This, As May Naturally Be Supposed, Led Into Further Genealogical
Disclosures Of A Similar Nature, And I Was Told By Rumanika That
His Grandfather Was A Most Wonderful Man; Indeed, Karague Was
Blessed With More Supernatural Agencies Than Any Other Country.
Rohinda the Sixth, who was his grandfather, numbered so many
years that people thought he would never die; and
He even became
so concerned himself about it, reflecting that his son Dagara
would never enjoy the benefit of his position as successor to the
crown of Karague, that he took some magic powders and charmed
away his life. His remains were then taken to Moga-Namirinzi, in
the same manner as were those of Dagara; but, as an improvement
on the maggot story, a young lion emerged from the heart of the
corpse and kept guard over the hill, from whom other lions came
into existence, until the whole place has become infested by
them, and has since made Karague a power and dread to all other
nations; for these lions became subject to the will of Dagara,
who, when attacked by the countries to the northward, instead of
assembling an army of men, assembled his lion force, and so swept
all before him.
Another test was then advanced at the instigation of K'yengo, who
thought Rumanika not quite impressive enough of his right to the
throne; and this was, that each heir in succession, even after
the drum dodge, was required to sit on the ground in a certain
place of the country, where, if he had courage to plant himself,
the land would gradually rise up, telescope fashion, until it
reached the skies, when, if the aspirant was considered by the
spirits the proper person to inherit Karague, he would gradually
be lowered again without any harm happening; but, otherwise, the
elastic hill would suddenly collapse, and he would be dashed to
pieces. Now, Rumanika, by his own confession, had gone through
this ordeal with marked success; so I asked him if he found the
atmosphere cold when so far up aloft, and as he said he did so,
laughing at the quaintness of the question, I told him I saw he
had learnt a good practical lesson on the structure of the
universe, which I wished he would explain to me. In a state of
perplexity, K'yengo and the rest, on seeing me laughing, thought
something was wrong; so, turning about, they thought again, and
said, "No, it must have been hot, because the higher one ascended
the nearer he got to the sun."
This led on to one argument after another, on geology, geography,
and all the natural sciences, and ended by Rumanika showing me an
iron much the shape and size of a carrot. This he said was found
by one of his villagers whilst tilling the ground, buried some
way down below the surface; but dig as he would, he could not
remove it, and therefore called some men to his help. Still the
whole of them united could not lift the iron, which induced them,
considering there must be some magic in it, to inform the king.
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