By Tut Kuany Kok,
Aug 2, 2021 — Many of us have heard this story many times from our grandparents. But how it is being told varies from one storyteller to another; simply because it had been passed through the word of mouth. As someone who studied history in high school, I learned that the disadvantage of Oral Tradition is that there’s exaggeration, gradual extinction of the main story, or forgetting of the whole story due to the fact that the story is being passed down from one generation to another through word of mouth. Therefore, I would just like to insert some corrections since there may be some similarities in what you heard, anyway. In fact, the origin of Kir had confused many people for years. These people wondered how he came into existence during his time. How could a mere gourd (Kër) give birth to a human being? This is the question that lingers in people’s minds. This is why some people who never come across reasonable content call this story a “myth” or a story with rare logical coincidence, based on how it’s being narrated by different people. Maybe what I’m going to say here will not agree with what you believe but let me give you what I know. There may be exaggeration or bias, which I believe there is but you’re going to bear with me, as someone who heard the story through the same oral distribution. Thanks!
WHY THE BIOLOGICAL PARENTS OF KIR ARE ANYUAK?
Centuries ago, Anyuak (Bër) were sparsely populated, and they were living in the village along the river. They even knew each other by name. This made it easy for them to know who was not in the village today or who went fishing. Remember even today, the Anyuak both in Ethiopia and South Sudan are the smallest tribe. I can’t call this a biological defect or natural curse. But, this started since the days of creation, and their love and attachment for being near the rivers had been there since the creation. With this, you can’t displace Anyuak from the river bank unless you want to live in fear throughout your entire life.
One fine afternoon, during fishing hours, a man and a boy went fishing (I don’t know their names, but they must be Okello and Omot, or Obach and Ojang. They spent several hours in the river. Oh yes! They were like Biblical Simon Peter and his brothers, who drained many hours in the river without catching any fish. But luck thrashed their ass, in the minute. Then, the boy speared one of the biggest fishes in the river. However, the man who was fishing alongside him got moved by how big the fish was. Through greed and jealousy, the man said that the fish belonged to him, and went ahead to snatch it from the boy. The boy cried “nyangkuono!” the most common form of crying but to no avail.
But, as fast as his legs could carry him, the boy ran to the village in order to inform the people about what transpired between him and this greedy man. On the other hand, the man raced to the village, trotted into his hut surreptitiously or secretly, to avoid confrontation from the villagers. Without wasting time, the villagers trooped to his house, questioning him, as the boy was still crying.
“This boy came from the river with tears streaming down from his eyes; saying you snatched the fish he killed from himself,” the elders asked the man, with rage tones. Also, the youth were yearning for blood too. Their age mates disappointed them. “How could your envy, greed and jealousy reach to the point where you snatched fish from this small boy. Don’t you feel ashamed? You’re disgrace to manhood,” the youth ignited with anger, throwing affront remarks to this greedy man
In fact, Anyuak by then hated stealing or a culture of greed. Their god didn’t condone such an abominable act. But, now it’s like stealing or robbing people off their properties is part of them.
“This small boy is lying,” the man said, pointing at the boy with the tip of his spear. “I speared the fish myself with this spear,” he again said with a trembling voice, as he showed his spear to the elders.
The elders got confused. They didn’t know how to end this dispute. But there’s a saying which goes like: “even if a good number of elders are senile, you’re likely to find one.” Since the village was too small, and all the villagers knew themselves, the elders asked if there was any villager who went to the river apart from this man and boy. But all villagers said that none of them visited the river today except the two in dispute now. Again, the elders asked the dudes if they saw someone else in the river, who was watching them. Thus, the boy nodded, and shook his head in agreement saying “I saw a man at the shore.”
“Who could this man be?” the elders asked
Immediately, the elders and the two who quarrel over fish set for the river. Upon their arrival in the river, there was no sign of human beings. But instantly the elders thought that the person this small boy was talking about must be living in the river or somewhere near the river. There was one thing to do. Calling their gods, ofcourse! So, they started performing incantation, calling out the name of an unknown creature in the river. They need to end this madness, once and for all.
