There was a man called Thiiru who was a medicine-man. Thiiru wanted to clear a new shamba because he wanted to plant some sweet potatoes. Clearing a new shamba was work for men and Thiiru had no son. So he was to clear the new shamba alone.
One day he went to clear a fresh piece of land. He worked and worked until the sun went down in the West. He went home. Now when he went home a bird came and cleared all the remaining area. The bird flew away when she had completed the job.
Very early in the morning, a time when the man called Maara went out to throw away the dead body of his father,18 and before the sun had come out from the East, Thiiru went to his shamba hoping to start from where he had stopped. When he reached there he found that all the shamba had been cleared. He was surprised and worried because he thought that some evil spirit had done the job for him. That was not good he felt. He went home, wondering what he should do:
‘I shall continue with the rest of the work. I hope this evil spirit does not want to torment me. Or is it someone who is playing a funny game?’
The following morning, Thiiru woke up early again. He took with him the stick which he used for digging (Munyago). That day the sun was very hot and Thiiru got tired too early. He could not finish digging the garden. But as soon as he went home, the same bird came and dug where Thiiru had left off. Thiiru was too worried when he came the following morning. He was convinced now that evil spirits were working in his garden. Still he did not know what to do. He said: ‘I shall not compete with these spirits. They may be stronger than my medicine.’ He decided to go on and plant in his new shamba.
He went in the morning and planted some maize seeds. As usual he could not finish the job of planting the maize seeds. And when he went home, the bird came with his maize seeds and planted them where Thiiru had not planted. This time Thiiru thought that there was a very serious conspiracy against him, still he decided to wait and see what might happen.
He used to go to the shamba every evening to check on the rate of growth. The bird also did the same and as soon as he saw Thiiru go home, he also came and examined how the maize was doing.
It was then time for weeding and Thiiru used to go and weed. The bird also went and weeded all the part that Thiiru had not touched. This went on for many days until the maize was ready to be eaten. One day, Thiiru took home several cobs of maize. More cobs of maize had disappeared the following morning when he went to his shamba.
This time Thiiru was convinced that somebody must have gone after him and taken away the maize cobs. ‘Surely spirits cannot take away maize cobs?’ Thiiru was doubtful now whether his maize was being taken by spirits. He decided to keep watch on the thief, for he had come to think that it was a thief who was taking liberties in his garden of maize.
‘I must catch this thief,’ he said.
One day he went to the shamba, collected some maize and then hid behind a bush so that he could see who comes to steal his maize when he was not there. And as he was hiding behind this bush, the bird came. Thiiru saw the bird jump from one maize plant to another, pulling down maize cobs as he jumped about. The bird was in no hurry and in fact he was dancing as he pulled down this maize. Thiiru was now sure that he had caught the thief.
‘Haiya, I have caught my thief now. What can a bird want with my maize.’
He did not say anything to the bird. He went home. Yet the following day he came determined to catch this thief. He collected some maize and hid behind the bush. As usual the bird came to collect his share of maize. Now when the bird was very busy collecting the maize, Thiiru went very quietly and got hold of the bird.
‘So you are the one who had been stealing my maize.’
‘Oh no,’ said the bird, ‘I have not been stealing any of your maize. I have been taking what is by right my maize. Didn’t I clear the bush, dig it and plant my own maize seeds? I only eat what is mine.’
‘I cannot argue with you,’ Thiiru said annoyed. ‘Why didn’t you clear your own garden? Everybody knows that this is my garden.’ Thiiru caught the bird and put him in his bag. He took him home. He put the bird in an empty water-pot. Now every day Thiiru took out the bird, had a good look at him and then put him back in the water-pot.
Thiiru had a daughter. Thiiru’s daughter got to know about the bird a long time after Thiiru had put this bird in the empty water-pot. She was very excited about the bird. Everyday when her father went away she used to take the bird out and examine it with a curious eye. Her father was not told about this. But she would call the girls from her village telling them:
‘Come and help me to draw water and fetch firewood from Kinemie then 1 shall show you an interesting bird which my father keeps in a dry water-pot.’ And the girls would help Thiiru’s daughter to draw the water and fetch the firewood. Thiiru’s daughter did this for many days and the girls always came because they loved looking at the bird.
One day the bird was frustrated by the chattering girls and so flew off from Thiiru’s home. But as the bird was on flight, Thiiru’s medicine called him back. The bird wanted to fly back but he could not recognise Thiiru’s homestead and so he went round the village asking everyone where Thiiru’s home was.
In one place the bird went and found small boys looking after cattle. He perched on top of a tree that was near some playing boys singing:
‘Young boys
I do not abuse you
I do not insult you
But show me the home of Thiiru.
Thiiru the medicine-man.’
Said one boy:
‘Haiya listen. What is that? Who is that? It seems there is somebody on top of the tree?’
The bird sang his song again, for the boys were listening:
‘Young boys
I do not abuse you
I do not insult you
But show me the home of Thiiru.
Thiiru the medicine-man.’
‘Oho!’ The boys shouted, throwing stones at the bird. ‘Get lost. Do you want to bring us misfortune?’ And so the bird flew away and went where he found a group of girls scaring away some birds which were eating their millet:
‘Young women
I do not abuse you
I do not insult you
But show me the home of Thiiru.
Thiiru the medicine-man.’
The girls listened and saw that it was a bird that was singing to them from the top of the tree.
‘U Uu! It’s a bird,’ they shouted. ‘Get lost bringer of ill-luck.’ And they scared the bird away.
Elsewhere, there were young men digging; these also scared the bird away, saying that he was a bringer of bad luck.
Near some women who were clearing the cow-pen the bird perched and sang his song:
‘Women of the village
I do not abuse you
I do not insult you
But show me the home of Thiiru.
Thiiru the medicine-man.’
The women took the mud and threw it at the bird: ‘Hi hi, get lost. What have you come to tell us now. Take your ill-fortune to some other people.’
The bird did not give up. He went in a homestead where he found a group of men drinking beer. He perched on a tree that was in the middle of where the men sat:
‘Men of the village
I do not abuse you
I do not insult you
Have you seen Thiiru?
Show me the home of this Thiiru.
Thiiru the medicine-man.’
Now Thiiru was among this group of men who were drinking beer; he called the bird.
‘Come come little bird, come and have a hornful of beer.’ The bird drank some of the beer that he was given and poured away the rest. When Thiiru had had enough beer, he took his stool and his spear and stood to go. The little bird he put in his bag and went home.
Thiiru was angry when he reached home. He tried to ask them who had touched the water-pot where he had put the bird. Nobody said anything. ‘Daughter, have you seen the one who played with my bird?’ ‘No, father, I have not seen the one who touched your bird.’
‘He ran away on his own then?’
‘I think so father.’
‘That is hard to believe.’
The bird was quiet all this time and when Thiiru and his daughter were quiet, he revealed the activities of Thiiru’s daughter. He sang:
‘Thiiru, great medicine-man,
I will tell you, I will show you
Your daughter it was who showed me
to the girls of the village.
One day, two days, all days she did this.
Your bird did fly off to look for you,
Thiiru, the great medicine-man.’
‘Daughter! You told me what was not true. It was you who played with my bird and you called other girls to play with my bird. You will not touch him again. Never, never.’ Thiiru’s daughter never touched that bird again.
The end
