A Tale From The Savannah

CHAPTER THREE: NYAMBE AND KAMUNU

Gone were the wrinkles, dim eyes, and grey thinning hair to be replaced by baby smooth skin, sparkling brown eyes and a full head of jet-black hair.

'Don't be frightened,' she said assuringly.

'B...B... But..!?' Mooka stuttered as he stood up.

'Just stay calm and I will explain everything to you. Please sit down.'

Mooka sat down rather cautiously; his eyes, on the now not so old woman, were steady and unblinking. She chuckled as she picked up a stick and poked the fire. Then she became serious.

'In life, Mooka, we are faced with choices and half the time we are not even aware that we are making those choices. But whatever the case, those choices have consequences. Sometimes the consequences are so slight that we do not notice them. Other times they are so large that they change the world forever.'

Mooka sat silently watching the woman, the corner of his upper lip twitching. His jaw was clenched.

'Many people have come this way,' she continued, 'but none has ever passed this test. Because of the choices they made, they missed out on great rewards. You Mooka have proved yourself worthy. All these statues you see in this compound are of those who have come before and have failed this test. You, Mooka, are special. A great destiny awaits.'

Mooka's eyes became watery, and his body began shaking as a wave of emotion washed over him. Him? Special? Great destiny? A dangwa, like him? After all those years of hurt and humiliation? He couldn't helps it now. The flood gates opened up and the tears flowed freely, leaving his body a mass of hysterical jerks. He felt comforting arms scoop him in a warm and comforting embrace. His natural reaction was to try and pull away, but they held onto him firmly, yet lovingly. He relaxed into them and eventually the hysterics subsided.

He tried to pull away again, but she held him even closer. 'But I am unclean,' he said between sobs. 'You shouldn't be touching me.'

She chuckled and kissed his cheek. 'You are the cleanest human being on this earth, Mooka. More than you could ever imagine. ButBut we are running out of time. In the land of the great desert, there is a fantastic hidden kingdom of the immortals. You know these immortals as Malaika. But their children have been trapped inside a baobab tree for thousands of years.'

Mooka could not believe his ears. 'You mean that story is true?' The woman nodded. 'But the version I heard did not mention any immortals. The children were ordinary children from an ordinary village and it was only two of them.'

'Ha! What do you expect?' the lady chuckled. 'The story has been doing the rounds for thousands of years. At that time when men respected nature and spoke to the god directly, Nyambe, the creator, chose 10 people. 5 men and 5 women to be custodians of the earth and to ensure that men followed the laws that Nyambe had set to ensure prosperity and harmony. These men and women were given great magical powers and taught how to use them for the good of all creatures. They were also given immortality.

'By far the cleverest and wisest of these was Wapilu. Naturally, he was chosen to be the leader of the group. He was made the first King and he chose one of the 5 women, and married her. Next to Nasilele, Nyambe's wife, she was the most beautiful woman on earth and her name was, rather appropriately, Liseli. Wapilu gained much favour with Nyambe.

'The immortals, under the guidance of Wapilu, did not wish to directly influence humanity so they selected several mortals and taught them magic ways so that they in turn would help guide the humans. These mortals were given the secrets to longevity and ever since they have been guiding people along. They also entrusted them with the secrets of the entrance to the world of immortals.

'However, one member of the council of 10 did not like the fact that Wapilu had been chosen as leader of the council. His name was Kamunu. He happened to have been the first human being to have been created, and for a while he was the only one until Nyambe created more. He felt cheated. He naturally thought he ought to have been the leader. And to add insult to injury, he had long intended to have Liseli as his wife. He also had a secret obsession; his greatest desire was not only to control the rest of humanity so that he would be served as lord, but to be Nyambe's equal.

'Now as you may be aware, Nyambe created the world and the universe to please his wife, Nasilele. At first she was excited by all the grand things that Nyambe had created, but soon grew weary of them. She insisted on having creatures who were like them, who could talk and amuse them. For a long time Nyambe resisted her wishes for he feared that such beings would want to usurp him and gain control. And he wasn't wrong with Kamunu. Anyway, eventually Nyambe relented and immediately created Kamunu.

'Nasilele immediately fell in love and never grew tired of being amused by Kamunu. Nyambe of course created more human beings who bore more people and soon spread. It was at this time when Nyambe realised that the humans would grow out of his control, and not wanting to interfere, he decided to choose the 10 people to guide them. He was happy to sit back and let his creation develop and prosper. He was actually beginning to enjoy his creation and was grateful that he had succumbed to Nasilele's wishes. He had not reckoned on Kamunu.

In his grand scheme, Kamunu secretly started watching and imitating Nyambe. He was determined to get what he wanted. But first he had to get rid of Wapilu and the immortals. It was not long before he eventually succeeded in seducing Nasilele. He convinced her to show him where Nyambe had stored all the Shadow that once ruled the world before Nyambe gave it form and light.'

Mooka listened intently. All this time he had thought that his kuku was the greatest story teller there was, but this story was amazing.