“If you’re a god or human being, but living in the water, please show yourself to us because we come in peace,” the elders pleaded, for quite some time. They sang many songs, praising the gods that dwelled in the water. A few minutes later, the man (An aquatic man) emerged from the water. He had muscles like a common man. I don’t doubt that a man could live in water, but I dispute Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. This man who emerged from the water was extremely handsome all the same. His body shone with mystery. His appearance puzzled the elders. One could see how the elders trembled with fear. They had seen something they didn’t expect. Before the elders could tell the aquatic man what brought them in the river, while performing incantation or ritual, the aquatic man began to talk. I’m told that he had a gap between his well arranged teeth. He was dark haired at the same time, with fur around his body. Five nine inches tall. This was what I heard!
“What brought you here is about a dispute between this boy and this man,” the aquatic man said, while his waist downward, still submerged in water.
“Yeah, this is what brought us here,” the elders replied in unison tones. Their voices seemed shaken with fear. Infact, the man was different from the common mermaid that people talk about. And it was what let confusion reigned among these Anyuak elders.
“Then, this small boy was the one who speared the fish, and this man wanted to take it away from him simply because it is big compared to the fish he killed,” the aquatic man concluded the judgement, asking the elders to leave for the village. The elders were reluctant to leave, instead they asked the aquatic man to come with them in the village, in lieu of submerging himself into the river again. His admirable look enticed the elders, anyway.
“We thank you for solving this dispute. We didn’t know how to end it back in the village, and now you tell us who the owner of the fish is. Because of this, we need you to come with us in the village and stay with us,” the elders said, as they leaned over their walking sticks.
“As you all see, I’m an aquatic man. I can’t live in the land and survive. Again, my body is full of mysterious things or in the forms of supernatural beings,” the aquatic man said, coldly, begging the elders to leave immediately. But since these Anyuak were scarce, the elders thought that this aquatic man would help them in the growth of their population. So, at last, the aquatic man agreed to go with them but with the condition that the elders must first perform a ritual that would separate him from the life of the river or from the gods of the river. He wanted the elders to perform this ritual because the mysterious things in his body would remain in the river. Then, the elders slaughtered some goats and hens to the gods of the river just to free an aquatic man as well as appeasing them.
After the ritual, they all went to the village, while the aquatic man carried spears and some tools that he brought with him from the river. In the village, the aquatic man turned out to be a blacksmith who made spears, arrows, knives and spoons. The Anyuak were happy with what the aquatic man was doing. They decided to give him a girl as his wife. Though he tried to reject the offer, he was convinced that it was of utmost importance to have a wife or partner. This was the reason that the Anyuak wanted to convert him into an ordinary man, like them.
He then accepted the girl as his wife. However, after nine months, the girl gave birth to a baby boy. Unfortunately, the girl died a few hours later. Because some of the magical powers inside the aquatic man were not cast out, completely. This plunged his wife to death. Days later, rumors came out that the aquatic man must be killed, as revenge for the death of the girl. One of the villagers came, informed him about the plot against his life.
Without hesitation, the aquatic man held his son in his arms, including his spear, goat’s skin (kot), and some tools. He ran toward the river. Luckily enough, he found the gourd (Keer), bisected it into two equal parts. He then removed its inner flesh and fruits. Instantly, he placed his son, spear and tools inside half of the gourd and covered it with the other half. There he began to pray to his deity or gods of the river, in order to save his son, from the hands of Anyuak who scooped him from the river, and now they were yearning to shed his blood.
From there, a miracle happened. The bisected line on the gourd, glued itself, and looked as if nothing had happened. After that, the aquatic man placed the gourd on water, watched it as it floated along water current, kuic lɔnykɛ. End to his road, the aquatic man couldn’t go back into the river because he lost all the ability to do so. His magical powers were stripped of him by the ritual, performed by the elders some months back. So, he returned to the village after seeing his son in the gourd, floating. The villagers stormed on him and removed the breath out of him, and threw his lifeless body to the forest, as they called him wizard. “He deserves no decent burial,” they said.
