How do the literary writers communicate the pre-colonial literature to us?

The literature material before the coming of the white man was purely
verbal.
However, besides those who have gone to the field to collect the oral literature materials,
there are others who have explained about the oral literature of our people in form of
prose in novels and short stories, written poetry and plays.
The authors of the literature of this period articulated the issues of Kenya's people
before the coming of the white men.

1.Novels:
Ngugi Wa Thiongo's The River Between (1965) using an old man known as Chege as the
character who stands for culture among the Gikuyu people shows the value of culture and tradition. It is through Chege that we
a) Discuss some writers who have elucidated the pre-colonial literature.
b) What values are there in the traditions of our people?
learn of ancestors of the tribe like Mugo Wa Kibiru a seer who had prophesied the
coming of the white men and their destruction.
He had also given the prophesy of a savior who would save the tribe. Chege took his son
Waiyaki who is the main character to the sacred grove where he tells him about the secrets
of the tribe. It is through Chege that we also learn about the values of the tribe. He
explained them to his son Waiyaki and hoped that he would carry on from him. Waiyaki
is however warned about keeping the purity of the tribe by observing the tradition.
Another example is Margaret Ogola's The River and The Source. Ogola explains the
tradition of the Luo's in child naming and appeasing the ancestors when Akoko the main
character is born. Akoko is the daughter of chief Odero and his second wife after the chief
had gotten sons from other wives and a daughter was welcome. Akoko is received well
and referred to as a spring with a source while the sons are a rock for the father's sling.
When Akoko was two weeks old and developed a prolonged scream crying throughout the
night, the grandmother offered traditional worship to the Luo's great god Were.

3.Plays
There are features of the pre-colonial literature in the plays of Francis Imbuga's The
Successor (1995) and Betrayal In The City (1990).
In The Successor (1995), there is a shrine, a diviner and some traditional rituals taking
place.
In Betrayal In The City, Imbuga takes us to the past where we encounter Myths and
rituals. The myths are as old as mankind and rituals have their origins in the religious
activities of man. Myths give us a historical aspect and together with rituals they deal with
themes that have psychological expressions e.g Adika's spirit which has to be respected
even though he is dead.
In The Bride (1987) by Austin Bukenya, we have a shrine and some youths who have just
received initiation rites according to tradition.

4.Short Story
Grace Ogot's collection of short stories, Land Without Thunder and Other Stories (1988)
we have one story 'Tekayo' about an old man whose evils are ridiculed. The old man got
into the habit of killing his grandchildren to eat their liver when their parents had gone to
work in the fields.
Another story is 'The Rain Came' and it is about a beautiful daughter of a chief who
has to be sacrificed so that rain may fall in the Luo land after a lengthy drought.

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Titany answered the question on November 11, 2021 at 07:39