Word: laibon
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Davis was at his prayers next evening at dusk when the witch doctor came to speak to the visitor. The witch doctor, Ole Loompirai, sat in a dark, dung- walled hut and drank beer with the visitor and explained the work that he did. The laibon, or witch doctor, spoke in a low, murmurous voice in Maa, sucking frequently on an oversize bottle of Tusker, a faintly smoky Kenya beer brought up in the Land Cruiser from Narok. Moses impassively translated...
...witch doctor talked about charms and animal sacrifices, Davis' rich, deep Latin poured through the small window of the hut: "Pater noster qui es in coelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum . . ." The laibon explained the uses of animals in his work. He employed the warthog, for example, to cast a spell to keep the government out of Masai business. Good choice, the visitor thought. The warthog is a strutty little beast, a short-legged peasant with a thin tail that stands straight up like a flagpole when it runs. It backs into its hole and pulls dirt on top of itself...
...laibon used a Dik-dik, that small lovely antelope, to thwart someone's plans. It works thus: he places charms upon the animal and then releases it in the direction of the person who is the target of the spell. For help with childbirth, he drapes the skin of an eland on the woman -- the eland being much like the cow, which possesses magic powers. In order to bring rain, the laibon places a dead frog on the ground, belly up, with a charm upon it. Within 24 hours, before the frog decays, the rain will fall...