The myth is performed mostly by a single bard wielding a calabash made into a rattle and donning various bells and other forms of noisemakers.
This is a ploy by Shemwindo to get richer, as it is tradition for a suitor who wants to marry a woman to pay a dowry, or bride-price, to her father.
Shimwendo's first six wives soon give birth to daughters, but Nyamwindo, the seventh wife, endures a prolonged pregnancy.
This prevents her from being able to perform her duties and chores but to her surprise every task is mysteriously done without her aid; this is the work of her unborn son.
At the time of his deliverance, the unborn child climbs from the womb and emerges from Nyamwindo's belly button.
The child was born wielding a conga-scepter (a flyswatter made with a buffalo tail on a wooden handle), an adze-axe, and a bag of the fortune goddess Kahindo containing a long rope.
Unsurprisingly, the drum surfaces and floats but Mwindo decides to sail away, to seek refuge with his paternal aunt Iyangura.
But Mwindo simply digs under the river's sandy floor, reemerging after passing by Musoka, and continues on his quest.
Mwindo then encounters Mukiti, the serpent spirit and the husband of Iyangura, who also denies the boy access to his aunt.
Meanwhile, Katee, the hedgehog god, warns Mwindo of the dangers ahead if he continues to his aunt's abode.
Unbeknownst to them, however, Mukiti had already instructed his ally, Kasiyembe, to set multiple pit traps on the floors of Iyangura's house.
As soon as Mwindo exits the tunnel at his aunt's home, Kasiyembe challenges him to a dancing contest in the hopes that the boy will fall into at least one of the pit traps which contain razor-sharp spikes down below.
In retaliation, Mwindo uses his magic to set Kasiyembe's hair ablaze while stopping up water sources to prevent anyone from putting out the fire.
After accomplishing these deeds, Mwindo tells his aunt that he plans to return to his home village alone the next day.
She also persuades him to head first to the home of the Yana, Mwindo's maternal uncle, so that he can "forge him," for he is also a renowned smith.
Mwindo goes to the village center and calls upon Nkuba, the lightning god, while raising his conga-scepter to the heavens.
Kahindo would be a beautiful young maiden, but she is infected with yaws, which leaves pus-filled sores all over her body.
Mwindo uses smoke to drive the killer bees away from the tree, but then finds the trunk is petrified and impossible to break.
Outraged, Mwindo beats the god flat with his scepter and promises to leave him that way until he finds Shemwindo.
Mwindo follows the trail of his father to a cave which is blocked by the huge aardvark spirit, Ntumba.
Mwindo returns to the world and pursues his father all the way to the Great Rift Valley, where the trail stops.
He brings them twelve enormous bowls, cut from tree trunks, full of good things to eat.
As the children finish their snack, they turn the bowls upside down and stack them, making a stairway into the clouds.
Finally he bets his conga scepter and begins winning everything back, until he owns all the Sky God's town and his father's life.
Mwindo returns to Tubondo, helps rebuild the city, and rules as a wise and powerful king.