The ends of the pole are weighted with much counsel, and it hangs so even that if a grasshopper lit on one end or the other, it would turn the scale." "And do you wish me to be that grasshopper, Zikali ?" "Who else?
That is why I brought you to Zululand." "So you wish me to counsel Cetewayo to lie down in the bed that the English have made for him.

If he seeks my advice I will do so gladly, for so I am sure he will sleep well." "Why do you mock me, Macumazahn?
I wish you to counsel Cetewayo to throw back his word into the teeth of the Queen's man and to fight the English." "And thus bring destruction on the Zulus and death to thousands of them and of my own people, and in return gain nothing but remorse.

Do you think me mad or wicked, or both, that I should do this thing ?" "Nay, Macumazahn, you would gain much.

I could show you where the king's cattle are hidden.

The English will never find them, and after the war you might take as many as you chose.