These Wakungu Are Naturally Patient Attendants, Being Well
Trained To The Duty; But Their Very Lives Depend Upon Their
Presenting Themselves At Court A Certain Number Of Months Every
Year, No Matter From What Distant Part Of The Country They Have
To Come.
If they failed, their estates would be confiscated, and
their lives taken unless they could escape.
I found a messenger
who consented to tell the king of my desire to see him. He
returned to say that the king was sleeping - a palpable falsehood.
In a huff, I walked home to breakfast, leaving my attendants,
Maula and Uledi, behind to make explanations. They saw the king,
who simply asked, "Where is Bana?" And on being told that I came,
but went off again, he said, as I was informed, "That is a lie,
for had he come here to see me he would not have returned"; then
rising, he walked away and left the men to follow me.
I continued ruminating on these absurd entanglements, and the
best way of dealing with them, when lo! to perplex me still more,
in ran a bevy of the royal pages to ask for mtende beads - a whole
sack of them; for the king wished to go with his women on a
pilgrimage to the N'yanza. Thinking myself very lucky to buy the
king's ear so cheaply, I sent Maula as before, adding that I
considered my luck very bad, as nobody here knew my position in
society, else they would not treat me as they did.
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