"The appellation Mwindo is given in Nyanga social practice to a boy who is born after a number of girls in the family unit or to a girl who is born after a number of boys. ["epic I, where Mwindo is the only son after the birth of several daughters in his father’s family group ... . In the other epics , however, he is not the only son." {This would imply that only epic I was originally told about Muindo : the other epics must have been originally told about, instead, other heroes.}]

The Nyanga perceive an etymological relationship between the term Mwindo and the verb indo, to fell trees. ... Mwindo in ... (epic I) ... is praised as ... "the little one who makes the trees fall in the forest."" {cf. [Maori] Tawhaki as feller of a tree}

"The Hunde pronunciation for Mwindo is Muhindo." {the names /mu-HINDO/ and /ka-HINDO/ would derive from */[h]ID.O/ (with retroflex /D./) : possibly cf. <ibri^ /H.ayIS./ ‘wall’ or else /H.IS.S.i^/ ‘arrow’; <arabi^ /H.o^D./ ‘cistern’, pl. /H.IyaD./ (Freytagii : Lexicon Arabico-Latinum. vol. 1, p. 443a), or else /He^D./ ‘healed bone-fracture; propensity to sleep; bird-excrement’, /He^D.ah/ ‘recidivous sickness; returning sadness’ (ibid., vol. 4, p. 424a)}

p.

epic

village

region

non-Nyanga source

10

I

Bese

Kisimba

II

Mera

Kisimba

III

Rungoma

Ihana

p. 11 Hunde of Gis^ari

13

IV

Iramba

Byarenga

p. 13 Nyungu Hunde

17

(V)

(Lukweti)

(Hunde)

23

(VI)

?

?

p.

event

7

"a youth named Mubuza ... spends the night in his paternal aunt’s village, receiving advice on what to do when he arrives near the volcanoes in the realm of Nyamulagira. On his journey Mubuza consecutively encounters grains (transformed counselors), shrubs (servants of the chief), small birds (Chief-Pygmies), and a serval, greeting them as instructed. Following his aunt’s advice, he does not participate in the dances. ...

8

He receives instruction from the spirits whom he had separated about how to act on his homeward journey : he must not look at people who are cultivating, harvesting, or dancing." "Magene, the jealous elder brother, undertakes the same journey, but" without success.

IX.

transformation

identity

.D

trees

counselors

.E

red emmets

brave-ones

.F

hides (pelts)

wives of his master

.G

tall grasses

princes

p.

volcano

46

"volcanoes that straddle the borderlands between Zaire, Uganda, and Rwanda" : "These volcanoes, known ... as Virunga, are for the Nyanga the center of the subterranean world (kwirunga). ... For the Hunde, the Havu, the Tembo, and the more remote Shi, the volcano Nyamulagira is the center of the spirit world; there the divinities reside and the souls of the dead ultimately settle". {likewise, the Ayta of Luzon believe that Pinatubo volcano is "the Underworld, the land of the dead." (VM)}

63

"Nyamulagira blew his magical whistle and a volcano arose; he blew it again and a neighboring mountain began to erupt."

p.

tale

20

3^rd : "a chief with fourteen wives ... loves one of them, Kamiseke, more than the others. ... One day the chief’s wives go ... to collect crabs ... . The co-wives bury her under a huge rock. ... The beloved wife remains alive under the rock ..., and then she ... sings and thus attracts the attention of a Pygmy. ... Finally, with the help of other Pygmies, she is liberated."

2^nd : "A chief who has fourteen sons provides each of them with one wife, but the most junior brother gets two wives. The older brothers ... throw their junior into a large river." That youngest brother, namely Mwindo, "travels downstream to the village where is married paternal aunt lives."

20-1

4^th : After a girl’s father died, she was abandoned by her mother Kis^wa when the mother swam (dragging along with her son the girl’s brother) across a large river :

21

She arrives at the place of Hangi-of-the Drum {maternal grandparent of Muindo in epic III (pp. 52, 54, 184)}, who is very ill. [Having cured him,] the girl pursues her journey to Nyamurairi ... and hears that Buingo (Destiny) is sick. She ... heals him ... . Her mother is there, but her brother is dead. Mother and Daughter return home."

