In this story by Herman Bosman, a young a young farmer riding off to fight the British during the short First Boer War promises the girl he is engaged to that he will be home when the moepel fruit are ripe (yellow). The girl visits a native witch-doctor who tells her the same thing. We learned earlier in the story that witch-doctors can only tell you the things that don’t matter in your life. There is something more important in the girl’s future that the witch-doctor neglected to divulge. Themes: love, superstition, war, “bravery”, memory, racism.
Many stories have been written about the brutality of and/or bravery in war. Intertwined with this tale of a romance gone awry, Bosman uses satire to show how, for most soldiers, the focus in war is not on glory or even victory, but simply staying alive.
There is also a fascinating piece of historical byplay in the story. The witch-doctor’s prediction that the friend who accompanied the narrator’s father on his visit would go very far away over the great waters and not come back alludes to real event. The fictional friend’s name is Paul Kruger; the real-life Paul Kruger rose to become four times president of the Transvaal Republic, and died in Switzerland after being captured and sent into exile at the end of the Second Boer War. Again, the witch-doctor got the overseas bit right, but neglected to tell him about becoming president!
Original Text / PDF (1,800 words)