Mwindo (Nyanga)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzmFEDNWTO8
Part One The powerful warrior Shemwindo is the chieftain of Tubondo, the great City of Seven Meeting Places. When it is time for him to marry, he decides to wed seven wives, one from each part of his town. He ranks them from his favorite to his least favorite. The best, the Preferred One, gets a nice house, wonderful food, and plenty of servants. The worst, the Despised One, has to live in a small shack by the village garbage dump. Shemwindo moves his wives up and down the ranks, depending on how well he likes them each week. Shemwindo warns all his wives that he had an omen, years ago, that he would be replaced on the throne if he ever had a son. Therefore, Shemwindo warns his wives only to bear him daughters. If any bear him a son, the mother and the son will die. Soon, all seven wives are nervously expecting their first child. Shemwindo also has a beautiful sister, the princess Iyangura. Iyangura is of marrying age, but no one offers a good enough bride price to satisfy Shemwindo. Eventually rumors of her beauty spreads to the land of the Yana, the Snake People far upriver. The Yana are ruled by the powerful, evil snake spirit Mukiti, who lives in a magical pool by the river. When Mukiti hears of Iyangura, he transforms into a human and travels to Tubondo. He wins her by giving Shemwindo many gifts, then puts her into a trance and carries her back to the Yana village. He locks her up, and tells Kasiyembe the headman of the Yana to never let any of Iyangura's family visit her. If they try to rescue her, Kasiyembe is ordered to kill them. Meanwhile, the seven wives of Shemwindo start to give birth. The Despised One gives birth to a daughter, and is very relieved. All the other wives also have daughters except for the Preferred One, who does not give birth at all for many weeks after her due date. The people begin to ridicule her, and eventually Shemwindo gets impatient. He moves her down the rank until she is the Despised One, living in the garbage dump shack. She moans bitterly about not being able to draw water or make food. Then, much to her surprised, the chores begin doing themselves. She does not realize that the child inside her is trying to help. Little Mwindo will be born with the power to move objects with his mind. He will be born walking and speaking like a grown man. Mwindo is reluctant to be born, because he knows he's going to be a hero, and he wants to be born in a dignified, flashy way. Finally he decides to cut his way out of his mother's stomach (caesarian). When he arrives, he is born looking like a tiny muscular warrior, with a knife in one hand and a conga scepter (the symbol of kings) in the other. The midwives try to hide him from Shemwindo, but the chieftain finds out about the birth. When Nyamwindo (the mother) will not bring the child out, Shemwindo throws his war spear into the hut, but the child Mwindo simply deflects it out of the hut each time it is thrown. In a rage, Shemwindo breaks into the hut and orders his men to bury the child alive in the jungle. The next morning, however, Mwindo is back in his mother's arms again. Even more outraged, Shemwindo seals the baby in a war drum and has his best divers sink the drum in the middle of the river. The mother is locked in her shack. After days of drought, the drum resurfaces, with little Mwindo singing inside, warning his father that he will go upriver and find someone who can take care of him better -- his aunt Iyangura. The drum floats upstream, much to the townspeople's amazement. Part Two Little Mwindo floats upstream in his drum, scaring all the fish out of his way. He meets Musoka, a snake spirit who is the little sister of Mukiti, but she is unable to stop the drum. Mukiti projects his spirit downriver to try stopping Mwindo, but Mwindo realizes it is only an illusion and floats right through. He arrives at the shores of the Yana village, and some sympathetic Yana women hear him chanting Iyangura's name. The bring her to the river bank, where she slashes the drum head and frees her little nephew. They go together to the Yana village, but Kasiyembe and his men surround the hut. When Mwindo will not surrender, they summon their most power ally among the animal spirits -- Nkuba, the mighty hedgehog, spirit of thunderstorms. Kasiyembe orders Nkuba to destroy the hut, but Mwindo deflects his lightning bolts, which end up destroying the village instead. The last bolt sets Kasiyembe's hair on fire, and his men are unable to put it out, so he dies. The Yana surrender to Mwindo, and say they would follow him, but they fear Mukiti. Mwindo tells them not to worry. He has used his magic to divert the water out of Mukiti's magic pool, and the great serpent is dead. The Yana pledge to follow Mwindo. So does Nkuba, the lightning hedgehog. The Yana make Mwindo magical armor of iron, which melds into his skin. Mwindo announces to his aunt Iyangura that they will now return to Tubondo and take revenge on his father, Shemwindo. Part Three Mwindo brings his army to the outskirts of Tubondo, but his aunt scolds him that he hasn't brought any supplies. Mwindo uses a magic chant to summon all the food, cattle, and furniture from the city into his camp. The Yana have too much to eat and drink that night, and in the morning they are in bad shape. Iyangura warns Mwindo not to send them into battle, but Mwindo urges her to have faith in him. He sends them into battle, and the Yana are all killed. Iyangura says, "I told you so." Mwindo promises her he will still win. He goes down to the city walls alone and demands the city surrender. The soldiers laugh at him. Mwindo summons the hedgehog Nkuba, who promptly blows up most of the city. The soldiers surrender. Mwindo frees his mother. Mwindo demands the people bring forth Shemwindo, but they cannot find him. The chieftain has run away. Mwindo follows his trail into the jungle and finds a tunnel underneath a kikoka bush. Shemwindo has fled into the Underworld. Mwindo decides he must follow and bring his father back to justice. He ties one end of a magic rope to his chest, gives the other end to Iyangura, and tells her to keep hope as long as the rope is still moving. Mwindo then jumps into the Underworld. Part Four Mwindo falls into darkness until he lands in the great cavernous jungles of the Underworld. He follows a path until he comes to the hut of Kahindo, daughter of the God of the Dead, Muisa. Kahindo would be a beautiful young maiden, but she is infected with yaws, which leaves pussy sores all over her body. She immediately falls in love with Mwindo and agrees to help him beat her father. She warns Mwindo that when they meet, Mwindo must not accept a seat, food, or drink from Muisa, or Mwindo will be forced to remain in the land of the dead forever. In gratitude, Mwindo washes Kahindo's sores, and in the morning she looks a little better. Mwindo meets with Muisa. Muisa admits he is sheltering Shemwindo, but he will not give the chieftain to Mwindo unless Mwindo proves his worth by doing a "little task." He must grow a banana forest and harvest the fruit all in one day. Mwindo agrees. That night, Mwindo stays again in Kahindo's house and washes her wounds. In the morning, she looks much better. Mwindo uses his powers to make the banana forest grow. One of Muisa's servants sees this, and warns his master. Muisa sends his cowry shell belt to kill Mwindo. It begins strangling Mwindo, but at the last minute he knocks it away with his scepter. Mwindo sends the scepter to punish Muisa, and the scepter bangs the god's head into the ground. Mwindo returns with the harvested bananas, but Muisa says he must still do one more task. In the morning, he must harvest a bucket of honey from the god's honey tree. Mwindo is frustrated, but he agrees. That night, Mwindo stays again in Kahindo's house and washes her wounds. In the morning, she looks completely normal. Mwindo uses smoke to drive the killer bees away from the tree, but then finds the trunk is petrified and impossible to break. He calls on Nkuba, who sends a lightning bolt into the Underworld and blows up the tree. One of Muisa's servants sees this, and warns his master. Muisa again sends his cowry shell belt to kill Mwindo. It begins strangling Mwindo, but at the last minute he knocks it away with his scepter. Once again, Mwindo sends the scepter to punish Muisa, and the scepter bangs the god's head into the ground. Mwindo returns with the honey, but Muisa says he cannot give him Shemwindo. The chieftain has already escaped, back to the world by another tunnel. Outraged, Mwindo beats the god flat with his scepter and promises to leave him that way until he finds Shemwindo. Mwindo then says goodbye to Kahindo and follows his father back out of the Underworld. Part Five Mwindo follows the trail of his father to a cave which is blocked by the huge aardvark spirit Ntumba. Mwindo warns Ntumba to step aside, but Ntumba refuses. Mwindo calls on Nkuba to blow up the cave, and finds that Shemwindo was hiding behind the aardvark. Shemwindo gets away. Mwindo punishes the aardvark by inflicting him with elephantitis, a painful swelling disease. Mwindo returns to the world and pursues his father all the way to the Great Rift Valley, where the trail stops. Mwindo realizes his father has escaped into the clouds, but he does not know how to follow. He sees the giant children of the Sky God playing nearby and asks their help. They say they will help if Mwindo makes them a snack. He brings them twelve enormous bowls, cut from tree trunks, full of good things to eat. As the children finish their snack, they turn the bowls upside down and stack them, making a stairway into the clouds. Mwindo climbs the bowls and comes to the village of the Sky God, Sheburungu. Sheburungu refuses to give up Shemwindo unless Mwindo gambles for him. Mwindo bets all his cattle from Tubondo and loses. He bets all his houses and loses. He bets all his people, even his mother and his aunt, and loses. Finally he bets his conga scepter and begins winning everything back, until he owns all the Sky God's town and his father's life. Shemwindo is brought forth in chains. Mwindo gives the Sky God back his town. He then retraces his steps. He cures Ntumba of elephantitis. He heals Muisa's wounds, but when Muisa offers his daughter Kahindo to him in marriage, Mwindo refuses. He must return to the world and marry a human maiden. Mwindo returns to Tubondo, helps rebuild the city, and rules as a wise and powerful king. He has three brass thrones made, which float ten feet off the ground. Mwindo sits in the middle, his aunt on the right, and his imprisoned father on the left. Shemwindo's punishment is to live the rest of his life watching his son be a better ruler than he was.

























