This is said to be the way fire came to man; before that people ate their food raw.
When the man reached his friends he returned the spear and said to the owner, “You have caused me a great deal of trouble to recover your spear, and if you want some of this fire which you see going away into smoke, you will have to climb up the smoke and get it back for me.” The owner of the spear tried and tried to climb the smoke but could not do it, and the elders [[265]]then came and intervened and said, “We will make the following arrangement: fire shall be for the use of all, and because you have brought it you shall be our chief.”
The underworld referred to in this tale is called Miri ya mikeongoi. [[266]]
CHAPTER VII
DANCES
Kikuyu.—There are, according to trustworthy authorities, a large number of Kikuyu dances. It is difficult to give an exhaustive list of these, as it has been impossible to trace them all. The word ngoma (a dance, Swahili) has such a very wide meaning that it is difficult to say where dances begin or end.
A girl must not refuse to dance when called upon to do so by the anake (warrior class); if she does so she may be beaten by them and her parents cannot interfere. Generally, in such cases, a mwanake will deprive her of her ornaments and she cannot then dance until she gets them back. The mwanake who takes the ornaments cannot keep them, but must divide them with the other anake. If he breaks them he has to make uji (gruel) for the other anake; if he hurts the girl when taking her ornaments he has to pay a goat to the elders, but her parents get nothing.
The principal dances of the anake are connected with harvest and crops; the most important of these is the Kivata dance. In this only certain rikas, or age grades, may take part; at present only the rikas named Kincheku, Kamandu, Kanyeta, and Mutungu dance the Kivata, while the rikas of Sengenge, Matiha, Njarege, Kangei, and Makiomei are not allowed to join in. Formerly the junior rikas were not even permitted to look on, but now they do so and frequently try to take part in the same; which leads to fierce fights and not a [[267]]few deaths. The elders are therefore much against this dance, and have often forbidden it. Formerly if the elders wished to prohibit a dance they would go to a place where it was to be held, and lay a cooking pot on the ground; a branch of the mugere tree was stuck beside it, and the anake could not dance there unless they were returning from a raid on enemy’s country.
