African Myths of Origin

by Stephen Belcher

  Although a wealth of Shona oral historical tradition has been recorded, much of it remains unpublished; it also appears to cover principally the recent history of the Shona groups. David Beach’s The Shona and their Neighbours (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994), and M. F. C. Bourdillon, The Shona Peoples (rev. edn., Harare: Mambo Press, 1982), are good introductions to the peoples involved and their history. Paul Berliner, The Soul of Mbira (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978) is an excellent introduction to the world of the musicians who perform in the spirit-cults of the area. The first two stories can also be found in Penny Miller, Myths and Legends of Southern Africa (Capetown: T. V. Bilpin Publications, 1979).

  CHAPTER 37. THE NGUNI PEOPLES OF SOUTHERN AFRICA: ZULU, XHOSA, SWAZI

  Creation, retold from multiple sources (see below). Death, retold from multiple sources (see below). The Different Peoples, retold from Janet Hodgson, The God of the Xhosa (Capetown: Oxford University Press, 1982), pp. 21–2; see also Henry Callaway, Religious Traditions of the AmaZulu (Springvale, Natal: J. A. Blair; London: Trübner and Co., 1870), pp. 76ff. A Swazi Story of a King, retold from Hilda Kuper, An African Aristocracy: Rank among the Swazi (London: Oxford University Press for the International African Institute, 1952), p. 237.

  A good general collection of myths from this region is Penny Miller’s Myths and Legends of Southern Africa (Capetown: T. V. Bilpin Publications, 1979); she covers the major ethnic and linguistic groups, including some Shona stories. Wilhelm Bleek’s Zulu Legends, ed. J. A. Engelbrecht (Pretoria: J. L. Van Schaik Ltd., 1952), with material collected in 1855–6, also summarizes most of the basic stories, pp. 1–7. Almost all the collections of narratives consulted for this region were dominated by animal tales; it would appear that the political upheavals associated with the establishment of the Zulu state at the start of the nineteenth century (or possibly the intrusion of settlers and missionaries from the eighteenth century on) have dissipated what politically oriented myths of origin did exist, and what is left now are historical narratives of the relatively recent past, but almost nothing comparable to the rich traditions of the great lakes region. For religion, see such works as Axel-Ivar Berglund, Zulu Thought Patterns and Symbolism (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1976), pp. 33ff.; Charles Brownlee, ‘A Fragment on Xhosa Religious Beliefs’, Africa, 14 (1955), pp. 37–53, and Hodgson (above). For the Swazi, one might also consult Hilda Kuper, The Swazi: A South African Kingdom (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1963); Brian A. Marwick, The Swazi (London: Frank Cass, 1966); and J. S. Malan, Swazi Culture (Pretoria: Africa Institute of South Africa, 1985).

  CHAPTER 38. THE KHOI-KHOI: STORIES OF HEITSI-EIBIB

  The stories of Heitsi-Eibib are adapted from the material in Theophilus Hahn, Tsuni-ll Goam, the Supreme Being of the Khoi-Khoi (London: Trübner, 1881), esp. pp. 56–72. See also Wilhelm Bleek, Reynard the Fox in South Africa (London: Trübner, 1864), pp. 75–83; Jan Knappert’s Namibia: Land and Peoples, Myths and Fables (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1981), pp. 86ff. and also Myths and Legends of Botswana, Lesotho, and Swaziland (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1985), pp. 50ff.

  CHAPTER 39. THE YAKA OF THE KWANGO RIVER

  The story is retold from Hubert van Roy, Les Byaambvu du Moyen-Kwango (Berlin: D. Reimer, 1988; Collectanea Instituti Anthropos, 37), supplemented with M. Plancquaert’s Les Yaka: Essai d’histoire (Tervuren: Musée royal de l’Afrique centrale, 1971).