PART ONE Mwindo is yet another semi-divine hero from global mythology. This epic will explore his unusual birth, his heroic deeds and victories over various monsters and hostile gods.Many of the myths from Africa survived mostly in oral form until comparatively recent decades, so there are even more variations of African epics than readers may be used to. To cite just one example: Mwindo himself is usually referred to by the epithet Kabutwa-kenda, “the little one just born yet walking”. However there are a few versions of the myth in which Mwindo and Kabutwa-kenda are TWO SEPARATE FIGURES and are half-brothers.In the versions where they are two separate entities Mwindo is a villainous figure while Kabutwa-kenda is the main hero of the epic. Regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog will be reminded of the Navajo twin gods Nayanazgeni and Thobadzistsini. Nayanazgeni was usually the hero of the epic about the defeat of the evil gods called the Anaye but in the Apache version of the myth his brother Thobadzistsini is the hero and Nayanazgeni is reduced to being a comic relief coward. To stay in the area of comparative mythology for a moment Mwindo also shares qualities with the Sumerian demigod Gilgamesh. Like Gilgamesh, Mwindo goes from being brashly overconfident about his own supernatural powers to becoming a more humble hero and more capable ruler as the tale goes on.The Mwindo Epic begins in the village of Tubondo, surrounded by raphia trees and located on a high hill. The founder and Chief of the village was named Shemwindo and he had seven wives because the Nyanga considered seven to be the number of perfection. Nyanga villages had seven separate kinship halls even if there were not seven separate kinship groups in the village. This was done out of deference to the sheer perfection of the number seven. At any rate in accordance with the Nyanga version of polygamy Chief Shemwindo had a favored wife and a despised one. The despised wife lived near the village’s waste dump, the others lived in the center of the village. Shemwindo gathered his wives and announced that if any of them gave birth to a male the child (and in some versions the wife, too) would be put to death.This is meant to show Shemwindo’s villainous nature. He is resisting the natural order of things, which is for a younger male child to take over for the father as the father grows older and feebler. By not wanting the implied rivalry of a male heir Shemwindo is condemning his people to a destructive decline in the long run since he will eventually be too weak to lead in war and too senile to govern properly. Also, daughters would net him bride-gifts but sons would mean he would have to one day GIVE bride-gifts to his son(s) intended.At any rate Shemwindo laid with his seven wives and all of them became pregnant at the same time. Each wife was nervous, fearing they would give birth to a boy and thus incur the wrath of their husband. Meanwhile the common women of the village of Tubondo were doing washing and gossiping along the shore of the nearby river. They happened to discuss how beautiful Chief Shemwindo’s sister Iyangura was. Everything discussed along the river was known to Mukiti the serpent-god who ruled the river depths. Upon hearing how beautiful Shemwindo’s sister was the deity decided to call upon the Chief and demand to marry Iyangura.
PART TWO Mukiti the serpent god of the river reached the village of Tubondo, ruled by Shemwindo, father of the yet-unborn Mwindo. Mukiti arrived in his human form and Shemwindo extended a formal greeting to his relative (as is often the case all around the world the Nyanga people believed their rulers to be descended from the gods and therefore family members of those gods). Per Nyanga tradition no business would be discussed until the arriving guest had rested and eaten so Chief Shemwindo had Mukiti put up in an icumbi (guest house).After a period of rest and a twilight meal Mukiti made plain to Shemwindo that he desired the chief’s sister Iyangura as a wife. Again, per tradition, Shemwindo, as the male guardian of the prospective bride, told the suitor Mukiti that the formal answer would be given the next day. However, Shemwindo gave Mukiti the gift of a rare black goat as an unofficial sign that his request would be granted. The next morning Mukiti made himself “as clean as a snail’s anus” to use a Nyangan idiomatic expression, and dressed extravagantly including a belt made of bongo antelope. Shemwindo and his sister Iyangura likewise dressed in their finest and Shemwindo went forth to greet the river deity. Shemwindo summoned all the royalty of the village, including his seven wives, all pregnant and all still living under his threat of death if any of them gave birth to a boy. Iyangura was formally introduced to Mukiti and the two darted against each other’s chest in the traditional way for prospective mates. Next Iyangura asked Mukiti to prove his love for her and he danced “like raphia-tree larvae” in an undulating fashion. Shemwindo and his court informed Mukiti that he could take Iyangura as his bride and assigned him a list of gifts that he must bring in exchange for the honor. Mukiti was given seven days to gather the gifts and departed for his home in the deep, slow portion of the nearby river. He resumed his large serpent form and summoned all the fish, crabs, lesser serpents and other denizens of this body of water he ruled. He informed them that he had been assigned 9,000 (yes, 9,000) bride gifts and set them all to work helping to gather those gifts.The exact amounts and coloring of the various goats, chickens and other gifts all have specific meaning and are all intended for different royal divisions of Chief Shemwindo’s village. The list is too extensive to be worth going into here but its length is another reason why the singing of the tribal epics could take several days to complete.At the end of the seven days Mukiti had all his subjects ready the gifts for transport, assume their human forms and then began the long, formal groom procession back to Tubondo. The first night the procession stopped at the cavern village of Yana the bat god and his people, the Baniyana. The bat god gave Mukiti the ceremonial gift of a ram and entertained the deity and his entourage overnight.The procession set out for Tubondo again in the morning and as the second night approached the travelers stopped at the web-covered village of Mitandi the spider goddess and her people, the Banamitandi. The spider goddess gave Mukiti the ceremonial gift of a goat and entertained the deity and his entourage overnight.In the morning the procession moved out again and on this third day of travel they arrived in Tubondo. Chief Shemwindo welcomed the divine party and gave Mukiti the ceremonial gift of a billy-goat. The river-god was then shown to his icumbi for this visit. The bride Iyangura joined him toward evening, heated water for her husband and herself and the pair washed themselves.After Iyangura finished a wife’s traditional bedtime washing of her husband’s feet the couple rubbed red powder all over each other and their bed. Then they lay down to sleep. (Some versions claim Mukiti and Iyangura had sex but other versions insist actual intercourse would not have taken place until after the new couple had returned to the husband’s home.)Over the next few days Mukiti and his party formally bestowed the 9,000 bride gifts on their recipients and at long last began the return trip to the river that the serpent-deity called home. Iyangura was, per tradition, left behind in Tubondo for now. After Mukiti and his entourage had been gone a full day Shemwindo and a party of his own began the journey to accompany the bride Iyangura to her new home. Along the way the new bride is not to set foot on the ground and when the party from Tubondo arrived at the river Iyangura was, per tradition, escorted to the home of her husband’s mother. Once there Iyangura and Mukiti shared the remainder of a meal of banana paste that the bride would have started for breakfast back in her former village. When the bride and the groom had finished this meal Mukiti gave Shemwindo the ceremonial gift of a steer. Next the river god gave Shemwindo’s party seven (the perfect number in Nyangan beliefs) bunches of valuables as farewell gifts and his brother-in- law’s procession returned to their village. After they departed the newlyweds settled into their lives together. The next morning Mukiti assembled all the denizens of the river, back in their animal forms, and issued a proclamation prompted by a troubling dream he had had overnight.Mukiti had had a vision of the yet-unborn figure Mwindo advancing upon the river god’s home by walking along the ground at the bottom of the river. To prevent this sub-aquatic approach to his lair the river god decreed that from that point on any humanoid figure who neared the village by walking along the riverbottom was to have their spine torn out. The only permissable means of approach for visitors in human form would be the path along the riverbank. The stage was at last set for the extraordinary birth of the semi-divine hero Mwindo. +++COMMENT: The reason so much attention was paid to Iyangura’s marriage to Mukiti was because a Nyanga audience needed to be given sufficient reason for the lack of a stabilizing female in Tubondo. Normally Chief Shemwindo’s sister would have given frank advice that the chief’s wives were not permitted to give. That advice would have warned Shemwindo away from the acts of villainy he begins to commit next time around.Now, with an adequate explanation for the removal of Iyangura from Tubondo, there would be no “audience anxiety” for the storyteller’s listeners. They wouldn’t have to ask “Why is there no female relative of Chief Mwindo on hand to advise him how wrong his behavior is?” PART THREE One day six of Chief Shemwindo’s seven wives gave birth. Their babies were female, thus saving the child from the villainous chief’s threat to kill any male child. Only the preferred wife remained pregnant and as her pregnancy dragged on she became the object of hushed whispers and ridicule from the Tubondo villagers. One morning the preferred wife woke up and was prepared to go fetch her firewood when she noticed an entire pile of it was already waiting for her inside her hut. She was puzzled by this but did not yet know that Mwindo -her unborn, semidivine male child – had slipped out through her vagina while she slept, gathered the firewood and climbed back into her uterus before she woke up.Eventually Mwindo took to bringing his mother jars of drinking water and isusa vegetables while she slept, always completing his tasks and returning to her womb before daybreak. Once back inside the unborn child resumed