As I stated earlier, when it comes to seeking wealth, some men throw caution to the winds. They will do whatever a traditional medicine man tells them to do without a care about the consequences of following the instructions.

 

A story is told about a teacher who so much wanted to be rich that he decided to see a traditional medicine man. The medicine man gave him some concoction in a small bottle and told him to go to the nearest bush that night.

 

“When you get into the bush, climb on one of the anthills, remove all your clothes and rub the substance in this bottle over your entire body,” the medicine man continued.

 

“For the medicine to work, you have to climb down the ant hill.”

 

The teacher waited for night fall before heading into the nearby bush. He found an anthill and ascended to the top. He removed all his clothes and applied the medicine on his body. When he was satisfied that he had done all that needed to be done, he decided to climb down the hill. As soon as he got to the bottom of the hill, he realized that something was terribly wrong. To his horror, he found himself walking on all fours. He had turned into a lion.

 

He quickly climbed back onto the hill. When he got to the top of the hill, he was human again.

 

Each time he climbed down the hill he would turn into a lion. He decided to stay on top of the hill. He put his clothes on and sat on top of the anthill to wait for the morning. He was too shocked to realize that the night was cold.

 

Around six hours in the morning, the man saw a group of three persons – a woman and two boys – coming into the bush to tend their bush gardens. He called the woman to him and politely asked her to send one of her boys to go and fetch his wife and children.

 

An hour later, the boy returned accompanied by the teacher’s wife and six children. His wife and

children were surprised to see the man standing on top of an anthill. He quickly recounted his ordeal

and assured them he would not harm them in any way.

 

When he climbed down the anthill, his wife and children ran away from the creature that the man had become. He quickly climbed back onto the anthill and became the man that the wife and children knew as their husband and father, respectively.

 

The man solemnly explained that he would not be able to live with them anymore. He bid them farewell, climbed down the anthill on the opposite side, and ran deep into the bush. He was never heard of again.

 

Many years ago, there was an interesting story in Kalulushi district which lies a few kilometers on the western side of Kitwe. A medicine man was offering residents of Kitwe and Kalulushi cheap transport to Chingola, a town that is about an hour’s drive west of Kitwe.

The residents would pay a token amount of money to be teleported to Chingola, the next town west

 

of Kalulushi – an hour’s drive from Kitwe. The means of transport was rumoured to be a piece of human bone. All the traveler had to do was touch the bone. He or she would instantly find himself or herself in Chingola. Unfortunately, no documentary evidence was offered for the existence of this amazing “airport”.

 

About the same time, there was an interesting story about a miner in Mufulira who inherited the house of a retired miner who was going back to his country of origin. The retiree decided to donate his refrigerator to the new tenant as a goodwill gesture.

 

When the miner’s wife opened the fridge the next morning, she was surprised to find it full of fresh beef. The miner and his wife decided to throw away the beef as they did not know where it had come from.

 

The miner and his wife were surprised when they found fresh beef in the refrigerator the following morning. When they inquired among their new neighbors regarding this phenomenon, they were told that the former tenant was famous for using wizardry to acquire money and food.

 

The couple decided to inform the local mine police about the strange refrigerator. After removing the beef, the police decided to take the refrigerator to the police station to observe what would happen.

 

The next day, there was fresh beef in the refrigerator. Since the former owner had already left the country, there was no way the police could summon him to come and explain this strange phenomenon.

A decision was made to incinerate the refrigerator together with the beef.

 

Witchdoctors and herbalists are quite useful when it comes to solving particular social problems. Making a girl pregnant is a very serious problem in the Zambian society, one that can have dire consequences for the offender.

 

When a young man by the name of Chanda was accused of being responsible for a girl’s pregnancy, he decided to consult a witchdoctor for advice. The witchdoctor gave him some medicine which he was to rub on his private part to make it disappear completely. This way, he could convincingly prove to his

accusers that there was no way he could have made the girl pregnant.

 

After applying the medicine, Chanda was surprised to note that his pubic area was as smooth as a table top. There was nothing on it. He happily approached the girl’s parents and successfully demonstrated his innocence.

 

Two days later he went back to the witchdoctor’s house to ask the witchdoctor to reverse his condition. He was surprised to find people mourning outside the witchdoctor’s house. When he asked who had died, he was told that the witchdoctor had died the previous night.

 

When the implication of the witchdoctor’s death dawned upon him, Chanda burst out into a very loud cry. From that moment, Chanda was never seen in the company of girls or young women because he had no business with the female gender any more.

 

(TO BE CONTINUED)