Folktale: Mbui and the ogre

By Mwangi Muiruri

Once upon a time in the land of ogres there lived a boy called Mbui.

Mbui lived with his grandmother. The ogres had eaten up all the other human beings but spared the old woman since she fetched water and firewood for them.

The king of the ogres had vowed to one day eat up the little boy and this made the grandmother very worried.

"Make sure you never open the door for anyone when I am away," Mbui’s grandmother warned him.

One afternoon, Mbui heard a knock on the door. "Mbui! This is your grandmother. Open the door!" a strange voice called.

Mbui shouted back: "Go away! My grandmother does not talk like you. You are the ogre and you want to eat me."

But the ogre burst out laughing.

"Just put your hand outside the window and touch me. You will feel it is your grandmother," he told Mbui.

Mbui put his hand out of the window and the ogre bit it off.

When grandmother came back in the evening, she found Mbui with only one hand. She reprimanded him for disobedience.

The following day, the ogre came back and called out: "Mbui, this is a friend of your grandmother’s. Please open for me."

Mbui replied that he was afraid to open the door because an ogre had bitten off his hand.

"I’m sorry my boy. I can give you another hand. Just show me the size of your hand and I will give you one that fits," the ogre said.

Mbui put his hand through the window and the ogre bit it off.

Grandmother was very angry. She decided tie Mbui against the bed when she left.

The following day, the ogre came and in a sweet voice called out to Mbui.

"Mbui, this is a beautiful girl that has been sent by an angel to keep you company because you are lonely."

Mbui was excited and he wriggled out of the ropes that tied him. He passed his legs under the door so as to get out to the girl.

The ogre immediately bit off the legs and went away laughing loudly.

Today, Mbui is a grown man but he has no hands and legs because he refused to heed the advise of his grandmother.

This story is usually told to disobedient children.