Once upon a time in the land of Kaputo, there was total darkness over the land. The land was always cold and each morning came with fog.
The people oiled their lamps and placed them on the streets and in front of their houses for passersby to see.
In Kaputo, there lived a couple named Moon-ella and Sun-jiba. Moon-ella was a trader while Sun-jiba was a hunter. The couple had been struggling for years to have a child of their own. They consulted many traditional doctors from far and near but none of them could help Moon-ella conceive.
Sun-jiba’s mother would mock Moon-ella and urge her husband to take another wife who will give her plenty grandchildren. The pain of childlessness became intolerable; even when they tried to forget about their woes, they were reminded by the mockery of their neighbors. Moon-ella would return from the market crying each time she got into quarrels with other market women when they called her a barren witch.
One day while Sun-jiba was in the forest checking his traps, he came across a brown gazelle with golden horns, whose hoof was caught in a trap. As he approached, he heard a voice of a woman crying. He was surprised and afraid when he realized it was the gazelle crying for help. The gazelle begged Sun-jiba telling him she was one of the children of the forest spirit.
The gazelle led him to the front of a giant baobab tree where she lived. An old woman with pale brown skin and white wool hair came out from the tree. The old woman thanked Sun-jiba for returning her child. She said she was grateful as she had lost many of her children to wicked hunters in the past. The forest spirit asked Sun-jiba if he had any wishes and Sun-jiba told the forest spirit about his childlessness. The forest spirit went back into the baobab tree and returned with two palm kernel seeds. She asked him to give the red palm kernel to his wife to eat, while the black palm kernel was to be planted behind their hut. She told him as the black kernel germinates so will the red kernel grow into a baby in his wife’s womb. She warned that the day the palm tree dies, the child will also die.
Sun-jiba rushed home to his wife and they followed the instructions of the forest spirit. After the first month, Moon-ella’s stomach started to bulge and she gave birth to a very beautiful girl several months later. Sun-jiba and Moon-ella were overjoyed and out of gratitude to the forest spirit, they named her Sussina which means “the earth is our mother”. Sussina grew so beautiful to the extent that rumours of her beauty began to spread among neighbouring villages.
One day during the village wrestling competition, Sun-jiba drank so much palm wine that he revealed all the secrets about his encounter with the forest spirit. Out of envy some of the men decided to cut the palm tree. After cutting down the tree, Sussina fell very ill. They administered different medicine but she didn’t get better. Sun-jiba out of desperation sought out the forest spirit. The forest spirit reminded Sun-jiba of her warning. Sun-jiba knelt and wept as he begged the forest spirit. The forest spirit was moved by his tears and told him the only way to save his daughter’s life was if Sun-jiba and his wife sacrificed theirs. Without hesitation, Sun-jiba agreed. The forest spirit gave Sun-jiba two yellow palm kernels.
When Sun-jiba returned home himself and his wife chewed the yellow kernels as instructed by the forest spirit. After chewing the kernels, Sussina recovered while Sun-jiba and Moon-ella’s bodies started to vaporize into the sky. Sussina wept as she watched.
Sussina groped in darkness and loneliness with no one to oil her lamp. Out of love for Sussina, her parents lit her way and took turns to watch over her. They continue to do this till this very day.
Each time Sussina looks up at the sky she smiles knowing that she is never alone. The villagers say that the shadows came to be because of the light from Sun-jiba and Moon-ella.
Read – Nana to the Rescue – A Children’s Story by Pelekani Lwenje, Zambia
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