And one daughter and a son were born. And a man, her cousin, married the girl; and on the morrow he went hunting. His first father-in-law died, and his mother-in-law remained. One day a certain man came and said, “I (want) to marry your mother-in-law, my son-in-law.” And that son-in-law of his said, “Marry, am I to deny my mother-in-law?” And sure enough he came and married his mother-in-law.
One day he said to his son-in-law, “Come, son-in-law, let us go into the bush, that we may eat some honey.” Ah, and the son-in-law went with him into the bush. Then as they went along, the father-in-law said, “Son-in-law, here are bees!” When the son-in-law had gone, he found the bees in a grass-stalk [an impossible place in which to find a nest of bees];1 and the son-in-law thought, “What sort of a father-in-law is this, who calls me to bees in a grass-stalk?” And he cut out the honey from the grass-stalk there. Then his father-in-law said, “Eat the honey that you have cut out.” The son-in-law refused, saying, “I have not yet eaten honey from a grass-stalk.” And his father-in-law ate alone.
And again they went on. Again he located bees in a tremendously high Wanga tree [the Muwanga is a tree of such hard wood that natives seldom attempt to cut out a nest of bees located in it]. Again he called his son-in-law; and when the son-in-law came he said, “Here are bees in the Wanga tree.” And he replied, “Am I to climb right high up there?” And his father-in-law said, “Go!” And the son-in-law climbed up above, and the son-in-law cut out the bees, and called saying, “Father-in-law, now I have cut out the honey; give me some bark rope that I may tie up the bark dish.” And his father-in-law stripped a bundle of bark rope, and his father-in-law hoisted it up above, and he tied the bark plate. Then he said, “Now father-in-law, take the honey that I have tied.” And his father-in-law took the honey, and put it down, and the son-in-law came down from above. And he ordered his son-in-law saying, “Eat up the honey, son-in-law!” And the son-in-law refused even as he had done at the first over the honey from the grass-stalk. Then he carried the honey. And off they went to the village, and slept.
Again when morning dawned, he went early to his son-in-law. And he said, “Son-in-law, let us go today also, and let us cut out some honey.” And the son-in-law came out, and off they both went, he and his father-in-law. Again his father-in-law did the same as he had previously done, and again located it in a grass-stalk; and he called saying, “Father, cut out these bees here.” And the son-in-law came, and found them just in the grass-stalk. The son-in-law just stared, saying, “My father-in-law is a worry to me; he is always locating bees in a grass-stalk; he is acting as though he has tricks.” Then he said, “Son-in-law, cut out the bees!” Then the son-in-law began to cut them out from the grass-stalk, and took out a bark-plate. Then his father-in-law said, “Father, let us eat the honey.” And the son-in-law refused, saying, “I don't eat honey from a grass-stalk.” Then his father-in-law said, “Carry it, and let us go on walking;” and they departed, and off they went, son-in-law as well. Then as they passed along, he said, “There are some more bees here!” And when the son-in-law went, he found them even in a Wanga tree. And he said, “Climb up, son-in-law!” And the other said, “My father-in-law compels me, he wants his son-in-law to die.”
And the son-in-law climbed up above to a great height in the Wanga tree; and the son-in-law cut out the honey up there. Then he said, “Now I have cut out the honey, bring the bark rope!” And his father-in-law, who remained below, stripped off the bark rope. And he who was above tied up the honey. And he said, “Now take the honey that I have tied up.” And then his father-in-law went to the foot of the tree, and held out his hands, that the plate might come into his hands; and the father-in-law received the honey, and placed it on the ground. And the son-in-law descended from above where he was. Then his father-in-law said, “Son-in-law, let us eat the honey.” And the son-in-law said, “No, I shall not eat it!” and he refused. Then the other said, “Carry the honey then, and let us go to the village.” And they reached the village, and slept.
When it was morning, the father-in-law said, “Come, son-in-law, today also into the bush, and let us cut out some honey.” Again he located bees, saying, “Son-in-law, here are some bees in a grass-stalk.” The son-in-law came and found the bees even in the grass-stalk, even as he had done before. And the son-in-law said, “Every day you are locating bees right in a grass-stalk, father-in-law; why do you do this?” But his father-in-law said, “Cut out the bees, son-in-law!” And so the son-in-law began to cut out the bees from the grass-stalk, and removed a bark plate, and took the honey. Then his father-in-law said, “Son-in-law, let us eat the honey.” His son-in-law refused. Then he said, “Take the honey, and let us go walking on.” And the son-in-law took the plate of honey, and carried it. Then off he went with his father-in-law. And then where his father-in-law passed, he located them on the top of a Wanga tree; and then he called his son-in-law saying, “Cut out these bees here.” And his son-in-law came; and he stared at them in the Wanga tree, saying, “To what a height my father-in-law sends me to cut out bees!” And the son-in-law climbed up, and cut out the honey.
And he said (to himself), “Today I won't call for a bark plate from below, I will remove a plate from the side of my leg.” And he removed a plate from the side of his leg, and it was just there on his leg that he stripped off the string; and he tied the plate with the string that he stripped off from his very leg. Then his father-in-law said, “Lower the honey, son-in-law.” And he said, “Hold out your hands, and take the honey.” And his father-in-law received the honey. Then his father-in-law said, “What about this string, son-in-law, where did you strip it off?” Then his father-in-law went to the village, saying in his heart, “This son-in-law of mine is a man of tricks.” And he reached the village and slept.