V.C)}. The father decides that his daughter will be married to the man who can remove a calabash from a tall tree. Near the tree, Dragon-Ogre Kirimu has made a hole so deep that it connects with the subterranean dwelling of divinities and spirits. ... One Pygmy falls into the hole ... . The Chief-Pygmy says that the ... Pygmy failed because he did not have dogs consecrated to and named for the divinities Nkango and Meshe. {cf. [Zaratustrian] hounds who protect the dead} The dogs are dedicated, and the Chief-Pygmy succeeds in his attempt to collect the calabash. He receives the girl Kahindo for his chief Difficult-Things-That-Exceed. ... Mwindo ... decides to go and play the thumb violin for her. Singing and playing, he hides near the place where water is drawn from the river. ... Kahindo ... hears the sounds but cannot find Mwindo, who transforms himself into a crab ... . Kahindo steps into the water and is caught by the crab ... .

22

... The oracle advises the chief to provide his own sister as a wife for Mwindo. The woman is left near the water, and Mwindo claims her. Later he goes to the chief’s village with ... Kahindo".

[6^th :] A commoner "has many sons, among whom the firstborn is Mwindo ... . ... Dragon-Ogre Kirimu ... is aided by tricks devised by his daughter. In his sleep Mwindo is advised by his paternal aunt to hunt Kirimu with his two dogs. ... Mwindo ... kills Kirimu, liberates his brothers, and marries Kirimu’s daughter. ... Mwindo falls sick with the "trembling disease," but, after repeated treatments with body ointments ..., he is healed by the Pygmy. ... But in the meantime Mwindo’s wife has fled. Assisted by ... Lightning, Mwindo finds his wife in a cave. ...

mpunu (‘wild swine’), mobe (‘antelopes’), nkima (‘monkeys’), mpene (‘goats’), ndiwa (‘rodents’)

rite

animals

circumcision

hornbill, sunbird

tales

duiker, leopard, turtle

voluntary associations

pangolin

kinship

chimpanzee

royal paraphernalia

gorilla, eagle, flying squirrel, genet

p.

deity

62

"Nyamurairi, chief of the divinities, is the son of Bareke and is married to Kahombo (Good Fortune), who the daughter of Hangi-of-Drum and the grandchild of Muhimankiri.

Lightning (Nkuba) is the son of Nyamurairi and Wind (Iyuhu) is Lightning’s son."

"beings associated with" Water Serpent (Mukiti) : "Nyangengu, his wife; Kentse (Sun), his first child; Musoka (Snake), his daughter."

"Above and beyond these divinities is the creator god (Ongo), ... living in "the heart of the earth."

62-3

Ongo is ruler of all the dead.

63

/Wongo/ is the Hunde form of Nyanga /Ongo/. "Wongo was very lazy".

"Nyamulagira blew his magical whistle and a volcano arose".

64

In another tale, "Destiny ... had asked his paternal uncles, the Bats, to forge for him a set of iron objects in order that his wife might dedicate them to the sun. ... one after another, ... Buffalo, Warthog, Elephant, Antelope, Leopard, and Lion failed in their attempts ["to obtain a heavy anvil stone lying in a cave"] ... . Chameleon, in consultation with Centipede’s oracle ..., finally managed to lift and transport the anvil."

65

"In another tale a girl ... encounters a bird that lures her into the realm of Nyamurairi underneath the ground. The girl’s mother, carrying an owl, arrives in Nyamurairi’s village. While the owl distracts Nyamurairi ..., mother and daughter escape." {cf. involvement of the short-eared owl Askalaphos (GM 24.j-l) in the attempted rescue (from the realm of Haides) of the maiden Kore by her mother Demeter.}

p.

dream

63

"Nyamurairi reveals his wishes in dreams, appearing as a very old man with a long beard, ... wearing a white goatskin, and sitting on a stool. At times he changes into a black dog lying in the ashes." {cf. the very old hound Argos (GM 171.d) of Odusseus}

64

"Lightning ... manifests himself in dreams as blinding flashes." {cf. esteem by Indians on Great Plains of North America for dreams about lightning (DS, pp. 53-54)}

p.

divinity

66

Mukiti (Water Serpent) "catches women while they are drawing water and takes them as wives. ... In epics I and II he is married to the maternal aunt of the hero ... . Mukiti is particularly responsive to song and music". {cf. snake-charming musicians in India}

67

"The Dragon-Ogre Kirimu ... is ... a huge animal with dog’s teeth, a black hide, a large belly, seven heads, and an eagle’s tail ... . ... Kirimu kidnaps children left alone in the village. ... a lone surviving boy who lets himself be swallowed by Kirimu ... destroys him from the inside with a knife. Whenever Kirimu is defeated, living people emerge from his body (epics I and II)."

"Mpaca, the specter of the forest" : "the Pygmy mpaca traps her with resinous glue."

wife

daughter of __

?

