I had lunch with a good friend on Sunday. During the lunch, he told me three legends. Here is the first:

“Kitimbwe Tamosolo was known to be a liar in the village. He used to say that he never used to poop. He would feast a lot but would never poop and everyone would stand back in awe and marvel at him. What he actually used to do was, he would go very far into the forest and there he dug a hole and then he would poop, covering up his excrement. Sometimes he would stitch his butt cheeks just so he would not poop. One day he went to poop in the forest and forget to cover the hole had pooped in, when he was done. And then eventually his poop made its away through the hole and followed behind him, into the village without his knowledge. When he got to the village center his poop started singing, “Kitimbwe Tamosolo Kitimbwe, you say you never poop but you do” to gather attention from the villagers. When everybody saw this they started laughing at Kitimbwe, he was so embarrassed he ran away.”

Collector Analysis:

My friend recalls hearing this legend from his grandmother, who helped raise him. He said that while his mother would scold him for lying, his grandmother would take a more humorous approach by telling this story. She told the same story to all of his older siblings which means that this legend was an integral part of his childhood. My friend understood that the moral of the story was to not tell a lie but what he takes away from the story now is the importance of not hiding your true self. He believes this legend is meant to provoke the question, “Who am I? And, should I be ashamed of myself?”

Out of all the legends I have collected this was by far the most eccentric. I enjoyed the humorous approach this legend undertook. The legend of Kitimbwe Tamosolo makes me wonder how open-minded the Congolese people are considering they are comfortable sharing a story about poop. I could not imagine anyone in my family sitting me down and sharing this story nor have I ever heard a story similar to this. That being said, I believe the legend does an incredible job of warning against lying which makes this legend meaningful, useful, and thought provoking.