Kikuyu - Fables and Legends

The Spirit Wife


From Roger D. Abrahams' "African Folktales" (Random House, New York, 1983). See the copyright notice for textual extracts.


The Spirit Wife, collected by Roger D. Abrahams


A beautiful but mysterious woman agreed to marry a man on the condition that he never ask about her family. He agreed, and they lived happily together until it was time for their oldest son's circumcision, and the man asked his wife why her family couldn't attend the ceremony.
   With that, the wife bounced into the air and made a hole seven miles deep when she landed. She called upon her ancestors, who came as spirits from Mount Kenya. The spirits raised a thunder and hailstorm as they came. They brought food, goats, cattle, and beer with them and, while the people took shelter in caves, flooded the countryside with beer, turning it into a lake. When the spirits left, they took the couple and their children with them into Mount Kenya.


 
 
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