Kwesukasukela!
Cosi!
Kwakukhona!
Sayipheka ngogozwane ibhodw’ elincane umancishane.
Kwakukhona umama ehlala nengane yakhe. Kulendawo ababehlala kuyo yayinamazimuzimu. Umama wayethi uma esemsebenzini ayishiye yodwa ingane. Wathi umama kuyo uma sengibuya ngizothi ‘imina mtanami, imina umama wakho.’ Ngicela ungavuleli muntu lapha endlini ngize ngibuye. Nangampela kwasa ngakusasa wahamba umama. Kanti izimuzimu lizwile. Lathi ngilambe kanje ushiya ingane yodwa lashonakhona. Lasho ngezwi elibi elihhadlazelayo yimina mtanami imina umama wakho.
Yaphendula ingane akusilo izwi likamama leli. Lahamba laya enyangeni lathi nginekinga la kukhona ingane engiyifunayo lapha umama wayo uyishiya yodwa emini. Yabhodla, inyanga yathi thatha ilahle ulifake emphinjeni uzoba nezwi elincane njengomuntu wesifazane. Uma selisekhaya izimu libone kunzima ukwenza leyonto lithi kodwa ngoba inyama ngizokwenza. Nangempela lenza njengoba kushiwo, lashintsha izwi. Lashona kulomuzi walomama lamemeza vula mtanami imina umama wakho. Yavula ingane langena layithatha ingane lahamba nayo. Selihamba endleleni labona komunye umuzi kuphithizela langena kulomuzi.
Lacela baliphe ukudla lathi ngizonizwisa umgodlagodla wami ukuthi ugcwele kanjani. Yasho yacula ingane esakeni (ngangahleli embizeni kwafik’ indod’ endala.) Yacula ingane bezwa ukuthi kukhona into esakeni. Umama wayizwa ingane yakhe wathi kwangathi ingane yami nje leyo. Bacabanga isu balithuma kokhamanzi kanti bazolinika ukhamba oluvuzayo.
Lithe lisahambile bayikhipha ingane esakeni, bafaka izinto ezilimazayo esakeni. Lezwakala limemeza ‘kuyavuzavuza!’ baphendule ‘nameka ngodaka’ Lazelafika baliphakela ladla laze laphuza notshwala lwesintu. Lagoduka lithe lifika kwalo lathuma ingane yalo yathi ifake isandla izwe ukuthi kukhonani emgodlagodleni, yakhala ingane yathi kuyalumaluma. Wayithethisa wathi iyabheda wathuma enye nayo yakhala waze waziyela yena kanti akukho lutho esakeni.
Cosi! Cosi! Yaphela
English Summary
The Cannibal
There was a mother living with her child. She had to go and work and there was no one to look after her child. She told her child not to open the door for anybody and that when she comes back from work she would say, ‘It’s me my child, it’s me your mother.’ She was not aware that a cannibal was listening to them. The next morning she left home. During the day the cannibal decided to go and take the child. The cannibal in a very ugly voice said, ‘It’s me my child, it’s me your mother.’ The child said, ‘That is not my mother’s voice.’
The cannibal left to seek help from a traditional healer to change its voice. He was advised to swallow a very hot coal that was going to help change his voice. Not happy about the suggestion but also hungry for the meat, he decided to do it. And the voice changed similar to a woman’s. Then he went to fulfil his goal. And the child thinking it was his mother opened the door. The cannibal took the child and wrapped him in a parcel.
On the way home the cannibal saw some activity in one of the houses and decided to go and ask for food. He promised people that if they gave him some food he will make his parcel to sing for them. The child started to sing ‘I was sitting at home and a man came to take me.’ The mother of the child was working in this house. She told people that she can recognise the voice, it is the voice of her child. And they came up with a plan of sending the cannibal to the river with a container that had a hole in it.
While he was trying to fill it with water, people opened the parcel, rescued the child and filled the parcel with insects. The cannibal was shouting from the river ‘It is leaking’ and people were saying ‘Mend it with mud.’ Upon his return from the river they gave him some food and then he continued on his journey home. When he reached home he told his children to go and check what was in the parcel. The first child put his hand into the parcel and cried out ‘There is something biting here.’ The cannibal shouted and asked the second child to have a look also, it also cried. He decided to check the parcel himself and found there the parcel empty.