Luo traditional tales #1

The Luo people, like all African peoples, have a long history of story telling.  Its fun, and is also a way of passing on their history, and for grandmothers to instruct their grand-daughters with these often very moral tales.

The strange children of Opondo

Years ago there was a man called Opondo.  His wife constantly gave birth to monitor lizards instead of normal babies.  Every time this happened the couple took the horrible animal out into the bush and threw it away.  But eventually, when another monitor lizard was born, the couple decided to keep it and see how it grew up.

The lizard grew, and after many years was able to walk and behave just as any other lizard.   He used to go secretly to the river to wash, and when he got there, he would slip off his scaly skin, and there was a beautiful young man !

One day when he was splashing about washing, he was seen by an old man, who rushed to the parents and told them what he had seen.  The parents didn't believe him, but after several days wondered if perhaps there could be some truth in what they had been told.  So they hid in bushes near the river, and watched .  They saw the 'lizard' strip of his clothes, and the beautiful young man go down into the water to wash.  

The parents were not convinced, for when the 'lizard' returned home, he was still, quite clearly a lizard !  The old man who had told them the truth persuaded them to go another day and watch their son.  This they did, but this time, Opondo crept out quietly and seized the lizard skin lying on the bank.  He ran home with it and flung it on the fire.   He returned to the river bank to see what the young man would do.  

The boy climbed out of the river and searched for his lizard skin, which had gone.  Horrified, he sat down on the river bank and cried.   His parents were so saddened by this that they came out of hiding, and encouraged him to return home, naked as he was, with them.

The boy, now visibly a young man and not a lizard, became accepted and loved by everyone in the village.    Opondo and his wife regretted that they had cast out so many monitor lizard children, but the Luo know that what is gone, is gone ... 

The moral of this story is that even those who are rejected by many, can have those who sympathise with them ... like the street children of today ...