debating with himself which body part he would be born through.He did not want to be born like every other child through the vagina, nor did he want to be born through his mother’s mouth out of fear that people would say he had been “vomited out” like a bat’s children. (A reference to the mistaken ancient belief that bats vomited their young.) Mwindo could not decide on which other body part he wanted to emerge from.Previously Balladeer’s Blog has dealt with the significance of mythical figures being born from other body parts of their mother and how such unusual births mark them early for greatness. The most recent instance was in part one of the Baybayan Epic of the Philippines. As time went on and the preferred wife’s pregnancy continued her female relatives moved in with her to help coax her through the difficult time. At long last the day arrived when Mwindo decided to be born. The midwives were summoned but proved unneeded as the child chose to emerge from his mother’s medius instead of her vagina. To the horror of the assembled women the baby was a male. Traditionally the women would either shout the sex of the newborn OR walk to the father and convey the sex with a distinctive laugh (versions of the Mwindo Epic vary in this). The entire village was soon buzzing with word that the seventh child had at last been born but the women refused to specify if it was a male or female since they knew Chief Shemwindo would kill it if he knew it was a male.The chief and his court grew increasingly impatient but even his other wives refused to disclose the sex of the child. This solidarity among the wives was part of the oral version of the Mwindo Epic AT LEAST as early as the 1950’s and was not a modern-day revision just for the sake of it. Through the eyes of one of the creatures he was the lord of, Kitundukutu the cricket god was observing the events in the hut of Mwindo’s mother. Kitundukutu and his “people” were the bearers of bad omens and the breakers of secrets in Nyanga myths. The trouble-causing deity was happy to share with Chief Shemwindo the fact that the favored wife had given birth to a boy. Infuriated, Shemwindo sharpened his spear on a whetstone and set out to kill the male child in accordance with the threat he had issued to all his wives. The other wives and the female relatives of the preferred wife fled the hut at the news of Shemwindo’s approach.Mwindo and his mother were the only ones left in the hut and the semidivine infant began singing a spell to protect the two of them. Shemwindo entered the hut and threw his spear at the newborn child but, per Mwindo’s spell, the spear always wound up lodging in the central post that supported the ceiling of the hut. Again and again the villainous Shemwindo retrieved his spear and threw it at the child but every time it curved back and lodged in the central post. Finally giving up the chief returned to his counselors and ordered them to dig a hole and toss Mwindo into it so the child would starve to death.They did as ordered but the infant began singing another spell, defiantly taunting his evil father that he would suffer for trying to kill his newborn son this way. Shemwindo ordered his men to refill the hole with dirt, burying Mwindo alive. They complied but the baby’s singing could still be heard through all the dirt.After dark the semidivine child dug his way out of the hole and returned to his mother’s hut. The next morning when the chief visited his preferred wife he was stunned to see Mwindo there, talking with his mother and walking around the hut as if nothing had happened.Angrier than ever Chief Shemwindo ordered his men to hollow out a tree trunk into a drum, place Mwindo inside and then seal the drum with the hide of a bongo antelope. (The superstitious respect for music that was common to many cultures around the world accounts for why a drum was considered to be more effective than burying Mwindo alive was.) Again, Shemwindo’s men obeyed. They seized the child from the arms of his crying mother, sealed him in the drum and tossed it into the river. The drum floated for a time then sank beneath the surface, presumably drowning Mwindo. + part 4 PART FOUR The evil Chief Shemwindo believed Mwindo was now dead and he rewarded the men who entrapped the child in the drum and tossed him in the river to drown. He gave each one of them a new bride to show his appreciation.Mwindo’s mother Nyamwindo was inconsolable at the thought that her baby had been slain. Shemwindo warned her to stop being upset or he would kill her, too. Immediately Nyamwindo went from being the favored wife to being the despised wife of the chief’s seven wives.Meanwhile the gods above signaled their displeasure with Shemwindo’s evil behavior by causing a storm that lasted for seven days (Regular readers will remember that in Part One I explained that the Nyanga people consider seven the perfect number. Even Nyanga villages without seven separate kinship groups will still have seven separate kinship huts because of their reverence for the number.)When the storm had passed Mwindo, still alive inside the drum at the bottom of the river, caused the drum to float back to the surface. When some women from the village of Tubondo came to collect water from the river the child began singing another song of defiance promising that he would be the doom of Shemwindo. The women raced back to the village and told everyone about Mwindo still being alive. Chief Shemwindo and his armed minions raced to the river to see the drum spinning on the surface of the water. From within Mwindo repeated his latest song about how he would bring on Shemwindo’s downfall, then caused the drum to submerge so he could travel to consult with the Chief’s sister Iyangura.Bursting free of the drum the determined toddler began walking the river bottom toward the lair of Mukiti the serpentine god of the river. In Part Two Mukiti had a premonition about the arrival of Mwindo in his territory and had ordered all of his subjects – the animal life in the river – poisonous and hideous fish, crabs, snakes and crocodiles – to attack the semidivine child on sight and tear his spine out.Like the infant Hercules strangling the serpents sent by Hera, Mwindo defeated all the subaquatic creatures who tried to bar his path. The youthful hero battled his way through every opponent by wielding the conga-sceptre he was born holding. (The conga-sceptre was a riding-crop sized staff made from an antelope’s tail. This conga serves as a weapon for Mwindo and enables him to fly plus perform other deeds, similar to the norse god Thor’s enchanted hammer Mjolnir.) After a full day of combating the river-creatures Mwindo arrived at the calmer, shallower water of the river. Mukiti’s sister, the goddess Musoka lived there. Just as various pantheons like Vietnamese, Iroquois and others feature the deities of hard rain as male and gentle rain as female, the Nyanga depict the highly revered goddess Musoka as the deity of the calm shallows of the river but her brother as the deity of the swifter, stronger waters of the bulk of the river. Mukiti was being kept aware by fishes of the unstoppable progress of Mwindo and the river-god had sent a message to his sister Musoka to prevent Mwindo from advancing any further. Musoka greeted Mwindo but caused a dam to form to prevent him from proceeding to face her brother. The semidivine Mwindo was growing at a greater than normal rate and by now was the size of a little boy.Our hero politely returned Musoka’s greeting but boasted openly that nothing would stop him. Just as he had defeated all the creatures set upon him by Mukiti he would overcome this physical obstacle that Musoka had set in his path. Mwindo dug down into the river bottom, burrowing underneath the dam and emerging on the other side.Shortly afterward, the young hero stood before the serpentine river god himself and challenged him to fight. +++ PART FIVE Mwindo now stood before Mukiti, the serpentine river god himself. The semidivine hero still held his conga-sceptre (a riding-crop sized club made from an antelope tail) in one hand, his axe in another and had his pouch of magic implements slung around one shoulder.Mwindo and Mukiti exchanged challenging words with Mwindo’s being the most overstated and foolhardy. (Remember, part of the point of this epic is that Mwindo eventually learns to be humble and to be a good ruler, similar to Gilgamesh in Sumerian myths.) Before the two powerful figures could engage in all-out combat they were interrupted by the arrival of the woman Iyangura, who was Mwindo’s aunt and Mukiti’s ritual wife. Mwindo greeted her as his “aunt of the body,” a Nyanga expression denoting the fact that Iyangura was the blood sister of his father Shemwindo. “Aunt of the body” refers to her having come out of the same woman’s body that his father emerged from. Iyangura averted any immediate conflict by inviting her nephew back to her designated home in the river god’s underwater kingdom. Mwindo accompanied his aunt while Mukiti, still distrustful of the young hero, ordered his amphibious manling Kasiyembe to set traps to kill Mwindo while pretending to go about his normal duty as Iyangura’s bodyguard.While Kasiyembe went about his work of setting deathtraps for Mwindo in the form of pits with large razor-sharp blades in them, Iyangura had her handmaidens serve a meal to her nephew. Mwindo’s rapid growth had continued all this time and he was now at a stage of development equivalent to a Nyanga male at young adulthood.That being the case Iyangura permitted Mwindo to have sex with each of her handmaidens as well. Mwindo was as impressed with his carnal abilities as he was with his other qualities and loudly boasted about himself some more.Kasiyembe took advantage of the situation to tease the conceited Mwindo into showing off his dancing abilities. His plan was that Mwindo was bound to step on at least one of the straw-covered holes with blades, fall in and be skewered.In some versions of the Mwindo epic Katee the god of the hedgehogs speaks to our hero through one of his avatars and warns him about the holes Kasiyembe dug in the hedgehog’s usual underground turf. Those same versions have Mitandi the spider-goddess instruct his creatures to spin webs under the straw like nets so that Mwindo can dance on the holes without falling through to the blades below.I prefer the versions that let the hero take care of himself with as little outside help as possible, so I go with the notion that Mwindo’s own personal magic or good fortune or kahombo or Force Powers (I’m kidding) or whatever are the reason he is able to dance right on the deathtraps without plunging through to his doom.Mwindo sings a song mocking Kasiyembe while dancing around the room, purposely dancing on the traps with no harm resulting. Infuriated by this Kasiyembe calls on the Nyanga lightning god – the bad-tempered Nkuba – to strike the upstart Mwindo dead. Nkuba is only too happy to accomodate nearly anyone who personally appeals to him to strike their enemy down with lightning, so the deity begins raining lightning bolts down upon Mwindo. +++
