The Wizard (Haggard)

by H. Rider Haggard

 

THE WIZARD

 

BY
H. RIDER HAGGARD

 

 

Dedication

To the Memory of the Child

Nada Burnham,

who "bound all to her" and, while her father cut his way through the hordes of the Ingobo Regiment, perished of the hardships of war at Buluwayo on 19th May, 1896, I dedicate these tales—and more particularly the last, that of a Faith which triumphed over savagery and death.

H. RIDER HAGGARD.

Ditchingham.
⁠6th July 1896

 

 

Author's Note

Of the three stories that comprise this volume, one, "The Wizard," a tale of victorious faith, first appeared some years ago as a Christmas Annual. Another, "Elissa," is an attempt, difficult enough owing to the scantiness of the material left to us by time, to recreate the life of the ancient Poenician Zimbabwe, whose ruins still stand in Rhodesia, and, with the addition of the necessary love story, to suggest circumstances such as might have brought about or accompanied its fall at the hands of the surrounding savage tribes. The third, "Black Heart and White Heart," is a story of the courtship, trials and final union of a pair of Zulu lovers in the time of King Cetywayo.

 

 

Contents

• I—The Deputation
• II—Thomas Owen
• III—The Temptation
• IV—The Vision
• V—The Feast of the First-fruits
• VI—The Drinking of the Cup
• VII—The Recovery of the King
• VIII—The First Trial by Fire
• IX—The Crisis
• X—The Second Trial by Fire
• XI—The Wisdom of the Dead
• XII—The Message of Hokosa
• XIII—The Basket of Fruit
• XIV—The Eating of the Fruit
• XV—Noma Comes to Hafela
• XVI—The Repentance of Hokosa
• XVII—The Loosing of Noma
• XVIII—The Passing of Owen
• XIX—The Fall of the Great Place
• XX—Noma Sets a Snare
• XXI—Hokosa Is Lifted Up
• XXII—The Victory of the Cross