The Stories of the Kikuyu

Abstract

Kikuyu stories, like all unwritten literature, tend to be fluid. No two people seem to know quite the same version of a story, and one person may give as one long story what another will tell you should be two distinct shorter ones. Moreover, practically all direct speech is quoted in the form of a song, both the words of the song and the music varying with different reciters. Kikuyu stories are full of repetition.