African Legends in 60 Seconds · Episode 9
Fumo Liyongo
Words from the story, in Swahili
Read it, then say it
Say each word out loud as you read it. Pronunciation audio is coming soon.
upinde
= bow
Liyongo's bow, which shot fruit down from the top of a palm. The old coastal word is uta, as in his song Sifu uta wangu (praise my bow).
mnyororo
= chain
The chain the king's men bound him in, until a file hidden in a loaf of bread bit through the iron.
kisima
= well
The town well where Liyongo knelt with his bow drawn, and for three days no one dared come near.
Read along
The story
No chain could hold him. No arrow could kill him. Then his own son learned his secret.
The Swahili of the Lamu coast tell of Fumo Liyongo: a giant, a poet, and the finest archer alive.
With his bow, his upinde, he shot fruit down from the top of a palm without ever climbing.
His own kin, the king of Pate, feared him. Feared his songs. Feared his strength.
So the king's men took him asleep and bound him in a chain, a mnyororo.
In prison, Liyongo sang. And hidden in his song was a message for home.
Bake me bread, it said. Hide a file inside.
On his last night, he asked for music: drums, horns, cymbals. He led the singing.
Under the drums, the file bit the iron. The chain broke. Liyongo was gone.
Arrows and blades glanced off him. Only a copper needle, at the navel, could kill him.
The king sent Liyongo's son to learn the secret. His father told him.
And while Liyongo slept, his son struck.
Wounded, he knelt at the town well, the kisima, bow drawn, and for three days no one dared come near.
Then his mother walked out to him, singing, and he fell. The coast still sings his songs.
Scholars place Fumo Liyongo anywhere from the 900s to the 1600s. The Swahili have sung his songs for centuries.
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