Itonde

Itonde is the wonder-child of Lonkundo and the sun-woman Ilankaka and the central hero of the middle of the epic. Born already grown, he leaves the womb by night to hunt; releasing a bird he has caught, he receives from it a bell called 'the world', which grants his every wish and yields wealth, weapons, weather, peace and war alike. His father renames him Ilele, and he succeeds to the leadership of the people. He wins Mbombe by being the first of her suitors to overcome her in wrestling. His death at the hands of the rival Sau-Sau, contrived by malevolent spirits, is the wrong that his posthumously conceived son Lianja is born to avenge.

Parentage

• parent: Lonkundo
• parent: Ilankaka

Children

• Lianja
• Nsongo

Domains

• hunting and the hunt
• wish fulfilment

Powers

• to obtain anything he desires by sounding the bell called the world
• to leave the womb already grown and go about by night

Epithets

• IleleBoelaert, E. (1949). Nsong'a Lianja: l'épopée nationale des Nkundo. Antwerp: De Sikkel (also Aequatoria 12). (secondary)

Relations

• spouse: MbombeItonde-Ilele is the first of Mbombe's suitors to defeat her in wrestling and so marries her; she becomes mother of Lianja and Nsongo.Scheub, H. (2000). A Dictionary of African Mythology: The Mythmaker as Storyteller. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (secondary)

Sources

• Itonde, renamed Ilele, son of Lonkundo and Ilankaka, is the bell-bearing hero of the Mongo epic, husband of Mbombe and father of Lianja, slain by the rival Sau-Sau.: Scheub, H. (2000). A Dictionary of African Mythology: The Mythmaker as Storyteller. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (secondary); de Rop, A. (1964). Lianja, l'épopée des Mongo. Brussels: Académie Royale des Sciences d'Outre-Mer, Sciences morales et politiques, n.s. XXX-1. (secondary)