TEXTE 10 : THE PRIEST

Joshua, the village priest, watched the gathering black clouds and muttered one word - "Rain." It was almost a whisper, spoken so quietly that a man a yard away would not have heard it. He was standing on a raised piece of ground looking thoughtfully at the clouds and the country around. Behind him stood a tin-roofed rectangular building from which thick black smoke was beginning to come out, showing that the woman of the house had already come from the "shamba" and was now preparing the evening meal. This was his house, the only one of its kind along the ridge and beyond. The rest were mud-walled, grass-thatched round huts that were scattered all over the place. From these also black smoke was beginning to curl upwards. Joshua knew that in most of the huts the people had been sleeping with contracting, wrinkled stomachs, having eaten nothing or very little. He had seen such cases in the past months when he had been going round comforting the hungry and the suffering, promising them that God would in time bring rain. For the drought had been serious and had lasted many months, so that crops in the fields had sickened while some had dried up altogether. Cows and goats were so thin that they could hardly give enough milk. If it rained now it would be a blessing for everyone, and perhaps crops would revive and grow and all would be well. The dry anxious looks on the faces of mothers and fathers would disappear. Again he looked at the darkening clouds and slowly the old man went back into the house. Soon it began to rain! Joshua felt cheated, bitter and angry. For he knew that the coming of rain so soon after the morning sacrifice would be nothing but a victory for the rain-maker at whose request a black ram had been sacrificed. Yes. This was the culmination of their long fight, their long struggle and rivalry in Makuku village.