THE KING’S EMPIRE

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXV, Issue 12391, 31 July 1937, Page 2

THE KING’S EMPIRE

) SOUTH AFRICA—MICE FOB i I SUPPER

Every year—as we read in a fas- : cinating book about the Kaffirs- , the head boy of one South kraal invites about a hundred boys' ■ to a party, and the head girl in-1 ’ vites about as many girls. The hk . vitations go out about a fortnightJi|i before the great annual event, and [. there is much excitement. On the great day, “as the tffi- • light dies and a rich afterglow of. . the deepest purple or violet suffuses the sky, there can be seen a string ol k little children streaming out of a hut on hands and knees—-all silhouetted against a' few, low-lying clouds of orange colour—and hurrying over the veld in single file along the narrow Kaffir footpath. At length this thin, wavy line of excited,. talkative, chattering children ar- ft rives at the kraal, which is the focus of many other groups of children dimly seen to be converging on , it in the dusk.” The little guests salute the head-man of the place, and then are told what huts are set apart for the evening. W 1 The party as a rule lasts tm dawn, so some huts are reserved for w,’ tired children, who can go and no down, and return, if they like, when refreshed; but for a long time M one is tired. . I’l 1 The first great interest ot ik evening centi'es in food. There are roast mice and roast birds in P‘ en -' goat’s milk, sour milk, and P u ®* 4, ‘ kins. Dancing and games o*B* ■ • Some of the games are merely initiative. Law Courts, for instance, a, , a favourite game, and lately a- ' 1 sionary Meetings. f l ,, Toward morning the big hoys PJ f i very wild, and fight till they are all over bruises and cuts. At length, . the light of dawn they go home, t boys “aching in limb and hruisea in body;” most of the children very tired, and all of them cross and bedraggled, not at all m the eager and excited children started off for the party but, hours before with such S aiety a . r joy. Yet, such is the love of apa ■ that every one of them will forward to the next party witn light. } 1