Sabwiza and his Younger Brother.
Sabwiza was supposed to be a very handsome man. He was also a hunter of great renown. One day he went hunting elephants with his younger brother. But his brother hated him and planned to kill him. They soon found elephants and began to stalk them. When they came close Sabwiza loaded his gun and got ready to shoot. Then his younger brother who was close behind him, caught him and killed him. When he was dead, the younger brother went home and told the people of the village that Sabwiza had died whilst hunting. The whole village wept for Sabwiza; as they sat wailing for him, they looked up at the sky and saw Sabwiza walking on the clouds carrying his hunting gear. Then he disappeared.
Shortly after this the people took the younger brother and made him headman in Sabwiza’s place. He was given all Sabwiza’s goods and Sabwiza’s wife as well. But whenever he sat with his wife or eat food or did anything, Sabwiza always appeared. So the younger brother died of fright.
The Thunder and the Elephant.
The elephant always said he was not afraid of thunder. One day the thunder told the elephant that he, the thunder, was the more powerful of the two. But the elephant denied this and said that he was the more powerful. Then the thunder said, “All right! go a long way off and bellow. If I hear you, then you are the more powerful.” Off went the elephant for a very long distance, and trumpeted as hard as he could, but the thunder could not hear him at all. Then the thunder started. It made a fearful roar and the lightning flashed. Then the elephant was very frightened. The thunder called out to him and said, “Do not be afraid, it’s only your blood brother.” The thunder slapped him on the back, but the elephant was very frightened and called the thunder his master.
The Woman and the Hyena.
One evening as it was getting dark, a woman sat cooking her husband’s food. A hyena approached the hut, the woman did not see it was a hyena, but thought it was her husband. She was holding the child in her arms. When she wanted to stir the porridge, she handed the child, as she thought, to her husband. The hyena took the child. When the woman had finished cooking, she said, “Give me the child and let me nurse it.” But the hyena then ran off with the child.
When the woman heard her child cry out, she looked round and saw it was a hyena. The hyena ran away and ate the child. The husband hearing his wife weeping, came running and asked what the matter was. The woman told him, and they both sat down and wept for their dead child.
Singalamba.
Singalamba was a hunter. One day he went hunting in the forest with his son. He did not kill anything, so he killed his son. After drying his son’s flesh in the sun, he tied it up in bundles and went home. On the road home he heard a bird singing this song: “Look at this man who has eaten his son, when I get to the village I will tell them the meat is human flesh—Singalamba has eaten his son.” Singalamba threw sticks at the bird and killed it; he then lit a fire and burnt it up. Further along the road he heard another bird singing the same song. He threw sticks at it again, but this time he missed and the bird flew on to the village. When it got there it perched on the roof of Singalamba’s hut and sang the same song. When his wife heard the song she asked Singalamba if the meat were the flesh of her son, but he said, “No, our son has gone with meat to his grandmother.” Then the woman sent to ask her mother if the little boy had arrived with the meat. Her mother sent back word that the boy had never come at all. So the woman again accused her husband of killing his son, and at last he confessed. Then the people were very angry at being deceived, and his wife took all her things and left him and went away home, and never came back to him again. The man soon after died.