PART SIX Kasiyembe, acting at the behest of the serpentine river god Mukiti, had tried to kill the semidivine Mwindo but failed. Mwindo had survived all of Kasiyembe’s death traps and so, in anger and frustration Mukiti’s henchman had called on the Nyanga lightning god Nkuba to strike Mwindo dead.Nkuba, a very ill-tempered deity who was always delighted to oblige when asked to unleash his bolts, began raining down lightning on Mwindo. Our hero began singing another magic spell, composing it in his head as he went along. Mwindo’s magic song protected both himself and his aunt Iyangura from Nkuba’s lightning bolts, always causing the bolts to hit spots other than the ones where they stood. Growing cocky as usual the young hero went so far as to cause a lightning bolt to strike Kasiyembe’s hair, setting it on fire.Some of the handmaidens endeavored to put out the flames before they could spread to the rest of Kasiyembe’s body. Mwindo prevented this, altering his song to cause all the water in the jars to dry up instantly. Even when the handmaidens tried to spit on the fire they could summon no spittle because of Mwindo’s spell.Some of the handmaidens rushed to fetch water from the river that Mukiti ruled over. Mwindo’s spell had even dried up that water, outraging Mukiti, who now sat on a dry riverbottom that used to be his kingdom. By now Kasiyembe’s entire body had burned to death.Iyangura interceded with her nephew and begged him to show mercy. Mwindo complied, causing all the water his magic had evaporated to be restored. The river and the water jars filled back up, people’s spittle was restored and Mwindo raised his conga-sceptre (a riding-crop sized rod made of hardened antelope tail) to bring Kasiyembe back to life.Calm was now restored and neither Mukiti nor his underling Kasiyembe bothered Mwindo any longer. The semidivine hero spent the night with his aunt’s handmaidens and come morning planned to start an assault on his evil father Shemwindo’s village. Iyangura tried to dissuade her nephew from that plan, fearing Shemwindo’s army would prove too much for Mwindo but our hero told her his mind was made up. +++ PART SEVEN The semidivine Mwindo, his aunt Iyangura and Iyangura’s handmaidens set out from the home she occupied as the Ritual Wife of the river god Mukiti. The object of their expedition was Mwindo’s attempt to overthrow his evil father Shemwindo and become the new ruler of the village of Tubondo.The first night the travelers stayed with Mwindo’s maternal uncle, Yana the bat god. (As with so many other ruling families around the world the Nyanga aristocracy claimed to be related to the gods.) Yana had the creatures he was the lord of prepare a goat of hospitality (as opposed to the wildebeest of misgiving) as a meal for the guests.After the meal was over and the women were sleeping the bats worked with Mwindo, outfitting him with iron shoes, an iron helmet, iron leggings, and an iron shirt to wear in battle. In Nyanga beliefs Bats were considered the metalworkers or blacksmiths of the animal kingdom. This is because of the way they live in caves and the shape of their vomit and fecal matter. No, seriously. All fourteen books that I have that cover the Mwindo epic give that as the reason. I’m not really up on bat vomit and bat feces so I’ll just have to take their word for it. The next morning Yana’s bat subjects insisted on accompanying Mwindo and the women on their trip to Tubondo. As night was approaching the expedition arrived within sight of that village ruled by Chief Shemwindo. The bats wanted to attack at once but Mwindo insisted on waiting until morning.Iyangura complained to her nephew that they had no shelter and that Kiruka, the elderly goddess who drags the rainclouds behind her, had caused a light shower to begin falling. Mwindo began singing another one of his magic incantations while holding aloft his conga-sceptre (a riding-crop sized staff made of antelope tail). Soon huts appeared from nowhere to shelter them all.There were separate huts for Iyangura and her handmaidens, separate huts for the bats while the finest hut was for Mwindo and was located in the middle of them all. When Iyangura complained that they lacked food and drink, Mwindo again took matters into his own hands.Holding aloft his conga-sceptre he began a new song, and this new song-spell teleported food and drink from Shemwindo’s village to the camp of Mwindo and his companions. Growing cocky again, Mwindo bragged about all that he had already accomplished and about his plans to seize the chiefship from his father.The bragging was part of Mwindo’s character development. As I mentioned in previous installments, part of the point of the Mwindo Epic was the main character eventually learning to be humble and to be a good ruler, like in the Gilgamesh Epic from Sumerian myths. At sunrise Mwindo awakened the bats and sent them to attack Tubondo, while he stood and observed the way his father maneuvered his soldiers. (You can’t help but laugh at how Mwindo always sings about what a badass he is, but now just says “You guys go fight those bastards. I’ll wait here.”) Chief Shemwindo was an effective general, however, and he led his troops into an all-out slaughter of the attacking bats. To avoid it seeming TOO callous on Mwindo’s part to just stand back and observe this massacre it’s important to remember that – as we’ve seen in previous episodes – he has the power to resurrect the dead. The lone bat survivor of the one-sided battle reached Mwindo and died in his arms. Iyangura told her nephew that Kahindo, the goddess of good fortune, had obviously abandoned him. Mwindo silenced her and stepped forward, saying that he would attack the village of Tubondo single-handed. +++ PART EIGHT The semidivine Mwindo, clad in the iron garments his uncle the bat god had made his subjects forge for him, prepared to attack his evil father’s village of Tubondo single-handed. His aunt Iyangura pleaded with him not to go, fearing he would end up as dead as the army of bats which attacked Tubondo in the previous episode.Mwindo told his aunt that he had to go, and to provide her partial comfort he left her his battle axe and his magical pouch containing the enchanted rope. Wielding only his conga-sceptre (a riding-crop sized staff made of antelope tail) Mwindo went up the hill to attack Tubondo. Mwindo entered the village through one of the seven entrances. The corpses of the slaughtered bat army littered Tubondo so that it was impossible to take a step without touching one of the fallen bats. Mwindo sang a challenge to his evil father Chief Shemwindo, who at first did not recognize his son since he had magically grown to manhood during his brief absence. Stunned that the son he had tried so often to kill was full-grown and back for vengeance Shemwindo ordered his soldiers to attack Mwindo. Singing more magical incantations our hero withstood every attack and defeated his father’s soldiers at every turn. By the time Mwindo completed his song-spell the soldiers told Chief Shemwindo that it was useless to continue the battle and those men remaining alive surrendered to the intruder. The victorious Mwindo now called on the bad-tempered lightning god Nkuba to bombard Tubondo with lightning bolts. Nkuba, still frustrated over the way Mwindo had evaded all his lightning bolts when Kasiyembe called on him to destroy the hero a few installments back, was pleased to have another target for his never-ending anger.The lightning god pummeled Tubondo with lightning bolts, killing all the men, women and children in the village and destroying several buildings. Only the cowardly Chief Shemwindo survived, because he had abandoned his people and fled before the first of Nkuba’s bolts could strike.Reaching the jungle outside of Tubondo Shemwindo pulled on a clump of kikoka ferns, ripping back the plants and a layer of the ground they were rooted in. When this flap of kikoka ferns and dirt was peeled open it exposed an entranceway to the land of Muisa, the god of the dead. (The Nyanga believed that if priests or chiefs pulled back the supernatural kikoka ferns like Shemwindo just did that a magical portal to Muisa’s realm would appear.) Cursing his father’s cowardice, Mwindo raised his conga-sceptre over his head and brought all of the slain bats back to life. Next he vowed to follow his father and exact vengeance on him, even if he had to search the entire land of the dead for him. +++ PART NINE KahindoMwindo prepared to pursue his cowardly father Shemwindo into the land of the dead ruled by the god Muisa. The semidivine hero’s Aunt Iyangura was frightened for Mwindo’s safety but he assured her he could take care of himself in the land of the dead.To further comfort his aunt he pulled the rope from his pouch of magical implements and tore it into two pieces. He gave one piece to Iyangura and he kept the other on his person. Mwindo told Iyangura that her end of the rope would act as a life token so she would know he was still alive.