The Legend of Karachuo

The fact that Anyango, Ong'am's first wife had not given him a child despite staying in marriage for five years worried him. But during the beginning of the dry season several hundred years before coming of the white people, she conceived, a fact that impressed several people of the Odindi clan. The chief worried that maybe it could be a girl.

In African traditional beliefs, having a son was a sign of wealth and it was a sign of continuity of the clan. The first wife was a very important figure amongst the several wives a man could have. It is worth mentioning how much Anyango had to bear considering the fact that she had no child much less a son when all her other six co wives had at least a son.

Three seasons passed and by the end of the third, the third last week on the second day, when the midday sun was just above everyone's head, a child was born in Anyango's hut, in the chief's home.

Ong'am was not himself when he heard the news. He was even crazier when he learnt that the child was a male. Everyone from Odindi clan was there to celebrate the birth of the chief's heir.

"Obong'o Nyakalaga¹, " Chief Ong'am begun shortly after his compound was filled with people to celebrate this blessing, "this very day I'm going to pour the blood of thirty heads of cattle at the village shrine altar to thank you for this blessing."

"May this child be a great warrior who will bring Karachuo and the whole Lu land to greater heights. May the ancestors guide us in giving him a suitable name, a name that will soar above the clouds, a name that will give the Lang tribe fever and the Kalek tribe sleepless nights... "

What followed was the roaring of men and the ululation of women. This was not only a blessing to the chief but also to the Odindi clan as this would most likely be the successor of the stool of chief as he was the son of 'Mikai'²...

Kalek and Lang tribes were Lu tribe's greatest enemies. There was battle every season amongst the three tribes. The loser could not only lose a few warriors but also its cattle and a few tribesmen who were taken for slavery. However, after some time, the loser would train it's warriors, revenge and the rewards of the battle could be the same as that was what battles in the ancient Africa were.

After the celebration of the child birth, where several cattle died including the ones that the chief used for his thanksgiving, one more remained and calamity was still ahead of the living cattle...