Contents -- IIIustrutions -- Preface -- Note -- Introduction: Some Moments, Figures, and Themes in South African History -- PROLOGUE FOUNDERS OF THE INHERITANCE: "LET ME GO BACK" -- Introduction -- Ndumiso Bhotomane, Origins of the Xhosa -- The Development of the Kingdom -- The State of the Kingdom -- PART 1 CULTIVATING THE PAST: "THIS IS GOD'S PLACE" -- Introduction -- Nongenile Masithathu Zenani, "The Necessary Clown" -- Nongenile Masithathu Zenani, "The Endless Mountain" -- Hayibo, Mityi's Stepbrother -- Mityi, the Neglected -- Mityi, the Creator -- Mityi, the Queen -- PART 2 AMBIGUOUS PROMISE: "IT KEEPS ON HAPPENING, IT KEEPS ON HAPPENING" -- Introduction -- Noplani Gxavu, Malikophu's Daughter -- Emily Ntsobane, The Deadly Pumpkin -- PART 3 THE THREATENED DREAM: "THE LAND WAS SEIZED" -- Introduction -- Mdukiswa Tyabashe, So Tall He Touched the Heavens -- Mdukiswa Tyabashe, All the Land of the Mpondomise -- From the Blue Region -- The Hunter and Master of Magic -- The Dreamer -- Struggle for the Throne -- The Sacred Snake -- The Woman Who Would Be King -- Shaka Invades the Mpondomise -- A Land Divided -- Conflict with the Thembu -- Like a Woman Carrying Children on Her Back -- Freedom-fighter -- Flight -- Mtshophane Mamba, Snapping at the Water's Foam -- Ndumiso Bhotomane, The Land Was Seized: The Ngcayechibi War of 1877 -- Ashton Ngcama, The Land Has Grown Old -- Ashton Ngcama, Tears in Your Stomach -- PART 4 UNCERTAIN HOPE: LIGHTING "AN UNCONTROLLABLE FIRE" -- Introduction -- Ndumiso Bhotomane, She Spoke about the Resurrection: Nongqawuse and the Cattle Killing of 1857 -- Nongenile Masithathu Zenani, No Person Arose -- Sondoda Ngcobo, Chakijana, the Trickster -- Sondoda Ngcobo, Chakijana, Zulu Freedom-fighter -- Frederick William Calverley, So Everybody Was After Chakijana -- P.W. van Niekerk, The Whites Were to Be Killed.

EPILOGUE SEIZERS OF THE INHERITANCE: "THE STORY IS PAINFUL" -- Introduction -- Nomusa Makhoba, Jabulani Alone -- Death of the Father -- Destitute -- Seizers of the Inheritance -- Coming of Age -- Death of the Mother -- Independence -- Return -- Jabulani Alone -- Magagamela Koko, Age and Death -- When You Are Grey -- Now I Am Spent -- Notes -- Sources -- Index.