Short Story: Thutho Thabeng - The Right Of Passage

Thuto Thabeng - The right of passage.

Once upon a time in a village far away, lived an old man on the mountain top.

When all the men had gone to the city to work for their families, their wives were pregnant.

Upon giving birth, some of them gave birth to sons.

As the boys were becoming teenagers, they began to have a lot of
questions about the changes that were happening to their bodies
but their mothers didn’t have all the answers.

One evening Thato’s mother had a thought, “Umkhulu on top of the mount is very wise and he doesn’t

work in the city, he is here”.
She thought that maybe the boys in the village  
should go to Umkhulu on the mountain and ask him these questions.

Mama kaThato woke up early in the morning and journeyed
to the mountain top where she found umkhulu sitting in the sun as it was a cold morning.
She told Umkhulu about the problem back home and Umkhulu was happy to assist,
he said the boys may arrive that evening.

Thato’s mother was excited to bring the good news
she rushed back to the village and gathered all the women and told them about how the boys could be helped.

The ladies in the village were happy and they were ululating as they all rushed
to their homes to prepare their sons for the journey to the mountain.
Some of the women were also crying as Umkhulu said the boys can stay with him for two moons (months).
They were going to miss their brave young men.

The boys journeyed to the mountain where they spent time with the wise old man on the mountain top;
after two moon;, they returned, the whole village gathered and their fathers brought gifts from the city.
The young men came back brave and more informed about the questions they had.
They slaughtered  and had a feast and thanked the universe for the return of their sons.

The End

...The Taste of Traditional Cuisine.