Nhamo is a remarkable character. The first unusual characteristic she exhibits is a gift for detailed observation. She can recognize the footprints of everyone in the village and she has learned a great deal about the local flora and fauna merely by watching them closely. Nhamo uses quiet observation as a form of self-discipline: Nhamo's spirit had to be kept very busy to keep her from losing her temper.

The other girls in the village never felt restless. Nhamo was like a pot of boiling water. "I want... I want...," she whispered to herself, but she didn't know what she wanted and so she had no idea how to find it.

Later the reader learns that Nhamo is very much like her late mother—intelligent, imaginative, curious, and eager for knowledge. These traits also encourage close observation. Life has developed other traits in Nhamo as...