(Life tokens such as this have been covered previously at Balladeer’s Blog in Vietnamese, Malagasy and Philippine myths. They were usually a plant of some sort which would reflect the physical state of the myth’s hero on their travels. As long as the plant was alive then his loved ones would know the hero was still alive as well.)Iyangura’s half of the rope would perpetually coil and vibrate as long as Mwindo still lived. Mwindo now pulled up the kikoka ferns which covered the portal to Muisa’s realm and descended therein to hunt down his father and exact revenge on him. Following his long climb down to the land of the dead Mwindo came upon a well beside which sat Kahindo (also called Kahombo) the Nyanga goddess of good fortune. Kahindo suffered from yaws, the disease of the skin and cartilage common to hot, humid countries. Kahindo was the daughter of the death god Muisa and often greeted newcomers to her father’s realm. After she and our hero exchanged a few words she asked him where he was traveling to. Mwindo replied that he was pursuing his father who had sought refuge in Muisa’s kingdom. At first Kahindo tried to warn Mwindo away from his mission, fearing her father might destroy him but the semidivine hero remained adamant. Finding herself attracted to Mwindo, Kahindo led him to her father’s home and gave him instructions on how to survive his first encounter with the god of the dead.Kahindo told Mwindo that when he entered Muisa’s hut he would be lying in the ashes in the hearth, since ashes were his favorite food and he often wallowed in them. When Muisa offered Mwindo a stool to sit down on he was to refuse it. The stool left anyone sitting on it motionless while her father chopped off their head.Furthermore the goddess of good fortune advised Mwindo that when her father offered him a drink he was to refuse it since it would be Muisa’s urine and was poisonous. When her father offered Mwindo food he was to refuse that, too, since it would be Muisa’s feces and would also be poisonous.The hero thanked Kahindo and, to further show his gratitude he used his powers to heal her yaws so that her body was now completely free of them. While she waited behind he strode into her father’s hut and as predicted, saw Muisa lolling in the hearth’s ashes. Seeing that he had a visitor Muisa composed himself and offered the intruder a seat, a drink and food all of which Mwindo wisely declined per his instructions from Kahindo. Stymied by Mwindo’s survival of this initial gauntlet of traps the god of the dead asked the hero his purpose in his kingdom. Mwindo confessed that he was after his father Shemwindo and Muisa then told him to go spend the night with Kahindo in her hut.Come morning Muisa said he would assign Mwindo tasks to perform and if he succeeded at them the death god would tell him where to find his father. If Mwindo failed Muisa would kill him and he would never leave this land of the dead. +++ PART TEN Mwindo, having survived the initial gauntlet of traps from Muisa, the god of the dead, spent the night with Kahindo, the goddess of good fortune, in her hut. Come morning in the land of the dead Mwindo reported to Muisa. As the death-god had threatened the previous evening, he had a task to assign the semidivine Mwindo. If the hero succeeded at the task Muisa would tell him where he could find his evil father Shemwindo. If he failed he would be slain by Muisa and never leave the land of the dead.Muisa commanded Mwindo to plant banana trees there in the land of the dead and cause them to grow and produce bananas despite the fact that no fruit had ever grown in that lifeless realm.Given the amount of time it would take to plant acres of banana trees let alone for them to try to grow Muisa figured that even if Mwindo’s magic was strong enough to accomplish the miraculous deed it would keep him occupied for months. Mwindo, being spied upon at a distance by a dead soul assigned by Muisa to follow him, set about accomplishing his task. The semidivine hero began singing another of his song-spells and as he sang the billhooks automatically laid out the new rows for the banana trees and cut down the ubiquitous weeds there in the subterranean land of the dead. When that was done Mwindo’s song-spell caused all the banana trees to plant themselves. Next the still-singing hero unleashed the axe from his pouch of magical implements and it flew around directed by his song-spell and chopped down all the lifeless, leafless trees that surrounded the planted banana trees and would have prevented them from growing. While Mwindo continued singing the banana trees began growing superfast in defiance of all natural laws. Our semidivine hero even caused the billhooks to cut gaffs and use them to prop up the growing banana trees. When his song-spell had brought the trees to full-growth and the bananas themselves to luscious ripeness he stopped singing and admired his handiwork. The dead soul that had been spying on our hero for Muisa now raced back to the god of the dead and informed him of the miracle wrought by Mwindo and the short amount of time it had taken. Infuriated, the death-god ordered his karemba-belt to fly off on its own to slay Mwindo in violation of his promise.The karemba-belt caught the semidivine hero from behind while he was rounding up banana bunches with another song-spell. The animated belt slammed Mwindo into the ground and began crushing him so thoroughly the pressure forced urine and dung from the hero’s body.Despite his agony Mwindo summoned his conga-sceptre ( a riding-crop sized staff made of antelope tail) from his nearby pouch and the animated conga-sceptre attacked the karembo-belt of Muisa.If this was depicted cinematically (and for good or ill that’s how just about everybody pictures everything they read these days) the battle of the self-animated implements would look a bit silly, so it would probably be presented as Muisa himself having flown to attack Mwindo. Our hero would be wielding his conga-sceptre to defend himself like he does in other portions of this tale. Mwindo’s conga-sceptre overcame Muisa’s karemba-belt and then the hero sent his conga-sceptre flying off back to the death-god’s hut. Once there Mwindo’s favorite weapon bludgeoned Muisa into submission. Or, again, if pictured cinematically, Mwindo flew back to the hut and defeated Muisa to punish him for his perfidy. The death-god’s daughter Kahindo intervened to stop Mwindo from continuing to beat her father. Our hero honored her wish and spared Muisa further harm. Putting on an outraged air at Mwindo’s “disrespect” to his host, Muisa decreed that the hero would have to perform another task for him come morning. Failure would, of course, result in Mwindo’s death.Mwindo was infuriated at Muisa’s dishonesty but went off with Kahindo to spend another night with her in her hut. +++ PART ELEVEN After spending another night with Kahindo, the goddess of good fortune, the semidivine hero Mwindo reported to the hut of the death-god Muisa the next morning.The new “impossible” task that Muisa commanded Mwindo to carry out was the harvesting of honey from the deadly African honey-bees in the land of the dead. If the hero succeeded in this task the death-god promised to reveal to him where his evil father Shemwindo was hiding. If he failed then Muisa would kill him and he would never leave the realm of the dead.Mwindo was directed to the dead tree where the huge swarm of Muisa’s bees had their hive. Singing another of his song-spells Mwindo intimidated the bees from interfering with him as he began to harvest their honey. One of the dead souls who served as spies for Muisa throughout his kingdom observed all this and raced back to inform the deity. Muisa was furious when he received the news. Once again the loud and boastful Mwindo was going to survive one of the death-god’s traps. Muisa sent his mystical karemba belt flying off on its own to attack Mwindo from behind.When the karemba belt arrived at the tree where Mwindo labored at collecting the honey it wrapped itself around the hero’s arms to prevent him from using either his axe or his conga-sceptre (a riding-crop sized staff made of antelope tail). The karemba belt then stuffed Mwindo bodily into the trunk of the tree, entrapping him in it with only his head sticking out from the top. The semidivine figure’s head drooped as if he was dead.In fact Mwindo was in so death-like a state from Muisa’s latest attack on him that the half of his magical rope that he had left with his Aunt Iyangura back in the land of the living ceased moving. Iyangura began weeping at the sight of the life-token falling motionless, knowing it would indicate Mwindo had died during his adventure in Muisa’s underground realm.Back in the land of the dead Mwindo managed a last spark of life and opened his eyes. Unable to breathe with the tree firmly entrapping him he would never be able to complete a song-spell. Instead, with his last breath he called upon his new ally the lightning god Nkuba to free him. The quick-tempered Nkuba was always glad to unleash his lightning bolts on any target. Looking down from the heavens he struck the tree that held Mwindo, bursting it into several pieces but leaving the semidivine hero unharmed.Topside, in the ruins of Tubondo village, Iyangura rejoiced as the rope began vibrating again, indicating that Mwindo still lived after all.After thanking the lightning god for freeing him, Mwindo returned to Muisa’s hut with the honey he had gathered. Mwindo demanded that the death-god honor his word and tell him where he could find his evil father Shemwindo.With no recourse immediately at hand Muisa complied, giving Mwindo directions to the hut where he was hiding Shemwindo. The hero set off immediately to at last enact his revenge on his evil father. +++ PART TWELVE The semidivine hero Mwindo briskly walked through the land of the dead, making his way to the hut in which the death-god Muisa had hidden his evil father Shemwindo. Mwindo would at last have his revenge on his father for his crimes against him and against their home village of Tubondo, which now lay in ruins back on the surface. Mwindo burst into the hut in question only to be infuriated that there was no sign of Shemwindo. Once again he had escaped his son’s wrath. The hawk god Kahunga spoke to Mwindo through one of his creatures flying overhead in the realm of the dead.This bird informed the semidivine hero that Muisa had once again played him false and had had one of the souls of the dead fly to the hut to warn Shemwindo about his son’s approach. Furthermore, Muisa’s messenger had ordered Mwindo’s cowardly father to seek refuge in the subterranean lair of Ntumba, the aardvark god. (To the Nyanga aardvarks are special creatures, hence the extraordinary reverence accorded their deity. The high regard comes from the way aardvarks walk the surface world – called Oto – but can prey on bugs who live under the ground, with that subterranean realm being known as Kwirunga. The Nyanga viewed aardvarks as being uniquely gifted as birds, who are mobile on both the surface world – Oto – and the sky – Butu. ) The infuriated Mwindo flew back to the death-god’s hut by clinging to his conga-scepter as it took to the air at his command. (A conga-scepter was a riding-crop sized staff made of antelope tail.) Arriving back in the presence of Muisa the angry hero demanded that the deceptive deity hand over his father immediately. Muisa claimed he could not, stating that he had no authority to order a fellow deity like Ntumba to send back Shemwindo, who had sought refuge with him. (As unusual as it may sound in the West, most Nyanga deities lived underground in Kwirunga rather than in the Heavens, or Butu. The land of the dead that Muisa ruled over was just one of many subterranean territories which various deities controlled. Picture it like an ant colony. )Muisa took offense at Mwindo’s threats, despite how dishonestly he had dealt with the hero, and challenged him to fight. Mwindo was glad to oblige and, armed with his song-spells, his conga-scepter and his axe he did battle with the god of the dead in his own realm.After a long and furious clash Mwindo had beaten Muisa into such a state that the death-god had bloody froth pouring from his mouth, urine leaking from his penis since he was beaten