N/B: There’s no sex in this episode so don’t get your hopes up. This is just to fill in a few gaps before part 4 so whatever.
Mzee Mburi nodded to himself in quiet contemplation as he surveyed the rest of the village from the wooden gate of his compound. He was back and they had to know that he was back. It wasn’t from a long journey that he was returning from but from the edge of oblivion. For many seasons past Mzee mburi had strutted through the village with the leisure that came with holding the title of the richest man. His heads of cattle numbered in the hundreds and he’d long since stopped counting the sheep and goats. They multiplied so fast every season that he used to host gatherings just so he could invite others to help him ‘cull’ the numbers. In those days, his regular visitors did not include the riffraff struggling to eke a living or coming to discuss idle gossip. He hosted chiefs and dignitaries from the village and beyond.
As he stared at the village in the dying light he fondly recalled the days when the village elders came with their heads bowed to seek his counsel and favor. Although the village had its own chief, many in the village would joke about how he was the true leader in the village. He knew it was no joke for under the cover of darkness even the chief came to him in times of great need.
In his early days, Mzee Mburi had seen his wealth growing rapidly and decided to move to the outskirts where his wealth could grow unencumbered by space and the ill will of the peasants. It was a decision that ultimately proved wise as his flock thrived but one that would later be the cause of his fall from grace. News of his wealth had travelled far and wide, no doubt carried by a few jealous tongues, and it wasn’t long before the raids started. Raid after raid came, reducing his herd with every cycle until one day he looked into the enclosure where he kept his goats and realized that he could count them all.
Soon afterwards, the leopards also started to come. With no sons to help him protect his herd and the other villagers too far and too jealous to offer any help, Mzee Mburi battled in vain as his entire stock was depleted night after night. In just a single season he was finished, reduced to the ranks of the peasants as his entire family was forced to till the earth for food. Times had been hard and all those who had received his favor in the past stayed away. The chief had no time for him and the elders fed him nothing but empty promises until he’d finally given up and retired to the confines of his no longer vibrant home.
In the darkness of his hut, he quietly pondered what had brought on such bad luck to him. The ill will of the peasants had undoubtedly sent something evil his way but he had resisted these spirits before. However, in a household with no sons it had been impossible to protect the wealth that he had gained over the years. Njoki had only given him girls and although he had thought of marrying a second wife he had always postponed the decision, hoping that the next child would be a son. Now that it was too late he knew better. Njoki had been cursed by the peasants and had been the cause of the trouble from within. It was her who was unable to conceive any boys and in doing so denied him what he needed to protect his wealth.
The winds of change were however blowing across his household; something good was coming. Fuda Wa Nyamba had come calling earlier in the day with the strangest proposal he had ever had but one whose benefit he could not overlook. He wanted to take his daughter as a second wife and he was willing to give him enough livestock to restart his flock. He had been curious as to why a man of his age would want to take someone as young as Kanyuni as a wife but he couldn’t really be bothered. As a product of Njoki’s cursed womb she undoubtedly carried the curse herself and maybe reducing their number in his home would reduce the power of the curse that haunted his wealth.
Before Fuda had come knocking, his only hope had been that Kanyuni and her sisters would be picked by the best of the warriors who would overtime bring their father in law gifts of cattle, sheep and goats. However, Fuda was offering him what he needed now and was giving him a chance to restart his flock and regain his place above the rest long before any future suitors for his daughters would. Yes, in a week’s time Kanyuni would become Fuda’s second wife and he, Mzee Mburi, would be back. With his wisdom, by the second year he would have enough stock to also marry a second wife, one that would give him sons and banish the spirits Njoki had brought back to the people who had sent them.