Once upon a time there was a man named Kiwobe who had a sheep and an only son named Kakange. One day Kiwobe went out to visit a friend, and the sheep said to the boy Kakange, “Kiwobe said when you saw the sun shining you were to take me out to the pasture; what are you doing? Are you waiting until it is evening to take me out?”
When the man returned home, his son told him what the sheep had said.
Kiwobe said, “My child, why do you tell a falsehood? Can a sheep talk like a man?”
The boy said, “If you think I am telling you a falsehood, pretend you are going away, and after going a little distance, turn back and hide near the door and listen, and you will hear it speak.”
Kiwobe did as the boy had suggested; he hid near the house, and after a short time the sheep called to the boy and asked, “What did Kiwobe tell you?”
The boy replied, “He said, ‘When you see the sun shining untie the sheep, and take it out to the pasture.’”
The sheep said, “Well, what do you see now?”
When Kiwobe heard it, he went and told his companions, saying he did not know what to do because his sheep had spoken like a man to his son.
His companions told him to cut a palm pole, bring it, and drop it upon the sheep and kill it. Kiwobe brought the pole and dropped it by the sheep; the sheep, however, sprang aside and escaped, and said to Kiwobe, “Do you want to kill me? I will not blame you this time, because you are tired.”
When Kiwobe saw he had failed to kill the sheep he left the place secretly, and went to live elsewhere, leaving the sheep tied in the house; he had also forgotten to take with him his ax-handle. The sheep took the ax-handle and followed the man along the road and found him at a dance.
The sheep said to the people dancing, “What kind of a dance is this?” and at once began to dance and sing: “This is coming, yes, but not arrived; this is coming, yes, but not arrived.”
As the sheep was dancing it saw its master Kiwobe, and went to him and said, “My brother, why did you leave me in the house? You also left your ax-handle which I have brought.”
All the people at the dance were greatly surprised to hear the sheep speak, but Kiwobe fled away and the sheep ran after him, and they both arrived together at the house. Kiwobe then agreed with his wife that she should kill the sheep when he went away for a walk.
The sheep, however, heard the man tell his wife to kill it, and when Kiwobe had gone the sheep caught the woman and killed her. It then cut the woman up and cooked her, and took her clothes and put them on.
When Kiwobe returned he asked his wife if she had killed the sheep, and it replied, “Yes; and I am cooking it now.”
Kiwobe said, “Dish up the food,” and the sheep did so, and the man sat down to eat his meal.
When Kiwobe was eating his son came up and said to him, “Sir, that which brings your food is the sheep, it has killed your wife and cooked her.”
When Kiwobe heard this he rose up, and got his spear to kill the sheep, but it fled away and escaped during the night.
This is the reason why some women never eat mutton.