A stranger walks into an Angolan village at the edge of the dry season. He is young, handsome, and speaks with the kind of warmth that makes people lean closer. He knows the right greetings. He brings the right gifts. Within days, the elders are considering his request to court the chief's daughter.

His hair is unusually thick, falling past his shoulders, covering the back of his head completely. He never turns his back to anyone.

The Ambundu people of Angola call this creature a Kishi. It has two faces on one skull. The one you see is beautiful. The one hidden beneath the hair belongs to a hyena. And its jaws, once they close, do not open again.

In this episode, we trace the Kishi from the matrilineal Ambundu society that created it, through the foundational myths of the Kingdom of Ndongo, to the oral traditions collected by He ...