too badly to control his bladder and also had dung clotting around his anus because he had been beaten too severely to control his bowel movements, too. Through one of his song-spells Mwindo ensured that Muisa would remain unconscious in his present state while he went off to make sure Shemwindo really was where the death-god had claimed he would be this time.Mwindo flew with his conga-scepter to the faraway underground realm of the aardvark god Ntumba. This realm was an enormous cavern and from outside the entrance our hero could see both the aardvark god and his villainous father lurking inside.Mwindo ordered Ntumba to immediately send his father out or be prepared to face the destruction of his cavern realm. +++PART THIRTEENMwindo, the semidivine hero, stood at the entranceway to Munundu, the subterranean realm of the aardvark god Ntumba. (Munundu was also used as an epithet for Ntumba himself.) Mwindo had spotted his evil father Shemwindo hiding inside Munundu and talking with Ntumba himself.The hero sang a song about all the evil Shemwindo had committed and demanded that Ntumba send him out or he would destroy his entire kingdom and defeat him as he had defeated Muisa the god of the dead. Inside Munundu the aardvark god told Shemwindo how annoyed he was at the trouble he had caused by seeking refuge in his kingdom. Still, he directed him to a rear cavern through which he could escape if Mwindo carried out his threats. As soon as it became apparent that Ntumba was not going to send Shemwindo out to him Mwindo once again called upon his new ally the lightning god Nkuba. That easily angered deity was more than happy to unleash his deadly lightning bolts on behalf of his new friend. At Mwindo’s request Nkuba rained down seven of his most potent bolts on the cavernous realm of the aardvark god. In the aftermath of Nkuba’s onslaught the kingdom of Munundu was in ruins. Ntumba stood amid the wreckage and angrily confronted Mwindo who had entered Munundu uninvited. Ntumba prepared to battle the semidivine hero by elongating his nose to resemble the creatures he was the lord of and by projecting the claws of an aardvark as well. Crying out how he would punish Mwindo for causing such destruction in his subterranean realm Ntumba attacked our hero. Emboldened by his recent triumph over the death-god Muisa, Mwindo fought back against Ntumba, matching the deity’s massive strength with his own.Mwindo endured the pain of Ntumba’s claws slashing his flesh and his teeth at the end of his long snout gnawing at him wherever possible. The semidivine hero employed his song-spells, his axe and his conga-scepter (a riding-crop sized staff made of antelope tail) to counterattack.In the end Mwindo defeated Ntumba and left him lying in a heap amid the ruins of his kingdom. Our hero threatened to use his song-spells to make the deity suffer from scrotal elephantiasis (I’m not joking) and to cause the aardvark god to be forever unable to find food. If Ntumba wanted to avoid such awful fates he had to tell Mwindo where Shemwindo had fled to.Ntumba, anxious to get rid of the figure who had brought so much carnage his way, informed Mwindo that Shemwindo had fled through the rear cavern entrance. That passageway would lead Mwindo’s evil father to Sheburungu, the subterranean realm of Ongo, the creator god of the Nyanga pantheon.(The reader may remember that many of the Nyanga deities rule individual underground kingdoms laid out like an ant colony. Another point I want to make is that Sheburungu is sometimes used as an epithet for Ongo the same way that Munundu was sometimes used as an epithet for its ruler Ntumba.)Mwindo headed off in pursuit of his evil father Shemwindo, accompanied by the taunts of Ntumba, who was shouting out that Ongo was a deity far too powerful for Mwindo to overcome. The aardvark god spitefully stated that he hoped Mwindo would face his own defeat and destruction in Sheburungu. +++PART FOURTEENStill pursuing his evil father, Mwindo arrived at the subterranean realm of Sheburungu, home of the Nyanga creator deity Ongo. (Though Sheburungu was often used as an epithet for Ongo.) Ongo’s kingdom was inhabited by children who never aged. (Michael Jackson’s ideal world!)The children of Sheburungu gathered around Mwindo and followed him as was the custom in all Nyanga villages when a newcomer arrived. The little boys and girls asked the semidivine hero for food and – as an indication of Mwindo’s good heart despite his tendency to egotism and boastfulness – he resolved to feed them all.Mentally communicating with his Aunt Iyangura back on the surface world, the hero told her to prepare as many meals as she could from the food in the ruins of the depopulated village of Tubondo. She did as she was asked and Mwindo teleported the meals to Sheburungu to feed all of the children surrounding him. Our hero watched as the children ate their fill then teleported all of the dishes and utensils back to Iyangura to be cleaned. (The Nyanga people believed black magic could be worked with any leftover food or dirty dishes from a meal so Nyanga women were known to feel a certain anxiety until all the dishes and utensils had been cleaned and put away safely.) With the children satisfied Mwindo climbed the ladder up into Ongo’s elevated hut. The creator god was inside and greeted him affably enough. Due to Ongo’s incredible power Mwindo was more respectful than he had been with the previous deities he had encountered in the various realms honeycombing the land beneath the Earth. Mwindo asked Ongo to turn his evil father Shemwindo over to him but the creator god politely declined, saying Mwindo could not enter the realm of the gods and demand something without earning it. Ongo challenged Mwindo to the Nyanga gambling game called Wiki, promising to turn his father over to him if he defeated him at the game of chance. The semidivine hero had no choice but to comply, and so Ongo produced the black seeds of an Isea tree. Wiki was played by one player taking an undisclosed number of seeds into his hand. If the second player accurately guessed the number of seeds he won. If he guessed wrong the first player won. This continued until one player gave up or had nothing left to wager.The first few hands Ongo and Mwindo wagered bundles of butea money. Ongo won those hands as Mwindo failed to guess the number of seeds hidden in Ongo’s hand. The creator god kept the right to make Mwindo do the guessing until Mwindo could guess correctly. (Around the world gambling and the concept of “luck” were often seen as a reflection of a figure’s power or their standing with the gods. My coverage of Hodadeion, the Iroquois god of magic dealt extensively with Iroquois games of chance. My coverage of Nohoilpi, the Navajo god of gambling dealt with the details of Navajo games of chance.These ancient superstitions have left faint echoes in stories of American western gunslingers who viewed prowess in card-playing as part of their machismo. In Japanese Samurai tales success at gambling is similarly highly regarded. James Bond and other spies are often depicted playing high-stakes games of chance, too. For all those figures success over their gambling opponents was part of the metaphorical dick-measuring contest. ) When Mwindo was out of butea money to wager he wagered the goats left in the village of Tubondo. Again Ongo won. Mwindo wagered the other cattle and poultry of Tubondo but Ongo won again and again. The semidivine hero wagered his Aunt Iyangura but lost to Ongo again. (It was common for Nyanga men to wager their wives and daughters in Wiki games.) Mwindo next wagered his axe. Ongo won. Mwindo wagered his magic pouch and Ongo won again. Our hero wagered his last and most valuable possession – his conga-scepter (a riding-crop sized staff made of antelope tail).Mwindo’s enchanted conga-scepter turned the tide. He at last won a hand of the Wiki game by accurately guessing how many black seeds Ongo had in his hand. Now the “deal” as it were passed to Mwindo and Ongo had to guess how many seeds the hero had in his hand. Over and over again Mwindo won until he had regained all the possessions he had lost. From there Mwindo went on to win all the subsequent hands as well, until he had wiped out Ongo by winning all his possessions. The creator god was as good as his word and prepared to turn Mwindo’s evil father Shemwindo over to him.Shemwindo once again sought to escape – this time to the realm of the supreme Nyanga deity Nyamurairi the fire god – but Ongo had two of the giant birds of his kingdom swoop down and seize the villain. The birds delivered Shemwindo to Ongo’s elevated hut and at long last Mwindo was face to face with his father and ready for revenge. +++PART FIFTEENThe semidivine hero Mwindo at last stood face to face with his evil father Shemwindo. After the villain had led his heroic son on a long chase through the various realms of the gods that honeycombed the subterranean region Mwindo finally had satisfaction.There in the hut of the Nyanga creator deity Ongo the two adversaries eyed each other with the intense hostility born from prolonged conflict. Mwindo had bested Ongo at the Nyanga gambling game called Wiki and – as good as his word – the creator god had turned Shemwindo over to the victor. Mwindo, already showing signs of emerging maturity, maintained his composure in front of the powerful Ongo and the eternal children who inhabited the creator deity’s realm called Sheburungu. Controlling his anger he curtly chastised Shemwindo for his villainy and his cowardice.Then he took custody of his father from Ongo’s man-sized birds who had seized Shemwindo before he could flee to the home of Nyamurairi the fire god and supreme deity of the Nyanga pantheon. Mwindo stretched his magic rope and used it to bind Shemwindo. To further humiliate the defeated former Chief the semidivine hero slung him across one shoulder, carrying him like a child. Next Mwindo benevolently gave back to Ongo everything he had won from him during their long Wiki game. He and the creator god parted on good terms and, carrying Shemwindo over his shoulder, the hero began his return journey to the surface world where his father would face justice. Mwindo reached the underground realm of the aardvark god Ntumba, which was still in ruins. The hero reconciled with Ntumba and, despite singing a boastful song-spell about how he had defeated the aardvark god in personal combat, he used his power to restore Ntumba’s kingdom to normal. The two parted on friendly terms.Next Mwindo reached the land of the dead ruled over by the god Muisa. Kahindo, the goddess of good fortune and the daughter of the death-god, pleaded with Mwindo to heal her father. The devious god of the dead was still in the physically mangled condition our hero had left him in after