In a remote village near Lake Mburo, there lived a little girl named Kansiime. She was a kind and gentle child, but she had no mother or father to care for her. Instead, she lived with her uncle and aunt. Her uncle adored her, but her aunt was harsh and treated her poorly.
What Kansiime didn’t know was that her aunt was a wicked witch. One day, the aunt grew tired of Kansiime’s presence and demanded her husband to send the little girl away. She instructed him to seek advice from an old wizard who lived deep in the dense forests of Lake Mburo National Park.
Feeling torn, Kansiime’s uncle reluctantly followed his wife’s orders. He visited the wizard, unaware that his wife had already plotted with the wizard on what to say. The wizard advised him to leave Kansiime in the forest, far from the village.
Heartbroken, Kansiime’s uncle took her deep into the wilderness of Lake Mburo. He left her with a small amount of food and water before sadly departing. Alone and frightened, Kansiime wandered until she found refuge under a large acacia tree, where she fell asleep.
The next morning, she was greeted by a kind cricket who guided her to safety. She found shelter with a herd of buffaloes that roamed the plains. These buffaloes, who were strong and wise, offered her milk and protection. Despite their kindness, Kansiime felt lonely and longed for her home and family.
Years passed, and Kansiime grew into a beautiful young woman. But her heart remained distant and cold, for it had been taken from her when she was just a child. The animals who once cared for her now feared her, and she felt no joy in their company.
One day, men from the nearby capital of Mbarara were hunting buffaloes in the park. One of them followed a wounded animal through the thicket when, to his surprise, he saw a lovely girl walking down the forest path. When she saw the wounded buffalo, she laughed and turned back, and the man was so frightened that he hurried back to his companions and told them what he had seen.
The story reached the Chief of Mbarara, who became curious. He sent a party of men to the forest, and they followed the hunter’s trail to the buffaloes’ kraal. There they saw a beautiful girl milking a buffalo and singing:
“I am the Buffalo Maiden;
The Buffalo Kraal is my home;
The Jungle Land is my Kingdom, Wherever I will I roam.
I hate the golden sunbeams That fill the glades with light,
I hate the silver moonbeams That chill my hut at night.
The birds are dumb when they see me, the animals are my foes;
For I am the Buffalo Maiden, as all the Jungle knows.”
The men were too afraid to speak, so they quietly returned to Mbarara. The story spread throughout the capital, and soon even the King heard of the beautiful girl living alone in the depths of Lake Mburo’s wilderness.
The king had so many sons but there was one Prince, braver and kinder than the others, who felt sorry for the girl. He took one trusted man with him and ventured into the forest to find her. When he found her, he fell deeply in love, but Kansiime only laughed at him and threw stones, some of which struck him painfully. Day by day, the Prince grew tired and more miserable.
One day, while wandering through the forest, the Prince found an impala with a sharp thorn in its foot. He gently removed the thorn and carried the tired creature back to its home. Grateful, the impala offered to help him in return. The Prince asked how he could make the girl he loved, love him back. The impala was sorrowful. “You will never make her love you; she is unkind and cruel to everyone, but I will ask the other animals for advice.”
When the impala’s foot healed, she went to the big grey elephant and asked for his counsel. “Tell your Prince,” said the big grey elephant, “that the girl is cruel and unkind. He had better seek a wife in the capital.” The impala then went to the lion, who said, “If the Prince has been kind to you, he is much too good for the girl. She is hard and cruel and never sheds tears like the women in the villages.” All the animals agreed, until the impala met the little hare and told him her troubles. “It isn’t her fault,” said the hare, “they took her heart away from her when she was a little girl. How can she be kind without a heart? Let the Prince steal her heart that hangs in the acacia tree above her hut, and then she will love him.”
The impala relayed this message to the Prince. “You must steal her heart which hangs in the acacia tree above her hut, but you must go alone at night.”
So, the Prince went alone through the dark forest at night and came to the buffaloes’ kraal. The moonlight shimmered through the trees as he carefully made his way between the sleeping buffaloes to the maiden’s hut. There, above him, in the acacia tree, hung the heart. He climbed the tree and clasped the heart in his arms. With the heart in his possession, he returned to the girl.
And so, despite the sadness that once clouded her life, Kansiime found joy and love in the end. As she sang a song of gratitude, her heart overflowed with happiness, filling the forest with its sweet melody. With her heart restored, Kansiime embraced the Prince, and they returned to the village together. The animals rejoiced at her newfound happiness, and the wilderness of Lake Mburo bloomed with life once more.
The big grey elephant called a Forest Council together, and they passed sentence on the old tortoise and killed him, because his advice had been bad. For this is the law of the forest: if any animal gives bad advice to the Council, he is killed. And the Forest Council sent a messenger to the Prince and told him what they had done. The Prince was glad, for though the heart of a woman causes all the trouble in the world, it also brings all the joy, and her tears are like the spring rains that make the Earth beautiful.
