Irimũ Rĩa Nyambugi

This book contains Kikuyu traditional stories and it intends to entertain children and also to teach them lessons.
Inside those stories, we have a combination of good, cunning and villain characters including Irimũ rĩa
nyambugi, Warũthiiya, Wagaciairĩ among many others. It’s highly edited to give credible end results for the
listeners for them to understand and enjoy the story.
Some of the examples of the stories in this book include Fables (Warũthiiya na Warũhiti), Fairytale (Wagatuĩku
na rũcuĩrĩ rwa irimũ), Tall tale (Kanya ka baba), Trickster tale (Werũ wa matheeco), Legend (Waicicĩ
gũthiũrũrũka mũgumo), Myths (Wakĩĩnĩ), Wisdom literature (Manga na ithe), Hero (Thithia na nyina) and
many more.
The reason behind storytelling was for entertainment, education and passing time. The storytellers were merely
the mother (maitũ), father (awa), grandparents (guka na cũcũ), aunt (tata), uncle (mama) or a family friend
(mũraata). Those who were told stories were children, friends or someone who requested a certain story. The
storyteller normally starts with these words; “Ugai ĩĩtha ndĩmũganĩre” and the listeners normally respond
ĩĩtha. While the story is moving on, they keep on saying ĩĩtha and that’s to tell the teller to go on.

The stories were told at night outside a man’s hut, booi-inĩ during moon shine or inside a woman’s house,
nyũmba. At booi, they lit a bonfire and children sat around it while the storyteller was on one side. It was a
prohibition, mũgiro to tell a story outside a woman’s hut (nja ya mũtumia), inside a man’s hut (thĩiniĩ wa
thingira), mũgũnda, while grazing (rũũru-inĩ), gĩthũnũ-inĩ or girls’ bed (kĩrĩrĩ). They were told during the night
because it was resting time and also people are waiting for supper.