A year went by and Bontle produced twin boys for Ledimo. They were named Lorato and Kilo. Lorato was always smiling and happy. Kilo spent his time screeching and trying to kick and bite Lorato as much as possible. Bontle had her work cut out trying to balance these two opposing natures. Ledimo adored his children and was very happy, so happy that he left the weather in a near perfect state. Bontle did not heed the voice and as was predicted people started to become complacent. Everything was too easy. The rain came at the right time each year. It was always exactly the right amount to keep the rivers full and their crops watered. They had plenty of food and no one was too hot or too cold.
Ledimo had always relied on his and other villages to bring him gifts of food and other necessities for his rainmaking and weather duties. However as things were going so smoothly and people knew that Ledimo was now mortal like them they started to lose respect for him and he received less and less. This made him angry but Bontle kept smoothing things over, choosing to forget the advice of the voice.
Then one day, as always happens in these matters, the straw arrived that broke the camel’s back. Two young boys had arrived and set down a large grain basket in front of Ledimo’s residence. They had immediately scuttled off, not waiting for the usual handout of honey. Bontle and Ledimo were excited at the sight of the large basket; they hadn’t had a gift in days and Ledimo was starting to build up to a temper tantrum, which was taking all Bontle’s persuasive powers to stop. They both opened the basket and peered inside. The sight that greeted them was not at all what they had expected.
“COW PATS! COW PATS!” yelled Ledimo. “The dirty rotten *#&#! I’ll show them!” and he was off, and this time there was absolutely nothing Bontle could do.
He started with an enormous whirlwind, which swept through the village, taking with it pots, pans, stools, and whatever was not firmly tied down. It even got hold of a few chickens who squawked mindlessly as they were whirled away and dumped in the river, where Kwena the enormous crocodile swallowed them in one gulp. Ledimo then proceeded to send a huge gale, which knocked over trees and tore off roofs. The people huddled in their huts in fear. It had been so long since they had any sort of bad weather they didn’t know what to do. Their dwellings were not as strong as they had been before, and bits of houses flew everywhere. Bontle ran to her hut with the children and lay on the bed, covering her head with a blanket, a child on each side. Once Ledimo had finished with the wind he brought the storm. Huge black thunderous clouds rolled in. Lightning split the sky. It started a little way off, but soon it was over the village. The lightning struck a couple of the huts, setting them alight. Ledimo had lost control. He was in a mindless frenzy. Bontle cowered in her hut, the twins crying on either side. Suddenly an enormous bolt of lightning struck her hut, splitting it right down the middle exactly where she lay. It split her in two, leaving a twin safe but terrified on either side. Abruptly the storm stopped and an eerie quiet settled over everything. Ledimo realized what he had done and had become paralysed with his own inability to reverse the situation.
He stood staring down at his wife and two screaming children. Suddenly there was a whirl of wind and then an intense calm; the children stopped screaming and lay still. Ledimo knew that the voice was there. He opened his mouth to bemoan what had happened but it cut him off.
“You will no longer use the power of the stone. You will be its keeper until it is time for your great grandchildren to be born. There shall be two male children born at the same time of different mothers. The stone will then pass to them and they will use it as one.”
Ledimo opened his mouth again to object, but there was another whirl of wind taking the calm with it. The children started screaming. Ledimo turned around and walked away.
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