( It is another weekend evening, and the people are dying to hear the second story. There is an eager silence in the air as the second young woman steps up to tell her story)
"You would make a good wife and mother someday". "Your children will be great". "You are respectable, nurturing, sweet, and loving". "You are a young woman with such high esteem". These are the kinds of compliments I get from friends and strangers, and I have no choice but to humbly thank them because they do me great honor by acknowledging that I am living up to my name NANDI.
CALL: This is the story about the great Queen Nandi of Zululand. A story, a story
RESPONSE: Let it go, let it come.
Once upon a time in the great Zulu kingdom of South Africa there lived a great king. He was young, strong, handsome, powerful, and respected by all the other kings in that region. He had three wives, and six daughters, and his wealth was immense. The only problem was that this king did not have a son, and he knew that without a son his greatest could never be complete. So one day as he was taking his daily walk through his kingdom he saw the prettiest girl he had ever seen before. He knew he just had to make her his wife. He asked his elders about her, and they said her name was Nandi. The elders, and people of his kingdom had only good things to say about her, and this made the king even more convinced that she had to be his wife.
Nandi respected the young king so she had no objections to being his wife. Apart from this, when she was finally introduced to him there was an instant connection between the both of them. A few months after they got married Nandi gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, whom the king named Shaka. Now the kings other wives were upset. They didn't like Nandi because she was prettier than all three of them, and now their hate for her grew even stronger because she had given the king one thing they could not give him- a son. The king's wives were angry about this, and began to plot against her. They came up with several wicked plans but all of them failed. They even told lies about Nandi to the king but the king loved Nandi so much that he did not believe them. Finally, these three women accused Nandi of using witchcraft to entice the king into marrying her. Since the use of witchcraft in Zululand was a crime punishable by banishment or death the good king had no choice but to reluctantly banish Nandi, and his young son from the kingdom.
The wicked wives were happy because they thought they had finally seen the end of Nandi. Nandi humbly left the kingdom. While on exile, Nandi remained steadfast, and continued to raise her son Shaka with love, discipline, and obedience. She raised him with the kind of training and guidance a royal heir deserved. Her many sacrifices were paid back when her son grew up, and returned to take his rightful place in his father's kingdom. His father was pleased to see him, and welcomed him and his mother back home. The wicked wives confessed to their lies, and were condemned to public humiliation and death. Nandi and the king lived the remaining of their lives together, and Shaka grew up to become the famous Shaka Zulu the greatest of all Zulu kings.
This is why I am proud of my name. I only pray that I will continue to live up to my name, and display the qualities of kindness, love, and respect like NANDI
( The crowd couldn't hold back their applause and tears of joy. The story left a positive impression on all the young girls who wanted to grow up to become just like Nandi. So until next weekend, I wish you all the sweetest dreams about Nandi- the sweet woman of high esteem)
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Nandi Queen of Zululand (1778-1826)
Website: The Afro-centric experience
Weblink:http://www.swagga.com/queen.htm
Nandi Queen of Zululand
Website: Great Kings and Queens of Africa
Website: http://members.tripod.com/~Abyssinia/Africa/Nandi.html
Nandi Queen mother of Zululand
Website: The Great Kings and Queens of Africa
Website:http://www.ibsa-inc.org/royalty.htm#Nandi
African Queens
Website: African Street Kids.com
Weblink:http://www.africaszawadi.com/1africa/Leaders/Queens/queens.htm#nandi
AURTHOR'S NOTE : My story is based on the documented history of Queen Nandi. There wasn't really a lot of information on her so I re-told the story by including some exaggerated events that I assumed might have taken place before and during her reign. I included imagined events about how she was considered the most beautiful girl in the village, the condemning of the wicked wives to death, and the accusations of witchcraft. According to the original story Nandi was falsely accused of committing"abominable acts" that led to her exile but I could not find any information about what kinds of "abominable acts" she was accused of committing. I also included information I found online about her famous son Shaka the Zulu. I used the character of the storyteller to personalize the story, and I also used the call and response African storytelling technique in this story.
IMAGE INFORMATION: Queen Nandi of Zululand by Rashaan Fort. WEBLINK:http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/aafri/queen.html#nand