Two warriors went to look for wives. One was called Wadua [meaning: Son-of-the-Sun] and the other Wamweri [meaning: Son-of-the-Moon], and as they traveled they saw a girl in the road. Now she was not beautiful, for she had lost one eye, but Wamweri liked her, and the girl also liked Wamweri; so he took her to be his wife, and proceeded no further in his search.
But Wadua said, “Why do you take a girl who has one eye missing?” And he proceeded further on his journeys. Now as he went on his way he saw a young boy, and he said to him, “Do you know any maiden in this countryside?” And the boy replied, “No, I know of no maiden, except, indeed, the maiden Washuma; but she is not to be thought of, for she does not like young men.”
And Wadua journeyed again, and he met an old man, and he said, “Can you tell me when I can find a maiden?” And he said, ‘There is no girl but Washuma, and she will speak to no man.” Again he met an old woman, and she told him the same tale of Washuma, that she would not be wooed by any man.
At last on the eighth day he met a young man, and he yet again spoke of Washuma in the same manner. So Wadua inquired of him where the home of this Washuma might be; and he said, “On the opposite hillside, where you see the smoke ascending.” So Wadua went that day and slept that night on the road; and after three days he came to the house of Washuma and tarried outside, while the girl herself was in the shamba. Afterward she came in and cooked food, and came out and went to the storehouse and got siroco and cooked it, and came and gave it to the stranger. But he would not take it, and she went again to the storehouse and took beans, but he would not; and then gruel, and still he would not; but she did not think of milk, and when she brought milk he drank it, and she offered him more, but he said, “It is sufficient.”
Now the father of Washuma returned, and the goats and oxen came in for the night, and the girl took Wadua into the homestead that he might sleep, and she said to him, “If you should hear in the night a great noise, do not go out.” And he said, “Why?” Washuma said, “Because a great animal like a snake comes every night and kills and eats the oxen.” And the animal was called Mukunga Mbura, and its home is in the water.
So Wadua slept in the house; but in the night, when he heard a great noise he got up and took his spear; but Washuma took him by the arm and besought him not to go. But he was too strong for her, and he went out, and he saw the snake, and took his spear and struck it in the back of the neck, so it died, and he came back to the house and he said nothing.
And in the morning when the birds began to chirp, the father went out to see the cattle, and he found the dead beast, and he said, “Who has done this?” And the girl told her father. And he sent out, when all the young men were gathered on the dancing green, and he set them a distance, and he said to the youths, “He who can run this distance and return, he it is who has slain the Mukunga Mbura.” So they ran, but some fell and some panted like sheep; but when the time came for Wadua, he ran and returned and beat all the other youths. And the father said, “What shall I give you, since you have slain the beast?” And he said, “I look for a wife; give me your daughter.”
But the father said, “If a man has asked for my daughter, I have said to him, ‘Fetch the ny-o-ya [described as “a big black and white bird, of which the young men wear the feathers”].’” So Wadua arose and went to the big water, and Washuma stayed on the bank and looked on; and Wadua went, and the water rose to his calf and his knees and his waist, and then to his chest and neck and eyes. Washuma thought he would be drowned; but Wadua went right under the water and stayed there, and he did not die. Washuma waited, and when night came she slept there; but in the morning she said, “Surely he is dead.” And she turned to go.
But as she went she heard a great noise in the water; and she looked round, and went back and saw Wadua and many others coming out of the water, and sheep and goats innumerable; and the water had all disappeared, and Wadua returned with the girl to her home. And he divided the sheep and goats, and he put half of them on one side and half of them on the other, for they could not be counted for multitude; and he took one half for himself, and the other half he gave to the father of Washuma, that he might have her for his wife.