They tell me, Mopo, that the fire from above ran briskly through they huts." "I have heard it, I king!" "They tell me, Mopo, that those within thy gates grew mad at the sight of the fire, and dreaming there was no escape, that they stabbed themselves with assegais or leaped into the flames." "I have heard it, O king! What of it?
Any river is deep enough to drown a fool!" "Thou hast heard these things, Mopo, but thou hast not yet heard all.
Knowest thou, Mopo, that among those who died in thy kraal was she who bore me, she who was named Mother of the Heavens ?" Then, my father, I, Mopo, acted wisely, because of the thought which my good spirit gave me, for I cast myself upon the ground, and wailed aloud as though in utter grief.
"Spare my ears, Black One!" I wailed.

"Tell me not that she who bore thee is dead, O Lion of the Zulu.

For the others, what is it?
It is a breath of wind, it is a drop of water; but this trouble is as the gale or as the sea." "Cease, my servant, cease!" said the mocking voice of Chaka; "but know this, thou hast done well to grieve aloud, because the Mother of the Heavens is no more, and ill wouldst thou have done to grieve because the fire from above has kissed thy gates.

For hadst thou done this last thing or left the first undone, I should have known that thy heart was wicked, and by now thou wouldst have wept indeed--tears of blood, Mopo.
It is well for thee, then, that thou hast read my riddle aright." Now I saw the depths of the pit that Chaka had dug for me, and blessed my Ehlose who had put into my heart those words which I should answer.
I hoped also that Chaka would now let me go; but it was not to be, for this was but the beginning of my trial.
"Knowest thou, Mopo," said the king, "that as my mother died yonder in the flames of thy kraal she cried out strange and terrible words which came to my ears through the singing of the fire.

These were her words: that thou, Mopo, and thy sister Baleka, and thy wives, had conspired together to give a child to me who would be childless.