his repeated deceptions had enabled Shemwindo to escape to Ntumba’s realm. Mwindo obliged, singing a song-spell that restored Muisa to his former good health. Next he subjected the death-god to a taunting song about how he had defeated him. (If you’re wondering Ongo was not taunted by Mwindo because of his immense power and because Mwindo had not bested Ongo in combat as he had Ntumba and Muisa.)As Mwindo prepared to leave Muisa begged him to marry his daughter Kahindo, whom Mwindo had cured of yaws. The semidivine figure courteously declined the offer. With Shemwindo still slung across one shoulder Mwindo began the long climb back to the village of Tubondo on the surface world. At last Mwindo and his captive lifted up the flap of kikoka ferns through which they had descended to the land of the dead days earlier. Mwindo’s Aunt Iyangura was there in the ruins of Tubondo village to greet him and to return the other half of his magic rope to him; the life token that kept her aware that Mwindo was still alive.The bat army of Mwindo’s uncle, the bat god Yana, was still in Tubondo and the bats also welcomed the hero on his return. Mwindo tossed the bound Shemwindo onto the ground and proceeded to sing a song-spell that repaired all the damage to Tubondo and resurrected all of the dead inhabitants. The hero then boasted to the revived citizens about all his adventures in the subterranean lands of the gods. Mwindo bade everyone in Tubondo to rest for the night and he would deal with their defeated Chief Shemwindo in the morning. The bat army guarded the bound villain overnight to ensure he would not escape again.Come morning Mwindo emerged from his father’s former hut to the cheers of the citizens and amid much pomp seated himself upon a throne made of spears as was the custom when deciding on the fate of captives taken in wartime. Shemwindo was brought before Mwindo to face his punishment. +++PART SIXTEENIn the restored village of Tubondo, with all the dead brought back to life by Mwindo it was at last time to pass judgment on the captured Shemwindo. In some versions of the Mwindo Epic the semidivine hero sits upon a throne made of spears as if deciding the fate of prisoners of war. Other versions claim Mwindo’s friend Nkuba the lightning god sent down copper chairs for Mwindo and his Aunt Iyangura to sit on while judging the former Chief Shemwindo. Still other versions depict Iyangura’s husband Mukiti the river god sitting alongside Mwindo and Iyangura as they decide Shemwindo’s fate. Some versions claim the trio floated in the air in the copper chairs provided by Nkuba. Every citizen of the village, royal and otherwise, crowded around, struggling to observe the proceedings. Mwindo stated the list of Shemwindo’s crimes with corroboration from Iyangura and others.When called upon to speak for himself Shemwindo showed the first reasonable behavior he had displayed so far in the storyline. He confessed to every evil he had committed and begged the people of Tubondo to make his son Mwindo the new chief. After that he would submit to whatever punishment was decided upon.Mwindo was moved by this first display of selfless behavior on the part of his father. He told the assembled counselors and nobility that he would be fine with them dividing the village into two, with his father ruling one half and he himself ruling the other half. Upon his father’s death he would assume control over a reunified Tubondo. The point of this proposal from Mwindo is that he is further maturing, abandoning his own desire for vengeance on Shemwindo in the name of what is best for his people. The nobles and the counselors also recognized the wisdom of Mwindo’s recommendation. Partisans who still supported Shemwindo would be dissuaded from sowing discord under Mwindo’s plan. It was decided that Shemwindo would rule Lesser Tubondo on the lower hill while Mwindo ruled Greater Tubondo on the higher hill. Per the semidivine hero’s plan Shemwindo would face no punishment and all his crimes would be forgiven. Three days of preparation followed for Mwindo’s coronation as Chief. To further ensure peace Shemwindo himself would bestow the regal paraphernalia upon his son, thus forever forfeiting any right to challenge his son for the Chieftaincy.On Coronation Day Mwindo, flanked by Iyangura and his mother Nyamwindo, was named the Chief of Greater Tubondo. Shemwindo personally adorned his son with a Chief’s red-dyed frock and red belts, butea to wear on his arms and legs, a ncambi belt and kataba belt plus a kembo hat. The seven counselors who would make up Chief Mwindo’s “cabinet” led the procession bringing in the throne sprinkled with ukaru powder and castor oil (yes, castor oil). Chief Mwindo sat down upon the throne and Shemwindo handed him the copper scepter of power. Next Shemwindo gave Mwindo the ceremonial bow and arrow and had a delegation of Pygmies come forward so he could officially transfer their loyalty from himself to his son. (The Pygmies were regarded in a nearly superstitious way by the Nyanga. The Nyanga Chiefs held the loyalty of the Pygmies and their armies. The relationship is hard to find a simile for but think of them as a combination of Rangers and Praetorian Guards for the sitting Chief.)Next the meals began as the royal families provided banana-beer, beef and goat-meat for all seven kinship groups of Tubondo. While the meals were being eaten by everyone from the aristocracy on down the ceremonies continued. Mwindo was given brides – one from his father, one from his uncle the bat god Yana and one from the Pygmies. In the coming weeks Mwindo would pay a ceremonial visit to smaller villages subordinate to Tubondo and he would select a bride for himself from each of those villages. At any rate the day after the Coronation of Chief Mwindo his Aunt Iyangura returned to her husband the river god, laden with gifts from her nephew. Some versions of the Mwindo Epic end with his Coronation ceremony but that leaves the story unfinished. The remainder of the story is ahead. +++ PART SEVENTEEN PygmiesThis part of the Mwindo Epic picks up with the semidivine hero having been the chief of the village of Tubondo for an unspecified amount of time. One day he was in the mood for a meal of pork so he sent four of his loyal Pygmies out into the jungle to catch a wild boar for him. They set out with their hunting dogs on leashes.The four Pygmies traveled far off into the jungle but could not find any wild boars or other large game. They began to suspect some supernatural predator of having whittled down the game population in the area. After a few days of searching fruitlessly for a wild boar the four Pygmies at last spotted and speared a boar. While the quartet of hunters were slicing off the meat they were attacked by Kirimu, a huge monster with a tough black hide, seven heads with one large eye each, a horn on each head, teeth like a dog and a swollen belly with room for plenty of victims. Kirimu overcame and killed three of the Pygmies but the fourth – named Nkurongo – fought his way free and fled, followed by the hunting dogs. While Kirimu finished feeding on the slain Pygmies Nkurongo and the dogs made good their escape. Days later the Pygmy and the dogs reached Tubondo village and, exhausted, flopped into Chief Mwindo’s hut. Mwindo had a meal of banana paste served to the Pygmy, then listened as Nkurongo related the tale of what happened. Mwindo announced that he would go into the jungle and kill Kirimu for slaying three of his valued Pygmy allies. The seven counselors who served as Chief Mwindo’s “cabinet” warned him not to do this (in some versions his father Shemwindo warns against this, too). Kirimu was considered too dangerous to challenge and for generations he had been given a wide berth. The semidivine Mwindo stated he did not care what had been done before he was Chief. He considered himself lord of the region and would kill the monstrous Kirimu for his actions and free his people from ever again falling victim to the creature. Holding high his conga-scepter (a riding-crop sized staff made of antelope tail), Mwindo vowed that either he or Kirimu would die this day. +++ PART EIGHTEEN The semidivine Chief Mwindo set out to find and battle Kirimu, the seven-headed monster terrorizing his domain. Mwindo was guided by Nkurongo, the sole remaining Pygmy from the foursome who had encountered the creature while hunting a wild boar for the Chief. Mwindo carried with him his signature weapon – his conga-scepter, a riding-crop sized staff made of antelope tail. When the Pygmy had led the hero to where Kirimu had slain his comrades the pair saw that the creature was lying in wait in the jungle, ready to strike at anyone who attempted to retrieve the boar slain by the Pygmies.Mwindo advised Nkurongo to hang back so he could spread the word to the people of Tubondo if their Chief died in battle with the massive creature. With that Mwindo joined in combat with Kirimu and the jungle around them was torn up by their mammoth struggle.The hero pitted his strength, his song-spells and his weapon against the mighty beast. Eventually Mwindo had succeeded in flipping the monster onto its back and then beat its heads to death with his conga-scepter.After regaining his breath Chief Mwindo regaled Nkurongo with another boastful song about himself following which he sent his conga-scepter flying back to Tubondo on its own. Once there a large number of men knew to follow it (like Lassie) back to where Mwindo, Nkurongo and the corpse of Kirimu were located. Mwindo’s conga-scepter returned to his hand just as the mass of men from Tubondo arrived on the scene. The men hailed Chief Mwindo for his victory, then formed a long train of bearers to carry Kirimu’s dead body back to Tubondo.When the long procession arrived back in the village three of Chief Mwindo’s seven advisors who served as his “cabinet” complained aloud about the semidivine hero ignoring their advice to leave Kirimu alone. They condemned Mwindo for his deed and claimed he had now made Tubondo a target for countless other monsters.In response Mwindo struck the three men dead with his conga-scepter and replaced them with men shrewd enough to know not to openly challenge and accuse their Chief of such things in front of the entire village.Next Mwindo rose his conga-scepter over his head and sang another song-spell. This song-spell tore open Kirimu’s belly and from the semi-digested remains of the three Pygmies they were restored to life in perfect health.From there Mwindo proceeded to have some of his men scrape all the undigested remains in Kirimu’s lengthy instestines, or clingingto his inner ribs or the sides of his stomach. From those remains Mwindo resurrected all the other recent victims of the monster, both human and animal.Some of the humans had been devoured