STORY OF THE GIRL AND THE MBULU.
There was once a widow woman who had one son and two daughters. On a certain day she went to her garden, taking with her one of the girls. While she was away the boy quarrelled with his sister and killed her.
In the course of the day the woman sent the girl that was with her to the hut, and when she came there a fly told her what had happened. She did not believe it.
Then a mouse told her the same thing, but still she did not believe it was true.
Afterwards the fly told her to look in a certain place, and there she saw the head and the bones of her sister.
When the woman came home and found out what had happened, she killed her son. Then [[145]]she gave the girl a stick, and told her to go to her uncle’s house, saying that when she got there she must strike the ground with the stick, and all the clothes and other things that belonged to her would then rise up out of the earth. The woman said she was now all alone, and therefore intended to kill herself.
The girl was very sorry, but she did as her mother told her. When she was a little way off, she looked back and saw smoke coming out of the hut, from which she knew that her mother had burned herself and was no longer a person under the sun.
After this she met an old woman, who called to her, but she took no heed and walked on. Next she met a mbulu at a place close by a river. The mbulu said, whoever wetted any part of their body in crossing the river must go in and bathe. The girl was standing on the bank, and the mbulu struck the water with its tail and splashed it in her face, so that she had to go in and bathe. Then the mbulu took her clothes and put them on.
When the girl came out of the water she asked for her clothes, but the mbulu said: “I will give them when you are dry.” [[146]]