Mafeking Road and Other
Stories
1947
(From the heart of the shrubby Transvaal of South Africa, the Boer herdsman Oom Schalk Lourens has a story or two to tell.)
All text except quotations is copyright 2001 by David Lahti, and represents his views alone. Please comment on this page in my guestbook.
CONTENTS:
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One can easily imagine Oom Schalk Lourens, descendent of the early Dutch colonists of South Africa, sitting on a "stoep" and nursing his pipe in the scrubby Marico district of what used to be called the Western Transvaal. He'd be full of parochial prejudices, to be sure, but he'd also be full of pithy maxims and charming jokes which had been honed over generations on the thorny veld among the ox-herding Boers. He'd have that fresh peculiarity of attitude and perspective that pioneer folk tend to cultivate, which may come in part from their hardships associated with living close to the land, but is certainly influenced also by observing the beauty and workings of that land. Oom Schalk would be full of tales-- the trek of oxen through difficult mountain passes, homemade brandy, the occasional city-boy who wanders into the region, conflict with neighboring peoples, and of course the dramatic events instigated by romantic love.
Herman Charles Bosman, who lived most of his own life in the Transvaal of South Africa, imagined that character, and preserved him in all of his idiosyncratic and endearing detail in this book of stories. The tales are humorous, imaginative, romantic, and usually have a delightful twist at the end that is strongly reminiscent of our own O.Henry. In fact, the very setting and attitudes are almost eerie in their convergence with the American West. Like O.Henry, Bosman's storytelling secret is exactly that which Oom Schalk Lourens reveals to us: he knows what to tell us and when, and most importantly he knows what not to tell us. To this he adds a subtle and simple treatment of deep reflections, a rural "sit-back-and-relax" feel, and an ability for remarkably poignant description. The result is a classic set of stories, deserving of world attention to match the attention it already receives in Bosman's home country.
An undeniable part of the culture of the Afrikaners of South Africa has been conflict with the native peoples of that region, as the world well knows. As was the case with most, if not all, instances of European colonization, the native peoples were not accorded equal legal status with the whites until hundreds of years had passed. (And even today racial tensions in South Africa are stronger than ever). Afrikaner or Boer attitudes towards the South African blacks, whom they called "kaffirs" from an Arabic word, are evident in Bosman's stories. This of course must be the case if Bosman is to be at all authentic in his depiction of the Transvaal of the time, just as the attitudes of whites towards American Indians and Mexicans would be a necessary and honest ingredient in any series of Old West tales. Despite the oppressive apartheid regime and its ongoing aftermath, however, it is a drastic mistake to demonize white South Africans, or the Afrikaner people in particular. Bosman can be read for pleasure as much as for anything else, by those of any race; but he is enlightening to read for the access he provides to the Afrikaners-- a much criticized people of late, but an adventurous and fascinating people nevertheless.
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"Starlight on the Veld"
Two men lie outside all night talking of the stars. Ignorant of scientific truths, they are nevertheless very aware of spiritual ones: beauty, love, and heartache.
"Willem Prinsloo's Peach Brandy"
Two young men's hearts are dazzled by a young woman recently returned from finishing school. Each is teased with a token: a white rose.
"In the Withaak's Shade"
A terrifying but eerie encounter with a leopard makes a man pensive; he has communed with the animal. We regret its death.
"Ox-wagons on Trek"
A young starry-eyed girl is romanced as much by her stranger lover being taken from her, as by his loving her, since that's what happens in the movies.
"The Music-Maker"
A concertina player imitates the great classical musicians' customs in an effort to prepare himself for the big time in music.
"Marico Scandal"
Someone is rumored to be "colored", and is made fun of in a debate on the "Native question". Meanwhile a pretty young lady defends his whiteness, for a secret reason.
"Mafeking Road"
Humorous and ironic account of a Boer defeat, retreat, and the death of a surrendering man.
"The Love Potion"
A young policeman uses the fabled "juba juice" to win over his beloved... with a little help from Oom Schalk Lourens.
"Makapan's Caves"
A sad, disturbing account of a standoff between Boers and black Africans where a man goes to seek his brother in a besieged group of caves.
"Yellow Moepels"
A young lover promises to return from the Boer war to his beloved. The witch doctor agrees that he will indeed come. But neither foresees that she might not want him any more!
"Bechuana Interlude"
An insurance salesman comes between a pretty young girl and her suitor, until a black schoolmaster reveals a controversial secret.
"Brown mamba"
A scary, provocative story of death, during a trek on the lonely thornveld.
"Dream by the Bluegums"
A short dream about an old-fashioned girl takes on a startling significance when the dreamer awakes, to find that his head had been resting on her headstone.
"Gramophone"
A temperamental husband suddenly has a missing wife and a pile of loose earth, when a visitor comes to call after the couple had a fight.
"The Prophet"
A broken veldskoen (boot) halts a confrontation between a Boer "prophet" and a black witch-doctor.
"Drieka and the Moon"
Flirting with a beautiful young married woman is fun, until she whispers a startling proposal.
"Mampoer"
Two men discuss a new pretty waitress in town, and compare two hypotheses as to how she got two purple spots on her cheek. Was it by Satan kissing her, or from a bottle of mampoer brandy exploding?
"The Widow"
A man is killed, and his wife is thrown into a state of taciturn shock. This shock breaks into a fit of weeping only after the murder trial and execution, when she sprawls in mourning over the grave of... the killer!
