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Overview

A man with two wives, Kengi and Gunga, travels to Loango for salt and is gone a long time. Kengi becomes pregnant while he is away. When Gunga questions this, Kengi insists that the child will prove to be her husband's. The narration reports this as her claim and does not describe any supernatural conception.

The infant is born gripping a handful of hair and speaks immediately, attributing the event to God, and the people flee in fear. As he grows he hunts in the woods and kills an elephant. The princes are assembled to cut up and share the meat, and the people praise him as a good child.

When the father returns, Kengi asks Gunga not to name the boy as his, and Gunga answers that the boy will speak for himself. The son asks for his father's hand. The father denies knowing him, though the people call the boy his son. The son then sings that he is dead and has become a bird. The text presents this line as song, not as a narrated transformation. Hearing it, the father embraces him, gives him a wife, and makes him chief over many towns.

Born holding a handful of hairSpeaks at birthElephant hunterSings to his father to win acceptanceMade chief over many towns
01

Origins & earliest records

Recorded in R. E. Dennett, Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort (1898). The printed text is the earliest source inspected and marks attestation only, not oral origin.

02

Records & interpretation

The episode 'The Wonderful Child' appears in Dennett's 1898 collection; the inspected text includes the running head for page 57. This is evidence for a printed narrative, not for the child's historical existence.

Selected bibliography

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

  1. 01

    Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort

    R. E. Dennett · 1898

    Selected bibliography; sole primary source consulted, via OCR text.

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. Public-domain primary text (OCR)Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort (R. E. Dennett, 1898), OCR textResearch 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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