Koongooroo, Sultan of the Crows

Overview

Koongooroo sends Mwayway, sultan of the kites, a letter demanding that the kites become his soldiers. Mwayway refuses and accepts a battle whose terms make the loser serve the winner. The crows are badly beaten. Following the advice of an old crow named Jeeoosee, they abandon their town and establish another settlement, while the victorious kites occupy their former homes. Koongooroo then asks his people to pluck some feathers from him and leave him in the kites’ town, preparing an apparent injury that will support a false story.

Discovered in the street, he claims that his own people expelled him for advising obedience to Mwayway. The kite ruler admires his supposed loyalty and allows him to live among them. Koongooroo further wins their confidence by praising their religious observance. He secretly returns to the crows before the kites’ annual festival and coordinates an attack while the assembled kites are occupied. Returning to the occupied town, he feigns an aching stomach when neighbours invite him to accompany them. His appearance, speech and pretended illness serve the deception; no magical invisibility or human transformation is narrated.

Once the kites have gathered, Koongooroo summons the crows, who burn the building. The account explicitly distinguishes kites killed by smoke or fire from those trying to escape with singed wings; Mwayway is among the dead. The crows regain their old town. A final sentence explains the kites’ subsequent flight from crows through that reversal. The edition uses the English term church in its translated bird society; that wording is retained as publication context without assigning the tale to an independently verified local denomination.

Origins & earliest records

George W. Bateman, translator, Zanzibar Tales (1901), IV, The Kites and the Crows, complete pp. 57–64; translator’s Zanzibar/Swahili collection claim in introduction pp. 5–9.

Records & interpretation

Whole chapter IV read through town recovery and final kite-flight explanation. Initial defeat, voluntary feather-plucking disguise, infiltration, feigned illness and lethal reversal are attested; publication terminology is not converted into a secure religious-community attribution. Individual storyteller is not named.

Selected bibliography

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

1. 01

   Zanzibar Tales

   George W. Bateman, translator; Walter Bobbett, illustrator · 1901

   IV, whole pp. 57–64; introduction pp. 5–9 for the translator’s collection context.

2. 02

   Zanzibar Tales: Told by Natives of the East Coast of Africa

   Unnamed Swahili storytellers; George W. Bateman (translator and literary mediator) · 1901

   Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Co., 1901; translated from Swahili by George W. Bateman. Title, copyright leaf and complete To My Readers pp. 5–9, dated 1 August 1901, independently read.

Family & connections

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Located primary passages

Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.

References

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1. Historical collected tale in English translationBateman 1901: The Kites and the CrowsResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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