|| A Kenyan legend ||
There is a small lake called Lake Kilui, a few miles south of the Kenyan town Kibwezi. At one point of time many many years ago, this region was home to the Kamba tribe.
The Kamba people believed that this lake was full of spirits. Fishing and hunting around the lake were prohibited as the people felt their gone ancestors should not be disturbed.
It was believed that the creatures in the lake had one human master or human form.
During the colonization, a British author visited this region and shot a crocodile from the lake. The crocodile was slightly hurt, but walked back into the water.
When the locals heard about the incident, they heaved a sigh of relief. If the crocodile died, its master would have died and consequences would have been grave.
The author, curious about such fuss over a regular swamp crocodile, inquired further.
The locals told him the story of a British plantation owner who owned rubber plantations nearby. The owner had shot an aquatic snake. Within few weeks, he died due to mysterious illness. The local people are all convinced that this happened because the elder spirits were angry at the blasphemy of the man.
But how did the lake come to have so many spirits. Was there a story to that as well?
The locals told the following legend:
Once upon a time, there was a big and prosperous village next to the lake.
The lake was their everything: source of water, source of food. While many villages would struggle if there was inadequate monsoon, the village by lake Kilui was self-sufficient. Over time, as the village prospered, the population grew. The needs of the village grew too.
People increasing felled more and more trees, caught all kinds of fish, crab and turtle for meat and crocodile for skin, leaving less for the animals that depended on the lake too. One night, when it was raining heavily outside, a frog went into a local’s house with her children seeking refuge.
The woman of the household told her children to throw the frog and her babies away.
The frog then went into a second household. The inhabitants also chased the frog away with a stick. A similar thing happened with the third household as well.
Finally, in the fourth household, the kind woman of the house let the frog and her babies stay for shelter.
The grateful frog advised the woman, “You have helped me, so let me help you. Listen to me carefully. At the break of dawn, leave the village with your family and go to higher ground”
The woman had the good sense to listen to the frog and she convinced her man and left the village next day. The torrential rain continued for another day increasing the water level of the lake. With very few trees to hold ground, the entire village crumbled and finally sank underwater.
Overnight, the once prosperous village was gone, along with all of its inhabitants. It is believed that since then, these people became inhabitants of the lake. They continue to live as spirits and swear to protect the lake that they once took for granted.
Even today, the descendants of the tribe respect the lake and prohibit any kind of hunting or deforestation in and around the lake.
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