The Fairy Wife

There were two sons of one mother, one named Mavungu, and the other Luemba. Luemba was a fine child, and grew up to be a handsome man. Mavungu was puny and miserable-looking, and as he came to be a man he was very small and mean-looking. The mother always treated Luemba very well; but she maltreated Mavungu, and made him sleep outside the house beneath the mango trees. Often when he came to her, to beg for food, she would throw over his head the water in which she had cooked the beans.

Mavungu could not stand this bad treatment any longer; so he ran away into the woods, and wandered far away from home, until he came to a river. Here he found a canoe which he used to carry him still further from his town. And he paddled and paddled, until he came to a huge tree, that so overspread the river that he could not paddle any further. So he laid his paddle down, and caught hold of the leaves of the fuba tree to pull his canoe along. But no sooner had he begun to pull the leaves of the fuba tree, than he heard a voice, as if of a woman, faintly crying:

The Woman and Mavungu

“You are hurting me! please take care.”

Mavungu wondered, but still pulled himself along.

“Take care! you are breaking my legs off,” said the voice.

Still Mavungu pulled until a leaf broke off and suddenly changed into a beautiful woman. This startled Mavungu, so that he pulled many other leaves off the fuba tree. Each leaf turned into a man, or a woman; until his canoe was so full that he could not pull it.

Then the first woman told him that she had come to be his wife, and comfort him; and Mavungu was no longer afraid, but was very happy. Then the wife spoke to her fetish, and said:

“Am I to marry a man so ugly as this one is?”

And immediately Mavungu changed into a handsome man.

“Is he to be dressed like that?” she cried.

And straightway his dress was wonderfully changed.

In the same magical way the wife built Mavungu a large house and town for his people, so that he wanted nothing that was needful to a prince. And as people passed that way they were astonished at the change, and wondered where Mavungu had found his beautiful wife. And his mother and brother and whole family came to see him; and he treated them kindly and sent them away loaded with presents. But he had been told by his wife to say nothing to them as to the secret of his happiness. He, therefore, left them in ignorance of that fact.

Then his people invited Mavungu to their town, but his wife told him not to go, and so he stayed at home. But when he had received many invitations he finally agreed to visit them, in spite of his wife’s advice. He promised, however, not to eat any of the food given to him. When he arrived in town his mother placed poisoned food before him and urged him to eat it, but he refused. They then asked about his beautiful wife, and, not thinking, he replied:

“Oh, when I left you I wandered through the woods.”

But when he had got thus far he heard his wife’s voice ringing through the woods:

“Oh! Ma-vu-ng-u-a-a-a!” and immediately he remembered, and got up and ran away home.

His wife was very cross with him, and told him plainly that she would not help him the next time he made a dunce of himself.

Some time after this Mavungu again went to visit his family. His wife said nothing, neither asking him to stay at home, nor giving him her consent to go. When he had greeted his mother and had eaten food, the family again asked him to tell them how he had found his wife.

And he said, “When I left you, because of your bad treatment, I wandered through the woods and came to a river. Dear me! where has my beautiful hat gone?”

“Your brother has taken it, to put it in the sun,” said the mother, “but continue.”

“I found a canoe with a paddle in it. Where has my coat gone?”

“Your brother has taken that also.”

“And I paddled and paddled. Why have you taken my beautiful cloth?”

“To have it washed, of course.”

“I paddled until I came to a big tree. Nay, why not leave me my shirt? And as I pulled off the leaves of the fuba tree, they turned into my wife and her companions. But I am naked!”

Then Mavungu remembered, and ran away to his town, only to find that it and his beautiful wife had disappeared. And when the people heard the whole story, they said it served Mavungu right for being so silly as to want to please his people, who had been his enemies all along, rather than please his wife, who had been so kind to him.