Man woke and went out early. When the Picanin woke he found the snake lying in his bed. He laughed and said to the snake, "What is this? Never have I seen this before." The snake was angry and ate him up. When the Man came back his brother was gone.
Chinziri and His Brothers.
There was a man, his name was Chinziri. He went with his two brothers to another country to buy cloth. He bought plenty of nice red cloth and his brothers bought only white. By and bye they walked on the road home. Now the brothers said to each other, "It would be good to kill Chinziri and take his cloth and when we get home we can say he died of disease." So they killed him; but some of his blood fell on the ground and turned into a bird. The bird said, "I will go with you and tell that you killed Chinziri." They killed it; but it was there again. They put it in the fire and burned it like a log; but it came again out of the ashes. Then they stabbed it with knives; but it came alive again. Every way they killed it it came again. They went home and said, "Chinziri died of disease"; but the bird said "No, you killed him," and sang:
"Chinziri, a bird am I!
Chinziri, a bird am I!
The men went there to Mbwani (name of the country),
The men bought white cloth,
I bought red for myself,
I came upon the road,
They killed me,
I wanted to run away, they struck me with a knife,
Chinziri, a bird am I!
Chinziri, a bird am I!
Chinziri!"
Then the men were taken and put to death. Chinziri came back in place of the bird.
