Chaka

Chaka is the third and final novel by Lesotho writer Thomas Mofolo. Written in Sesotho, it is a mythic fictional retelling of the story of the rise and fall of the Zulu Kingdom|Zulu emperor-king Shaka. Following its first publication in 1925, it was published in English translation in 1931.

Quotes

• Ambition is made of sterner stuff.‘
• (Pg. 153)

• Indeed, Chaka proves this when he made a shattering decision to sacrifice Noliwa his betrothed and sister to Dingiswayo, on the altar of ambition and absolute power. Through her death, Chaka becomes an absolute monarch, the greatest, most revered and feared King in all Zululand and beyond. His pathological cruelty also knew no bounds.

• You are killing me in the hope that you will be kings when I am dead, where as you are wrong, that is not the way it would be because umlungu, the white man is coming, and it is he who will rule you and you will be his servants.”
• ( Pg.167)

• I recommend this great novel for all lovers of historical fiction.

• [H]ere on earth people live by might only, and not by right; he decided that here on earth the only person who is wise and strong and beautiful and righteous, is he who knows how to fight with his stick, who, when people argue with him, settles the matter with his stick [...].

• "I have vaccinated you [...] [with] the medicine of blood; if you do not spill much blood, it will turn against you and kill you instead. Your sole purpose should be to kill without mercy, and thus clear the path that leads to the glory of your kingship."

• "Even on the battlefield his men, when wounded and about to die, would request the king, as their last wish, to disrobe so that they might admire his body for the last time, and thus die in peace [...]."

• "Now he is very famous and he is a great king. Is it possible he will be satisfied? Never! Now his greed has been aroused, and he is in search of something which even he himself does not know."

External links

• readinpleasure
• [1]