A Different Culture

Ndlu was the son of the great King of the ruling tribe of Africa. As the eldest son, when he came of age he had to travel the continent to spend 2 months in each of the countries in the land. Along the way, to unify the people and enforce the commitment of the chiefdom to the continent, he was to wed a girl from each country. By the end of his journey he would return home his new kraal; complete with a home for each of his new princesses and the chief house for his most prized bride, the first to bare him a son.

The tradition had existed for centuries and Ndlu knew his role. He spent his youth preparing for the task that lay ahead. He studied at the best academic institutions, he excelled at sport and the arts; he became acquainted with the leaders of the countries and the surrounding continents. His father was justifiably overcome with a deep pride in the amazing achievements his son had accomplished before he came of age. His son was indeed ready to be a husband to the many different wives that he was to wed. He was also ready to run the continent on his return and ensure that the chiefdom was carefully, democratically and justly run. Ndlu was an expert on finances, budgeting, economics, law and politics. Just like his father, so too was Ndlu proud of himself and he knew that he was ready to receive and be with the best women and leaders in all the lands.

He would travel to each country and spend one week with each of the four outstanding women the country had chosen for him. He would then spend three weeks with the leader of the land, understanding how his country worked and how best to represent and help his fellow leader. The fourth week would then be dedicated to the wedding ceremony with the bride of his choice. After the week of ceremonies and consummation, the bride would be taken to Ndlu's homeland to settle herself in his new kraal and prepare it for his return. She would complete her task whilst Ndlu moved onto the next country to repeat the same order of events. Once the years had gone by and Ndlu had completed a full circle, he would then return to discover who his chief wife was and meet any children that he had been born.

His first country was south west of his land, the first in his circular journey. It was a great land with wonderful people and he was loved by all. During his month of courting each of the ladies he had 2 serving women; one who served him breakfast and bathed him in the morning, another who served and bathed him in the evening. Lunch service was always left to the lady he was courting at the time so she could prove her worth as a wife. After a wonderful first two months he found himself married to the gorgeous third daughter of the leader of the land.

In the second country he chose the eldest daughter of the leader, she too was gorgeous, and Ndlu was feeling on top of his game. He was mentally challenged by the leaders for the most part, as the girls spent more time on their appearance than on their intellect. The same occurred in the third country, but to his dismay, it appeared that the leaders were becoming less intelligent too, and all his efforts to improve himself were appearing to have been completely unnecessary. By the fourth country he was convinced of it, and chose the least attractive bride of the four, just to amuse himself and shock the people of the land. Nothing he did was, however, questioned and everything was accepted without quarrel or argument, no matter what he did. He knew he couldn’t let his father down, so he persevered in his role, longing for it to be over already. In the fifth country he chose the sporty daughter, simply for new conversation; and in the sixth country he chose the quietest daughter who gave massages like a professional, and made him feel relaxed at a time when his duty was creating unforeseen tension in his soul. He talked himself into believing it was work, and he must approach it as such and gather wives that would fulfill different roles to help him complete his jobs in the most effective way possible.

Country seven. By now Ndlu was not as happy or dedicated and committed as he was when he left his homeland. He arrived after a long journey in his cavalcade. He was as far south as he could go now, in the land of the Zulus. He arrived at dawn and was taken straight to the main house in the head village. He walked into the home with all the grace he could manage as the royal guest he was, and made his way to his quarters as quickly as he could. He opened the door to the main room and heard the bath running. He couldn’t believe the help was already there, he slammed the door so she would hear, and then maybe he could get her to leave. His slam worked, the water stopped running and a girl with a small frame, beautifully braided hair and the smoothest skin he had ever seen stepped into the room; head bowed, a courtesy. He froze. He stared at her lowered head and felt all the tension in his body, the fatigue of all his travels dissipate. He felt, he couldn’t tell what it was, but he had to see her face. She seemed confused by the silence, and nervously raised her head to look at him with eyes that connected with his soul. He stepped back at the impact and stood there speechless.
She looked back down, reacting to his step back, "I’m sorry your majesty. I prepared a bath as I thought you may like to bathe after your long journey. I did not mean to intrude on your highness, please excuse me." With that she scuttled past him and out the door. He stood there, flummoxed at the experience, and all he could think was that he didn’t even know her name. He told himself to snap out of it, she was a serving girl. She was beneath him and if he did what his body wanted to, then he would be disgracing his father and his family, as well as his hosts. He went through to the bathroom, the temperature was perfect; those eyes, how did that happen, surely the traveling was getting to him. He bathed, glad for the peace and quiet, yet his mind kept returning to the taps and the idea that her hands had been on them… he went from the bath to the king-sized bed to sleep it off and then get on with the welcome ceremonies of the day.