Nyamurairi

Monitor Lizard

Wasp

Bee

Needle

Mu-eri (‘moon’)

Bu-riru

Opener-of-dark-clouds

Nyakiri-marimari ("animal-like specter")

name

signification

allusion

Ndurumo

Thunder

Kanyironge

Genet

"to pack one’s belongings to move to another place"

Ncongera

Snake-Tail

"to walk slowly and noiselessly (like a thief)"

Ntindi

Civet Cat

"to halt one’s journey for resting"

Musuku-iyera

Dance Banana-leaves

Muntsuntsu

Bee

"to wrinkle the forehead" in anger

Kanyampanda

Horn

"to disperse seeds"

Bis^eria

Flashes of lightning

"to throw sparks"

Utundo

Cloud

"to accumulate goods"

Mu-is^i

Sun

"noontime"

p.

tale

120

[basic tale :] "the orphan Nfiri ... is ... placed in a jar by his paternal aunt and is carried to God’s village." The boy is subjected to ordeals by God, but "he successfully comes through them with the help of ... Sparrow."

[1^st :] "Ndura Katwa, a young thief, is thrown into the river. He sinks down in the water and is recovered by Kahindo. She takes him to her village, where Ndura Katwa makes himself welcome with ... his zanza playing. {cf. zanza played in epic IV, p. 234 IV.C; [description in Homeric Hymns of] boy Hermes, who is thief and musician} ... Having been accepted because of his music, he is

121

sent to the land of Nyabirunga to bring it peace. {Hermes grew up to become an envoy, bringer of peace} ... On his way home he ... revives a dead person, ... and crosses traps with sharp razors. ... Flashes (Lightning) carries him away; the people see him climbing into the sky."

[2^nd :] Boy asked his grandmother what had become of his parents. "She advises him to make arrows and quivers and to journey to the abandoned village and fight "that thing which is sitting in a tall raffia tree." The youth overpowers the tree; people emerge from it". {cf. Zulu myth of emergence of 1^st people from hollow reed}

3^rd : "the grandmother and the mother flee with an unwanted {by his father} son into the forest. The son ... returns to his village Tubondo. The people there hide the father among plants and trees, but the hero ... kills the father".

4^th : "the father who rejected his son is forced by famine to reconcile with him, but ... the son returns home and chases the father and the headman".

[5^th :] "the boy Karisi {father of Muindo, according to epic III}, abandoned by his mother in the forest, reaches the village of Kirimu. ... the boy grows up in Kirimu’s village but finally leaves in quest of a wife."

122

[6^th :] "Hawk and Lightning come to tattoo the mother. ... Then Hawk and Lightning take the mother away into the sky." Search by her boy son, with his body companions, for his mother : "With drums and rattles they climb into a hollow tree; from there, with the help of Spider, they cross bridges to Cloud, Lightning, Moon, and Bieya (Sky). {cf. epic II, p. 128 III.J "Mwindo climbs into the sky through a hollow tree to seek the help of lightning; Moki & Navaho myth of ascension of the people to the sky by climbing up through the interior of a hollow reed} The child stubbornly asks for his mother, refusing all substitute gifts. When she is given to him he returns by the same road."

[7^th :] "Ubunge ... is born in the forest ... . He enters the womb again and instructs his mother to journey home. ... Ubunge is born again ...; he leaves the village, flying on a magic stool made by his mother and chasing elephants with it. He settles in the village of his maternal uncles; fourteen rows of houses emerge from his stool."

[8^th :] "A man’s favorite wife gives birth to a girl while his rejected wife bears a son. The girl ... makes a drum, asks her brother to measure himself in it, locks him inside, and throws the drum into the river. ... The boy is then recovered from the drum by his paternal aunt ... . As compensation she asks the child for a pot for the purpose of making offerings to her."

being

is son of __

Snake

One-Beat

Bee

Needle

Spider

Bridge

Lighting

Flashes

Quiver

Dancer

Hawk

Thief

p.

for metal-forging

211

"He searched for body hair and hair of his paternal aunts and of the wives of his maternal uncles." {cf. "ashes of wives’ pubic hair" in Eastern Lemba tukobe ingredients (L, p. 176)}

212

"As they were pouring tears over him {to facilitate forging of "Damascus steel"}, Bat was forging him; and Little-Bat the diviner was giving the oracle." {the echolocating Bat = radar with its metallic wave-guide}

p.

banana

217

When "Nyakatwakari, the daughter of Marumbu", sought (Amazon-like) to fight Muindo, she said : "I am a gorilla".

219

"Mes^e "the Pygmy ... opened the hole containing the honey ...; the hole seized him." The knife of Muindo bent the woman Nyakatwakari (who had enchanted the tree to grasp Mes^e) so as to : "It planted her mouth and lips on the ground."

