This is a charming tale about an elegant and smooth-talking city trickster who invites himself to a village in the rural hinterland of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, as some kind of modern-day Moses sent to save the downtrodden from poverty. This classic of Zulu literature, first published in 1961, celebrates rural black life for its integrated communal spirit, indomitable stoicism and naive innocence.

Translated by: Sandile Ngidi