If any of his wives ever birthed a son, he'd be killed immediately.
That was the threat Chamuindo, ruler of the village of Tubondo, had delivered for.
He wanted all the power to himself, but he was about to meet his match and enter a rivalry that would take him to the underworld and back.
Six of Shemwindo's wives had daughters, but when Nyamwindo finally went into labor, the midwives witnessed a birth unlike any they'd ever seen.
Nyamuindo's baby Windo materialized from her belly button wielding a magical conga scepter, already laughing, talking and walking.
The women agreed to keep the birth a secret, but a stealthy cricket saw everything and carried the news to Shamuindo.
Outraged, he hurled spears at his newborn, but it was like they couldn't touch him.
The tyrannical chief ordered his soldiers to construct a wooden drum, wrestle Mwindo into it and toss it into the river.
From inside, Mwindo cursed his father, vowing to return.
Once he was out of sight, Mwindo raised the drum to the water's surface and made for safer shores where his paternal aunt Iangura lived, wedded to a water serpent.
She was far wiser than her brother.
And as Mwindo laid out his plan for revenge, she resolved to counsel him on his journey.
But they wouldn't make the trek alone.
Throughout their quest, they'd be accompanied by different friends and foes.
By the time they reached Tubondo, Shemwindo had already fled, and though Iangura advised Mwindo to be merciful, his rage led him instead and he summoned lightning that decimated the village.
In the midst of the chaos, an uprooted Kikoka plant caught Iangura's eye and she realized that her brother had used the plant's roots to escape into the underworld.
Iangura held fast to one end of a great rope and Mwindo descended into the frigid subterranean realm after his father.
First, Mwindo reached the lair of Mwisa, god of the underworld.
With a glint of cruel mischief.
Mwisa said he'd reveal Shemwindo's hiding place only if Mwindo planted thousands of banana trees on an arid mountainside.
Unintimidated, Mwindo bewitched countless axes into tilling the soil.
But before he could celebrate his victory, Moisa retaliated, sending an enchanted weapon to pin him down.
In turn, Mwindo ordered his scepter to strike back, and Mwisa lay defeated.
But Mwindo was no closer to finding his father, until Hawk appeared and divulged his whereabouts.
A dark cave guarded by Ntumba, a fearsome aardvark.
But before Mwindo defeated the beast, Shemwindo fled again and the chase persisted through the depths of the underworld.
Soon Sheburungu, the supreme god of fire, materialized before Mwindo and challenged him to a betting game.
Round after round, Mwindo gambled everything to Bondo's land, people, and property, and lost.
When he thought he had nothing left to wager, Mwindo realized these things weren't his to give.
The next round, he pledged his own cherished conga scepter.
And it was this sacrifice that turned his luck and won him the game.
In the same moment, Hawk and Sparrow sounded the alarm, warning Mwindo that his father was attempting to escape again.
But this time, Mwindo managed to capture the runaway ruler.
And yet, while Mwindo had thought that seeing his father begging for mercy would delight him, his thirst for revenge had all but evaporated.
He remembered his aunt's advice and all the people of Tubondo who'd long endured his father's cruelty, then his own.
Shamuindo in tow, Mwindo retraced his path with a new resolve.
First, he yielded all that Sheburungu lost in their gambling game, receiving his blessing in return.
Then, upon seeing that Ntumba had reconstructed the cave he destroyed, Mwindo offered his sympathy and earned Ntumba's well wishes too.
Mwindo and his father reemerged from the Kikoka route transformed.
Mwindo had won the gods' respect and Shemwindo's atonement.
With his aunt's guidance, he restored the village and pardoned his father, who officially apologized to Tubondo.
And over time, Mwindo gained the people's trust as a kind, just leader who ended age-old cycles of despotism.
The stories that we pass down help us better understand the past, and sometimes even the present.
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