A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

The tale opens at a time when the people of KaCongo plant nothing and live on grass and roots. A mother abandons her three newborn sons. The brothers walk to a river, cross it, and find bananas, palms and cassava, but they are afraid to eat. The river spirit tells them to eat. Well fed, they grow strong, learn carpentry and blacksmithing, and build houses. The spirit then provides women as their wives, and the families that follow form a town.

Later, the brothers' father hears voices coming from the new settlement and leads their mother toward it. Worn out, she rests on the path. A grandson finds her and runs home in fright, and the brothers set out to kill the stranger. The river spirit steps in again. It tells them the woman is their mother and orders them to take her home and feed her, and they do so.

The spirit appears at each turning point of the story: the first food, the provision of wives, and the reunion. The source describes no visible body and gives the spirit no sex. It does not link the spirit to any other named being in the collection.

Speaks but has no described formAssociated with a riverProvides foodProvides spousesPrevents the killing of the mother
01

Origins & earliest records

The earliest source inspected here is Dennett's 1898 printed collection, where the narrative is attributed to KaCongo. This dates the attestation, not the oral origin.

02

Records & interpretation

Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort (1898), chapter XXXI, 'The Three Brothers', pp. 108–109; read from the Internet Archive OCR text.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort (French Congo)

    R. E. Dennett; introduction and appendices by Mary H. Kingsley · 1898

    Selected bibliography; chapter XXXI, pp. 108–109.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Primary source (digitised text)Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort (French Congo) — full OCR textResearch access: 2026-10-07
  2. Catalogue metadataInternet Archive metadata: cu31924006487999Research access: 2026-10-07

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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