Weep Not Child by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o Read Free Book Online Page B

examine a luxuriant green tea plant, or pull out a weed. Both men admired this
shamba
. For Ngotho felt responsible for whatever happened to this land. He owed it to the dead, the living, and the unborn of his line, to keep guard over this
shamba
. Mr Howlands always felt a certain amount of victory whenever he walked through it all. He alone was responsible for taming this unoccupied wildness. They came to a raised piece of ground and stopped. The land sloped gently to rise again into the next ridge and the next. Beyond, Ngotho could see the African Reserve.
    ‘You like all this?’ Mr Howlands asked absentmindedly. He was absorbed in admiring the land before him.
    ‘It is the best land in all the country,’ Ngotho said emphatically. He meant it.
    Mr Howlands sighed. He was wondering if Stephen would ever manage it after him.
    ‘I don’t know who will manage it after me…’
    Ngotho’s heart jumped. He too was thinking of his children. Would the prophecy be fulfilled soon?
    ‘Kwa nini Bwana. Are you going back to–?’
    ‘No,’ Mr Howlands said, unnecessarily loudly.
    ‘…Your home, home…’
    ‘My home is here!’
    Ngotho was puzzled. Would these people never go? But had not the old Gikuyu seer said that they would eventually return the way they had come?
    And Mr Howlands was thinking, would Stephen
really d
o? He was not like the other one. He felt the hurt and the pain of loss.
    ‘The war took him away.’
    Ngotho had never known where the other son had gone to. Now he understood. He wanted to tell of his own son: he longed to say, ‘You took him away from me’. But he kept quiet. Only he thought Mr Howlands should not complain. It had been his war.

4
    At school Njoroge proved good at reading. He always remembered his first lesson. The teacher had stood in front. He was a short man with a small moustache that he was fond of touching and fondling. They called him Isaka. This was his Christian name, a corruption of Isaac. The children rarely knew a teacher’s surname. Many stories went around about Isaka. Some said that he was not
a good Christian
. This meant that he drank and smoked and went about with women, a thing that no teacher in their school was expected to do. But Isaka was a jovial man and children loved him. Njoroge admired his moustache. It was claimed that Isaka folded his moustache mischievously whenever he was talking with the women teachers. It was a source of constant gossip to the boys whenever they were alone in groups.
    When the teacher had come in he made a strange mark on the board.
    ‘A’. This was meaningless to Njoroge and others.
Teacher
Say Ah.
Class
Aaaaa.
Teacher
Again.
Class
Aaaaa.
    One felt the corrugated iron roof would crack.
Teacher
(making another mark on the board) Say Eee.
Class
Eeeeeeee.
    That sounded nice and familiar. When a child cried he said, Eeeee, Eeeee.
Teacher
I.
Class
Iiiiiii.
Teacher
Again.
Class
Iiiiiii.
Teacher
That’s the old Gikuyu way of saying ‘Hodi’, ‘may I come in?’
    The children laughed. It was so funny the way he said this. He made yet another mark on the board. Njoroge’s heart beat fast. To know that he was actually learning! He would have a lot to tell his mother.
Teacher
Oh.
Class
Ooooo.
Teacher
Again.
Class
Ooooo.
    Another letter:
Teacher
U.
Class
Uuu.
Teacher
What does a woman say when she sees danger?
Class
(the boys looking triumphantly at the girls) Uuuuuuu.
    There was laughter.
Teacher
Say U-u-u-u-u.
Class
U-u-u-u-u-u-u-u.
Teacher
What animal says this?
    A boy shot up his arm. But before he could answer, the class had burst out ‘a dog’. Again there was laughter and a little confused murmuring.
Teacher
What does a dog do?
    Here there was disagreement. Some shouted that it said, U-u-u-u-u, while others simply declared that a dog barked.
Teacher
A dog barks.
Class
A dog barks.
Teacher
What does a dog say when it barks?
Class
U-u-u-u-u-u.
    From that day the teacher’s name had become U-u.
    Njoroge loved these reading