"Veld Maiden"
A young painter is entranced by a dream he has of a maiden of the veld coming to him and then disappearing. This all ends when she finally stays with him and they run away together-- much to the consternation of a local farmer whose young wife has suddenly gone missing.
"The Rooinek"
A poignant, moving narration of a Boer War battle, expatriation, and a failed attempt to trek families across the Kalihari to friendlier territory; all told in the context of relations between the Afrikaners and English-- particularly one friendly, loyal Englishman who came to live with the Boers.
"Splendours from Ramoutsa"
An Indian with stories of magnificent palaces and princesses sets himself up as Lourens's rival. But Lourens's stories speak to the heart of his people, and so the Indian's fame is a passing phase-- or is it?
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"'He seems to be one of that new kind of school-teacher,' I said, 'the kind that teaches the children that the earth turns round the sun. I am surprised they didn't sack him.'
'Yes,' Jan Ockerse answered, 'they did.'
I was glad to hear that also."
-"Starlight on the Veld"
"'I know that school-teacher in Zeerust bar was all wrong,' Jan Ockerse said, finally, 'when he tried to explain how far away the stars are. The lower one of those three stars-- ah, it has just faded-- is very near to me. Yes, it is very near.'"
-"Starlight on the Veld"
"Leopards?-- Oom Schalk Lourens said-- Oh yes, there are two varieties on this side of the Limpopo. The chief difference between them is that the one kind of leopard has got a few more spots on it than the other kind. But when you meet a leopard in the veld, unexpectedly, you seldom trouble to count his spots to find out what kind he belongs to. That is unnecessary. Because, whatever kind of leopard it is that you come across in this way, you only do one kind of running. And that is the fastest kind."
-"In the Withaak's Shade"
"You do get like that, when there is suddenly a bright morning after long rains, and a low wind stirs the wet grass, and you feel, for a little while, that you know the same things that the veld knows, and in your heart are whisperings."
-"Ox-wagons on Trek"
"For it is not the story that counts. What matters is the way you tell it. The important thing is to know just at what moment you must knock out your pipe on your veldskoen, and at what stage of the story you must start talking about the School Committee at Drogevlei. Another necessary thing is to know what part of the story to leave out.
And you can never learn these things."
-"Mafeking Road"
"Always the veld is still in the presence of death."
-"Brown Mamba"
"Suddenly Hendrik grew afraid. It was a vague fear he couldn't understand. But it made him feel very lonely. He seemed to be alone under the sky with the dead herdsman. The corpse and he seemed to be alone together. Piet and the kaffirs were apart from him somehow. He remembered having had that same feeling once before when he had shot a ribbok.
"He had disembowelled the ribbok and was fastening two of its legs together so that he could carry it home across his shoulders. It was then that that strange feeling came to him, a feeling of intimacy and understanding with the dead ribbok. Now, when he was standing over the herdsman and getting ready to lower him into the grave, that queer sense of companionship with the dead came to him again. It was frightening."
-"Brown Mamba"
"And there is nothing that angers you more than when those who used to fear you start being polite to you."
-"The Prophet"
"He seemed to have nothing but what the sun and the sand and the grass had given him, and yet that was more than what all the men in the world could give him."
-of Mosiko; "The Prophet"
"It does strange things to your mind, the Marico moon, and in your heart are wild and fragrant fancies, and your thoughts go very far away."
-"Drieka and the Moon"
"It was good mampoer, made from karee-berries that were plucked when they were still green and full of thick sap, just before they had begun to whiten, and we said things that contained much wisdom."
-"Mampoer" [which is brandy]
"You can't do much, if all you have to offer a widow is human sympathy, and she looks back at you with wide eyes that seem to want nothing more from this world or the world to come. You get uneasy, then, and feel that you have no right to trespass on this sort of sorrow."
-"The Widow"
"I was sure that he only talked silly things about visions and the spirit of the veld because of what they had done to him at the school in Johannesburg where they taught him all that nonsense about art, and I felt sorry for him."
-"Veld Maiden"
"For when you are in the desert and there is no water and the way back is long, then you feel that it is better to have with you a strong man who does not read the Book very much, than a man who is good and religious, and yet does not seem sure how far to trek each day and where to outspan."
-"The Rooinek" [which is an Englishman]
"I think that is the saddest thing that ever happens in this world, when women pass through great suffering that makes them become as men."
-"The Rooinek"
"...these reasons are deeper than any stories..."
-on the reasons why some people want stories told to them; "Splendours from Ramoutsa"
"Just in a few words, and without even talking about the princess, I would be able to let people know, subtly, what was in her heart. And this was more important than the palaces and the temples and the elephants with gold ornaments on their feet."
-on storytelling; "Splendours from Ramoutsa"
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...you yearn for the simple life, and simple thoughts, in a time and place of pioneers, amid the trials of a harsh countryside; or, you hanker for some witty, folksy yarns.
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If you like this, you'd also like...
(for the witty teller of folk-tales:)
-Mark Twain, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" (1867) and other sketches and stories.
-Sholom Aleichem, Tevye's Daughters, and other stories (c.1905-1916).
-O.Henry, Heart of the West (1907).
(for the observer of South African society:)
-Es'kia Mphahlele, Down Second Avenue (1959).
-Alan Paton, Cry, the Beloved Country (1948).
-Nadine Gordimer, None to Accompany Me (1994).
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No Herman Charles Bosman book is in stock currently at Amazon.com. I'd recommend looking around on the web, and perhaps ordering it from South Africa!
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