Biti Mupalume

In Chipioka Patrick’s Tabwa performance, Biti Mupalume begins as a schoolboy whose favourite pursuit is football. Chief Chitimukulu declares that a player who defeats eleven opponents may marry Kasuba. Biti decides to try. His father gives him money for the journey, but Biti spends it in Mporokoso and returns home. His father gives him more, and Biti travels on to Kasama. There he finds a friend and asks where Kasuba lives. The friend warns that her house is locked, but Biti insists on going. The tale says he uses medicine, glossed as magic, to enter the house and speak with Kasuba. She tells him she has been waiting for him. The account later says she bears twin girls before the contest is settled.

Chitimukulu still requires a suitor to defeat his eleven players. Biti agrees to face the team alone, without a goalkeeper. As he carries the ball, spectators chant his name. Patrick’s telling makes the scene extravagant: Biti’s boots leave his name in the dirt, while the jersey he wears bears that name. The storyteller then describes women trying to stop Biti’s powerful kicks in comic, exaggerated terms. Biti defeats the eleven-player side. The next day, attendants go to fetch Kasuba and find that she has already given birth. Chitimukulu asks for the twins’ father. When the girls are asked, they point to Biti. The chief awards him the chiefdom.