The savannah animals lived in harmony at one time when death did not exist. They had no need to prey on each other for food, as they were content feeding on plants and fruits. All that was required was for every animal to lend a hand in the communal farm and when the produce was ready, it was shared amongst them all.
As it happens in every group, some animals were too lazy and avoided soiling their hands with work, preferring to only show up when it was harvest time. King Simba was forced to banish them from the savannah into the Sahara desert, where little could survive. Such was the fate that befell smartly dressed con Kunguru, hissing sorcerer miss Nyoka, Mrs Tai hunch back family and the greedy Fisi brothers.
Harsh desert life was too hard for the lazy outcast that they resorted to raiding the savannah farm and granaries. Every morning, the hardworking savannah inhabitants would wake to find food missing in the granaries. Angrily, they decided to take turns guarding their property during the night.
The night watch deterred the thieves for a while but soon enough, they were back at it after realising most animals, too tired from working all day, slumbered during the watch. Bundi and her cousin Kipanga, however, managed to keep vigil the entire night and not once during their watch, did the thieves strike. For this, they were elected as the official guards and were exempted from working in the farm to ensure they kept awake during the cold lonely nights. For a long time the granaries were safe. The outcasts tried unsuccessfully every night to get into to the granaries but no sooner had they got close, than the two guards sounded the alarm that hounded the outcasts back into the desert.
One night, however, Cipango was taken ill and Bundi had to keep guard alone. The famished outcast saw an opportunity and stealthily, they crept into a granary filled with simsim. They stuffed their mouths with the grain but greed overcame the engorged outcasts and a scuffle ensued.
The vicious fight soon attracted the guard’s attention. She arrived just in time to witness angry snake digging her black fangs into Fisi’s hind legs before slithering away as her limbs had been broken. Fisi lay writhing in pain and after a while, evil tore through the underworld right before Bundi’s eyes and fed on Fisi’s spirit. When the rest of the savannah animals finally responded to Bundi’s call for help, they found her frozen eyes wide open in terror. She had witnessed the first death.
From that day henceforth, the evil spirit still roams earth. That is why all animals are weary of snakes. Bundi’s terror struck eyes never went back to normal and being the only one who recognises the evil spirit, she hoots to warn other animals hence, the belief that owls are harbingers of death.
