THE SUN WAS VERY HOT and there was no rain, so the crops died and hunger was great. This happened one year; and it happened again a second, and even a third year, that the rain failed. The People all gathered together on the great open space on the hilltop, where they were wont to dance, and they said to each other, “Why does the rain delay in coming?” And they went to the Medicine-Man and they said to him, “Tell us why there is no rain, for our crops have died, and we shall die of hunger.”

And he took his gourd and poured its contents. This he did many times; and at last he said, “There is a maiden here who must be bought if rain is to fall, and the maiden is named Wanjiru. The day after tomorrow let all of you return to this place, and every one of you from the eldest to the youngest bring with him a goat for the purchase of the maiden.

On this day after morrow, old men and young men all gathered together, and each brought in his hand a goat. Now they all stood in a circle, and the relations of Wanjiru stood together, and she herself stood in the middle. As they stood there, the feet of Wanjiru sank lower to her waist, and again he cried aloud, “I am lost, but much rain will come!”

She sank to her breast; but the rain did not come. Then she again, “Much rain will come.”

Now she sank in to her neck, and then the rain came in great drops. Her people would have rushed forward to save her, but those who stood around pressed upon them more goats, and they desisted.

The Wanjiru said, “My people have undone me,” and she sank down to her eyes. As one after of her family stepped forward to save her, someone in the crowd would give to him or her a goat, and he would fall back. An Wanjiru cried aloud for the last time, “I am undone, and my own people have done this thing.” The she vanished from sight; the earth closed over her, and rain poured down, not in showers, as it sometimes does, but in a great deluge, and all the people hastened to their own homes.

Now there was a young warrior who loved Wanjiru, and he lamented continually, saying, “Wanjiru is lost, and her own people have done this thing.” And he said, “Where has Wanjiru gone? I will go to the same place.” So he took his shield and spear. And he wandered over the country day and night until, at last, as the dusk fell, he came to the spot where Wanjiru had vanished. Then he stood where she had stood and, as he stood, his feet began to sink as hers had sunk; and he sank lower and lower until the ground closed over him, and he went by a long road under the earth as Wanjiru had gone and , at length, he saw the maiden. But, indeed, he pitied her sorely, for her state was miserable, and her raiment had perished. He said to her, “You were sacrificed to bring the rain; now the rain has come, and I shall take you back.” So he took Wanjiru on his back as if she had been a child and brought her to the road once more on the ground.

Then the warrior said, “You shall not return to the house of your people, for they have treated you shamefully.” And he bade her wait until nightfall. When it was dark he took her to the house of his mother and he asked his mother to leave, saying that he had business, and he allowed no one to enter.

But his mother said, “Why do you hide this thing from me, seeing I am your mother who bore you?” So he suffered his mother to know, but he said, “Tell no one that Wanjiru has returned.”

So she abode in the house of his mother. He and his mother slew goats, and Wanjiru ate the fat and grew strong. Then of the skins they made garments for her, so that she was attired most beautifully.

It came to pass that the next day there was a great dance, and her lover went with the throng. But his mother and the girl waited until everyone had assembled at the dance, and all the road was empty. Then they came out of the house and mingled with the crowd. When the relations saw Wanjiru, they said, “Surely, that is Wanjiru whom we had lost.”

And they pressed to greet her, but her lover beat them off, for he said, “You sold Wanjiru shamefully.”

Then she returned to his mother’s house. But on the fourth day her family again came and the warrior repented, for he said, “Surely they are her father and her mother and her brothers.”

So he paid them the purchase price, and he wedded Wanjiru who had been lost.

[ AKIKUYU ]