Zimwe and the Hunter
by Among the Senga people of Zambia, Zimwe is well known among adults and is used in children’s folklore. Zimwe doesn’t exist in flesh but every Senga believes he exists in one form or another. Wheever a problem is insoluble, it is blamed on Zimwe. So, in the story, Kasanda the hunter fails to find the thief of carcasses of animals caught in his game pits and ends up confronting the legendary and non-human Zimwe!
Kalumbi a Chibinda? – “What’s news, Great Hunter?” enquired the Headman as Kasanda slumped on to a reed mat next to him. All eyes of those present at chitenje, the men’s meeting place, turned toward Kasanda.
Zili mu thengele! – “They (animals) are in the bush,” answered Kasanda, and sighed.
The Headman shook his head.
“Stop teasing,” the Headman said, his voice rising. “Countless times you’ve come here empty-handed. Tell the truth; have you lost your trapping skill? Then hunt with weapons instead of digging those lousy mbuna – game pits. Now, tell the good news.”
“I have no good news. And the bad news is that an animal was trapped in my mbuna …but … it’s gone, someone took it.”
“And who do you think could be the thief?” Asked the Headman. “Who would have the meanness and courage to haul an animal from another man’s mbuna? Thatt’s witchcraft.”
“I believe Tata Chabula from that village downstream did it,” said Kasanda. “He is envious of my success, jealousy of my fame, and is hell-bent to bring me down and plant seeds of discontent in this village.”
Kasanda was a unique hunter. He chose trapping because, “Mbuna are easy to dig, efficient, and a safe way to hunt,” he said. “You don’t go into the woods after animals. They come to your mbuna.
Only a few days back Kasanda had answered the same question, Kalumbi a Chibinda? in the positive: Zili pasi! – “One (animal) down!” He waved a blood-soaked zebra tail, evidence of his success.
The celebrated hunter had done it again.
In response, men sharpened their double-edged knives. Women gathered their carrying utensils: reed baskets, old enamel bowls, and even broken calabashes — anything they could use to ferry the meat home.
But women were not just carriers; they were also needed for their pulling power when hauling a carcass out of the mbuna.
At the mbuna Kasanda commanded the men and women to haul the zebra from the mbuna. He called upon experts among the men to cut it up for distributing. As required by hunting etiquette, all the “insides” of the animal: intestines, liver, kidneys, spleen, lungs, and heart, were the hunter’s taking. And custom demanded that one hind leg was the headman‘s reserve. The rest of the meat Kasanda distributed equitably to all gathered. He put aside some meat for the elderly and infirm that could not travel to the mbuna but had an equal right in the meat because they belonged to the hunter’s village.
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