African Myths
4 We ve now come to a larger cultural group that will be a little harder to summarise, since Africa is a huge continent and the myths span hundreds of different tribal backgrounds. 2Even so, you ll find a few important similarities that reflect life from this part of the world.
Understanding the Natural World
3As in many other cultures, myths in Africa were often told to explain some of the otherwise inexplicable natural events that were seen and experienced every day. 4Animals are major characters, usually more so than people. 5They are described individually though they represent their entire kind.
61t s one of the most common themes that you find in the myths from older cultures that didn t have a sophisticated understanding of the world. 7Many of these tales are very similar to Native American ones, showing that there was a common mindset amongst these peoples, despite the physical distance.
Why the Sun and Moon Live in the Sky
8This story comes from Nigeria, in Western Africa:
gAt one time, the sun lived on the Earth and was great friends with water. 1OThey visited together all the time but water could never go to sun s house because it was too small to hold him and all his people (the sea creatures). 11Sun agreed to build a bigger house so that water would feel more welcome to visit.
12The sun and his wife, the moon, built a huge house and invited water. 13As water and his people poured into the home, sun and moon were slowly pushed out and ended up on the roof. 141t didn t stop there. 15Sun didn t want to insult his friend so told them to keep on coming in. 16Eventually, both sun and moon were pushed right up into the sky, and they continue to live there to this day.
Why Fish Live in the Water
17This is another Nigerian tale. 18Fish once lived on land with the rest of the animals, and was friends with leopard. 1gUnfortunately, fish fell in love with leopard s wife, and would sleep with her whenever leopard was away. 2OWhen leopard came home early one day and found them in bed together, he went and told the king about it. 21Fish had nothing to say for himself and was ashamed for betraying his friend. 221t was decided that fish would be banished to the waters for his crime, and he and his people have lived there ever since.
23This is a classic story about crime and punishment. 24Not only is adultery an important issue that spans all cultures, but note that, rather than taking matters into its own hands, the leopard went straight to the king. 251t suggests that authority figures are in place to resolve matters for the community as a whole, much like priests, as representatives of God.
Why the Cheetah has Tear-Stained Cheeks
26This tale comes from the Zulu people, and combines the natural world with an obvious moral lesson about laziness and theft.
27There was once a very lazy hunter who never wanted to work for his meat. 280ne day he sat in the shade and watched a mother cheetah bring down a young gazelle in a matter of minutes. 29He was so jealous when he saw her take the fresh meat to her little cubs that were hidden in the grass. 30Why couldn t a cheetah be bringing meat to me instead, he thought?
31Then he got an idea. 32He would steal a cub and train it to hunt for him. 33That way he could spend his days relaxing instead of hunting but still have meat every day. 34So he waited until the mother cheetah went to the waterhole and stole all of her cubs. 35He had only planned on taking one but he couldn t decide on which one was the best. 36When the mother cheetah returned to an empty den, she wept loudly for many days.
37The wise man of the village heard the wailing, and asked her what had happened. 38She told him about the missing cubs and he knew what had happened. 39The rest of the villagers drove out the lazy hunter and the wise man returned the cubs to their thankful mother. 40She was happy to have her children back but would always have the marks from her tears.
41Many ancient cultures relied on this concept of the wise, old authority figure that was all-seeing and all-knowing. 42As is read, he didn t even have to be told what happened, he simply knew. 43The moral of tale is not only that it doesn t pay to be lazy, but those who are will be shunned by society – in other words, punished.
The Man Who Never Lies
44This is a less typical story that has no animal figures in it at all, but has a very strong message about behaviour and honesty. 451t is a South African folktale.
46There was once a king who heard about a local man who never lied. 47The king was jealous that the man was so revered by everyone, and decided to do something about it. 48He invited the man to the palace to stay with him.
490ne day, the king stood by his horse with his left foot in the stirrup and he told the honest man that he was going hunting. 50He told the honest man to go to his summer house and tell the queen about his expedition, and to prepare a big lunch for his return. 51The man agreed to pass on the message and left. 52But the king didn t get on his horse and never went hunting. 53He laughed thinking about how the man would now tell a lie.
54When the wise man got to the summer house, he told the queen that she may or may not need to prepare a big meal because the king may or may not have gone hunting. 55She felt that it was a strange message and asked him to clarify it. 56The man stated that he had only seen one foot in the stirrup when he left the king and did not know if he had put his right foot into the stirrup or his left foot back down on the ground.
57The king arrived later and expected to laugh at the man who had now told a lie. 58He was astonished that he hadn t. 59The man knew to only say what he had seen with his own eyes. 60This is an excellent moral indeed.
Proper Social and Moral Attitudes
61While many of these myths are oriented towards understanding the natural world, they often also deal with social behaviour and moral values. 62Bad behaviour is usually met with rebuke or punishment while virtuous or clever behaviour wins out in the end. 63Sometimes the lesson is directed at the human in the story, but not always. 64The fact that the morality components are sometimes directed at the animal characters simply represents how the people of Africa saw animals as their equals in many ways.