  I am indebted to a colleague, Arthur Bourgeois, for drawing my attention to this set of traditions, and for guiding my research. For a general history of the region, Jan Vansina’s Kingdoms of the Savanna (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1966), is a good guide. Plancquaert has also produced a collection, Soixante mythes sacrés Yaka (Tervuren: Musée Royal de l’Afrique centrale, 1982), which contains interesting creation narratives but little obvious political material. One might also wish to read L. de Beir’s Religion et magie des Bayaka (St Augustin: Anthropos Institut St Augustin, 1975).

  CHAPTER 40. THE KINGDOM OF KONGO

  A colleague, John Thornton, has been very helpful and generous in sharing his expertise and his unpublished translations of seventeenth-century sources, and I would like to express my gratitude to him. I have retold the early versions of the story of Luqueni from his unpublished translations. I also learned a great deal from his essay, ‘The Origins and Early History of the Kingdom of Kongo ca. 1350–1550’, International Journal of African Historical Studies, 34: 1 (2001), pp. 89–120. The third version is retold from a well-known, colonial-era history of the kingdom by a missionary, J. Cuvelier, L’Ancien Royaume du Congo (Brussels: L’édition Universelle, 1946); parts of this history were also published in KiKongo, and so have now become the standard version.

  The kingdom of Kongo is well documented. Besides John Thornton’s The Kingdom of Kongo: Civil War and Transition 1641–1718 (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1983), a more recent history is that of Anne Hilton, The Kingdom of Kongo (Oxford: at the Clarendon Press, 1985). Wyatt MacGaffey has several works on the political and spiritual culture of the BaKongo: Kongo Political Culture (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2000) and Religion and Society in Central Africa: The BaKongo of Lower Zaire (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986). Luc de Heusch also treats the mythological symbolism in Le Roi de Kongo et les monstres sacrés (Paris: Gallimard, 2000; Mythes et rites bantous, III).

  CHAPTER 41. THE FANG OF GABON AND CAMEROON

  Creation, retold from James Fernandez, Bwiti: An Ethnography of the Religious Imagination in Africa (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1982), pp. 54–5, and Jacques Binet, Otto Gollnhofer and Roger Sillans, Textes religieux du Bwiti-Fang et ses confréries prophétiques dans leurs cadres rituels’, Cahiers d’études africaines, 46 (1972), pp. 197–253, at pp. 221–2. Migrations I: the Separation of the Peoples, retold from Pierre Alexandre, ‘Proto-histoire du groupe betibulu-fang: Essai de synthèse provisoire’, Cahiers d’études africaines, 5 (1965), pp. 503–60, esp. pp. 515–17. Migrations II: Ngurangurane, Son of the Crocodile, retold from H. Trilles, Le Totemisme chez les Fang (Munster: Bibliothèque Anthropos, 1912), pp. 184ff.

  The first stop for any reader interested in the Fang should be Fernandez’ excellent and full study, Bwiti (see above) which reviews previous scholarship and mixes its observations with vivid descriptions of daily life among a Fang group. For a general description of this ethnic group, see Pierre Alexandre and Jacques Binet, Le Groupe dit Pahouin (Fang – Boulou – Beti) (Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1958).

  CHAPTER 42. JEKI LA NJAMBE OF THE DUALA

  The story is retold from multiple versions. The best available versions are by Pierre Celestin Tiki a Koulla a Penda, Les Merveilleux Exploits de Djeki la Njambe, 2 vols. (Douala: Éditions Collège Libermann, 1987), and Manga Bekombo-Priso (ed. and trans.), Défis et prodiges: La fantastique histoire de Djèki-la-Njambé (Paris: Classiques africains, 1993).

  On the Jeki tradition, see Ralph Austen’s study, The Elusive Epic (n.p.: African Studies Association Press, 1995); he gives a comprehensive listing of available versions, with a good analysis. There is also a short discussion in Stephen Belcher, Epic Traditions of Africa, pp. 41–4.

