Lentswe-la-baratani mystery revisited

Source : Kutlwano

Author : Mothusi Soloko

Location : Gaborone

Event : Feature article

Article: Mothusi Soloko

Photos:

I first met the long lost Lentswe la Baratani couple on the lips of old men at Otse. Their tales impressed upon me, deeply inciting a wish to stray in the wild in search of the two lovers. Somehow I came to resent myself for coming so late when the lovers` tangible traces had long been eroded by the passage of time.

However, that did little extinguish the fire in my belly. I developed a strong desire to learn more about the lovers and the events that led to their subsequent disappearance that left behind a veil of fear and mystery surrounding the hill. Questions rushed painfully through my mind.

Who were these lovers, what were their names, Do we have any of their descendants living today, why did their parents disapprove of their marriage and what exactly happened to them?

The following morning my adventurous spirit lands me at Otse. The dim yellow rays of the morning sun ripple over the hill where the lovers are believed to have vanished producing a scene that rekindled my heart.

While I am still overcome by the beauty of the scenery, an apparition of the two lovers moving up the hill suddenly appears on the hill. The young man walking in front while the woman stumbles wearily from behind with her hand stretching out to the man. They reach the hill top and find refuge under the shade of rocks in a corner that assures them of safety from the view of man.

The mooing of cattle passing by would soon jolt me to full consciousness and rescue me from this apparition. I shake my head vigorously trying to clear the mist from my mind. It is while I am in the village that I stumble upon a certain Rapulane Mangope and Moreti Tshephe and I am soon to learn that the couple`s parents were sitting on the sidelines when the events that would lead to the great story of love unfolded.

According to Tshephe`s account, it was both a story of love and defiance. “The young man met the girl somewhere and the two fell in love. However, their marriage would not get the blessing of their parents because during those years it was taboo for children to arrange their marriage,” he tells me. In fact, as Tshephe would later reveal, the issue of arranged marriage was used as a pretext, the reality was that the groom`s parents did not want to associate their son with a family they believed was dysfunctional.

Then the couple`s countless efforts to appeal to immediate family members to intervene did not bear fruit until out of frustration the couple called both families to a meeting where they disclosed their intention to elope to a place where they will love each other. “I think their parents dismissed that as a ploy to pressure them to allow the couple to marry,” he says. The next morning both families woke up to empty beds while the footprints of the couple led villagers to the hill top where the couple is believed to have vanished. “No one really knows what happened to them but their footprints took people to the hill,” recalls Tshephe. Then mysterious stories about the hill unfolded making people ask if the lovers had come back in as spirits to mete out vengeance on those who were against their marriage.

Relating his experience, old man Mangope says one evening while passing driving a donkey cart near the hill, a tall man dressed in black stood on his way, forcing the donkeys to a complete halt. “I stayed there for about half an hour and the man just standing there,” claims Tshephe.

Another story is that not very long ago, his nephew, Motsamai climbed the hill never to be seen again. Later a search party found his clothes at the summit of the hill. “Even now as we speak I don`t know what happened to my nephew, we never saw his corpse, his footprints led us to the hill top where we found his clothes,” he says.

Mangope also talks about voices that echo at the hill at night, gothic laughter, whistling of men and many other scary tales that leave one wondering whether the long lost couple has come back to haunt people for disapproving of their marriage. ENDS

Teaser:

“The young man met the girl somewhere and the two fell in love. However, their marriage would not get the blessing of their parents because during those years it was taboo for children to arrange their own marriage."