“Crow, Crow, go home.
Jackdaw has eaten
Your babe’s clotted milk.
Jackdaw, Jackdaw, go home.
You will come back at the new moon.”
Themba giggled as Nomusa acted out the song with grimaces and dramatic gestures. Before she had actually finished he was already begging, “Again, again!” When she had sung Hlungulu for the third time, he placed his wide, bare feet on Nomusa’s lap and said, “Now sing me ta-yi-ya-ne-lo.”
Putting her thumb and forefinger on the big toe of his left foot, she began softly giving each toe a gentle squeeze. From the beginning of the song to the end, Themba’s face was one delighted grin. As soon as she squeezed the last toe, he laughed and said, “More, Nomusa, more!”
At last it was time to stop. Nomusa had to grind the corn for the mealie mush they would eat later. Usually it was her mother who ground the corn, because it took strong arms; but since Nomusa knew her mother was busy entertaining her father, she decided to do it for her.
She picked up a small round stone lying next to a larger one which was scooped out in the middle. Into the scooped-out stone she threw a handful of hard kernels of corn. Then, using the small round stone like a rolling-pin and flicking a little water into the hollow stone, she ground and ground the corn until it became a coarse corn meal. When it was ground she poured it into a basket where it would be ready when her mother needed it for porridge or corn cakes. Part of it would be brewed for her father’s beer, as well.
