I knew him as my lord. Dreading the king's anger,
he fled, and I was left loveless in the power of Uni. One night the
child was born, and in the darkness I crept out of the king's court, and
bore the babe to thy pit. To the wise man I confided the secret of that
birth. Thou knowest the rest."

"Princess, my wife never appeared fairer to me than she does now, and I
owe the clear eye to thee. Rest in peace. My wife loves the babe, let
her nurse it until happier times, and I will guard it safe as though it
were mine own. Ay, the babe, I feel assured, will pay me well when he
is grown. The words of the wise man come home to me now, and I see
whereby good luck shall come to all. If bone and muscle can make a
king, Kimyera's future is sure. But come in to see my wife, and to her
discretion and wisdom confide thy tale frankly."

Wanyana soon was hanging over her child, and, amid tears of joy, she
made Mugema's wife acquainted with his birth, and obtained from her
earnest assurance that he would be tenderly cared for, and her best help
in any service she could perform for Kimyera and his mother.

Great friendship sprang up between Princess Wanyana and the potter
Mugema and his wife, and she found frequent excuses for visiting the
fast-growing child.

Through the influence of the princess, the potter increased in riches,
and his herds multiplied; and when Kimyera was grown tall and strong, he
was entrusted by his foster-father with the care of the cattle, and he
gave him a number of strong youths as assistants. With these Kimyera
indulged in manly games, until he became wonderfully dexterous in
casting the spear, and drawing the bow, and in wrestling. His swiftness
exceeded that of the fleetest antelope; no animal of the plain could
escape him when he gave chase. His courage, proved in the defence of
his charge, became a proverb among all who knew him. If the cry of the
herdsman warned him that a beast sought to prey upon the cattle, Kimyera
never lost time to put himself in front, and, with spear and arrow, he
often became victor.

With the pride becoming the possessor of so many admirable qualities, he
would drive his herds right through the corn-fields of the villagers,
and to all remonstrances he simply replied that the herds belonged to
Wanyana, favourite wife of Uni. The people belonged to her also, as
well as their corn, and who could object to Wanyana's cattle eating
Wanyana's corn?

As his reputat