Now, Rumanika, By His Own Confession, Had Gone Through
This Ordeal With Marked Success; So I Asked Him If He
Found the
atmosphere cold when so far up aloft, and as he said he did so,
laughing at the quaintness
Of the question, I told him I saw he
had learnt a good practical lesson on the structure of the
universe, which I wished he would explain to me. In a state of
perplexity, K'yengo and the rest, on seeing me laughing, thought
something was wrong; so, turning about, they thought again, and
said, "No, it must have been hot, because the higher one ascended
the nearer he got to the sun."
This led on to one argument after another, on geology, geography,
and all the natural sciences, and ended by Rumanika showing me an
iron much the shape and size of a carrot. This he said was found
by one of his villagers whilst tilling the ground, buried some
way down below the surface; but dig as he would, he could not
remove it, and therefore called some men to his help. Still the
whole of them united could not lift the iron, which induced them,
considering there must be some magic in it, to inform the king.
"Now," says Rumanika, "I no sooner went there and saw the iron,
and brought it here as you see it. What can such a sign mean?"
"Of course that you are the rightful king," said his flatterers.
"Then," said Rumanika, in exuberant spirits, "during Dagara's
time, as the king was sitting with many other men outside his
hut, a fearful storm of thunder and lightning arose, and a
thunderbolt struck the ground in the midst of them, which
dispersed all the men but Dagara, who calmly took up the
thunderbolt and places it in the palace.
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