Nongqawuse, a young Xhosa girl, prophesied in 1856 that if her people were to sacrifice their cattle en masse, their ancestors would restore to the Xhosa people their wealth and sweep the European settlers from the African continent into the sea. In this work, Myers depicts Nongqawuse borne aloft by a bull. The composition draws upon numerous depictions of Zeus’ rape of Europa–most notably by Titian and Goya–in which the god took the form of a white bull and carried the princess away. Here, however, the animal upon which Nongqawuse sits is pictured with tongue protruding, suggesting not that departure in imminent but that the Xhosa’s ritual sacrifice has already occurred.