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May 29, 2006
In Memorium
It is Memorial Day here in the United States today. In memoriam, I’d like to share a powerful story told to me by my grandfather Ted. I have told this story before, but decided now would be a good time to share it again.
I’m not sure who originally created the tale, but it took place during the war in South Africa between the Boers and the Zulus many years ago…
During the height of the war there was a skirmish in the veld and a Boer soldier, on his horse, saw a Zulu warrior in combat with one of his fellow Boers. The Zulu had a yapping yellow dog at his side as he fought.
The Boer saw the Zulu put his spear through his friend’s chest. As the Zulu stabbed the man, the Boer on the horse shot the Zulu dead. The Zulu warrior collapsed on top of the soldier he had just impaled with his spear.
Yelping loudly, the dog ran off into the bush as the watching Boer spurred his horse and narrowly escaped a number of spear wielding Zulu’s who were approaching him.
Many months later, after the war, the Boer soldier came back to collect the bones of his dead friend. When he and a number of fellow soldiers approached the spot where their friend’s bones lay, intertwined with those of the Zulu warrior, they noticed the same yellow dog sitting obediently next to the pile of bones. The dog took off into the bush as the men approached.
The soldiers had a hard time sorting the white soldier’s bones from the Zulu’s bones. The bones were literally mixed up because they had been stripped clean by wild animals. The Boers were hard pressed to figure out who the bones belonged to who. They did not want any black man’s bones to be buried with their white comrade, that was for sure.
After discarding the dirty bones (which they were convinced belonged to the Zulu) they took the Boer’s bones back to a graveyard a few miles away, where he was buried with full honors.
On a full-moon night six months later, the men were headed back to their farms after a bible-study class. They passed the graveyard where their friend, the Boer soldier, was buried. As they took off their hats in respect they noticed, in the distance, the same yellow dog sitting by the graveside.
Posted by trevor at May 29, 2006 10:04 AM