He awoke the next morning to his bath being run, and his mind went back to the day before, he was glad he had got that out of his system. The water stopped and there she was again, like an angel in the morning light through the curtains she had just opened.
"Your bath is ready your highness, would you like me to assist you, or would you like to bathe on your own." She asked him, and he realised that it was her voice that had done it, a voice like the wonderful sound of water, so clear, so soothing; no, best she didn’t bathe him, his reaction told him that it would not be appropriate.
"Thanks… " he paused, craving her name
"Ingelosi," she said, as if she could read his mind. He seldom asked the servants their names, the thought was a first for him.
"Right, Ingelosi," he said with as much superiority as he could muster, because, somehow, she made him feel like a man, not a prince of the stature he knew he had. "Your bathing services shall not be required," he said with conviction. She merely nodded, moved a towel into the bathroom and left the room. Ndlu held back the desire he had to ask her to stay, spoke sense to himself and got ready for the day.

A short while later she arrived with his breakfast and her presence unnerved him. What was going on? He was a prince, soon to be king, what was this mere serving girl doing to him. He sat chewing on the food and his thoughts. He knew what he had to do, he had to prove her unworthy. He would ask her to eat breakfast with him each morning and he would catch her out to show himself how inferior she was; that would help him each day to remember how powerful he was and how he was royalty and she was just the help.
"Ingelosi," he began, proud of himself and his plan, ready to set it in motion
"Yes, your highness," she responded attentively and humbly in a way that he knew was not provocative in the slightest, but it still managed to make his heart skip a beat. Maybe his plan was not a good idea after all. No, it was, he could easily prove how inferior she was to him, he had handled far more difficult situations in his life, this would be easy.
"I do not like to eat my breakfast alone, so each morning, you must bring two portions and eat with me, until my new bride can fulfill the role."
"As you wish your majesty," she bowed her head and curtsied. "I shall join you as of tomorrow, until you do not need my presence anymore," she cleared away the breakfast and left him to his first bride option.

The next morning his bath was run, and he bathed. Then Ingelosi joined him for breakfast. At first she was quiet, and the conversation stilted, which made the prince feel great and superior, he had a good day. The next few days were similar, until the seventh morning. On the seventh morning a different girl arrived and Ndlu couldn’t believe how angry he was, where was she, what could be more important than him? Trembling in reaction to Ndlu's angry manner the young girl apologised profusely and said that Ingelosi was at church as it was Sunday. Ndlu flew into a rage like none he had before and the poor girl left in tears. Eventually he calmed down, and realised that he had reacted out of turn, and completely irrationally, he couldn’t understand it, was she a witch, had she cast a spell on him? He knew one thing, he would find out the next morning.

