702 BANTU NEGROES 



very angry and liungry. He used many \vords not of peace, and he sat down and 

 pointed his nails and .sharpened his teeth, but there was no one with whom to fight. 

 He then j^eeled the bark off" a tree and sucked it, and thus he fed himself. 



Next day Naml)i saw Kintu's cow as the boys arrived, and she exclaimed : " You 

 have stolen Kintu's cow ! That cow was his food and drink, and now what has he 

 to eat 1 I like Kintu, if you do not. I sliall go down to-morrow, and if he is r.ot 

 dead I shall bring him up here," and she went and found Kintu. 

 "So they have taken away your cow?" 

 "Yes." 



" And what have you ]>een eating since ? " 

 " I have been sucking the bark of a tree." 

 " Did you really do that ? " 

 "What else was there to do?" 



" Well, come with me to Mugulu and you shall have your cow given back to you." 

 They went, and Kintu, when he arrived, saw a vast multitude of people and plenty 

 of bananas and fowls and goats and sheep — in fact, everything was there in plenty. 

 And the boys, when' they saw Nambi arrive with Kintu. said: "Let us tell our 

 father Mugulu," and they went and told him, and Mugulu said : " Go and tell my chiefs 

 to build a big house without a door for the stranger Kintu." The house was built, 

 and Kintu went into it. 



Mugulu then gave the folloAving lavish order : " ^[y i)eople, go and cook 10,000 dishes 

 of food, and roast 10,000 cows, and fill 10,000 vessels with beer, and give it to the 

 stranger. If he is a real man he will eat it, if not, then — the penalty is death." 



The food was prepared and taken to Kintu's house. As there was no door, the 

 crowd put their shoulders to one side of the house and raised it up off the grour.d, 

 and put the food inside, and told Kintu that if he did not finish it all at a meal the 

 result would be death. They dropped down the side of the house again, and waited 

 outside. 



Kintu surveyed the mass of food with dismay, and then started to walk round it, 

 muttering his feelings to himself. As he went round the heap his foot slipped into 

 a hole, and on examination he found that it was the opening of a cavern. " Ha I ha I " 

 said he, " this cave has a good appetite ; let me feed it," and he took the 10,0C0 

 measures of beer and spilled them in, laying the empty vessels on one side ; then 

 the 10,000 carcases of roast cows were pitched into the cavern, and lastly the food 

 from the 10,000 baskets ; and then he called to the jieople outside, after he had 

 closed the hole : " Haven't you got a little more food out there ? " 

 " No," they replied. " Did we not give you enough ? " 

 "Well, I suppose I must do with it, if vou have nothing more cooked." 

 "Have you finished it all?" 



"Y^es, yes. Come and take away the emjjty dishes." 



The crowd raised the side wall of the house, came inside, and asked Kintu 

 whether he really had dis]josed of the food. He assured them that he had, and 

 they with one accord cried out : " Then it is a man indeed I " And they went direct 

 to Mugulu and told him that the stranger had finished his meal and asked for more. 

 Mugulu at first branded this statement as a falsehood, but on consideration he 

 believed it. He ])ondered for a moment, then taking up a copper axe he said to 

 his chiefs : " Take this to Kintu. Tell him I want material to make a fire. Tell 

 him that Mugulu is old and cold, and that Mugulu does not burn wood for a fire. 

 Tell him I want stones, and tell him that he must cut up rocks with this copper 

 axe and fetch the pieces and light me a fire. ]f he does so, then he may claim liis 

 cow. He may also have Nambi, and he can return to the earth." 



