6. ABSENT WITHOUT LEAVE
Dedicated to Moloto, the wisest zombie
Moloto laughed at Kgomo’s misunderstanding, following the chaplain’s sermon to the North Sotho auxiliaries, that resurrection meant God’s turning all men into zombies.
Moloto knew that zombies were men believed by their kin to be dead, but in fact bewitched by magicians to work on their farms without pay.
That weekend was closed: the auxiliaries were not permitted to go on leave: they would not see their families that month. Instead, they were encouraged to spend their wages on alcohol and cigarettes from the expensive canteen.
They all paid the fine for being AWOL, even those who stayed in camp.
7. BATTLE OF THE GODS
For ages Artemis, in her quadruple nature of goddess of virgins, childbirth, death and hunting, held the contradictions of Nature together in an uneasy alliance. In the higher heavens these contradictions were reconciled in the separate deities of Aphrodite, Zeus, Kronos and Ares.*
Then the Madonna came and usurped two of Artemis' functions, thus dethroning the respective superior powers. Jesus ousted Ceres and Bacchus, and incorporated in his single person their two gifts to mankind.
The Greeks eventually came to accept the new regime, but they could not help wondering what had happened to Kronos and Ares during the battle.
8. THE ART OF BUSH SURVIVAL
For Plato did not confine himself to teaching that each of the different classes of citizens has its natural place in society... he also tried to interpret the world of physical bodies... on similar principles
"The aim of observation," said the instructor, "is to identify objects which do not belong in the landscape." The recruits struggled to write this down, because dust blinded them and their pens. The corporal then concealed the contents of one recruit's backpack in the bushes nearby for the others to look out for on a play-act patrol.
Back at the regimented bungalows, which were separated from the veld only by small, tidy gardens, the recruits prepared for inspection. The space between each item of kit had to be measured by the width of a matchbox, packed with obedient, blind matches.
9. THE HUNT
The forest knows no horizon, but the trees all point up towards heaven. Wolves complain to the full moon.
Poor woodcutters, uncouth civilisers on the infinite forest's fringe, cower in terror. They fear the werewolf.
Then comes the hunt. Wolves flee in terror, or cower and die. Great, ravaging boars retreat to the deepest woods. The very tree gods flee before the furious flood of men, horses and dogs, of horns, spears and arrows.
When the hunt ends, the trees are all in place. The old fear of the woods returns to its rightful home in the foresters' tormented souls.
10. ON PARADE
There was complete silence on the parade ground. The men stood in their companies, facing east, heads bowed, right hands pressing their green berets to their hearts. At the back of the parade ground the bull, symbol of the battalion’s strength, stood bemused.
The fat chaplain started praying from the podium for the self-discipline to resist earthly pleasures. While he prayed, several cows were being herded past the camp’s eastern fence.
The chaplain’s “Amen” was pre-empted by a plaintive bellow from the bull, who had been watching the movement of the cows lecherously, restrained as he was by his nose-ring.
* See Appendix
Dedicated to Moloto, the wisest zombie
Moloto laughed at Kgomo’s misunderstanding, following the chaplain’s sermon to the North Sotho auxiliaries, that resurrection meant God’s turning all men into zombies.
Moloto knew that zombies were men believed by their kin to be dead, but in fact bewitched by magicians to work on their farms without pay.
That weekend was closed: the auxiliaries were not permitted to go on leave: they would not see their families that month. Instead, they were encouraged to spend their wages on alcohol and cigarettes from the expensive canteen.
They all paid the fine for being AWOL, even those who stayed in camp.
7. BATTLE OF THE GODS
For ages Artemis, in her quadruple nature of goddess of virgins, childbirth, death and hunting, held the contradictions of Nature together in an uneasy alliance. In the higher heavens these contradictions were reconciled in the separate deities of Aphrodite, Zeus, Kronos and Ares.*
Then the Madonna came and usurped two of Artemis' functions, thus dethroning the respective superior powers. Jesus ousted Ceres and Bacchus, and incorporated in his single person their two gifts to mankind.
The Greeks eventually came to accept the new regime, but they could not help wondering what had happened to Kronos and Ares during the battle.
8. THE ART OF BUSH SURVIVAL
For Plato did not confine himself to teaching that each of the different classes of citizens has its natural place in society... he also tried to interpret the world of physical bodies... on similar principles
"The aim of observation," said the instructor, "is to identify objects which do not belong in the landscape." The recruits struggled to write this down, because dust blinded them and their pens. The corporal then concealed the contents of one recruit's backpack in the bushes nearby for the others to look out for on a play-act patrol.
Back at the regimented bungalows, which were separated from the veld only by small, tidy gardens, the recruits prepared for inspection. The space between each item of kit had to be measured by the width of a matchbox, packed with obedient, blind matches.
9. THE HUNT
The forest knows no horizon, but the trees all point up towards heaven. Wolves complain to the full moon.
Poor woodcutters, uncouth civilisers on the infinite forest's fringe, cower in terror. They fear the werewolf.
Then comes the hunt. Wolves flee in terror, or cower and die. Great, ravaging boars retreat to the deepest woods. The very tree gods flee before the furious flood of men, horses and dogs, of horns, spears and arrows.
When the hunt ends, the trees are all in place. The old fear of the woods returns to its rightful home in the foresters' tormented souls.
10. ON PARADE
There was complete silence on the parade ground. The men stood in their companies, facing east, heads bowed, right hands pressing their green berets to their hearts. At the back of the parade ground the bull, symbol of the battalion’s strength, stood bemused.
The fat chaplain started praying from the podium for the self-discipline to resist earthly pleasures. While he prayed, several cows were being herded past the camp’s eastern fence.
The chaplain’s “Amen” was pre-empted by a plaintive bellow from the bull, who had been watching the movement of the cows lecherously, restrained as he was by his nose-ring.
* See Appendix