His bath was running, his curtains opened and he rolled over to see his morning angel outlined in the sun’s rays, with the voice that spoke to his soul; and he forgot that he was angry; he forgot that he had wanted to punish her for not attending to him yesterday. In the light, it didn’t matter to him anymore. After his bath he was very happy and sat down to the delicious breakfast he had prepared. As he took his first bite she spoke to him out of turn, he was in too much shock to react as he should have.
"Your highness, I would respectfully like to tell you that the way you treated Nonjabulo yesterday morning was cruel. I have heard good things about your highness, but yesterday, that changed. I would like to request to be replaced as your morning serving girl, " he choked on the food, over his dead body was she going anywhere.
"No," he told her as he looked into her defiant eyes. Those gorgeous soul captivating eyes.
"Your majesty was spoken of in such high regard and now, from my personal experience this week, I disagree with the rumours, and the people who want to be on your good side, those who fear you and follow the African traditions for no reason but fear. I do not wish to be in this position, serving such an arrogant prince, and I dare say that you have made it obvious over the last week how much you feel yourself superior to me. I suggest a serving girl who is indeed inferior to you would be a far better choice for your breakfast server than I am. My boss has told me that you must dismiss me, in order that I may leave this post. Please do us both a favour and dismiss me. " She declared out rightly.
Over his dead body. He stared at her. Took another mouthful, chewed, swallowed, looked at her and responded stubbornly, "No. You will stay here and serve me."
"Then you are as cruel as I thought your highness" she bit out, and sat there frozen.
"You need to know your place Ingelosi, and that is serving me, not having these ideas of your superiority. You are a serving girl and you must fulfill your duty; we all have to fulfill our duties." He took another large mouthful.
"No, we don’t all have to fulfill duties imposed on us that we do not believe in. Your words and actions speak volumes, you can’t hide truth. Truth will come out in the end; it always does. " She cleared away the dishes and left him to be in the worst mood he had ever been in. He stormed through the day knowing that bride option number two would never want anything to do with him again.
Ingelosi reported for duty all week in silence, her mystical voice locked away from him. Her silence and eyes of disappointment searing his soul every morning. He wouldn’t speak, he did not have to prove himself. He did not have to do anything, it was her job to serve him and serve him she would.
Then again, on the Sunday, she did not report for duty, and once again he was enraged for the day, but this time it carried on until the morning and he let rip at her.
"How dare you place anything higher than me? Who do you think you are not to do your duty, not to fulfill your role for your country in service to me? What gives you the right to disrespect me? Answer me Ingelosi, or I shall have you stoned to death," he yelled.
"Your highness, it is My Lord, My God, My truth, and my light that are the most important thing in my life; not you, not a country, not anything else in the entire world, and if you have a problem with that, then by all means, put me to death. At least it will mean that I shall not be serving you anymore." she yelled back at him.
He was shocked, no one had ever spoken to him like that before, ever.
"Where are your words now, your highness? Why not call in the guards to have me executed? " she continued. He raised his hand to silence her. Then spoke in all the fatigue of the past 12 months:
"I was angry; I couldn’t do that, I… Ingelosi, why do you hate me so?" he finally managed to ask her.
She looked at him, the emotions in her eyes flitting past like a movie of feelings in his soul, she sat down, "I disagree with your belief that you are superior to me. I disagree with your traditions of many wives and tribal chiefdom; I’m stuck between two worlds and you represent one that I want to turn my back on." She told him in complete honesty, an honesty no one had ever used with him before.
"But it is the way we have lived and what we have practiced for centuries" he reasoned.
"That doesn’t make it right." She bit out.
He sat next to her, somehow knowing in his soul that he agreed with her. That the discomfort in his soul matched hers, but he was one man, he was in charge of a continent that was going to follow him, he couldn’t stop that, he couldn’t change time.
He looked into her eyes, "But that is not me, I am not the culture or the tradition, I am just a man doing his job." His eyes pleaded with her to understand, he needed her to understand.
Once again, like she knew his thoughts, she replied, "I understand, but I can’t agree with it. Your arrogance, selfishness and chauvinism are distasteful and undermine the incredible education you were blessed with."
"I… Ingelosi… I had to get the education, it was my duty," he was angry with her now for making him feel ashamed of himself and all that he had earned. He had the right to be as arrogant as he liked, who was she anyway, "… I think that you are more arrogant that I am to be saying all that you are. You clearly think that you are superior to everyone," he challenged her.
"Well, seeing as you know nothing about me, nor have you even bothered to ask, you have no idea that I am reading for my doctorate in the façades of traditions and whether or not a monarchy is crippling our society. The only reason I am here is because my mother was supposed to be your serving woman, but she fell ill and her boss threatened to fire her if she did not arrive here to serve you. We are a poor family and I have got by through generous bursaries. My master’s dissertation was ground breaking in the research into African cultures and it allowed me to travel the world and learn many things. We could not afford to have my mother lose her job. I do not believe I am superior to everyone, I believe I am their companion on life’s journey, as their equal. I know where my soul is at, do you, prince Ndlu, know where yours is at? " she gathered the dishes and left.
She left him and his soul. No, he didn’t know where his soul was at, but he knew if anyone could help him find out, it was Ingelosi…

