FOR PART ONE CLICK HERE. PART TWO HERE. PART THREE HERE. PART FOUR HERE. PART FIVE HERE. PART SIX HERE. PART SEVEN HERE.
PART EIGHT – In the months since Ozidi had slain all of his father’s killers he had grown more and more cocksure. He still hungered for combat and took offense at every perceived slight as a reason to battle and defeat whoever he pleased.
The people of Orua and Ado began deserting the area, preferring wild living in the jungle to living in fear of arousing the former hero Ozidi’s wrath in some unpredictable way. Even Ozidi’s sorceress grandmother Oreame was growing disillusioned with him.
Oreame was weary of having to restrain Ozidi from attacking his unfit Uncle King Temugedege’s subjects. She had returned to regularly reading oracles for anyone requesting it.
One day Engbesibeoru, the Scrotum God (Divine embodiment of scrotal elephantiasis. I’m not joking.) noticed that Ado had become all but deserted. Asking the jungle dwellers about this, he learned about Ozidi’s hubris following the success of his revenge quest. Continue reading
In the versions where they are two separate entities Mwindo is a villainous figure while Kabutwa-kenda is the main hero of the epic. Regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog will be reminded of the Navajo twin gods Nayanazgeni and Thobadzistsini. Nayanazgeni was usually the hero of the epic about the defeat of the evil gods called the Anaye but in the Apache version of the myth his brother Thobadzistsini is the hero and Nayanazgeni is reduced to being a comic relief coward. 
THE BAKARIDJAN KONE EPIC – Djeli, the poet-historians of the Bambara people for over 300 years, would often recite, chant and sing this epic myth while playing their stringed instruments called ngoni. 
Balladeer’s Blog presents another neglected epic myth from around the world. In this case, Liberia’s Woi Epic of the Kpelle people. 
The lightning god Nkuba looked down from the sky and prepared to attack the semidivine hero Mwindo in order to avenge his (Nkuba’s) friend, the monster Kirimu. That seven- headed creature had been slain, cooked and served as a meal by Chief Mwindo for killing three of his devoted corps of Pygmies. 
In the restored village of Tubondo, with all the dead brought back to life by Mwindo it was at last time to pass judgment on the captured Shemwindo. In some versions of the Mwindo Epic the semidivine hero sits upon a throne made of spears as if deciding the fate of prisoners of war. Other versions claim Mwindo’s friend Nkuba the lightning god sent down copper chairs for Mwindo and his Aunt Iyangura to sit on while judging the former Chief Shemwindo. 
The semidivine hero Mwindo at last stood face to face with his evil father Shemwindo. After the villain had led his heroic son on a long chase through the various realms of the gods that honeycombed the subterranean region Mwindo finally had satisfaction. 
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