220. fn. 122

"When a menstruating woman cuts bananas of the ibu-variety, she ties a kirere, i.e., a strip of dried [banana-plant stem] tightly around she waist. Afterward, ... the [banana-plant] falls down".

animal

is progeny of __

Buffalo

Strength

Baboon

Scraper

Wild Pig

What-hath-been-said

Wild Pigeon

Drummer

Small-Bat

Mis^ero-dancer

Spider

Cobweb

p.

animal

animal’s function

210

Turtle

"Cloth that is cut"

227

genet

pelt for ukenye-bundle

wild pig [warthog]

pelt as belt

227, fn. 143

flying squirrel

pelt as hat

p. 230 mother

p. 230 progeny

p. 231, fn. 153 meaning of progeny’s name

1^st Kahindo

Ndurumo

"thundering"

2^nd Ufamba

Ncongera

"noiselessly tried to escape danger"

3^rd Nyakiri-marimari

Musuku-iyera

"being teased"

4^th Ntsukiwa-munindi

Muntsutsu

"wrinkled forehead"

5^th Ntanga

Kanya-mpanda

"expert dancers"

6^th Mweri

Bis^eria

"lightning"

7^th Buriru

Utundo

"cloudy"

(pp. 127-73) epic II

(pp. 174-232) epic III

(pp. 233-71) epic IV

p.

text

p.

text

p.

text

II.A

Muindo’s mother is Iyangura

III.E

Muindo’s mother is Nyabana

VII.G

Eleusine is cultivated by Karisi.

II.A

Eleusine is cultivated by Nyabana.

VI.C

S^e-karuru "is chased by the warthogs."

VIII.O

"She is an enemy." Woman (daughter of Nyamurairi – p. 176 VIII.J) had transformed herself into a swine. {Robber-woman Phaia was sow (LTh 9.1).}

VII.A

"Mwindo had given buffalo tails to the other chiefs" [Itewa, Mburu, Munkonde, Nteta].

IX.K

"A buffalo is ... [sow-woman’s] mother (Nyamurairi’s wife) transformed."

X.D

"He passed through the area of Black Ant and Baboon."

XII.I

"Wasps, Bees, Black Ant, and Fly decimate Mwindo’s people." {"When they release the yellow jackets and wasps their enemies drop their weapons and attempt to flee, so badly stung" (PV 33).}

IX.C

Muindo "is sent to harvest honey in a tall tree."

XVIII.C

Muindo sent Mes^e the Pygmy to harvest honey in a tall tree.

(pp. 273-8) [epic V] (Appendix I)

(pp. 233-71) epic IV

p.

text

p.

text

II

Muindo "arrives on the mountain Wingi, in the land of Kikomo."

VIII.A

"Mwindo becomes the master of the mountain Wingi."

VII

Muindo "offers gifts to Centipede and receives his oracle".

XIII.E

Muindo’s brother Little-one-just-born-he-walked "consults the oracle of Centipede."

X

"Kahindo agrees to marry Mwindo."

XIV.B

Little-one-just-born-he-walked "has gone to take Muisa’s daughter on behalf of Mwindo."

(pp. 279-80) [epic VI] (Appendix II)

various

p.

text

p.

text

Muntori (‘Sparrow’) is guardian of field for chief Kaboru ka Muindo.

88 (epic I)

Kikoka-fern is shewn to Muindo by Sparrow.

"The animals deliberate who will be the blacksmith. Munkonde (Large Bat) refuses; Kakutu (Small Bat) is chosen."

64 ("rare tale")

"Destiny ... had asked his maternal uncles, the Bats, to forge for him a set of iron objects in order that his wife might dedicate them to the Sun."

280

"They encounter Muhumba (Gorilla); Mwindo challenges him in a game of dice and wins".

(epic II, IX.C)

"They play the game of dice. ... He places the dice in Sheburungu’s mouth".

Muindo "orders his belt to subdue Nyamurairi."

131 (epic II, IX.C)

"Mwindo is subdued by Nyamurairi’s belt."

p. 119 Nyanga

Hellenic

Cymry (with Irish)

"Chasing the pig father and farther away, Mwindo arrives in the banana grove of Kahindo, the daughter of Nyamurairi."

A pig-hunt was sponsored by (GM 80.b) Oineus, father of (GM 159.h) Oinone : to the isle Oinone was brought (GM 66.c) the daughter of Asopos.