As the gourd continued floating, a man called Gee saw it. And its looked enticed and induced him to the point where he needed to pick it before it proceeded to the other side of the river. Gee, brought the gourd home. He tried to cut it into two. But the mystery happened again. He could see blood seeping out from the part he tried to cut, and immediately the part which was cut could seal itself again, and looked like Gee never tried to cut it. The old man was flabbergasted. But there was a solution to this mystery, he thought.
The poor Gee attempted this several times, still he could see the blood coming out of the part that he cut. Now, he had to look for help from elsewhere. He heard about a Dinka man from Ngok Lual Nyak, by the name Yul Kuot. It was believed that Yul was one of the gods’ mouthpieces, during his time with Gee. Successfully Yul bisected the gourd. Surprisingly they saw the baby, goat’s skin and tools beside him. Gee and his friend couldn’t explain this mysterious thing. They couldn’t connect this with the birth of baby Jesus, the Jesus they never heard of, instead, they convinced one another that “this child may be a gift from god.” Gee took the child home with him, and named him Kir Kaker, for he was removed from the gourd.
After Kir became of age, he got married to his first wife, Nyakwini who bore him a son by the name Thiang, but mysteriously Nyakwini died leaving behind her son, Thiang. Later Kir brought in another wife, Nyabora who bore him Kun. Again, she died mysteriously, and this angered everyone. For the third time, Kir was allowed to get married to crippled woman (Duany), who had some magical prowess. This crippled bored him Jiok, and later Kir died. So, according to the Nuer tradition, if your father died, and maybe he left behind his young wife, your stepmother, you’re entitled to bed her on his behalf as he continues resting in peace. In our case here, Kir’s oldest son, Thiang automatically inherited the crippled woman (Duany) descended on her mercilessly, she gave birth to her son, Nyang, the last born. Therefore, this is the reason why Jikany includes
1: Gajaak from Kun Kir, the second born
2: Gajiok from Jiok Kir, the third born.
Despite the fact that Thiang was the oldest son, he was incorporated into Jaak. And Nyang the last born was incorporated into jiok, even though he was born by Thiang on behalf of their father, Kir. But currently, Gaguang, from Nyang Kir are no longer called Gajiok, they now stand on their own. Perhaps the same thing would happen to Thiang, he might wake away from this incorporation.
To their geographical locations, therefore, Gajaak occupied Mai-wut and Longechuk, while Gajiok and Gaguang occupied Nasir and Ulang. In conclusion, Jikany descended from Anyuak. And this was how they came into existence.
SUMMARY
Kir didn’t just come out of gourd (Kër) without a trace. He was born as a human being but cursed into this gourd through supernatural means. Again, one would ask, why Gee didn’t throw the gourd (ker) after he saw blood coming out? This was because there was divine attachment between him and the gourd that attracted him not to throw it. Another question would be, how did Gee know that there was a gourd floating in the river? My answer is that there was a spiritual medium that took him to the river, that put the message to his ears. Even the fact that, Gee thought of Yul Kuot’s ability to cut the mystery gourd, it was because the god directed him to do so. Lastly, one would again ask the question as to why Kir was allowed three times to get married, even when people knew that his wives used to die after giving birth, this was because gods wanted to fulfill his mission through him.
Note: this is my own finding, and I would appreciate any corrections, for the fact that this story had been told orally from the beginning until now. So, any error or exaggeration would be consider as minor offense, since the the story had been passed through the word of mouth. Infact I always wanted to study people and their tradition through anthropology but I dropped the idea, since this generation do not want to be connected with their past or stories they considers outdated. But let’s continue telling our stories for the sake of those who needs them. Thanks!
The Writer is a Political and Human Rights Activist. He can be reached through his email: tutkuany7@gmail.com,
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