Shemwindo, whose name means 'father of Mwindo,' is the chief of the village of Tubondo in the state of Ihimbi. Coveting daughters, whom he could marry off for bride-wealth, he decreed that his wives bear only girls and ordered the killing of any son. When his preferred wife nonetheless bore the extraordinary Mwindo, Shemwindo sought repeatedly to destroy him, sealing the child in a drum and casting it into the river. His flight from the vengeful hero drives the epic through the underworld; at its close, defeated and humbled, he is reconciled with his son, who restores him and divides the chiefship.