When morning came, he went early to his son-in-law. He said, “Today also let us go out walking.” Where they went his father-in-law came upon a herd of buffalo. And the son-in-law said, “Wait, father-in-law, let me stalk them.” And his father-in-law refused saying, “Stop, let me go, and let me kill them.” And he took one arrow, and set it in the bow-string, and shot the arrow, and it went into an animal, and went through this one, and went through that one and it died, and it went through that one and it died, and it went through that one and it died; and the last one also it entered, and he who shot the arrow also entered the animals. Then the son-in-law said, “My father-in-law who killed these animals, where has he gone?” And he went to the first animal, and said, “Father-in-law, come out!” He did not come out. And he reached another, and said, “Father-in-law,come out!” But his father-in-law did not come out. And to another, but he did not come out. Then it was that he reached the last, and said, “Father-in-law come out, let us go to the village!” Then it was that his father-in-law came out with his bow in his hand. And off they went to the village; and the son-in-law was thinking all the while of his father-in-law's tricks. And the people came to fetch that meat to take it to the village.
Again another day the son-in-law and his father-in-law went into the bush to kill animals. Where they went they came upon many eland. And the father-in-law said, “I am going, let me kill them!” But the son-in-law said, “Let me go today, I know how to kill animals.” And the son-in-law took one arrow, and shot it into the herd of eland. It went through this one, and it died; and it went through this one, and it died; and it went through this one, and it died; and when it came to the last one, the arrow went right through, and entered a wild orange. The wild orange (fell) into the water, and a crocodile swallowed the orange. And in its turn a hippopotamus swallowed the crocodile. The father-in-law went to the animals, and said, “Son-in-law, come out!” He did not come out. And he reached another, and said, “Son-in-law come out!” He did not come out. And yet another, but he did not come out. And the last one, but he did not come out. Then he said, “But where has my son-in-law gone? I have finished asking all the animals!” And the father-in-law went off alone to the village.
When it was morning, he said, “Where am I to find my son-in-law? Today I am going to dig a pitfall at the side of the river.” And he dug the pitfall, and left it covered over, and went away. In the morning when he went early, he found that a hippopotamus had died in it. And he went to the village and said, “Come mates, let us cut up a hippo, it has died in the pitfall.”
And they pierced that hippopotamus, and took out a crocodile from the stomach of the hippopotamus. Then he said, “But where is my son-in-law?” He said, “Now men, pierce this crocodile.” And they pierced the crocodile, and took out a wild orange. Then he said, “My son-in-law, come out!” Then it was that he came out of the wild orange with his bow in his hand. His father-in-law sat and marvelled, saying, “Son-in-law of mine, why do you do these wonderful things to me, because you have worried me, and have entered many animals?” And he went to the village with his father-in-law, and the people carried that meat.
And he went out early with his son-in-law to cut out honey; and again located bees in a very tall Wanga tree. And he said, “Son-in-law, cut out these bees in the Wanga tree.” And the son-in-law came, and climbed that Wanga tree, and the son-in-law cut out the honey. And he said, “Father-in-law, take this honey that I have cut out!” Ah, and he received the honey; and then the son-in-law fell hurtling down, and broke and smashed to pieces, and not even a little bit of him was seen; and he entirely crumbled up, end turned into dust. His father-in-law became afraid, and said, “Today my son-in-law is dead, he has broken to pieces.” And off he went to the village, and reached the village and said, “My son-in-law is dead, I don't see him.”
There where he remained, he revived, and joined himself together piece by piece, and changed into a woman. In the morning his father-in-law came saying, “Just let me go to where my son-in-law died.” When he had gone some distance, he met that woman. He said, “Woman, where have you come from?” She said, “I have come from here in this country.” Then he said, “I am going to divorce my old wife, and I shall marry this beautiful one that I have seen.” All the time it was his son-in-law who had turned into a woman. And she said, “Marry me then.” There and then he built a zareba. And night fell. And he lay with that woman. When it was morning, he wanted to return to the village, to fetch something to smoke; and off he went to the village. Where the woman remained, she turned back into the man that she was before. On the (father-in-law's) return, to his surprise he found the dwelling empty; she had gone out. Then he began calling out, “O my wife, where have you gone?” And she didn't reply; how could she, when she had already gone to the village?
Then where she went, she turned back into the very son-in- law; and then it was that his father-in-law said, “My son-in-law has bothered me, now I am going to gather all the people together, that I may tell them how sons-in-law behave.” Then it was that he gathered together all his companions. And he said, “Friends, do you associate with a son-in-law who is always performing wonderful miracles?” And his companions asked, “What has he done?” He said, “I saw some honey in a Wanga tree; my son-in-law went to cut it out, and he peeled off a bark-plate from the side of his leg!” Then all the people said, “Is that what your son-in-law does?” He said, “Yes!” Then all his companions said, “You son-in-law of his, explain what your father-in-law has said.” And he said, “It was my father-in-law who began by locating bees in a grass-stalk. Again another day he located bees in a Wanga tree; and I went up above to cut them out. And that was why I started, for why should my father-in-law start his cunning? And so I too one day revealed my cunning, that of peeling a bark-plate off my leg.” And he added, “And my falling from a tall tree also was in order that my father-in-law might today be met (by a devil)!”
Then everybody said, “It was you, father-in-law, who began it!” Then the son-in-law said, “That was why I changed into a woman; and you did not know me, you thought I was a woman, and all the time I was your son-in-law.” That was how they settled the case.