Culhwch pursued the boar Twrch Trwyth (Vortigern of razor, scissors, and comb – TT) as far as Olwen, daughter of Yspaddaden Penkawr. "Brigit the poetess, daughter of the Dagda, ... had Triath, king of her boars ... . ... The king of her boars, Triath, is the Twrch Trwyth (since the names are cognate )" (GA).

p. 111, fn. 111 "two ancestor spirits ... appear in a dream

Asopos : "That night, in a dream, he

"The clerics, angels in disguise, told the druid in his dream that the girl's name was to be Sancta Brigida - Saint Brigit." (BMG)

before the dying person and invite him ... to the subterranean world of Nyamurairi."

[grandfather of Aiakos (judge of souls of the dead in Tartaros – GM 66.k)]

p. 119 "Nyamurairi sets traps of ants, goatskins, and leaves (all transformed people), but Mwindo escapes ... because he knows the identity of the transformations."

saw ... ants falling to the ground from the sacred oak, and springing up as men." (GM 66.e) This was at Aigine (‘Goatskin’).

Culhwch was assisted by "Clust the son of Clustveinad (though he were buried seven cubits beneath the earth, he would hear the ant fifty miles off rise from her nest in the morning)" (K&O).

Muindo "went to his maternal uncles, Sun, Lightning, Moon, and Bat."

"pelted him [Asopos] with thunderbolts" (GM 66.b) : Asopos fathered (CDCM) Pelagon [= Parjanya the lightning-god].

p. 120 "They shaved all the people to use their hair as charcoal and their tears as water."

"lumps of burned coal are often fetched from his river-bed" the Asopos (GM 66.b).

With the razor from Twrch Trwyth, Yspaddaden Penkawr was shaved.

p. 223, fn. 131 Nyanga

comparative

"The Pygmy Nkango lost his way in the forest and arrived at the place of Nyamurairi, the god of fire. He met the dog Rukuba, who was lying near the fire in the men’s house. The Pygmy ... made a blood pact with the dog and received from him a burning log which he took back to his chief Iterere."

[Igbo, Ijaw] "dog stole fire from Heaven to give to mankind." (FBDG, p. 92)

[S^illuk] "dog stole fire from the serpent, the rainbow" (NS 02-17-2005, 07:46 AM).

[Papua] "A Dog Stole Fire from a Masalai" (OThO 450).

[Ac^omawi] "Dog Stole Fire" (M&LPN, p. 44)

Nyanga epic IV

Bauddha

other

p. 244 "Shebakungu said to the chief : "Let us first go to the toilet." Shebakungu took a stick for the chief to wipe himself with because this was the way it was done in olden times". ["Human feces ... are subject to special taboos, which are ... stringent for chiefs." (fn. 11)]

The god Indra concealed and protected the faeces of the Buddha. {cf. [Bisaya] land originated from faeces of rat-god Annalo (CEF, p. 10)}

The African cult particularly devoted to faeces is Hudu (Hoodoo) – Hudu is the name a tribe in Togo, where the general term for deity is /TRO/, cognate with <ibri^ /yiTRO^/ & /yiTRan/, the latter identical with Skt. /inDRa/.

p. 245 "In the morning the despised wife gave birth to a boy, (called) Little-one-just-born-he-walked."

Sarva-artha-siddha "was born, he walked" (L-KS).

p. 246 "Mukiti ["the extraordinary water serpent lives in a deep pool." (p. 246, fn. 19) {: cf. ketoessa Lake-daimon}] ... gave this child a zanza [musical instrument (p. 247, fn. 19)] in copper and an utebe-stool."

Copper is the metal of the planet Venus = os.adhi taraka, by gazing on which at dawn Sarva-artha-siddha became Buddha.

"I am the root ... of Dawid, the bright and morning star." (Apokalupsis 22:16) – here Dawid is a familiar form of Do^di^ (‘Beloved’), i.e. the "beloved disciple" Ioannes.

p. 258 "Mukiti cleaved the river into two parts; it was dry in the middle."

as in the Kemetian tale of the magic book fetched from the water-serpent

p. 270, fn. 84 "Mwindo had a daughter, called Protector [Protectrix]-of-the-things-that-will-not-be-understood"; her he allowed to die, but after her death she [from "the world of the spirits" (p. 264, p. 66)] "killed ... father Mwindo".

the daughters of Mara brought about their father’s defeat

Iphigeneia was put to death as a human sacrifice by her own father Agamemnon; but she became, in world of the dead, the goddess Hekate (CDCM), causing the death of Agamemnon.

Nyanga

Hellenic

p. 266, fn. 29 "Buingo, son of Drum (Ngoma), and his friendship with Chameleon, who found a way to transport ... an anvil ... for Buingo."

anvil falleth into Tartaros (Th 715sq), whose son is (GM 36.a) TUPHon (cognate with Skt. /dunDUBHi/ ‘drum’)