f so
exalted a being as the Lord of Heaven. All these tests Kintu
successfully passed through. At last Gulu was satisfied, gave him his
daughter Nambi to wife, and allowed him to return to earth with her.

[Sidenote: The coming of Death.]

But Nambi had a brother and his name was Death (_Walumbe_). So before
the Lord of Heaven sent her away with her husband he called them both to
him and said, "You must hurry away before Death comes, or he will wish
to go with you. You must not let him do so, for he would only cause you
trouble and unhappiness." To this his daughter agreed, and she went to
pack up her things. She and her husband then took leave of the Lord of
Heaven, who gave them at parting a piece of advice. "Be sure," said he,
"if you have forgotten anything, not to come back for it; because, if
you do, Death will wish to go with you, and you must go without him." So
off they set, the man and his wife, taking with them his cow and its
calves, also a sheep, a goat, a fowl, and a banana tree. But on the way
the woman remembered that she had forgotten the grain to feed the fowl,
so she said to her husband, "I must go back for the grain to feed the
fowl, or it will die." Her husband tried to dissuade her, but in vain.
She said, "I will hurry back and get it without any one seeing me." So
back she went in an evil hour and said to her father the Lord of Heaven,
"I have forgotten the grain for the fowl and I am come back to fetch it
from the doorway where I put it." Her father said sadly, "Did I not tell
you that you were not to return if you had forgotten anything, because
your brother Death would wish to go with you? Now he will accompany
you." The woman fled, but Death saw her and followed hard after her.
When she rejoined her husband, he was angry, for he saw Death and said,
"Why have you brought your brother with you? Who can live with him?"

[Sidenote: The importunity of Death.]

When they reached the earth, Nambi planted her garden, and the bananas
sprang up quickly and formed a grove. They lived happily for a time till
one day Death came and asked for one of their daughters, that she might
go away with him and be his cook. But the father said, "If the Lord of
Heaven comes and asks me for one of my children, what am I to say? Shall
I tell him that I have given her to you to be your cook?" Death was
silent and went away. But he came back another day and asked again for a
child to be his cook. When the father again