Nyamgondho, son of Ombare, is one of the most widely told legendary figures of the Luo of the Lake Victoria shore. A luckless fisherman, he found a strange woman caught in his net who married him on condition that he never reveal her origin; through her he gained cattle, wives and standing, but when drink and arrogance led him to insult and curse her, she walked back into the lake and every cow and possession followed her beneath the water. Left destitute, he sank down on his staff at the shore and became a tree. The tale, preserved in the standard anthologies of Luo oral literature, functions as a moral warning that fortune granted from the spirit world demands humility, and the site of his transformation, Kidi Nyamgondho, remains associated with mystery and healing.