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Lines 443 - 460
443 |
- Matangwa o vhagayi:
The best dancers of matangwa have died:
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444 |
- O Vho-Sithubabila.
Sithubabila has died.
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445 |
- A thi dali nda tsa maheni.
You could not say that I was merely going visiting when I go to the diviner's.
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446 |
- hu lila lufhoro;
The bird that sings (early in the morning) is the Cape robin (Cossypka caffra);
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447 |
- ndi miludzi minzhi.
The sunbird has many different calls.
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448 |
- Vhuya-vhuya mutshopo-tshopo!
Down comes the rain, pitter-patter!
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449 |
- Vhusimana ha Tshirumbule.
(It's) the boyish prank of the Piercer.
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This is said to refer to the fact that boys use the penis only to urinate.
450 |
- Masia nda ita dombani.
I did something at domba.
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If someone has gone to do something at domba, he says "Ndo ita masia."
451 |
- Vhe' Vhatei no kumba dembe;
They say, You novices have gathered up your loin cloths,
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452 |
- Ni funa in nga phale.
You want to show off with a goat skin skirt.
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453 |
- Ndo muri mufhefha-.
I have eaten of the tree that makes you sharp-headed.
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Line 453 refers to a master's ability to remember and recite milayo.
454 |
- Ndi a fa ndi sa vhoni madzanga;
I shall die if I don't see the beauties;
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455 |
- Madzanga a khomba ndi manzhi.
The attractions of the girls are numerous.
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456 |
- Hu tshee kale, hu tshee mulovha,
Long ago, and even only yesterday,
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457 |
- u tshee na ;
The wild fig tree (Ficus sp.) still had a point;
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458 |
- U tshi Twa, mulisa a lila,
When it gave him a thrashing, a herd boy would cry,
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459 |
- A fhumudzwa nga Nyamurevhe,
Silenced by Nyamurevhe,
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460 |
- Ndi mudia-.
By the stick that strikes the heifers.
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Lines 456-460 both recall the days when the master was young, and comment on the easier life that herd boys now lead. Since the late Swethani Nemukula said he knew these lines when he was young, it is clear that things weren't what they were at least seventy years ago!
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