Gentleman of the Jungle (Summary)

A Note on the Author

Jomo Kenyatta,(1893–1978), was an African political leader, first president of Kenya (1964–78). A Kikuyu, he was one of the earliest and best-known African nationalist leaders. As secretary of his tribal association (1928), he campaigned for land reform and African political rights.

Summary in English:

In the late nineteenth century the chief European powers divided Africa among themselves. They could do this because European arms were superior and because the African chiefs did not understand the meaning of the treaties they were asked to sign.

As a result Africans lost the lands they had traditionally lived on and cultivated. Their attitude toward European “expansion” is made clear in the following fable. Which reflects the attitude of the Kikuyu people of Kenya toward European laws and commissions.

Glossary :

hailstorm (n) : thunder storm in which pellets of ice fall.

turmoil(n) : disturbance, emotional agitation

tranquillity (n) : peacefulness

intricacy (n) : complexity

evidence (n) : that which serves to prove

to gain access : find out a way to approach

compromise (v) : to settle issues by mutual consensus

embroil (n) : conflict

Once upon a time an elephant made a friendship with a man. One day a heavy thunderstorm broke out, the elephant went to his friend, who had a little hut at the edge of the forest, and said to him: “My dear good man, will you please let me put my trunk inside your hut to keep it out of this torrential rain?”

My dear good elephant, my hut is very small, but there is room for your trunk and myself. Please put your trunk in gently.”You have done me a good deed and one day I shall return your kindness.

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