Hadithi Hadithi?
Hadithi Njoo!
There was a time long ago that the Rooster and the Ostrich were rivals. They couldn’t see eye to eye, and they each compared what they had to what the other had.
Both Rooster and Ostrich had large homesteads, had a number of wives, and owned many (many) cows. The large homesteads accommodated both wives and children – so you can imagine how big the homesteads were. But even with this immense wealth, each rival was troubled and anxious; they both feared that their wives were in love with the other. Still, for the most part, both parties kept to their land and advised their wives to avoid mingling with the rival’s community.
One day though, the Ostrich decided to pay the Rooster a visit. He wanted to cause a disturbance in the Rooster’s homestead and see how best to steal one of Rooster’s beautiful wives. He arrived and found Rooster relaxing under the shade of a big tree. Rooster’s head and neck were tucked under his wing but Ostrich didn’t register this, so he screamed: “Rooster!!! Rooster!!! Where is your head?”
Rooster didn’t move, but replied in a steady voice: “Oh! Why must you come to my homestead and disturb my peace with a silly question? Is it any of your business where my head is?” There was no response from Ostrich, and this gave Rooster an idea. He continued: “If you must know, I instructed one of my wives to cut off my head and place it high on a pole somewhere in this homestead so that I can watch everything that happens, and everyone that comes in and goes out.”
Gullible, the Ostrich was impressed with Rooster’s creativity. He dashed home with the intention of copying Rooster. Ostrich called to his junior wife and asked her to cut off his head and place it on a pole. His junior wife could not contain her laughter, and this caused Ostrich to hit her on the head. Only then did she realize that he was serious. So she did as she was commanded and placed his head on a pole in the middle of the homestead.
When the other wives of Ostrich returned to the homestead and saw what had happened, they wailed and wailed.
News of what had happened got to Rooster and he paid Ostrich’s wives a visit. He offered to take them in with their children. The opportunity was so sweet for them and they joined Rooster’s family. Rooster could only smile at his own cleverness and good fortune.
*
The lesson from this Abagusii tale is to be cautious about ‘copying’ those we consider rivals. We must think on our own and evaluate situations before making hasty decisions.