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Visit to the Ruins
"Dad, it's just a bunch of old rocks," the young boy whined as he trailed behind the massive form of his father.
The muscular man released a long-restrained sigh and turned to face his offspring. "History's important, young man. By understanding our past, we gain inspiration for our future."
"But it's so BORING!" the boy pouted.
"That's just because you aren't seeing the story the way you should," the adult member of the pair admonished. Crouching down to his son's level, he pointed towards a crumbled wall, its unmortared stones pitted by wind and rain. "That, over there, was the building where the soldiers trained for battle. They'd put straw men up on those boulders over there and charge them with their spears. In that flat place over there, they'd fight each other with wooden swords."
"So what?" the boy replied. "We beat 'em anyway..."
"It wasn't so very easy, though. Your textbooks make it sound like the war was over in a year, but in reality it lasted almost 500. Our great ruler had to take troops off the front lines to quell rioting in the capital because the people got fed up with it. Only at the end, when we managed to converge the Three Armies on the last stronghold of our foes, did we manage to crush them. Even then, the end of the day saw one of the Three Armies destroyed, and the other two reduced to half strength."
"So?"
"We're standing on that very spot. Senzangokoa died right over there, next to those broken pillars."
The boy's eyes at last lit up. "Really?" he asked, staring at the shattered column his father pointed out. He raced over to the stonework, staring intently at its abse as if he expected to see the blood of the great leader still staining it. "So what happened after the battle, Dad?" the boy asked after a moment. "In class, teacher just said the war ended."
"It definitely wasn't that simple," the man replied, following his son around the pillar at a more leisurely pace. "The remaining armies were enraged by the death of Senzangokoa, so they tore down as much of this city as they could. They wanted to slaughter even the survivors, but instead the armies were convinced to enslave them. That's how slavery got started."
The boy cocked his head to one side, frowning. "Dingane's dad says slavery started 'cause the English were weak and asked for our protection."
The man shook his head angrily. "Don't listen to that talk. The English fought bravely, and might have defeated us. Senzangokoa himself came to power because his soldiers held off a surprise assault from five legions of English troops on the first day of the war. Had he fallen that day, the English could have destroyed our lands easily. Even at the end, when they faced the Three Armies here at Leeds, they fought bravely and never surrendered. The English are people just like you and me, and I'm personally glad that slavery ended a century ago."
"They look weird," the boy pointed out, and the man smiled.
"They probably think you look a little weird, too," he replied, his eyes warm with laughter. He caressed the stone column, chocolate-brown fingers seeming even darker against the pale alabaster stone. "Come on," he said, "I'll show you where President Shaka killed Queen Elizabeth in single combat."
"That's here, too?"
"Yes. They've still got her head there... they pickled it, so everyone could see it forever."
"Cool!"
--The end--
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