  CHAPTER 43. THE BAMUN KINGDOM OF CAMEROON

  The story is retold principally from Sultan Njoya, Histoire et coutumes des Bamum, trans. Henri Martin (Mémoires de l’Institut Français d’Afrique Noire (Centre du Cameroun), 1952), pp. 22–4, with additional material from Eldridge Mohammadou, Traditions d’origine des peuples du centre et de l’ouest du Cameroun (Tokyo(?): Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, 1986), pp. 41–62.

  For additional information on the kingdom, see Claude Tardits’ monumental study of the kingdom, Le Royaume Bamoum (Paris: Armand Colin, 1980).

  CHAPTER 44. THE IGBO

  Ale, retold from Percy Talbot, Tribes of the Niger Delta (1932; repr. London: Frank Cass and Co., 1967), pp. 25–7. Eri and the City of Nri, retold from Elizabeth Isichei, Igbo Worlds: An Antholo
gy of Oral Histories and Historical Descriptions (Philadelphia: Institute for the Study of Human Issues, 1978), pp. 21–8 and ff.; M. D. W. Jeffreys, The Umundri Tradition of Origin’, African Studies, 15 (1956), pp. 119–31; Northcote Thomas, Anthropological Report on the Ibo-Speaking Peoples of Nigeria, 4 vols. (London: Harrison and Sons, 1913; New York: Negro Universities Press, 1969), vol. i, pp. 49ff. Onojo Oboni of Iddah, retold from Christopher Ofigbo’s excellent Ropes of Sand (Nsukka: published for University Press Limited, in association with Oxford University Press, 1981), pp. 117ff. See also Jeffreys, p. 125, and Austin Shelton, ‘Onojo Ogboni’, Journal of American Folklore, 81 (1968), pp. 243–57.

  The Igbo-speaking groups are so diverse that it is rash to offer any attempt at a synthesis. I have been guided in this enterprise by John Nwachimereze Oriji’s study, Traditions of Igbo Origin (New York: Peter Lang, 1994), which provided an excellent starting point. Particularly useful after him were Ofigbo, Ropes of Sand, and Isichei, Igbo Worlds.

  CHAPTER 45. THE KINGDOM OF THE NUPE: TSOEDE

  The basic source for the story of Tsoede is also the basic source for the Nupe kingdom: S. F. Nadel’s classic study, A Black Byzantium: The Kingdom of Nupe in Nigeria (London: Oxford University Press for the International African Institute, 1942), pp. 72ff. Michael Mason has done a study on the background of Nadel’s information, The Tsoede Myth and the Nupe Kinglists: More Political Propaganda?’, History in Africa, 2 (1975), pp. 101–12. Another author to report the story is Leo Frobenius, in his The Voice of Africa, pp. 575ff. Frobenius offers a great deal more information on Nupe culture and narratives in Volkserzählungen und Volksdichtungen aus dem Zentral-Sudan, Atlantis, vol. ix, including a retelling of the Tsoede story (‘Etsu Edegi’), pp. 179–82.

  CHAPTER 46. THE JUKUN KINGDOM OF THE KOROROFA

  The stories are retold from Charles Kingsley Meek, A Sudanese Kingdom: An Ethnographic Study of the Jukun-Speaking Peoples of Nigeria (London: Trübner, 1931). The Son of Ama: pp. 90–96. Kingship of the Kororofa: pp. 30–31, 36–7, 46–7.

  CHAPTER 47. THE BACHAMA AND BATA OF THE UPPER BENUE

  The stories are retold from Charles Kingsley Meek, Tribal Studies in Northern Nigeria, 2 vols. (London: Trübner, 1931). Nzeanzo: pp. 25–7. The Separation of the Bachama and Bata: pp. 2–3.

  CHAPTER 48. THE CITY OF BENIN

  The Foundation of Benin, retold from Jacob U. Egharevba, A Short History of Benin (3rd edn., Ibadan: Ibadan University Press, 1960), pp. 1–8. Ewuare, retold from Egharevba, pp. 14–21.

  Egharevba wrote numerous locally printed volumes on the history and culture of his city; besides his History one should consult his The Origin of Benin (Benin City: BDNA Museum, 1953). The bibliography on the arts of Benin City is considerable. Isidore Okpewho offers a revisionist view of local oral tradition in his study, Once Upon a Kingdom: Myth, Hegemony, and Identity (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998).

