Luos were called upon to be watchful over close friends who could turn out to be the one to finish or destroy their most precious possessions. The hare, a close friend to crocodile was taunting and eating the crocodile’s eggs. Essentially, he was destroying the crocodile’s lineage, Ketho kar ngato.
THE HARE AND THE CROCODILE
A long, long time ago the hare and the crocodile were great friends. One day the crocodile crossed the lake to visit the hare, who was very pleased to see him and at once prepared him a good meal. Before the crocodile’s departure they agreed that the hare should pay the crocodile a visit in return, but as he could not swim, the crocodile promised to come and fetch him. At the appointed time the crocodile came and the hare sat on his back. When they came ashore on the other side of the lake, the crocodile asked the hare to enter his house and wait while he went out to fetch something to eat. While he was waiting, the hare wandered around the room to see what was there, and discovered that the crocodile had his eggs in the next room. This room was very hot in order to keep the eggs warm. The hare wanted to get in, but the door was closed. When the crocodile returned, the hare said that it was rather cold, so the crocodile opened the door to the room where the eggs lay and went out side in order to prepare the food. The hare started eating the eggs at once, and as they tasted very nice, he ate them all. After each egg he sang a song.
Tong onyang’, onyang’ omera, (Twice)
Moloyo tong’ duto gi mit’ ago ni thup,
Amwonyo, ni thup. amwonyo.
The eggs of my friend the crocodile
Are the best I have ever tasted,
I swallow them one by one.
Since he was enjoying himself very much, he sang so loudly that he was heard by the crocodile. When he was asked to repeat his song, he changed it and sang a song in praise of his friend’s house. It went as follows:
Agoch oyang’, onyang’ omera, (X2)
Moloyo agola duto gi liet,
Anindie kuok duar nega.
The house of my friend the crocodile
Is the best and warmest of all houses?
Here I sleep in great warmth and sweating.
When the crocodile heard him singing, he asked what was the matter. The hare replied that he was so pleased with the conditions in the room that he was obliged to sing. The crocodile was very pleased with the song. By the time the main meal was ready, he had finished eating the eggs and he was called to go and eat. During the meal the crocodile suspected the hare of having eaten his eggs and went inside the house, where he saw that all his eggs were gone. He became very angry, and hurried out and seized the hare saying,
‘Now I shall kill you, because you have eaten all my eggs. ‘No, stop!’ cried the hare, “You can’t kill me because I haven’t got my heart in my body.
Carry me home and I shall fetch my heart for you. When the crocodile heard this, he did obey. He swam across the lake with the hare on his back. Arriving at the shore on the other side, the hare jumped quickly into the bush and shouted to the crocodile, ‘How foolish you are! Do you really think that anyone can walk about without his heart in his body? And with that he disappeared. Since that day the hare and the crocodile have been enemies.
Lesson: Watch out for friends who can destroy your children, lineage and the most precious and valuable things a person can have
Opuk gi Akuru
The Luo believe that there was a time in the history of creation when all animals, insects, and birds could speak the same language and understand one another. It was during this time that it happened that the tortoise and the dove became great friends. They lived harmoniously and discussed matters of mutual interest. They exchanged visits, but during such visits their wives always displeased them by breaking in on their discussions with complaints which were only of family interest and should not have been discussed in front of outsiders.
Realizing this, the tortoise asked his friend the dove to pay him a visit only when he knew that his wife was absent. When the dove enquired the whereabouts of his wife, he answered that because of his wife’s constant interruptions and scolding, particularly in the presence of his guests, he had killed her. The dove expressed his sorrow at this, but the tortoise told him that there was nothing to be sorry about, since he was now leading a much happier life than he used to. He could go out with any girl he liked and no one ever made any complaints to him. He told the dove that this was the only solution to his problems. The dove then decided that he would do the same to his wife, so he went home and picked a quarrel with his wife and beat her to death. The news immediately went around that he had killed his wife and all the girls became afraid of him. After this the dove paid a surprise visit to his friend the tortoise in or- der to tell him that he had also killed his wife. To his amazement, when he knocked at the door, it was the wife of the tortoise who opened it. He jumped and cried out to his friend the tortoise that he had seen a jachien (a spirit of the dead) in the form of the tortoise’s late wife. The tortoise then came out and confirmed to his friend that it was not a jachien, but his living wife, who was once dead but had now come back. The dove asked how this could have happened and the tortoise replied that it so happens with wives.
From this time on the dove lived a miserable life without a wife and went about crying that the tortoise had deceived him. As a result of this incident, all the doves made a vow that since there did not seem to be any hon our between male friends, they must not go for walks without their wives. This is why doves always fly in pairs, and if a dove’s wife dies, he never gets married again, for all the girls suspect that he has killed his former wife. Thus, a widower dove usually dies of loneliness very soon after his wife’s death.
The Luo use this story as a way of reminding married friends that they must not always believe what their friends tell them about their wives, because some friends cannot always be trusted.
The stories here demonstrate the depth of understanding on marital issues that the traditional society had. In these stories, we learn that it was known that friends are not always what they seem to be and that deep insight is needed for a marriage to survive. In the story of the tortoise and the dove, we see how a friend, the tortoise cleverly manipulates the dove into killing the wife even as his own life continues to thrive. He is not even ashamed of what he has done neither is he sorry, rather he enjoys seeing the misery that his friend is going through. Married couples are therefore compelled to take notice of such in their marital lives.