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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 April 2025
zenzile takes on the role of gogo in this scene. As the scene opens, zenzile sits on the edge of her bed.
zenzile: I remember how ugogo wami used a wet cloth to cool the scars that the lightning bird had scratched into my back.
She retrieves a wet cloth and mimes the action of her grandmother cooling her scar with the cloth, dabbing cold water tenderly across it. Lighting shifts to isolate the scene and the dialogue between the two characters.
gogo: Shhh … shhh, ngane yami.
zenzile [as child]: Kodwa kubuhlungu, Gogo.
gogo: Shhhh … shhhh … Amanzi azokupholisa.
zenzile [as child]: Why is everything hurting me like this, Gogo?
gogo: What is hurting, ngane yami?
zenzile [as child]: Izinto abazishoyo, Gogo.
gogo: What are they saying?
zenzile [as child]: Ukuthi ngiyathakatha … that I was using umuthi … that's why umama nobaba are gone and I am still here.
gogo: Ay, and you pay attention to this nonsense?
zenzile [as child]: Musa has been telling all the others that the morning before the lightning came, he saw me speaking with that bird on the riverbank.
gogo: Yiphi inyoni?
zenzile [as child]: Impundulu … the one that has a hammer for a head.
gogo [firmly]: Ay, Zenzile, you must not name this thing in my house! This creature has nothing to do with you, ngane yami! Nothing! It only has an appetite for destruction. Wherever it lands it guides the lightning there. [Beat.] Umtshele uMusa ukuthi uzoba nesibazi esingaphezu kwesakho esinqeni uma eqhubeka nokuhamba eqamba amanga. Ngeke ngiwubekezelele mina ushidi.
zenzile [as child]: How do I wash away their lies, Gogo? … How do I make sure this bird never visits me again?
gogo: There's little you can do to destroy this idemoni. If you try, it only comes back stronger than before. No, you cannot shoot it or stab it … drown or even poison it. The only way to kill it is by fire! [Beat.] But I know a secret which I must share with you, ngane yami.
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