The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-01-30
WHAT UMsLOPoGAAs SAW.
A. Weird Tale From the Unpublished
Writings of Hider Raxged.

Writings of Hider Ragged.
I, Umslopogaas, declare it true, for did
I not see it with mine own eyes? And dc
the people of the Umazulu wear hats to
talk through "Umfelozi intuhkului' %
which is May, nay, PaulineI'' In my ma
tive Zulu tongue.
Now, after smelling out the witch doc
tors, Chaka, the king, remembered the
prophecy of Nobelika, the Old Woman OF
Ghost Mountain, and his heart grew dark
with doubt
He called me to him, and giving me the
ak Groanmaker babe me journey to the
Ghost Mountain and STAY Nobelika, the
Old Woman.
I bowed before the king and said I
would run like dog to do his bidding,
and he gave me men to go with me.
Then returned to my kraal to bid fare
well to my wives and children, and there
found that my wife, Anadi, had fallen sick
with a wandering sickness, for strange
things came into her mind, asking, as she
did, for a new theater bonnet, silk shirt
waists and many other 1uxuries, which
could not be had in all zululand for
springbok or veldtglafer.
Seizing the ak Groanmalzer, hurried
away to do the kings bidding.
Scarcely had we trecked dozen spear
lengths when Masilo the Pig, one of the
kings men, came before me with fright
0 UmslOpogaas, that this Nobelika, the
Old Woman of Ghost Mountain, is fin de
steele! We don't know what that means,
but we fear the worst, and we want to go
home"
''Then get you gone, o Masilo the Pig"
1 answered in anger, "lest worse befall
you!''
So Masilo the Pig rose up together with
tho rest of the kings men, and fled toward
the kraal of Chaka, and their faces were
green with fear where they were not black
by birth.
And so it came that I, Umslopogaas,
journeyed alone with the ak Groannaker,
to Stay Nobelika, the Old Woman of Ghost
Mountain.
And the road was long up the mountain,
but I knew it well and the ghost wolves
came not to harass me.
So it was evening before I came upon
the kraal of Nobelika, the Old Woman,
and / rested the ak Groanmaker upon
the ground and said, ''Come forth, o No
belika, the Old Woman, come forth and
get ki1ledP'
Then she came forth and stood in tho
door of her kraaI, and in their great fright
my knees knocked one upon the other, for
she was sight.
For a moment Nobelika looked upon
me in silence. Then she was every bit the
woman again, and spoke:
Mopo, the old seacookl Get thee back to
Chaka the king, who would have thee Stay
Nobelika, and say to Chaka that Nobelika
is NO longer the Old Woman of Ghost
Mountain, but has made for herself, from
the leaves of the woo-woo tree, these
bloomers, and is now the New Woman of
Ghost Mountaini
''Get thee gone, o Ums1opogaas, lest I
forget my gentle manners and break thee
into 76 particlesi''
And l. Umslopogaas, sometimes called
Bulalio the Slaughterer took the ak
Groanmaker and fed in dismay from the
kraal of Nobenka, who was no longer old
except in years.
And l fell headlong down the noun
tain, so great was my haste to get away
from those strange things which Nobelika
had made from the leaves of the woo-woo
tree.
And it came that, in after years, the
story of Nobelika spread throughout all
Zululand and many We're the wives of
Chaka who made these strange garments
from tho leaves of the woo-wOo tree.
And even unto far lands did the story
travel, and the woo-woo trees were made
to work overtime.
Thus did 1, Umslopogaas, discover the
new woman, clad in the strange garments
called boomers, which alright me even
unto this day.
And to the hour of my death I, I'm
slopogaas, shall be sorry that 1 sat upon
Masilo the Pig, who was a witch doctor
and knew that fin de steele meant some
thing perfectly dreadful, while I, I'm
slopogaas, gave him the rundown and the
frozen throated ha-ha in ZulueSe. -Truth.