The relationship between the lion hunter and the chief was not good, and there must be more to it than that.
But Li Du did not ask, and since the lion hunter no longer talked about it, he changed the subject.
This time, he would attend a banquet in the Zulu tribe, where there would be a war-dance performance. Starting tomorrow, the lion hunter would take him to participate in the tribe's hunting activities, to play in the wilderness.
But in the evening, the lion hunter went out, came back with a mysterious smile on his face, and said, "We will not go hunting tomorrow. Tomorrow you can see the sacred ceremony of the Zulu people."
"What sacred ceremony?" asked Li Du.
The lion hunter did not answer, but said with a smile, "You must have never experienced it before. Believe me, you will be surprised tomorrow."
In the evening, many men and women gathered in an open space in the tribe. They were dressed in bright clothes and smiled brightly. They stood in the open space and sang and danced.
Among them, the girls were still bare-chested, standing in front of the crowd and dancing. Lu Guan and the others walked to the open space, and someone pulled them in and led them to dance.
When the sun set and the moon rose, a bonfire was lit in the open space. Flames rose into the air, fluttered in the wind, and went straight into the sky.
At this time, the people who had been dancing wildly moved aside, and dozens of strong young men and women ran to the open space and officially began the war-dance performance.
When performing the war dance, the young men all wore leopard patterned clothes, which were not artificial like the ones in the city, but real leopard skin.
Leopard skin was the symbol of the chiefs, but during the war-dance, men could wear such clothes. There were also leopard leather skirts, and lion manes or the fur of other beasts were tied to their calves.
Around the open space, there were drums, howling, and stamping their feet and applauding. Following the drumbeats and rhythmic cries, the young men made various fighting postures.
At first, their dance was mainly agile jumping, but after a while, someone brought them knives, guns, and sticks. They began to brandish their weapons, showing their majesty in fighting with weapons.
Looking at the fierce war-dance, the Zulu people present, including the lion hunter, showed proud expressions. They held their heads high and cheered, stamped their feet, applauded, and cheered for the war-dance.
Occasionally, Lion Hunter would turn around and ask, "Li, how was it? How was our war dance?"
Li Du applauded and said, "Cool, man. No wonder I heard that the Zulu people are the most heroic people in Africa!"
The lion hunter raised his head proudly and said, "Of course, we are the most heroic Africans. We are the only African people who have truly defeated the British!"
The war he was talking about was the Zulu War, which took place in 1879 and included the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, the Battle of the Malay Peninsula, and the Battle of Isandlwana, in which the British army suffered heavy losses.
At that time, in Isandlwana, the British army faced the attack of the Zulus, who were several generations behind them. The nearly naked warriors, armed with primitive hunting spears, under the command of King Kaiwayo, defeated the invaders with the most advanced weapons and equipment of the time.
The final result of the war was the Zulu people's defeat, but that battle had won them enough pride and confidence as a nation.
Later, when Mandela led the black independence movement in South Africa, the Zulus had always been the backbone of it because they were the most confident South Africans.
What made Li Du and the others depressed was that there was no food during the war dance. In order to show respect for the warriors, everyone focused on the performance and no one was allowed to eat.
The war dance began shortly after sunset and continued until late at night, when the young men and women were exhausted and had cramps in their legs and feet.
At that time, it was finally time to eat, but Li Du was too hungry to eat!
In the end, he tasted the famous roasted leopard meat of the local tribe, and after a hasty meal, they went to the room arranged by Lion Hunter to rest.
The next day's breakfast was quite sumptuous, with corn porridge, roasted corn, steamed corn, corn sweet sauce, fried corn kernels, corn kernels with meat sauce, and so on.
In short, the local people's love of corn was reflected in their breakfast.
At breakfast, Lion Hunter said, "You are free to do whatever you want later. At about ten o'clock, go to the place where you watched the war dance last night. There is an ancient ceremony there."
Li Du said, "You look forward to it? What kind of ceremony is this? Do you still need to keep it a secret? "
Lion Hunter blinked and said, "A ceremony that both men and women love."
His pretense of mystery succeeded in whetting Li Du and the others' appetite. After wandering around the tribe for a while, they saw people beginning to gather in the open space, and Li Du and the others hurried over.
The people who gathered were all young men and women. The black people looked old, and the Zulu people were always engaged in agriculture, animal husbandry, and hunting.
Li Du could not tell the age of these men and women, but he estimated that they were no more than fifteen or sixteen years old.
When they arrived, an old woman with a piece of mud on her forehead came up, waved her hand vigorously and shouted, "Talulu, talulu!"
"What does that mean?" Li Du wondered.
Lu Guan scratched his head and said, "It seems to be the Zulu word for 'go away.' I heard it a few times last night, but I didn't pay attention, so I'm not sure. "
Li Du looked back and saw Lion Hunter smiling at them not far away. There were some men around him, all smiling at them.
Seeing this, Li Du knew that they had been fooled by Lion Hunter!
He hurried away with the others, but the old woman reached out and grabbed Sophie. Li Du did not know what she was talking about, but her attitude was very kind.
Lion Hunter said, "Let Miss Sophie stay. You guys leave quickly, or you will be beaten!"
Li Du frowned and asked, "What's going on? Did you fool us? "
Lion Hunter laughed. "No, no, there really is an ancient sacred ceremony to test the purity of the boys and girls."
Li Du looked back at the girls in the distance and the open space surrounded by long cloth. He roughly understood what Lion Hunter meant and said in surprise, "Is there such a thing?"
Lion Hunter shrugged and said, "Perhaps you know that we Zulu people have a tradition of offering sacrifices to the goddess. Now, what you are seeing is this traditional ceremony."
How could Li Du know such a tradition? The others did not know either, and they were all dumbfounded.
The lion hunter explained to them, "The Goddess of Birth and the God of Heaven are the true gods of our Zulu people. According to legend, if the goddess is not revered as she should be, she will attack humans with natural and man-made disasters. Humans, especially women, must maintain their virginity to ask for her blessing."
Li Du shook his head and said, "If you really believe in this goddess, then you should not maintain the polygamy system."
The lion hunter said nonchalantly, "So, this was a tradition of the past. Later, the tradition was lost, but it has been found again over the years."
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