“Something tells me that you are not just
doing a kokonyo” Sseggwanga told Mmunye, “Why are you telling me this yet you
know that I am a chicken? Can I fly? Can I become an eagle since it looks that
the only way to fly is be an eagle?”
“I have good news for you Sseggwanga. You can
fly!” Mmunye declared, “I even have better news for you, YOU ARE AN EAGLE”
Sseggwanga could not believe what he had just
heard. “Did you just say…”
“Yes, Sseggwanga, you are an eagle.”
I don’t believe you”, this time Sseggwanga
was strutting around in disbelief, “No way! I was born a chicken, I crow like a
chicken, I like worms, I don’t eat flesh like an eagle. In fact that thought is
revolting! All my feelings are chicken feelings! ”
“Sseggwanga, look at me. I mean critically
look at me. We are brothers. My father, your father, sent me to you to set you
free from this farm. You were captured when you were young by the farm owner,
Levid. He decided to groom you like a chicken. He cut off your claws and he
continues to do so in the name of ‘grooming’. Have you ever thought about why
he locked you up between Kiggula wall and Kiggala? He set out to frustrate all
your efforts at flight until you were convinced that you were a chicken. That you
could only eat what he told you to eat.”
The revelation that he was an eagle was
nearly killing him with excitement! What?? All this time and he never knew?
“Stretch out your wings”, Mmunye asked him.
Sseggwanga stretched them. “No, they are not stretched! Your wings are 6 feet
across!” Sseggwanga then started to stretch. He couldn’t believe what he was
seeing. It is like his wing span was getting even wider! “How come I could
never stretch this much?? What is happening to me? It looks like I am changing
to an eagle!”
“You don’t understand yet?” Mmunye asked, “You
are an eagle, you have always been an eagle!”
“Your name was never Sseggwanga. That name
was given to you by Levid the farm owner. Your real name is Kamunye. You are my
younger brother!”
“Goodness! I even have an eagle name?? I am
actually an eagle?” He was so excited! Stretching his wings he flapped them
once. He was not ready for what happened! With that one flap, he was already
above the level of Kiggala!
Landing back where Mmunye was grinning across
his eagle beak, they hugged and both were crying uncontrollably. What he had
been trying to do all this time, he did in only one flap. The close fellowship
he had had with Kiggala had left him bruised but it didn’t matter. Who needed a
broken leg when he could fly? Kamunye was so happy. He loved his new name. ‘I
don’t have to crow again!’
It now started to make sense. Everything that
Mmunye was saying…
“What is impossible with chicken is possible
with eagles!”
“Chicken give birth to chickens and eagles
give birth to eagles”
“The eagle is like the wind” Now it made
sense. Before he knew he was an eagle, he was limited only to Kiggula and
Kiggala. He never looked up to see the boundless sky that has no limits. Now he
could spread his wings and claim the skies. Now that is freedom!
But how come he couldn’t fly even when he had
always been an eagle? That puzzled him. So he asked Mmunye “But why couldn’t I
fly?”
“You never knew that you were an eagle. You
knew you were a chicken. You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you
free!”
He no longer had to live off Levid’s farm any
longer. His diet was opened up. So now he could eat of what could build his
body. He no longer had to listen to the lies of Levid that he was Sseggwanga.
What was his pride, he now surrendered it because it was a symbol of his
failure. He would rather be a ka-munye than Sseggwanga because the latter was a
slave while the former was free.
Mmunye and Ka-munye flapped their wings
thrice and off they flew…to freedom
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