THE SECRET OF THE KIAMA 



for his askaris ^ and commanded them to beat all those 

 who murmured, for a great madness had seized him. 



But one day one of the great men came near to the 

 king and spoke to him softly, softly, and said, "Do you 

 not see that the people are very tired, for they have 

 worked many years and are all becoming old men at the 

 work? You said, "Make a great palace. Behold and see 

 with your eyes that it is truly a great one and is higher 

 than any palace that man has made." But the king was 

 very angry and drove him away, saying all the time, 

 "Make it very high, very, very high." 



Not many days afterwards, he again called all the 

 people together and said, "Look! do you see yonder 

 mountain?" And all the people looked towards the 

 mountain, at whose top was Mwininyaga, the Great 

 White Spirit. For this reason it was a holy mountain, and 

 all the people loved to pray to Mwininyaga who lived 

 even in the highest place. And the king drew himself up 

 in his pride, and spoke many words, saying, "I want a 

 place like that; I want a high place, even higher than 

 that mountain, where you say dwells your god." And 

 the king walked up and down laughing to himself at 

 his own fine speech, but the people knew that the king 

 was mad, but they were afraid, and worked on for 

 many more moons, the king urging them every day, and 

 saying, "Get on with it, get on with it." 



But the people were exhausted and were losing cour- 



* Askaris — native police. 



141 



