KELIMABE AND KELIKELIMABE

Kelimabe and Kelikelimabe were brothers from the same parents. Kelimabe the elder was ugly while Kelikelimabe was very handsome. As was practice then, Kelimabe got married to a woman from another village. When the woman met his brother Kelikelimabe, and saw how handsome he was, she wanted him to be her lover. She approached him with this but Kelikelimabe resisted her and swore that he could never do such a thing to his brother. The woman still did not give up and one day, when her husband Kelimabe was absent she approached his brother and tried to seduce him. Kelimabe resisted her and ran away from the house. She made herself and her room look like someone had tried to rape her using force and when her husband came home, she told him that his brother, Kelikelimabe had tried to rape her. This enraged Kelimabe and he rushed out in search of Kelikelimabe. When he found him, he accused him of trying to rape his wife, and when Kelikelimabe denied it, Kelimabe took out his knife and mutilated him, then ran away.
After Kelikelimabe regained consciousness, he decided to go in search of his brother. On his way to search for Kelimabe, he came to a village where a rich chief with his unmarried daughter lived. Kelikelimabe had asked in the village if anyone knows the whereabouts of his brother. Fortunately for him, a weaver who worked for the rich chief had seen his brother.
The chief’s daughter got to know about Kelikelimabe and his handsomeness and she insisted on marrying him. At first, Kelikelimabe refused to marry her but after some persuasion from the village’s holy men, he agreed to marry her. The marriage took place and they were left together as a couple. Kelikelimabe couldn’t consummate the marriage. He told his wife that he was going to the river to take a bathe and he was escorted by a hundred men. At the river, he tried to drown himself but he could not.
A man who had been watching him try to drown himself approached him and told him that he knows all about what happened to him and that he could help him. He told Kelikelimabe to bring him the foot of a Hira that was going to be hunted and killed the next day. He told him that if he could bring the foot of the Hira back to him before a bird he was going to send after him, he will be able to restore his manhood.
The next day, he took the fastest horse available and went to the forest where the Hira was to be hunted. After the hunters had killed the Hira, he took one of its feet and offered a reward to who ever could delay the bird which had been sent. He took the foot back with him to the old man. The old man made him undress and follow him into the bush to a large tree where they met an assembly of spirits, he had warned Kelikelimabe not to do or say anything. They took the foot and joined the assembly in silence. When it was over, they went home and the old man gave Kelikelimabe two male members to choose from, this he did and went home to consummate his marriage. His wife gave birth to a boy whom he named after his brother.
Kelikelimabe decided to continue with his search for his brother. He went to the leader of their tribe, the Gow, and told him that he wished to go find his brother. The assembled Gow agreed and offered t help him. They followed the direction which Kelimabe had been seen and after three days, they found out that he was in a wood where he has married the daughter of a great tree spirit. They went into the forest and found Kelimabe’s tree but they were attacked by his wife. The leader captured them both. Kelimabe did not want to return to his village because he was afraid of being killed for what he did. He asked to see his brother; they greeted each other and Kelimabe told his brother that he realized his wife had lied. Kelikelimabe told him what happened after that and how he got married. They returned back to the village and Kelimabe’s first wife was killed.
Such myths in my opinion play a traditional and cultural role in our society.
It conveys information about the geography which was mostly forest and rivers. They had good soil and they were hunters.
Our modern society also has such myths that exist in other forms.
The similarity between this story and other stories of origin that I know of is the use of magic and hunting. In many stories of origin, the people are usually hunters like in this story. They also use magic in their various activities such as fishing and hunting.
The myth shows us a society with a leader. It shows that every society must have a leader to guide them and protect them for example; in the story Musa Nyame is the leader of the Gow people. They seek his permission and approval before doing anything.
The story is a good parable intended to teach us to listen to the two sides of a story before taking action. For example, Kelimabe did not listen to his brother to hear what really happened between him and his wife before mutilating him in anger.