Ondiri the water dragon.

Last Tuesday I rode my trusted bicycle to modern day Kikuyu town. To a swamp that never dries up. People have bought land on it, built houses, churches, schools and shops and roads. When it rains proper they simply get flooded, serves the right yeah? Well the story of the swamp is much more deeper. Its revered ground.

For milenia Gikuyu had a tradition, when a flower blooms after 7 years, elders hand over power to the next generation. This particular flower never failed. It withered immediately after it bloomed and it was a one of a kind. This was the signal to prepare a young virgin girl.

She was covered in cow fat which was quite normal for those times before the advent of lotions. I myself have found myself using them when I feel prestigious.

This young girl would be taken to the edge of the swamp. For hours they would call Ondiri. He would wake up and rise to the surface. Towering above water logged land, he was large than any living creature, he was taller than any building, taller than trees.

The most courageous warriors of the tribe would fight each other to pluck his scales as a sign of fearlessness and bravery.

Ondiri wa consulted on matters pertaining elders challenges. This was during 1876 the last known event. For three days he would stay risen on the surface of the lake. After smooth transition of power he would sink to the depths to his blissful sleep.

I went there yesterday to check if Ondiri was there if I could gaze into his eyes and be given unlimited libraries knowledge of aeons, past of how the east African rift valley split, making Savannah plains and mountains . How the world looked when he was a child.

Alas an old man told me how ondiri met his fate on a particularly warm sunny day. Two white men were looking to shoot some animals, ondiri lay in Ndeya. Shot he was by bullets, his skin dried and put on ships to make bags and high heels.

I bonked in ondiri. I washed my face and hands by the swamp. I saw geese float and wondered did ondiri leave a heir apparent?