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2 Akenda Mbani 12 Apinji (Gabon)13 Redjioua, a king, had a daughter called Arondo, and she was very beautiful. Redjioua said, “A man may give me slaves, goods, or ivory to marry my daughter, but he will not get her. I want only a man who will agree that when Arondo falls ill, he will fall ill also, and that when Arondo dies, he will die, also.” Time went on, and, as people knew this, no one came to ask for Arondo in marriage. But, one day, a man called Akenda Mbani14 came, and he said to Redjioua, “I have come to marry Arondo, your daughter. I come because I will agree that when Arondo dies, I will die, also.” So Akenda Mbani married Arondo. Akenda Mbani was a great hunter, and, after he had married Arondo, he went hunting and killed two wild boars. When he returned, he said, “I have killed two boars and bring you one.” Redjioua said, “Go and fetch the other.” Akenda Mbani said,“My father gave me a law that I must never go twice to the same place.” Another day, he went hunting again, and he killed two antelopes. When he returned, he said to Redjioua, “Father, I have killed two antelopes, and I bring you one.” The king said, “Please, my son-in-law, go and fetch the other.” He answered, “You know I cannot go twice to the same place.” Another time, he went hunting again, and he killed two bongos.15 Then Redjioua, who saw that all the other animals were being lost, said, “Please, my son-in-law, show the people the place where the other bongo is.” Akenda Mbani said, “If I do so, I am afraid I shall die.” In the evening of the same day, a canoe from the Oroungou country came with goods and remained on the river side. 8 Akenda Mbani said to his wife, “Let us go and meet the Oroungou people.” They saw them and then took a box full of goods and went back to their own house. The people of the village traded with the Oroungou, and, when the Oroungou wanted to go back, they came to Akenda Mbani, and he trusted them with ten slaves and many bunches of plantains, mats, and fowls. Then the Oroungou left. Months passed; then one day Arondo said to her husband, “We have never opened the box that came with the Oroungou. Let us see what is in it.” They opened it and saw cloth. Then Arondo said, “Husband, cut me two fathoms of it, for I like it.” They left the room. Arondo seated herself on the bed and Akenda Mbani on a stool, and then Arondo suddenly said, “Husband, I begin to have a headache.” Akenda Mbani said, “Ah, ah, Arondo, do you want me to die?” and he looked Arondo steadily in the face. He tied a bandage around her head and did the same to his own. Arondo began to cry as her headache became worse, and when the people of the village heard her cry they all came around her. Redjioua came and said, “Do not cry, my daughter. You will not die.” Then Arondo said, “Father, why do you say I shall not die? for, if you fear death, you may be sure it will come.” She had hardly said these words than she expired. Then all the people mourned, and Redjioua said, “Now my daughter is dead, so Akenda Mbani must die also.” The place where people are buried is called Djimai. The villages went there and dug a place for the two corpses, which were buried together. Redjioua had a slave buried with Arondo, along with a tusk of an elephant, rings, mats, plates, and the bed on which Akenda Mbani and Arondo had slept. The cutlass, the hunting bag, and the spear of Akenda Mbani were also buried. Then the people said, “Let us cover the things with sand and make a little mound.” When Agambouai, the speaker of the village, heard of this, he said to Redjioua, “There are leopards here.” Redjioua said, “Do not have a mound over my child’s burial place, lest the leopards come and scratch the ground and eat the corpse of my child.” The people said, “Then let us build a deeper hole,” and they took away Arondo and Akenda Mbani and placed both on stools. Then they dug and Apinji (Gabon) 9 [18.216.251...

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