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THE LION’S DEN
The Lion’s Den is an outside room which is not accessible from the house and has to be entered from the garden. Unlike other rooms, which were remodelled and decorated to
maximise the effect of light after Helen’s parents’ deaths, this room’s window was blocked up and the walls were painted black before being encrusted in glass. In contrast to the
rest of the house, the defining feature of this room is the absence of light. The words 'The Lion’s Den' are inscribed in the cement steps leading up to the room.
Helen’s father Piet Martins was banished to this room by Helen and her mother Hester. According to friends and acquaintances interviewed by Susan Imrie Ross, Helen neglected
Piet after Hester’s death in 1941. Piet, who died four years later in 1945, was described as a difficult man who was hated by Helen. It appears that the period during which she was
alone with her father was a very dark time in her life. In a surviving tape recorded with her sisters for her nephew at an unknown date after 1945, Helen recounted how she feared
she had killed her father by administering an overdose of medication.
According to residents, Piet would send his sheep to the common at night to exceed his allotted quota, took his animals to graze on other people’s land and often got into fights,
some of which even ended up in court. A very religious man, he was said to write the names of his enemies next to verses he thought applied to their perceived transgressions in a
thick family Bible. His daughter Annie recalled he had a very negative view on life and even went as far as saying people shouldn’t have children. In an interview with Ross, she said:
"If a boy is born it is sad, but if it’s a girl, it’s even worse, was his viewpoint."
174 FOR THE LOVE OF LIGHT
FOR THE LOVE OF LIGHT 175