A certain man liked trees. He had many trees in the ground behind his house, and he was very proud of these. There were trees for all purposes – a tree to attract birds that might sing well; a tree that had good branches for making fires; a tree that would keep away snakes because they were frightened of it. There were many trees, and the people in that place would come and look at them from time to time and wish that they had trees like his.
There was one tree that this man had planted which nobody else had in their yard. This was the thathana moratho tree, and he had given very strict instructions that nobody at all, not even his children, should ever touch this tree. Nobody knew why they were not allowed to touch this tree, but since the tree belonged to this man they accepted the rule. They could look at it, though, and many people did this, wondering what was so special about this particular tree.
This man had a child called Ntshetsanyana, who was looked after by a servant girl. One morning the child was very hungry and cried and cried for food. The servant looked for food with which to feed her charge, but found none. Eventually she went out into the yard, picked some of the fruit from the thathana moratho tree and gave it to the child.
The child said, “What is this very good fruit?”
The servant girl replied, “It is the fruit of the thathana moratho tree and you can eat it. I am telling you to eat it. I have picked it for you because you are so hungry and have been crying so much. Now you must eat it.”
The child took the fruit from the servant girl and ate it. It was very good, and the child smiled happily after the last morsel had been consumed. It was the best fruit that had ever been brought into the house, and the child hoped that there would be more chances to eat this fruit in the future.
When the man came back to his house he discovered what had happened and he was very angry. He shouted at the servant girl, who wept and cringed. The man told her that by feeding his child fruit from the thathana moratho tree, she had insulted him. Now he would have to take her to Chief Mmeke, who was a very stern chief. He knew the chief would kill both the girl and the child for doing this prohibited thing.
They set off together, with the servant girl carrying the child and the man driving them on, muttering to himself about the great insult that had been done him by this act of disobedience. On their way, they met a friend of this man, who asked them what was happening. The man explained about the insult, but the poor girl replied with a song:
He is lying: I did not insult him.
I only took thathana moratho;
I gave it to Ntshetsanyana
Who was crying.
Now I am to be taken to Mmeke,
Mmeke the ruthless one.
The man, however, did not wish to listen to her and he pushed her with a stick, making her continue her journey to the place of Chief Mmeke, where she would be killed.
Some time later, while still walking under the burning sun, they met the son of Chief Mmeke. He asked what was happening and the girl immediately sang him the same song. This time, the song was believed and the chief’s son, a kind young man, fell in love with the girl. He said that he would go with them to the chief’s place, although he did not say what he was planning to do once they got there.
“Do not kill this girl, Father,” said the young man. “She is very beautiful and I wish to marry her.”
The chief listened to this, and then he listened to the man who had brought the girl to be killed. After the man had finished speaking, the chief said, “Go home now, and leave this bad girl here. She will be killed tonight, when it is dark.”
The man was satisfied with this and he went
away. They did not kill the girl, though: the chief’s son married
her and she became a very good wife for him. They had many fine
sons, and she was very popular with Chief Mmeke himself, who was
pleased that he had been kind to this girl.
