When Kintu came first to Ugnada he found there was no food at all in the country. He brought with him one cow and had only the food with which the animal supplied him. In the course of time a woman named Nambi came with her brother to the earth and saw Kintu. The woman fell in love with him and, wishing to be married to him, pointedly told him so. She had to return, however, with her brother to her people and her father, Gulu, who was king of the sky.
Nambi’s relations objected to the marriage because they said that the man did not know of any food except that which the cow yielded, and they despised him. Gulu, the father, however, said that they had better test Kintu before he consented to the marriage, and he accordingly sent someone to rob Kintu of his cow. For a time Kintu was at a loss what to eat, but he managed to find different kinds of herbs and leaves which he cooked and ate. Nambi happened to see the cow grazing and recognized it, and complaining that her brothers wished to kill the man she loved, she went to the earth and told Kintu where his cow was, and invited him to return with her to take it away.
Kintu consented to go, and when he reached the sky he was greatly surprised to see how many people there were with houses and with cows, goats, sheep, and fowls running about. When Nambi’s brothers saw Kintu sitting with their sister at her house, they went and told heir father testing to see whether he was worthy of their sister. An enormous meal was cooked, enough food for a hundred people, and brought to Kintu, who was told that unless he ate it all he would be killed as an impostor. Failure to eat it, they said, would be proof that he was not the great Kintu. He was then shut up in a house and left alone.
After he had eaten and drunk as much as he could, he was at a loss to know what to do with the rest of the food. fortunately, he discovered a deep hole in the floor of the house, so he turned all the food and beer into it and covered it over so that no one could detect the place. He then called the people outside to come and take away the baskets. The sons of Gulu came in, but would not believe that he eaten all the food. They, therefore, searched the house but failed to find it.
They went to their father and told him that Kintu had eaten all the food. He was incredulous, and said that Kintu must be further tested. A copper axe was sent to Kintu by Gulu, who said, “Go and cut me firewood from the rock, because I do not use ordinary firewood.”
When Kintu went with the axe, he said to himself, “What am I to do? If I strike the rock, the axe will only turn its edge or rebound.” However, after he had examined the rock, he found that there were cracks in it, so he broke off pieces of it, and returned with them to Gulu who was surprised to get them. Nevertheless, he said that Kintu must be further tried before they could give their consent to the marriage.
Kintu was next sent to fetch water and was told that he must bring only dew, because Gulu did not drink water from wells. Kintu took the water-pot and went off to a field, where he put the pot down and began to ponder what he must do to collect the dew. He was sorely puzzled, but upon returning to the pot, he found it full of water. So he carried it back to Gulu. Gulu was most surprised and said, “This man is a wonderful being; he shall have his cow back and marry my daughter.
Kintu was told to pick his cow from the herd and take it. This was a more difficult task than the others, because there were so many cows like his own that he feared he would mistake it and take the wrong one. While he was thus perplexed a large bee came and said, “Take the one upon whose horns I shall alight; it is yours.”
The next morning Kintu went to the appointed place and stood and watched the bee, which was resting on a tree near him. A large herd of cows was brought before him, and he pretended to look for his cow, but in reality he was watching the bee which did not move. After a time, Kintu said, “My cow is not there.” A second herd was brought, and the bee at once flew away and rested upon a cow which was a very large one, and Kintu said, “This is my cow.” The bee then flew to another cow, and Kintu said, “This is one of the calves from my cow,” and the bee went on to a second and a third cow which Kintu claimed as the calves which had been born during the cow’s stay with Gulu.
Gulu was delighted with Kintu and said, “You are truly Kintu, take your cows. No one can deceive or rob you, you are too clever for that.” He called Nambi and said to Kintu, “Take my daughter who loves you, marry her, and go back to your home.” Gulu further said, “You must hurry and go back before Walumbe, or Death, comes, because he will want to go with you and you must not take him; he will only cause you trouble and unhappiness.”