  CHAPTER 49. THE YORUBA OF SOUTH-WESTERN NIGERIA

  The Orisha, The Creation of the World, Oduduwa, Ife and Oyo, retold from multiple sources (Beier, Courlander, Frobenius, Wyndham below). Moremi, retold from Wyndham, pp. 35–60; Samuel Johnson, History of the Yorubas (Lagos: CSS Bookshops, 1921), pp. 147–8. The Migration from the East, retold from Samuel Johnson, pp. 4–5. The Origin of Ifa Divination I, retold from Stephen S. Farrow, Faith, Fancies and Fetich, or Yoruba Paganism (1926; repr. New York: Negro Universities Press, 1969), p. 37. The Origin of Ifa Divination II, retold from Johnson, pp. 32–3.

  The bibliography on the Yoruba is large. For the myths, good collections are Ulli Beier, Yoruba Myths (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980), and Harold Courlander, Tales of Yoruba Gods and Heroes (New York: Crown Publishers, 1973; much of this material is reprinted in his Treasury of African Folklore (New York: Crown Publishers, 1975)). Leo Frobenius discusses the Yoruba in the first volume of his early study, The Voice of Africa, and again in Die Atlantische Götterlehre, vol. x of his wonderful collection, Atlantis, which gives much information about the orisha. Pierre Verger’s study on the transatlantic dimensions of the Ifa and Vodun cults offers a number of stories about the gods: Notes sur le culte des Orisa et Vodun à Bahia…, Mémoires de l’IFAN, 51 (Dakar: IFAN, 1957). John Wyndham, a colonial administrator, versified the stories in his Myths of Ife (London: Erskine MacDonald, 1921), and I have trusted him for some of the details in the story of Moremi. R. E. Dennett’s Nigerian Studies (London: Frank Cass, 1968; first printed 1910) offers interesting descriptions of the major orisa, as does Farrow’s Faith, Fancies and Fetich, or Yoruba Paganism (see above), which are useful mainly as evidence for the variety of traditions before the publication of Johnson’s History of the Yorubas. This book deserves some remark. The original manuscript was lost; his brother reconstructed the work and published it after the Revd Johnson’s death. It seems to have become the accepted version of the history and theology of the Yorubas, although it is clear that Johnson adapted his material in accordance with his Christian views. That is why a short version of his vision of the origin of the Yorubas is given. While variant traditions have survived, the influence of his literary version has been great. Yoruba historiography is now a fascinating field, and one might start with essays by Robin Law: ‘How Truly Traditional is our Traditional History? The Case of Samuel Johnson and the Recording of Yoruba Oral Tradition’, History in Africa, 11 (1984), pp. 195–211, and ‘The Heritage of Oduduwa: Traditional History and Propaganda among the Yoruba’, Journal of African History, 14 (1973), pp. 207–22, and by Cornelius Adepegba, ‘The Descent from Odudua: Claims of Superiority among Some Yoruba Traditional Rulers and the Arts of Ancient Ife’, International Journal of African Historical Studies, 19 (1986), pp. 77–92, or with Toyin Falola’s Yoruba Gurus: Indigenous Production of Knowledge in Africa (Trenton: African World Press, 1999).

