half divine," she had obtained
some nail parings and one hair. With that charm against sterility, the
only thing of value Bakuma possessed, had she bribed a concubine of Zalu
Zako's household to steal the ingredients required from the hut thatch
where they had been hidden after the official shaving and paring following
the ceremony of his father, pending their removal to the sacred precincts
of the temple.

Above her passion for Zalu Zako was her natural feminine appreciation of a
good match. The Son of the Snake was far better from a woman's point of
view than union with a successful wizard. In the event of the death of the
King-God, Kawa Kendi, the wives of his son