LOOKING FOR THE RAIN GOD

1. How was the landscape before 1958? How was it after 1958, with the seven-year drought?

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2. What did the people do to cope with the drought?

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3. Who was Mokgobja?

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4. Why did the Mokgobja and his family move off to the lands?

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5. Why did Ramadi and his family face difficulty in planting crops?

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6. Why did the earth appear to be alive at night?

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7. What did the people do to get food?

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8. How did two girls spend their leisure hours?

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9. What did the people get from the incanters, charlatans and witch-doctor?

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10. Why did the two women use thorn-bush to fix hedges to their vast ploughing area?

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11. Why were the adults not interested in what the children was doing?

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12. What did the women do every night? Why did they behave in such a way?

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13. Why did the two men remain silent and controlled their emotions?

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14. What did the old man remember?

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15. What did the old man do to solve the family’s misery which was caused by the drought?

Who were sacrificed to the rain god?

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16. What did they do to the to the bodies?

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17. Why did the people become very suspicious?

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18. Why did the mother of the two children break down?

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19. Why did the court sentence the two men to death?

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20. What lessons can we learn from the story?

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21. Read the extract from the short story Looking For The Rain God and answer the

questions that follow.

a) Why did the men take resort to taking their lives?

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b) Who were the people in the village had taken profit from the drought?

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c) Do you think the men were taking wise decision?

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At the beginning of the summer, a number of men just went out of their homes and hung themselves to death from trees.

22. Read the extract from the short story Looking For The Rain God and answer the

questions that follow.

a) Why did the villagers begin to move away from the village?

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23. Read the extract from the short story Looking For The Rain God and answer the

questions that follow.

a) How did the family and other people react when the rain stopped?

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b) For how long did the family suffer from the drought?

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24. Read the extract from the short story Looking For The Rain God and answer the

questions that follow.

a) Who is the old man and what was the ceremony he is referring to?

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b) Who were sacrificed in the ceremony and why?

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People were called to the village to hear the proclamation of the beginning of the ploughing season. They stirred themselves and began off to the land they plough.

But suddenly, by mid-November, the rain fled away and left the sky bare. The sun danced dizzily in the sky, with a strange cruelty.

Finally an ancient memory stirred in the old man. When he was very young and customs of the ancestors still ruled and the land he had witnessed a ceremony.

25. Read the extract from the short story Looking For The Rain God and answer the

questions that follow.

a) Who were they in the extract above refer to?

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b) What happened to them in the end?

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26. Read the extract from the short story Looking For The Rain God and answer the

questions that follow.

a) What were the names of the two women mentioned in the extract?

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b) Do you feel sorry for the women? Why?

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‘You stupid thing! Can’t you mind the porridge-pot without letting the porridge burn”! And then they would beat the rag-dolls on their bottom with severe expressions.

It was the women of the family who finally broke down under the strain of waiting for rain. It was really the two women who caused the death of the two girls.

27. Read the extract from the short story Looking For The Rain God and answer the

questions that follow.

a) What natural disaster were the villagers facing?

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b) How long has this disaster been going on, based on the extract?

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28. Read the extract from the short story Looking For The Rain God and answer the

questions that follow.

a) What ancient memory did Mokgobja remember?

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29. What finally drove Ramadi to sacrifice the two little girls to the Rain God? Quote a line

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People said rather humorously that if tried to catch the rain in a cup it would only fill a teaspoon. Towards the beginning of the seventh year of drought, the summer had become an anguish to live through. The air was so dry and moisture-free that it burned the skin. No one knew what to do escape the heat and the tragedy was in the air.

Finally, an ancient memory stirred in the old man, Mokgobja.

30. Read the extract from the short story Looking For The Rain God and answer the

questions that follow.

a) How did the family explain the children’s absence?

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b) What did the villagers feel uneasy about?

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c) When did the mother of the children tell the police everything?

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d) Do you feel sorry for the mother of the two little girls? Give a reason for your answer.

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People in the village soon noted the absence of the two little girls. They had died at the lands and were buried there, the family said. But people noted their ashen, terror-stricken faces and murmur arose. What had killed the children, they wanted to know? And the family replied that they had just died. And people said amongst themselves that it was strange that the two deaths had occurred at the same time. And there was a feeling of great unease at the unnatural looks of the family. Soon the police came around. The family told them the same story of death and burial at the lands. They did not know what the children had died of. So the police asked to see the grave. At this, the mother of the children broke down and told everything.

31. Read the extract from the short story Looking For The Rain God and answer the

questions that follow.

a) What has happened to the land after seven years of drought?

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b) What is the phrase ‘ tragedy was in the air’ indicative of, based on the extract?

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c) Which line in the extract tells you that the heat during the summer is unbearable?

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d) Why do you think the men take their own lives by hanging from the tress?

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But from 1958. A seven-year drought fell upon the land and even the watering places began to look as dismal as the dry open thorn-bush country; the leaves of the trees curled up and withered; the moss became dry and hard, and under the shade of the tangled trees, the ground turned a

powdey black and white, because there was no rain. People said rather humorously that if tried to catch the rain in a cup it would only fill a teaspoon. Towards the beginning of the seventh year of drought, the summer had become an anguish to live through. The air was so dry and moisture-free that it burned the skin. No one knew what to do escape the heat and the tragedy was in the air. At the beginning of the summer, a number of men just went out of their homes and hung themselves to death from trees. The ops, but for two years past, the majority of the people had lived off crops, but for two years past, they had alll returned from the lands with only their rolled-up skin blankets and cooking utensils.