'When Nyambe found all this out, he was so upset that he decided to withdraw to the sky plane. He asked the great spider, Anansi, to build a great silk rope to the sky plane. This he climbed with his family. To ensure that Kamunu, the immortals and all his creation would not follow him to that plane, he blinded Anansi so that he could never reveal where the sky plane was.

'Meanwhile, Kamunu with his new found power, unleashed the Shadow, which poisoned humanity and everything. All the natural laws were soon forgotten, and brother turned against brother. People stopped caring about nature and each other. The wonderful creations of Nyambe were soon under threat, including humanity itself. War and disease became the order of the day.

'Under the guidance of Wapilu, the remaining 9 decided to take Kamunu head on. A fierce war raged and one of the results was the Great Desert that lies to the west that the local people call 'Galagadhi'(Kalahari). So powerful was this war of magic that thousands of years later, nothing really grows there. Once before, it was the most beautiful paradise on earth with flowing streams and miniature waterfalls, and marked the entrance to the immortal plane.

'Eventually Kamunu was subdued and imprisoned in a tomb deep in the earth of the immortal plane. Unfortunately the battle had taken a lot out of Wapilu and the members of the immortal council. Just before Kamunu's capture, sensing his defeat, he struck at Wapilu's heart and used the Shadow to turn the tree of life into the tree of death. There he trapped the immortals' children, hoping to kill them. When Wapilu returned to the Baobab tree, not even the powers of the 9 immortals combined could defeat the darkness of the Shadow.

'However, Kamunu's magic did not work entirely. Instead of the children being released from the tree as the 9 wanted or dying as Kamunu expected, they became one with the tree. To cut the tree open would be to cut the children too. Broken hearted, the immortals returned to the Immortal Plane. When they got there, and saw that their world, now become desert, was not the same without their children, their collective pain was such that they turned to stone. There they wait.'

Mooka sat there unbelievingly. What a fantastic story, he thought.

'This brings us to you. Your grandmother, who was a member of a clan of mortals trained by the immortals, made the mistake of falling in love with a beautiful stranger. She found him half drowned with several bones broken in the great river, and she brought him to the clan. There, against her father's wishes she taught him some of the secret arts. Eventually, he charmed his way into every one's heart and soon he was accepted as one of the clan. He continued training and proved himself a worthy student. Eventually your grandmother's father, who had always wanted a son, gave him the highest honour of being his second in command. That was when he revealed himself by trying to steal the parchment that held the secret to the Immortal Prison where Kamunu and his followers are imprisoned.

'All that half drowning was part of a clever plot on his part to get into the clan. Your grandmother was so upset with herself that she set out to rectify her mistake. She searched for Muhalafi for years until she came across a lonely hut where she found an abandoned baby. The baby had been abandoned because it had blue eyes, considered an abomination. Your kuku, Wakale, sensed that there was something special about this baby, certainly believed in it. She gave up her desire for revenge and instead used all her magical arts to protect this one baby and settle there. That baby was your great great great great grandfather.

Mooka took a deep breath. All this was a bit much for him to take in. And what was this about his grandmother? Surely this woman was mistaken. How could it be? Yet with all he had been through that day, could there be any doubt? Unless it was all a dream...that was it. He was dreaming and any minute now he would wake up.

'Now the time has come for you to save the world. It's in your blood. As we speak, Muhalafi grows stronger as he has found both Kamunu's spear and shield. With these, even the magical objects of the mortal guardians can't stop him. He has already killed several of them and now only your kuku remains. The world is in pain. I am sure you have noticed how harvests have become less, the rain is not as efficient and there are few animals. Partly it's because man has forgotten his obligation to the natural world because the shadow grows in each and every person on earth.

The immortals must be awakened to stop this threat and put the shadow back. Kamunu must not rise again. Only a person who has been deemed worthy can do it. You are that person, Mooka. You passed the test.'

Mooka sat there wild eyed and still unbelievingly. Wake up! Please wake up, he kept screaming in his head.

'Listen, you must now go and visit the great Nyami Nyami (Great river Spirit found on the Zambezi river). He holds the secret to the immortal plane. When the elders of the clan realised who Muhalafi was, they decided to hide the parchment with the great river spirit. You see no magic can influence the great water spirit and the elders had to beg and plead for his help. Only special people, who are pure of heart may have an audience with him. You have proved to be such.

'Tomorrow you will start the most dangerous part of your journey, but you will overcome all obstacles because of who you are. Believe in who you are.

'I will present you with a gift. It's a lubango (winnowing basket) made of the finest reeds from the sacred river. With this lubango, you can carry up anything no matter how big or how heavy, yet remain the same size. It also has a stealth mode that prevents detection by ordinary prying eyes. It's also unsinkable.'

Mooka's mind was spinning as he accepted the gift numbly. All this was just too fantastic.

'Here, take this leather bag that can carry over a tonne, but will remain as light as a feather. You'll have to travel to the land of the great waterfalls. The local people call it Musi Wou Tunya (The Smoke That Thunders). There you must seek Nyami Nyami. He will give you guidance.'