Chapter 4: Lion Man

The Manyika kindgom was located in a valley near the eastern highlands. The rains were abundant which gave the kingdom many farming advantages. Like the other kingdoms, the Manyika specialised in cattle rearing. Cattle was a symbol of wealth, power and prestige.

The Manyika villages were located in the valley whilst the King lived on top of a hill. From his compound, the whole kingdom could be seen. The Manyika Kingdom was closer to the eastern coast of the Indian Ocean, hence, it made more contact with the foreigners than any of the three kingdoms.

Traders of the kingdom would be sent to the coast with gold in order to get foreign items like beads, cloth, jewelry, and sometimes guns from the Portuguese and Arab traders. Sometimes, Portugese traders travelled into the kingdom with their goods and traded openly in the Manyika market where locals traded amongst themselves.

The Manyika people were known for their love of purple cloth. Their warriors wore traditional goat skin but they tied their legs and arms with purple cloth.

The Manyika market was a hub of activity. Young translators, also known as Vashambadzi, communicated between the Portuguese and the Manyika. On this day, they were shouting and inviting people to come and trade when a horn sounded. They looked in the direction of the horn and saw a man standing whilst blowing the horn.

He put on the traditional dressing of goat skin which covered the lower part of his body. On his head was the skin of a lion's head which he put on to cover his face. As the people wondered what the man was doing, a group of hyenas suddenly appeared and started circling the people in the market.

Some fled with their lives but many were caught unaware. The man approached the people whose are eyes were fixed on the hungry-looking hyenas. "The people are stubborn because of this place. I am going to watch my army shred this place to its last piece. It made you forget the ways and customs of our forefathers," the man said.

He approached the people barricaded by the animals and saw a young boy. He was the youngest in the market. He took the boy by hand and walked away leaving the boy's mother in tears. She wanted to snatch her son from the man's hands but a hyena stood in her way daring her to make another move. Her husband dragged her back and comforted as he looked at his son being taken away with a foreign man.

The man squatted infront of the boy and said, "What is your name?"

The young boy's eyes flew to the hyenas for a second and the man said, "They won't hurt. What is your name?"

"Bande," the boy responded.

The man smiled and said, "My name is Mutapa. I have a message for the King. Can you go and tell him?"

The boy nodded in fear of the animals and Mutapa said, "Go and tell the King that Mutapa is coming for him. Run to the King and don't look back. Also tell him everything that you saw here."

The boy nodded and Mutapa released him. As Bande ran away from the market place, Mutapa stood up and whistled. As soon as he whistled, the hyenas began attacking the people. Bande heard the screams of people and kept running.

Mutapa watched the hyenas feasting on the small crowd of people on the market before he turned towards the King's compound. When Bande arrived in the King's compound, some warriors stopped him for questioning.

He relayed the events that took place in the market place to the warriors and concluded by saying, "The lion man...he is coming."

The warriors looked on and saw some hyenas charging towards compound. Mutapa followed slowly with his horn in his right hand. When he finally came into the king's compound, he found the warriors struggling to defend themselves from the hyenas.

He whistled and the animals stopped attacking. The King of Manyika kingdom, Mambo Wasu, looked at Mutapa. "Who are you?" The king questioned.

"The man sent by the ancestors to punish your kingdom for its sins," Mutapa responded as he sat on a rock.

"What sins?" Mambo Wasu questioned.

"Forgeting your sins is one of them. The land is polluted by your sins against the ancestors. And there's nothing you can do to stop the ancestors from undertaking their vengeance," Mutapa said.

"Why would they let a man attack us like this if they were truly our ancestors? The land has been peaceful and quiet. The people of the land are well. You are the one who should be punished for bringing chaos to the land," Mambo Wasu responded.

"You are all stubborn. The Bantu, the Zezuru, the Karanga...you. Untamed like a wild beast. But you are going to watch and enjoy as I destroy your stubborness. Your destruction is inevitable and your sons will have nothing to tell but stories of how Mutapa disciplined all of you," Mutapa said.

"How is this land stubborn?" The King questioned.

"You will see," Mutapa rose to his feet. He looked at the king and said, "Consider this an accidental visit. When I come back, there will be nothing but smoke and ashes."

Mutapa whistled and the animals started attacking again. He walked away as cries of men in pain filled his ears. He smiled as he imagined the chaos behind him. Imagining it, was much more interesting to him than watching it.

He walked for moments and blew his horn. All the animals stopped attacking and ran towards the direction of the horn sound. When the Zezuru messengers arrived in the Manyika kingdom, they found traces of the same danger that had infiltrated their Kingdom.

"So we have a man who has attacked three kingdoms so far? He mentioned the Bantu and I believe they have not been attacked. The Bantu kingdom is his last stop," Negomo, leader of Manyika warriors, said after the messengers had explained the purpose of their visit.

"The man said he is going to return to this kingdom. Maybe he won't attack the Bantu until he is done with us," one of the king's advisors said.

"The Karanga villages were reduced to ashes. The same fate fell on our land. He won't rest until this land is reduced to ashes," one of the Zezuru messengers said.

"And he won't rest until he has destroyed the Bantu to ashes," the king added.

"We need to prepare ourselves for the attack," Negomo said.

"He attacked the Zezuru and Karanga at midnight. If he is going to attack this land then he will be visit at night," another Zezuru messenger said.

"How are we going to defend our land then?" An elder questioned.

"We are not going to defend our land. Let him come. His death will be waiting for him," Mambo Wasu said.

"With all due respect Mambo Wasu, if we don't do anything our people will perish. You heard what these messengers from the Zezuru kingdom said. The man is heartless. We all saw what he did here and in the market place," another elder said.

"Which is why we can't defend ourselves from him. When he comes at night he will find noone but traps and warriors hiding and waiting for him," Negomo said.

"We have the highlands for safety. Our people will dwell in the mountains whilst we prepare for war in an empty kingdom. It will give us enough space to fight whilst our people will be protected," Mambo said.

Everyone nodded in agreement. "And when he comes, he will be permanently stopped," Negomo said.

***

Kingdoms that occupied the Zimbabwean plateau like the Mutapa, Ndebele, Great Zimbabwe from the late 12th Century onwards often traded with Portuguese along the East African coast especially on what is modern day Mozambique