  CHAPTER 50. BORGU AND THE LEGEND OF KISRA

  This short account is cobbled together from multiple sources, in particular H. R. Palmer, Sudanese Memoirs, vol. ii, pp. 56–63; S. J. Hogben and A. H. M. Kirk-Greene, The Emirates of Northern Nigeria (London: Oxford University Press, 1966), pp. 577 ff.; Femi Obafemi, ‘History of Borgu’, Image: Quarterly Journal of the Kwara State Council for Arts and Culture, 1:2 (1974), pp. 25–6; A. B. Mathews, ‘The Kisra Legend’, African Studies, 9:3 (1950), pp. 144–7; Phillip Stevens, ‘The Kisra Legend and the Distortion of Historical Tradition’, Journal of African History, 16: 2 (1975), pp. 185–200; and Paolo de Moraes Farias, ‘A Letter from Ki-Toro Mahamman Gaani, King of Busa (Borgu, Northern Nigeria) about the “Kisra” Stories of Origin’, Sudanic Africa, 3 (1992), pp. 109–32. Leo Frobenius, The Voice of Africa, and Charles Kingsley Meek, A Sudanic Kingdom: An Ethnographic Study of the Jukun-Speaking Peoples of Nigeria (London: Trübner, 1931), also discuss this legend.

  CHAPTER 51. THE FON AND THE KINGDOM OF DAHOMEY

  The Creation, Earth and Sky, retold from the several versions given in Melville and Frances Herskovits, Dahornean Narrative (Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 1958), pp. 125–34. The Allada Dynasty of Abomey, Hwegbadja, the First King, retold Herskovits and Herskovits, pp. 355–67, with information from Emmanuel Karl’s Traditions orales au Dahomey-Bénin (Niamey: Centre régional de documentation pour la tradition orale, 1974), and from Melville Herskovits, Dahomey: An Ancient West African Kingdom (2 vols., New York: J. J. Augustin, 1938).

  A more recent study of the kingdom and its traditions is Edna G. Bay, Wives of the Leopard: Gender, Politics and Culture in the Kingdom of Dahomey (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1998); a short ethnographic account is given by P. Mercier, ‘The Fon of Dahomey’, in Daryll Forde (ed.), African Worlds (London: Oxford University Press, for International African Institute, 1954), pp. 210–34. On religion, see Robert D. Pelton, The Trickster in West Africa (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980), and Pierre Verger, Notes sur le culte des Orisa et Vodun à Bahia, Mémoires de l’IFAN, 5 (Dakar: IFAN, 1957).

  CHAPTER 52. THE AKAN-ASHANTI AND THE BAULE OF THE FOREST<
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  Origins, retold from various sources: Carl Christian Reindorf, History of the Gold Coast and Asante (1895; repr. Accra: Ghana Universities Press, 1966), pp. 19–20; A. B. Ellis, The Tshi-Speaking Peoples of the Gold Coast of West Africa (1887; repr. Oosterhut: Anthropological Publications, 1970), pp. 335–7. Osei Tutu and the Rise of Ashanti, retold from K. O. Bonsu Kyeretwie, Ashanti Heroes (Accra: Waterville Publishing House; London: Oxford University Press, 1964), pp. 1–20. Queen Pokou and the Baule, retold from various sources: J. N. Locou, ‘Between History and Legend: The Exodus of the Baule during the XVIII Century’, trans. Cherie Maiden, Afrique-Histoire US, 2:1 (1984), pp. 37–42; H. Lanrezac, Le Folklore au Soudan (Paris: La Revue Indigène, n.d.), pp. 20ff., and ‘Légendes Soudanaises’, Revue économique française, 29 (1907), pp. 607–19; Maurice Delafosse, Essai de manuel de la langue Agni (Paris: Librairies africaine et coloniale, 1901), pp. 159–64.

  Various works by Eva Meyerowitz offer a good starting point: The Akan of Ghana: Their Ancient Beliefs (London: Faber and Faber, 1958), Akan Traditions of Origin (London: Faber and Faber, 1952), and Early History of the Akan States of Ghana (London: Red Candle Press, 1974). Also very useful was K. O. Bonsu Kyeretwie (see above). Variants on the creation are taken from Ellis (see above). A significant early source is Reindorf (see above); see also the references given for the trickster Ananse in the notes to Chapter 19.

  For the Baule, there are various sources (including Kyeretwie, above), which all give much the same story. The Baule may be best known outside Côte d’Ivoire for their art, for which see the catalogue of the exhibition organized by Susan Vogel, Baule: African Art, Western Eyes (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997), which also includes discussion of Queen Pokou.