Over the last weeks of Ndlu's stay, the two of them spent soul time together, they came to understand each other, read each other’s thoughts, laugh together and appreciate the awesomeness of their individual beings. Ndlu, against every part of his soul, chose another wife and realised in his last week, that there was only one wife his soul wanted, and that was Ingelosi. He also knew that he could never have a bride from a poor family, and that she would never agree to be one wife of many, she was too Christian, too modern, for that. Even so, Ndlu could not bare the thought of her being with another man, ever. So he called in his witch doctor and commanded him create a potion that he could put into Ingelosi's drink. It was a potion that would give her chronic fatigue, it would slow her down, and it would keep her in this town, reliant on the witch doctors for traditional medication, and near her family for care. His witch doctor gave the appeasing medication to Ingelosi's family witch doctor and swore him to secrecy, then he gave a vial of antidote to Ndlu and told him that by drinking the vial of antidote, Ingelosi would be cured of the viruses the potion had put in her body.

At the final morning meeting between the two, Ingelosi was not herself, her mannerisms changed, her voice cracked, her eyes were red and tired. Neither of the two had slept properly. Ndlu slipped the potion into her juice and watched her drink it, only comforted by the thought that it would ensure that no other man ever touched her. She barely said anything, no matter how he tried to get her to talk, he had so much to say, wanted to share so much still, but she was completely closed off from him. His heart began to ache, and he no longer felt happy that she was now under the potion and would not be able to find happiness, but the thought of her with someone else was far worse. She packed up the dishes for the last time and as she walked out his heart broke and he wept like a child. Like all the emotion he had been bottling inside himself for decades poured out at the loss of the presence of the most beautiful soul he had ever met. After many minutes he got up to touch her chair one last time, and there was a note on the seat, his heart stopped. The entire world slowed down as he reached for it and opened it:
I know we can never be, but, my dear Ndlu, my unworthiness, my social standing, my disagreements with your choices, none of them have stopped me from falling in love with you. May God bless your travels and your dedication to your duty, look after your soul. Love, Ingelosi.
Ndlu felt a crazy, delirious happiness soar through his being as he read the note, and then he felt his being plummet as he realised what he had done. It was too late, he had the vial though, he could fix this, he was still here… no, he couldn’t let her go. She couldn’t be anyone else’s. He would return after his journey was done, he would be better by then, he would be cured of her, and it would be ok.

Ingelosi was a girl who was created to love only one. Her heart broke daily and the pain she experienced at the loss scarred her deeply. He heart and mind had never been more separate and she survived in the only way she knew how: she clung to her God. She clung to her faith, and her God did not let her down. Her suffering brought the two of them closer than she had ever experienced before. The love that she had found, the part of her that continually felt the missing, was filled by the Holy Spirit; it became her haven, her support, her oxygen for breathing. To make it worse, on top of the emotional pain, confusion and isolation, her body became ill. She developed Chronic Fatigue Syndrome; she became reliant on the only medication that seemed to help, a potion from her family’s witch doctor. She became stuck to her village and reliant on her family. It all became too much for her and she blamed Ndlu for being the instigator and cause of her misery. Her mind hated him, while her soul loved him, she was slowly imploding, deteriorating and fading away in a sadness that overwhelmed her, which she had no control over, and each morning she dedicated herself to prayer, to faith that her God would never leave her and she would survive. Over many months she managed to cope with the pain, she managed to endure the fatigue and finish her studies, get a job and support her family. She made the best of a terrible situation.

Ndlu carried on with his duties, fathered many children and became a popular king.

Years later he went on a royal visit to Ingelosi's village. He had hoped to be served by her, but she never arrived. He hoped to have her visit, but she didn’t. Eventually on his last day he had her sent for. When she arrived, his heart was pierced as he realised how badly he had treated her, how he should have blessed instead of cursed her. She had withered away physically and for the first time ever, he felt guilt. He couldn’t stand it and confessed everything to her.
She stood there, her eyes alive with an elevated goodness, a kindness and grace, an unconquerable spirit; but now, without defiance, there was no fight in her anymore, no need to prove herself.
He handed her the antidote.
She held the vial.
She looked him in the eyes; raised it in her uplifted palm, and closed her fist…