Picha Mlaji

&nbsp

Disclaimer
This pasta isn't quite done yet, but I want to get what I had on here before I lose enthuaism for it and maybe get a little feedback. Please no editing.

The Pasta
Among the cultures of East and West Africa lies the myth of the Picha Mlaji, or the Photo Eater. The legends first appeared in the late 1800s in the murky areas of European-dominated East Africa, but were seen as far as Cairo, the Belgian Congo and even a few sketchy reports from Western India. Despite many variations on the tale, a single emaciated boy on a bicycle is always the catalyst for cannibalism.

Photography was slow to filter out to the Dark Continent and was largely used only by the colonial administrations to have photo identification of their officials and occasionally to record their subjects.

Typically, the legend has the above child ride into a native (most of the time, except for a few instances, the victims have always been Africans) village and asks someone if “they have seen the marvel of photography?” If the person replies “yes”, then the boy will ask if the person has any and if he can see it. If they say “no” then the boy will ride off to ask for another person.

If the person gives the boy a photograph, he will immediately seize it and bike away faster than anyone could hope to catch him.