Zulu - the Final Song

(A to Z is done today.  I enjoyed participating.  Next year I won't have so much going on (I hope) and will be able to visit the other blogs more.  I'll be doing that over the next week or so - there was so much to see and enjoy, and I want to do that.  Thank you to all who visited and to those who commented.  I will be returning the courtesy.)

I started this month with one of my very favorite songs, Africa by Toto.  Africa has always struck a chord with me - magnificent, huge, varied and beautiful.  From the Ashanti empire to Egypt, from the savannahs to the desert - there is something splendid wherever you look.

Years ago I watched a movie, Zulu, that told of the battle of Rorke's Drift during the Anglo-Zulu wars.  A fort staffed by Welsh and English soldiers fought a large Zulu army over the course of several days.  At the end, as the English troops were waiting to be overrun and butchered, having sung Men of Harlech (another great song with a wonderful history), the Zulus rose above the circling hills, sang, as they had before the fighting ... and turned and walked off.

It was a magnificent moment, a generous tribute from one group of fighting men to another.

Then, of course, the debate began.  "Never happened!"  "Hah!  they had somewhere else to go and didn't have time to butcher the others!"  "What a daydream!" 

Well, I write historical fiction, which means that I have had to research a lot of historical facts.  Over and over again I have found instances of generosity, heroism, kindness and courage.  We are, after all, dealing with humans.  There are creeps - and there are heroes.  I choose to watch the heroes.

Here is the song.  Ah...  Africa...