Gakondo

Miseke and Mirabyo

When the woman had filled her basket with potatoes, she went over to the little rivulet to wash them, then walked over to the drinking water spring filled her jug, which she would carry on her head. But as she straightened up to set the circular cushion ingata on her head, she saw black clouds rapidly gathering and darkening the sky, and knew a big storm was threatening. And sure enough, as she bent down to pick up her jug, the thunder began to ramble, and a few drops of rain began to fall.

"Oh! what shall I do?" she complained. "My firewood will be wet before I get to the hillside! And the grain I left outside to dry! It will be ruined! Oh! what shall Id do? And I am so I cannot run uphill! Oh! Please God, help me!"

"My father sends me to see what I can do to help you. Some urgent errands, I think?"

Then the woman relaxed, put both her hands on her abdomen, as if to reassure her baby, who was moving with some excitement. She knew who the boy was: young Mirabyo, the son of the Lord Nkuba, King of Heaven . Then she pointed to the jug and basket, and explained that there was also some firewood up the hillside, and the grain she had left to dry in the yard at home.

Mirabyo smiled brightly at her, then he wrapped a lightning around the jug and the basket, flashed then up the hill, collected the firewood bundle in a similar manner, and deposited the items in the woman's house. Then he created a mini-whirwind which he used to gather the grain into the container, which he flashed into the house. He returned to where the woman was, saluted her very sweetly, and flashed back into the sky, to report to his Father. The woman walked up the hill, so happy that she was oblivious of the rain which was fairly drenching her.

While the woman made her way slowly up the hillside, she said to herself:

"What a lovely boy King Nkuba has! Oh! I wish my baby were a girl! Then, when she is grown up, I'd give her to Him as as bride for His son. .."

When the baby was born, it was a girl! And she named her Miseke , for she was as bright and cheerful as the Dawn. Miseke became more beautiful and lovable as she grew up. She enjoyed all the virtues and qualities, but her smile remained her most remarkable feature. Whenever she smiled, everything around her became bright.

"And where are you from?"

"I am from... very far."

"How far?"

"Very very far... a country you wouldn't know about."

"Then how do you know Miseke?"

"I don't know her - and yet I do know her. I'd recognize her if I saw her."

"How would you recognize her if you do not know her?"

"By her smile, I would know her."

"She is not here."

"Yes, she is!"

"No, she is not! Go away!"

"I will not go away until I see her."

The young man just stood there at the cave door, and young women sat down and waited for him to tire of waiting in the rain and go away. But he was determined to wait the whole day if necessary. He even appeared to have somehow dimmed the brightness of his light to a gentle luminescence. Meanwhile, the rain had eased, and they could only see a light drizzle falling softly behind the bright young man. Soon their mothers would be wondering what had kept them out for so long. They decided to leave the cave.

"Are you Miseke?" He asked hopefully, as the first girl walked towards him.

"I'm not Miseke! Let me pass, I want to go home."

"Smile first!"

She smiled. "You are not Miseke!" he said. "You may pass".

As the second girl came out, he repeated the same request. She smiled, and he also let her pass. The process went on until the seventh young woman had passed: they were all very pretty, and their smiles were bright, but not sufficiently luminous. They all waited outside for the last one to come out.

Then the eighth and last young woman came out of the cave. As she stood there before him, the dazzling young man asked her to smile. And when she smiled, the whole cave was lit with a soft beautiful light, which spread to the little vale and to all the surround hills. Even her young companions were amazed at how much brighter than usual Miseke's smile was.

"Ah! You are Miseke!", the resplendent young man exclaimed. "I have found you at last!"

Then, as Miseke stepped out of the cave mouth, with her companions gaping at her in surprise, the most beautiful rainbow dropped down from the sky and stood next to them. As the young man turned towards it, the rainbow took the shape of a palanquin ingobyi. He helped Miseke into it, climbed in after her, and palanquin began to rise up slowly. Miseke and her young man waved to them, and they waved back until the rainbow palanquin disappeared into the blue sky.

Miseke's mother's prayer had been fulfilled: her daughter had gone to the Lord Nkuba's celestial palace, to be married to His son Mirabyo.

It is said that the Lord Nkuba and his wife, the Lady Nyirankuba, threw the most lavish wedding party ever to be seen in the whole heaven and the whole earth, so pleased were they that their beloved son Mirabyo had found such a lovely bride as young Miseke.