Legend of Kilui Lake (Kamba of Kibwezi).—A few miles below Kibwezi Station there is a small lake called Kilui…
- Date of account
- Published 1922
- Source
- Bantu Beliefs and Magic With particular reference to the Kikuyu and Kamba tribes of Kenya Colony; together with some reflections on East Africa after the war
- Reference
- Bantu Beliefs and Magic With particular reference to the Kikuyu and Kamba tribes of Kenya Colony; together with some reflections on East Africa after the war · selected passage 130
- Rights
- public_domain
- Language
- English
- Record updated
- 2026-08-25
Record summary
Legend of Kilui Lake (Kamba of Kibwezi).—A few miles below Kibwezi Station there is a small lake called Kilui which is believed to be haunted by numerous spirits
Published source text
Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.
Source passage
Source text · mention onlyLegend of Kilui Lake (Kamba of Kibwezi).—A few miles below Kibwezi Station there is a small lake called Kilui which is believed to be haunted by numerous spirits. The author recently had occasion to visit the place and, seeing a crocodile, shot it; the crocodile was badly hit, but, as usual, managed to struggle back into the water. The Kamba porters were afterwards heard to say that it was a good thing that it was not killed as the master would have been taken sick and probably died. The local elders, however, were questioned on the subject later on, but denied that any evil effects were likely to supervene. They stated that the place was undoubtedly full of spirits, as a long time ago there was a large village on the site of the lake, and, one day, a terrible rain storm occurred during which a frog entered one of the huts; the housewife on seeing it told one of her children to throw it out, and this having been done, the frog then went to another hut where the same thing occurred, and so on at the third, but at the fourth hut the wife, however, said, “Oh, it is doing no harm, let it stay.” Thereupon the frog said to her, “You have given me shelter and so listen to my words—take your children and flee from this village without del
Historical context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyThis material belongs to a folklore tradition. Story type, collector, community, transmission and literary editing matter when comparing it with other sources.
Modern context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyLattice compares motifs and reported features without assuming that a traditional being is a biological species or that similar stories document one external cause.
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