Long ago, the creator god Shumusi ("the sun") looked down on the world from the sky and saw the empty desert. Saddened by the empty expanse, He cast his warm rays down on the ocean to create the clouds, and pulled them high into the sky. Sad to be so far from their home, the clouds wept and became the rain so that they could return to the ocean. Some of the rain fell into the desert, and where the sands became wet, the first plants grew. Some rain fell into the mountains, where it became the great river the flows to the west, trying to return home.
His work not yet finished, Shumusi took the sands and shaped them into His children, the animals. Through their noses, He breathed into each of them their spirit, their Emi, so that they might live and be happy. The meerkat, the springbok, the elephant, the cobra and the jackal were the first, and their children in turn became the other animals of the desert. All lived peacefully under the watchful eye of Shumusi, until one day when Kifo the jackal stalked across the sands, hunting the cubs of other animals for no reason other than believing it was his right. Enraged, the animals called for Shumusi to punish Kifo. The other jackals remained silent on the matter, not wanting to involve themselves, and only the children of the jackals, the wild dogs, begged that Shumusi show mercy to Kifo. Unable to forgive Kifo's crimes, Shumusi banished him beyond the mountains, to the Shadowlands as punishment. Outraged, the wild dogs denounced Shumusi and from then on would not speak to or of Him. To console them for their losses, Shumusi gave to each animal their shadow, their Ojiji, that would comfort them against sadness. Even though they had denounced Him, Shumusi gave even the wild dogs their shadows, for He loved them too much to abandon them. Once again, all was peaceful, until Kifo returned.
Calling himself the spirit of death, Kifo once more began to stalk not only the cubs, but all animals in vengeance. Unwilling to destroy Kifo for all time, Shumusi instead made guardians for His children, Shujaa the lion, born with a great mane of fur, and Adui the leopard, born with spots as black as the shadows. Seeking to protect their charges, Shujaa boldly chased Kifo across the plains to the great acacia forest, where Adui, hidden in a tree, leapt out to try and kill the jackal. Kifo escaped, but the two brothers would evermore stand ready to drive him away if he returned. To reward His sons, Shumusi gave each a mate, but while Shujaa showed great affection for his lioness, Adui showed little interest in his own mate, and the two parted ways. All the same, both brothers went on to sire many children to protect the Kalahari from Kifo.
As time went on, Adui became jealous of his brother, both for his first lioness, Ahali, a creature of unmatched beauty, and his great mane for which the other animals admired him. One day, when Shujaa was away, Adui approached Ahali and tried to mate with her, but she escaped and told Shujaa what his brother had done. Angry, Shujaa confronted Adui and asked him why he would do such a thing. Blind with jealousy, Adui attacked and the two fought until Shumusi intervened, reminding them that they were brothers. Claiming that Shumusi had unfairly favored the lion, Adui turned and left to prove that he was the better of the two by hunting Kifo in the Shadowlands, despite pleas to stay from Shumusi, but even more strongly from Shujaa, who did not wish harm to befall his brother. Adui did not listen and vanished, never heard from again.
When his own pride rejoiced that the leopard had gone, Shujaa chastised them and beat them for showing such disrespect, and asked Shumusi to return his brother to him. Unable to do so, Shumusi instead offered that Shujaa come to the moon, so that the first lion would be able to see over the mountains and look for his brother. Agreeing, Shujaa left his pride for a short time so that he might look for Adui from the moon. When both Shumusi and Shujaa had gone, another lioness in Shujaa's pride, Msaliti, declared to the others that Shujaa's compassion for someone as evil as Adui made him weak, and that Msaliti and not Shujaa should lead the pride. Ahali, ever loyal to Shujaa, would not betray her mate, and to punish her defiance, Msaliti killed her.
From the moon, although he could not see his brother, Shujaa saw clearly what Msaliti did and rushed back, demanding an explanation for her crime. When she offered none, Shujaa banished Msaliti to the Shadowlands as punishment. Enraged and saddened, Shujaa returned to the moon so that he could ask Shumusi for advice. Himself saddened by all that His son had to endure, Shumusi appointed Shujaa as judge of all animals, and to each animal gave a guardian spirit, their Eleda, that would remember all that they did in their life and warn them constantly against the dangers of the world, so that they would have time to reform themselves if they strayed down dark paths. When they died, their Eleda would go before Shujaa on the moon and tell him what they had done in life, where he would then be free to decide their fate.
Before long, the Eleda of two animals appeared before Shujaa, Kizuri the jackal and Kibaya the wild dog. Shujaa listened to their stories, and because Kizuri had lived a good life, he was rewarded by becoming one of the stars in the sky, so that he could forever look upon his children and see that they were not doomed like Kifo was. Kibaya, because he had lived in evil and denounced Shumusi, was instead punished, and sent to join Kifo in the Shadowlands. Hearing of this, the wild dogs again became angry and vowed never to stand before Shujaa on the moon, declaring his court a farce; instead, they would all go to the Shadowlands, and this is why they do not believe the souls of good animals become the stars. Because he was not spiteful, Shujaa has always stood ready to welcome any wild dog that had a change of heart and would go to see him, just as he invited all animals to come before him, that they might become stars and gaze upon their children with him in the sky.