by Kirimu months earlier. All of the victims brought back from the dead were welcomed by Mwindo. There were so many he granted them all a new section of his domain, making Tubondo village even larger.While Mwindo bored entertained the assembled villagers with another song boasting about his most recent exploits trouble was brewing from an unexpected quarter. The catalyst for that trouble was the smell of Kirimu’s cooking flesh as the people of Tubondo feasted upon it. As the scent of that cooking meat drifted up into the Heavens it caught the attention of Nkuba the lightning god. At the sight of Kirimu cooking on the fires in Tubondo and the sound of Mwindo’s boastful song about slaying the creature Nkuba became furious.Long ago he and the monster Kirimu had sworn a bond of friendship. The creature’s merciless way of dealing out death had impressed Nkuba, who found a kindred spirit in Kirimu. The bond between the lightning god and the monster went back long before Nkuba’s recent alliance with Mwindo.The lightning god looked down at the celebratory meal in Tubondo and vowed to make Chief Mwindo pay for killing his friend Kirimu. +++ PART NINETEEN The lightning god Nkuba looked down from the sky and prepared to attack the semidivine hero Mwindo in order to avenge his (Nkuba’s) friend, the monster Kirimu. That seven- headed creature had been slain, cooked and served as a meal by Chief Mwindo for killing three of his devoted corps of Pygmies. The morning after the village of Tubondo had feasted upon the remains of Kirimu, Mwindo had a premonition of impending danger. He announced to his people that his supernatural senses had revealed to him that the bad-tempered god Nkuba had taken offense at his actions against the monster Kirimu. The lightning god was coming for revenge.Chief Mwindo’s subjects were nearly hysterical with fear. They were terrified at the thought that their chieftain and protector might be taken away from them forever. Mwindo was his usual boastful self, however, and sang songs bragging about how he was confident he would defeat Nkuba the way he had laid low other deities like Muisa the god of the dead and Ntumba the aardvark god.Our hero prepared to face his divine adversary by dressing in the iron shirt forged for him by the subjects of his uncle Yana, the bat god. He slung his pouch of magic implements across his shoulder. He readied his battle axe and his conga-scepter, a riding-crop sized staff made of antelope tail. Amid the flash of one of his lightning bolts Nkuba arrived in Tubondo after a full day of unease for Mwindo’s people . The citizens and aristocracy all fled to their homes, leaving the lone Chief Mwindo face to face with his former ally. The pair acknowledged that Mwindo was not aware of Nkuba’s bond of friendship with Kirimu when he had slain the murderous creature.However, that bond of friendship preceded the lightning god’s alliance with Mwindo, and so the Chief of the Tubondo must now pay the price for his actions. Throughout the night the chief and the lightning god conversed in whispers, discussing subjects kept secret from everyone except the initiates of the Nyanga people’s Mukuki Society. (Like many myths around the world this part of Mwindo’s tale is incorporated into initiation ceremonies for a secret society.)Nkuba gestured and caused a solidified lightning bolt to form, connecting the Earth and the clouds overhead. The lightning god seized Mwindo by the back of the neck and forced him to accompany him up the solid lightning like it was a crude staircase. The semidivine chief was still singing a song about how he would defeat Nkuba. The people of Tubondo watched the two figures ascend until they were lost from view amid the clouds that Nkuba called home. Mwindo was a bit disoriented by the cold. The lightning god did not live in a hut like the other deities Mwindo had battled in his adventures. Nkuba was immune to the elements and needed no shelter. He lived a nomadic existence wandering wherever the clouds drifted to.Nkuba and Mwindo expressed mutual admiration and then closed in combat. The lightning god quickly seized the advantage over his semidivine opponent. The chilled and disoriented Mwindo found his song-spells, his awesome strength, his axe and his conga-scepter inadequate against the mighty Nkuba.For the first time Mwindo knew defeat. The victorious lightning god briefly lorded it over his fallen foe then turned Mwindo over to the rain goddess Kiruka. This elderly deity who dragged rain-clouds behind her wherever she went, subjected the humbled Mwindo to a soaking rain and pellets of hail for what seemed like months. As Kiruka at long last ended the ordeal she was inflicting on Mwindo she mocked him about his incessant bragging. She insulted him and told him his worldy accomplishments were as nothing to her. Nkuba appeared again and dragged Mwindo to the realm of Mweri the moon goddess. The moon goddess likewise insulted the semidivine hero, telling him there was no room in her celestial kingdom for his pride and vanity. She set his hair on fire and made him endure the pain of the undying flames for what seemed like months. At last Nkuba reappeared and dragged the helpless Mwindo to the realm of the sun god Kentse.Kentse laid Mwindo out on the hot, arid plain of his kingdom, letting him suffer for what seemed like months from the heat like a hide left in the sun. Thirst tormented the hero every minute and he begged for water. The sun god told him there was no water anywhere in his realm and mocked Mwindo’s fragility, reminding him that many gods had no need for water. Nkuba appeared and dragged Mwindo to the even higher realm of Kubikubi the god of all the stars in the heavens. Kubikubi now presided over a council which included Nkuba, Kiruka, Mweri and Kentse. Kubikubi was not the supreme deity of the Nyanga pantheon – the fire god Nyamurairi was – but the star god’s power was such that even the hot-tempered Nkuba treaded lightly around him. This council of the gods informed Mwindo that they would have destroyed him if not for the fact that he was unaware of Nkuba’s bond of friendship with Kirimu when he had slain the monster. The gods did, however, forbid Mwindo and all the other chiefs of the Nyanga people from ever again killing any of the jungle creatures, either natural or unnatural. Nyanga chiefs may not even hunt for food – their Pygmy Rangers must hunt for them. (Obviously a secondary purpose of this myth was to provide an origin for the proscription forbidding Nyanga chieftains from hunting. In real life what probably happened was that immediately after some Nyanga chief hunted and slew some animal something terrible must have happened through sheer coincidence. As religious practitioners always do, they mistook this coincidence for “the will of the gods” and forbade chiefs from hunting.)The council of the gods also warned Mwindo to never forget the lesson in humility they had given him. No matter how great a warrior is, no matter how powerful a magician is and no matter how large a chief’s kingdom is, it is all as nothing to the gods. A humble nature is a must for ruling over people, so that cruelty and tyranny can be avoided. (The ordeals that the gods inflicted on Mwindo are imitated in the ordeals inflicted on initiates into the Mukuki Society. As Balladeer’s Blog has covered in other myths from around the world this reflects the nearly-universal concept that true enlightenment – or wisdom or shamanic insight – comes only through suffering. Without such suffering humanity’s tendency toward hubris like Mwindo’s precludes them from achieving true enlightenment.) After the council of gods imparted further laws and rules for Mwindo to share with the Nyanga people they returned him to the village of Tubondo. The chief had been gone for exactly a year. His father Shemwindo had been ruling in his absence but he happily abdicated in favor of his returning son.Chief Mwindo shared the lessons he learned with the royal families of the Nyanga people. Because of his semidivine nature Mwindo lived far longer than other chiefs and was forever after revered as a wise ruler, capable general and culture hero. +++A NEW CONTINUING FEATURE WILL BEGIN IN A FEW DAYS.For detail dorks like myself here are the “commandments” Mwindo brought back with him to share with the Nyanga people, as opposed to the secret teachings meant only for initiates into the Secret Societies of the villages:*** Cultivate a variety of food sources to prevent over-reliance on one particular source.*** Take pride in the appearance of your own home as well as in the appearance of the village.*** Avoid quarreling with other citizens whenever possible.*** Do not pursue another person’s wife or wives.*** Kill any man who seduces another man’s wife or wives. *** Do not mock the disabled or the elderly.*** People – you should fear your chiefs. Chiefs – you should fear the people. (I LOVE that one!)*** Avoid hating your fellow citizens.*** Bring forth children who have qualities necessary for all aspects of Nyanga life.*** No children are evil. They should never be rejected, but should be cherished because the creator god Ongo gives nothing bad.*** Heroism should be hailed but excessive pride must be avoided.*** Mutual aid is essential at all levels of a society*** No matter how much greatness one achieves they will inevitably encounter a man or a god who can lay one low.

Mwindo was born carrying a conga-sceptor is one hand, an axe in the other, and over his shoulder a bag of good fortune containing a magic rope. They attempt to kill Mwindo but he survives and is raised by Iyangura. He returns to Tobondo and Shemwindo flees to the Underworld. Mwindo follows him and meets Muisa in the underworld.MUisa tries to kill Mwindo with the magic cowrie belt and they battle and Mwindo wins. He finds and reconciles with his father and they return to Tobondo. He kills a dragon with the Pygmies and learns the secrets of the universe and he set up laws for his people. The Mwindo Epic begins in the village of Tubondo, surrounded by raphia trees and located on a high hill. The founder and Chief of the village was named Shemwindo and he had seven wives because the Nyanga considered seven to be the number of perfection. Nyanga villages had seven separate kinship halls even if there were not seven separate kinship groups in the village. This was done out of deference to the sheer perfection of the number seven. At any rate in accordance with the Nyanga version of polygamy Chief Shemwindo had a favored wife and a despised one. The despised wife lived near the village’s waste dump, the others lived in the center of the village. Shemwindo gathered his wives and announced that if any of them gave birth to a male the child (and in some versions the wife, too) would be put to death.