In an easily overlooked passage in his best-selling autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela recalls how, as a secondary school student, he witnessed a performance by the Xhosa praise poet Krune Mqhayi in which the stars were divided amongst the nations of the world. In the course of his recital, Mqhayi conceded the Milky Way to rapacious European colonisers and the constellations to various African polities. Then, at a critical moment, the imbongi dramatically lowered his voice, sank down on his knee, and claimed the gleaming Morning Star for the `House of Xhosa’. A star-struck Mandela felt intense pride.