"Resnick, Mike - Kirinyaga 5 - The Manamouki" - читать интересную книгу автора (Resnick Mike)

But, of course, it wasn't.
* * * *
I spent the next two weeks visiting a neighboring village whose chief had died quite suddenly. He had no sons and no brothers, and the line of succession was in doubt. I listened to all the applicants to the throne, discussed the situation with the Council of Elders until there was unanimity, presided at the ceremony that installed the new chief in his ceremonial robes and headdress, and finally returned to my own village.
As I climbed the path to my boma, I saw a female figure sitting just outside my hut. I drew closer and saw that it was Shima, Ndemi's mother.
"Jambo, Koriba," she said.
"Jambo, Shima," I responded.
"You are well, I trust."
"As well as an old man can feel after walking for most of the day," I responded, sitting down opposite her. I looked around my boma. "I do not see Ndemi."
"I sent him to the village for the afternoon, because I wished to speak to you alone."
"Does this concern Ndemi?" I asked.
She shook her head. "It is about Mwange."
I sighed wearily. "Proceed."
"I am not like the other women, Koriba," she began. "I have always been good the Mwange."
"So she has told me."
"Her ways do not bother me," she continued. "After all, someday I shall be the mother of the mundumugu, and while there can be many senior wives, there can be only one mundumugu and one mundumugu's mother."
"This is true," I said, waiting for her to get to the point of her visit.
"Therefore, I have befriended Mwange, and have shown her many kindnesses, and she has responded in kind."
"I am pleased to hear it."
"And because I have befriended her," continued Shima, "I have felt great compassion for her, because as you know she carries the thahu of barrenness. And it seemed to me that, since Nkobe is such a wealthy man, that he should take another wife, to help Mwange with the work on the shamba and to produce sons and daughters. She paused. "My daughter Shuni, as you know, will be circumcised before the short rains come, and so I approached Mwange as a friend, and as the mother of the future mundumugu, to suggest that Nkobe pay the bride price for Shuni." Here she paused again, and frowned. "She got very mad and yelled at me. You must speak to her, Koriba. A rich man like Nkobe should not be forced to live with only a barren wife."
"Why do you keep calling Nkobe a rich man?" I asked. "His shamba is small, and he has only six cattle."
"His family is rich," she stated. "Ndemi told me that they have many men and machines to do their planting and harvesting."
Thank you for nothing, little Ndemi, I thought irritably. Aloud I said: "All that is back on Earth. Here Nkobe is a poor man."
"Even if he is poor," said Shima, "he will not remain poor, for grain and vetegables grow for Mwange as for no one else, as if this is Ngai's blessing to make up for His thahu of barrenness." She stared at me. "You must talk to her, Koriba. This would be a good thing. Shumi is very obedient and hard-working, and she already likes Mwange very much. We will not demand a large bride price, for we know that the mundumugu's family will never go hungry."
"Why did you not wait for Nkobe to approach you, as is the custom?" I asked.
"I thought if I explained my idea to Mwange, she would see the wisdom of it and speak to Nkobe herself, for he listens to her more than most husbands listen to their wives, and surely the thought of a fertile woman who would share her chores would appeal to her."
"Well, you have presented your idea to her," I said. "Now it is up to Nkobe to make the offer or choose not to."
"But she says that she will permit him to marry no one else," answered Shumi, more puzzled than outraged, "as if a manamouki could stop her husband from buying another wife. She is ignorant of our ways, Koriba, and for this reason you must speak with her. You must point out that she should be grateful to have another woman with whom to speak and share the work, and she should not want Nkobe to die without having fathered any children just because she has been cursed." She hesitated for a moment, and then concluded: "And you should remind her that Shumi will someday be sister to the mundumugu."
"I am glad that you are so concerned about Mwange's future," I said at last.
She caught the trace of sarcasm in my voice.
"Is it so wrong to be concerned about my little Shumi as well?" she demanded.
"No," I admitted. "No, it is not wrong."
"Oh!" said Shima, as if she had suddenly remembered something important. "When you speak to Mwange, remind her that she is named for my sister."
"I do not intend to speak to Mwange at all."
"Oh?"
"No," I said. "As you yourself pointed out, this is not her concern. I will speak to Nkobe."
"And you will mention Shumi?" she persisted.
"I will speak to Nkobe," I answered noncommittally.
She got to her feet and prepared to leave.
"You can do me a favor, Shima," I said.
"Oh?"
I nodded. "Have Ndemi come to my boma immediately. I have many tasks for him to do here."
"How can you be sure, since you have only just returned?"
"I am sure," I said adamantly.
She looked across my boma, still the protective mother. "I can see no chores that have been left undone."
"Then I will find some," I said.
* * * *
I went down to the village in the afternoon, for old Siboki needed ointments to keep the pain from his joints, and Koinnage had asked me to help him settle a dispute between Njoro and Sangora concerning the ownership of a calf that their jointly- owned cow had just produced.
When I had finished my business there, I placed charms on some of the scarecrows, and then, in midafternoon, I walked over to Nkobe's shamba, where I found him herding his cattle.
"Jambo, Koriba!" he greeted me, waving his hand.
"Jambo, Nkobe," I replied, approaching him.