Some say it was the revolt of a Christ, while to others it was that of a bigot. In reality he might have been both, but the truth – that which is true of no one – lies somewhere between. John was thirty-five, or thereabouts. His birth date is unknown, but most people are sure of the year. It had been during the torrential rain, the year when rivers still flowed after the maize had ripened. Even the oldest men agreed that this had happened only once in their lifetimes. Had John not been the first-born son of his father, his name would certainly have been Wambua, born of the rain. Many men of John’s age bore that name but, according to tradition for a first son, John took the name of his father’s father, Mwangangi, the one who has gone away. It was also in the year of the rain that a white man came and paid people to build a house next to the holiest land in Migwani. The man had lived unmarried in the house for many years and it was he who gave the name ‘John’ to Mwangangi son of Musyoka.