Nambi agree to what her father said and went to pack up her things. Kintu and Nambi then took leave of Gulu, who said, “Be sure, if you have forgotten anything, not to come back, because Death will want to go with you and you must go without him.”
They started off home, taking with them, besides Nambi’s things and the cows, a goat, a sheep, a fowl, and a plantain tree. On the way Nambi remembered that she had forgotten the grain for the for the fowl, and she said to Kintu, “I must go back for the grain for the fowl, or it will die.”
Kintu tried to dissuade her, but in vain. She said, “I will hurry back and get it without anyone seeing me.”
He said, “Your brother Death will be on the watch and will see you.”
She would not listen to her husband, but went back and said to her father, “I have forgotten the grain for the fowl, and I have come to take it from the doorway where I put it.”
He replied, “Did I not tell you that you were not to return if you forgot anything, because your brother Walumbe would see you and want to go with you?” Now he will accompany you.”
Nambi tried to steal away without Walumbe, but he followed her. When she rejoined Kintu, he was angry at seeing Walumbe, and said, “Why have you brought your brother with you? Who can live with him?”
Nambi was sorry, so Kintu said, “Let us go and see what happen.”
When they reached the earth Nambi planted her garden, and the plantains grew rapidly, and she soon had a large plantain grove in Manyagalya. They lived happily for some time and had a number oif children, until one day Walumbe asked kintu to send one of the children to be his cook.
Kintu replied, “If Gulu comes and asks me for one of my children, what am I to say to him? Shall I tell him that I have given her to be your cook?”
Walumbe was silent and went away, but he again asked for a child to be his cook, and again Kintu refused to send one of his daughters, so Walumbe said, “I will kill them.”
Kintu, who did not know what he meant, asked, “What is it that you will do?” In a short time, however, one of the children fell ill and died, and from that time they began to die at intervals.
Kintu returned to Gulu and told him about the deaths of the children, and accuse Walumbe of being the cause. Gulu replied, “Did I not tell you when you were going away to go at once with your wife and not return if you had forgotten anything? But you allowed Nambi to return for grain. Now you have Walumbe living with you. Had you obeyed me you would have been free of him and would not have lost any of your children.”
After some further entreaty, Gulu sent Kaikuzi, another brother, to assist Nambi, and to prevent Walumbe from killing the children. Kaikuzi went to the earth with Kintu and was met by Nambi, who told him her pitiful story. He said he would call Walumbe and try to dissuade him from killing the children. When Walumbe came to greet his brother they had quite a warm and affectionate meeting, and Kintu told him he had come to take him back, because their father wanted him.
Walumbe said, “Let us take our sister too.”
But Kintu said he was not sent to take her, because she was married and had to stay with her husband. Walumbe refused to go without his sister, and Kaikuzi was angry with him and ordered him to do as he was told. Death, however, escaped from Kaikuzi’s grip and fled away into the earth.
For a long time there was enmity between the two brothers. Kaikuzi tried in every possible way to catch his brother Walumbe, but he always escaped. At last Kaikuzi told the people to remain in their houses for several days and not to let any of the animals out, and he would have a final hunt for Walumbe. He further told them that if they saw Walumbe they must not call out or raise the usual cry of fear.
The instructions were followed for two or three days, and Kaikuzi got his brother to come out of the earth and was about to capture him, when some children took their goats to the pasture and saw Walumbe and called out. Kaikuzi rushed to the spot and asked why they called, and they said they had seen Death. Kaikuzi was angry, because Walumbe had again gone into the earth. So he went to Kintu and told him he was tired of hunting Death and wanted to return home. He also complained that the children had frightened Walumbe into the earth again. Kintu thanked Kaikuzi for his help and said he feared nothing more could be done, and he hoped Walumbe would not kill all the people.
Form that time Death has lived upon the earth and killed people whenever he can, and then he escapes into the earth at Tanda in Singo.
[ BAGANDA ]
