Soon he will die
of love for me, and then when he is dead, though not before, I may take
another husband, any husband that I choose, and I think that no black
man shall be my lord, who have other, purer blood in me. Vernoon, five
centuries have gone by since an Asika was really wed to a foreign man
who wore a green turban and called himself a son of the Prophet, a man
with a hooked nose and flashing eyes, who reviled our gods until they
slew him, even though he was the beloved of their priestess. She who
went before me also would have married that white man whose face was
like your face, but he fled with Little Bonsa, or rather Little Bonsa
fled with him. So she passed away unwed, and in her place I came."
"How did you come, if she whom you call your mother was not your
mother?" asked Alan.
"What is that to you, white man?" she replied haughtily. "I am here,
as my spirit has been here from the first. Oh! I see you think I lie to
you, come then, come, and I will show you those who from the beginning
have been the husbands of the Asika," and rising from her chair she took
him by the hand.
They went through doors and by long, half-lit passages till they came to
great gates guarded by old priests armed with spears.
Pages:
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241