The Head of M’bona Lays Peacefully by the Riverbank: A Reimagined Retelling

Part I: Desperation

In a town not far from the haunted village of Kewana, the high priestess reads bones to her client. This faceless intruder comes to her on the days the sky weeps to have their fate read. Every rainfall they are told the same: their head will be wrested and taken to the riverbank, visited only by Nyuvwira- their wives who will abandon their human form in mourning. Consumed by thoughts of their fate, M’bona walks into the river, sinking further below as the fog creeps through the trees. They emerge as the villagers hurry through the streets towards their homes, fearful of the faceless intruder who haunts their land.

Part II: Genesis

Long before history existed the Mang’anja lived on land plagued by drought. The elders walked down to the river, praying from dawn until dusk. In the rush of a suffocating sandstorm, the crop season would arrive and almost immediately it would depart — leaving the land more barren than before. Clay crawled across the earth, burning the knees of those who knelt by the riverbank. The heavens watched, curious at the resolve the villagers displayed. Over time, their curiosity grew until they evoked in the villagers the very tears their Ancestors buried behind their own eyes. Once more, the crop season came and overwhelmed by their own suffering, the villagers stood in the dead river and wept. They wept for fourteen days and fourteen nights until finally, the river, glistening in the sunlight, was full. The villagers rejoiced, so preoccupied by their victory and the new, lush green land that they did not know that their protector was lying beneath the surface of the river — waiting to be born into the physical realm.

Silently, the high priestess travelled to Kewana, possessed by the spirits of the wives who would one day join M’bona. She took the form of Nyuvwira and swam down to the murky riverbed and cut out her eyes. In ritual, she sang over M’bona, feeding them her eyes one by one. Finally, on the night of the new moon, M’bona was born as the protector of the people and the bringer of rains. They would soon become the faceless intruder who wandered the village of Kewana at night, hidden among the fog.

Part III: Exile

M’bona sat on top of the mountain every day, watching over the villagers. The days they danced and prayed were the days M’bona would bring the rains. Each day that passed, the feeling of knowing grew stronger within M’bona. The fear that simmered beneath the villagers’ skin clawed its way through M’bona’s throat, preventing them from speaking.

M’bona understood then, that their presence in the physical realm would be brief.

“The faceless intruder has returned”, the villagers would shout — their voices ringing a piercing sound throughout the streets, a sound so painful that M’bona desperately carved out

their ears. M’bona called up to the spiritual plane every night, asking the reason for the abandonment they experienced- not only from the villagers but from the heavens as well. Every night, the heavens refused to give them an answer. But, M’bona was the protector of the people and the bringer of rains. That was the path they would travel until they could travel no more.

Thus, every rainfall M’bona would move between the trees, desperate to learn their fate from the high priestess and every time it was the same. Your head will be wrested and taken to the riverbank, visited only by Nyuvwira- your wives who will abandon their human form in mourning.

Part IV: Warmth

Patiently, M’bona waited — with every revolution, with every decade, with every century, M’bona waited. Finally, the heavens relented and M’bona was gifted the companionship of four wives — Sawawa, Samisanje, Chungwe and Tiza. Their wives carried the vengeance on their backs that M’bona did not have the courage to hold and sowed the seeds of their anger beneath the fresh soil the villagers had become accustomed to. As the crop seasons passed on, the land became drier and M’bona, rendered unsighted by love — was unable to bring the rains.

Part V: Melancholy

The high priestess watched on with sorrow, unable to change the fate of M’bona. When their final day came, she walked to her temple and wept.

Part VI: Death

The crops became bitter in the mouths of the villagers as their hatred grew. No longer overcome with fear they hid between the trees M’bona would frequent on their journey to the high priestess. The villagers, armed with mapanga, prepared for the execution of the Rain God.

M’bona walked through the trees, preoccupied by a feeling of great despair. As they walked deeper into the forest, the moon shone brighter — leading them to a clearing. Finally, they understood. The heavens began to weep and M’bona, surprised by their own ability to feel, wiped tears from the holes where their eyes should have been. Tilting their head toward the moon, they exhaled and felt the warm breath of death rest on their neck. It’s time.