Tyza had scrubbed up well and looked like a real prince for a change in black velvet tunic and a matching crispy white shirt and tie. The queen was wearing a golden satin inflated gown with underwires to keep it in shape. She wore this with a matching golden crown which she had never worn since her husband was sworn in as king on that sombre day.
She was taken aback that the crown still fitted her head after all these years. She quietly smiled as if to somehow reassure herself that she was still royalty. They reached centre stage where Chief Bongo helped them to dismount and usher them onto the platform to their royal seats and joined by their two children sitting on either side of them in their own specially prepared seats. When they got seated, the crowd was then summoned to sit.
A trumpet was blown by the boy on standby. First to draw everyone’s attention and the second time was to signal an introductory speech by the senior subject before the king would rise and greet his visitors. The senior subject, Elder Mondo, proudly stood and took a deep breath, before strutting to the fore for everyone to see.
Surprisingly enough, he was also wearing his best, which was a rare occasion as he would rather wear his ragged old leather garment which had seen better days. His wife would give anything for him to get rid of it as she thought it was an eyesore on him.
He would remind her of how it ended up on his back. He had had an encounter with a buffalo bull in the thicket of the woods one hot afternoon, many moons ago, and the animal charged at him because it had a gaping wound injury in the leg when a barbed wire trap had gone horribly wrong.
He hadn’t planned for this encounter as his visit to the wooded area was purely for medicinal purposes, which was his custom to bring for the whole village treatment for every ailment from his ‘secret spot’ in the woods.
Everybody thought the medicines which included some dark leaves and tree bark all looked the same and wondered if they worked, and yet they would still take some for all their different ailments when needed to miraculous effects.
He had said that the whole village should consider him a great warrior as he had fought the beast single-handedly with a sharp and long spear. Some mockingly said he stumbled on a dead buffalo and just helped himself, which he profusely denied.
Some thought he must have found it weak and asleep and just stabbed it in the jugular without breaking any sweat over it. Again, he thought this was totally unjustified babble, which prompted him to get into the tapestry of the story, which seemed to take forever to explain as he kept digressing to stress a point.
He had gotten on to say that the beast had charged at him with bloodshot eyes ready to stampede him to the ground, but he stood his ground with his weapon aimed ready for the kill.
He said he waited for the beast to pick up momentum and run faster towards him, while he positioned himself to aim for the heart. Everyone had burst out laughing and he waited for them to stop and continued unperturbed by them.
He said he could hear the weapon slicing the wind as he launched it, and the sudden thudding sound of the buffalo as it crushed to the ground with a loud groan. He said he danced around the animal several times with disbelief before the realisation of what he had just done dawned on him.
Minutes later, he had been spotted by one of the villagers who raised the alarm for the kill and went to get help to carry the beast home for a feast. It had taken 20 men to carry and haul it onto a big wheeled wooden cart, pulled by four bulls and the men pushing behind it to help the labouring animals.
Elder Mondo got busy with preparing the skin and treating it with salt and pegging it out to dry in preparation to turn it into an outfit for life. The rest of that story as they say is history.
After greeting the guests at large, he gave an elaborate introduction for the king to take his stand in addressing the visitors. Queen Eleaza was watching her husband through the corner of her eye as a polite way to stop herself from turning her crowned head to follow the frustrated look on the king’s face as he waited anxiously for Elder Mondo to stop talking so he could have his turn. The king’s patience was wearing thin by the minute, but he kept himself calm.
Queen Eleaza knew the meaning of each expression the king bore on his face. They used to laugh loudly when the king would express his utter disdain at the way Elder Mondo carried on talking. The king once teased that Elder Mondo could speak someone to death given half the chance.
Queen Eleaza had said to him teasingly, “Oh, and you are still alive dear after all that talking?”
The king would mumble something under his breath in protest, as if to say, “Only just managed to survive by a thread of luck.”
The king took the stage and bellowed as if he was talking through a megaphone and said, "Countrymen and neighbours alike, I do welcome you here today to this festive event in my humble compound. I stand here as King Gama Baruka of Goza.
“I welcome you all sincerely on behalf of my family, my dear wife and children as well as on behalf of my people. We have lived here for many years but have never had such a gathering with our neighbours, therefore it
