Rivers flowing alone meander, with two the path is less winding.
At the river or at the Mbomo market, behind their stalls, the women told a story while singing:
–I fish with the child, I have no one to keep him... Oyo Mwundéndé ma loko Mwundéndé! He too, Mwundéndé the water beetle, fishes alone!
A young mother went alone to the river for the fishing reserved for women, the basket fishing. Most of the time, it was a collective activity: they took turns watching each other's children. They distributed the effort to build a mud dam, lower the water level, and catch fish more easily. For some reason, this woman was alone with her child when she arrived at her chosen spot. To encourage herself and soothe the infant, whom she placed on the bank, she began to sing:
–My marriage is over, who will take care of the children? There is no father, no mother... Oyo Mwundéndé ma loko Mwundéndé! He too, Mwundéndé the water beetle, fishes alone!
The reason why the marriage was ruined or why she avoided the other women was unknown. She was reduced to fishing alone, like the water beetle, the aquatic beetle with oily legs or mystical powers that allowed it to fish by gliding on the surface.
Alone with the child, while she was fishing, a thief managed to snatch the baby without her noticing. When she grew concerned about the silence and turned around, the baby was no longer there. She let out a horrified scream that startled the birds in the heights:
–Who took my baby?! Who?! she repeated in despair.
She began to weep and remained there, prostrated, until the end of her life. Between sobs, she sang and compared her fate to that of the water beetle, Mwundéndé the aquatic beetle.