Yes, I would bear my sorrows, and become great, that in a day to be I might wreak vengeance on the king.

Ah! my father, there, as I rolled among the ashes, I prayed to the Amatongo, to the ghosts of my ancestors.

I prayed to my Ehlose, to the spirit that watches me--ay, and I even dared to pray to the Umkulunkulu, the great soul of the world, who moves through the heavens and the earth unseen and unheard.

And thus I prayed, that I might yet live to kill Chaka as he had killed those who were dear to me.
And while I prayed I slept, or, if I did not sleep, the light of thought went out of me, and I became as one dead.

Then there came a vision to me, a vision that was sent in answer to my prayer, or, perchance, it was a madness born of my sorrows.