Owner of the Sky: Olorun the Creator

by Julius Lester
(Yoruban Creation Myth)

Olorun was the owner of the sky and the Highest Being. He lived in the sky with other
spirits. In the beginning, the earth was all watery, just a marshy place, a waste.

Sometimes, Olorun and the other gods would come down and play in the marsh-waste.
There were long spider webs hanging from the sky. They draped across sweeping spaces like
graceful silk bridges.

Yet there was no solid land anywhere; no ground on which to stand. There could be no
human beings under the sky until there is a hard place where they can plant their feet.

Olorun, Owner of the Sky and the Highest Being, called the chief of the divine ones. This
chief was the Great God.

Olorun told the Great God, “I want you to make a firm ground down below, right away.”
“Here,” Olorun went on, “take this.”

He gave Great God a shell. There was a small amount of earth in the shell and there was
also a pigeon and a hen with five toes inside.

Great God did as he was told. He went down to the marsh land sliding down the spider
silks. Then, he threw the earth out of the shell and spread it about him. He put the pigeon and the
hen down on the big chunk of earth from the shell.

The pigeon and the hen began scratching the earth with their feet. It didn’t take long for
them to scratch the soil over the whole marsh-waste. That was how the firm, hard ground came
to be.

Great God went back to the sky. There he found Olorun waiting. “It is done. I’ve formed
the ground, and it is solid and true,” Great God said.

Olorun sent down Chameleon to take a look at the works of Great God. Now, Chameleon
took his time about most things. He walked slowly, and he went down the spider line from the
sky carefully. He rolled his big eyes around, looking at everything. And slowly, he changed his
color from sky blue to earth brown as he walked on the land Great God had made.

“Well, the earth is plenty wide,” Chameleon told Olorun when he had returned, “but it’s
not quite dry enough.”

“Go again,” Olorun commanded. And Chameleon went down from the sky a second time.
 He came back to report to the Owner of the Sky once more.

“It is well,” Chameleon said. “The earth is wide, and it is dry this time.”

“Good,” Olorun said. He named the place Ife, and it meant wide. Ile was brought to stand
on Ife, and Ile meant house. All other houses came from the first one that stood at Ife. And to this
day, the city of Ile-ife is the most sacred to Olorun’s people.

It took four days to make the earth. On the fifth day, Great God was to be worshipped as
the maker.

Then, Olorun sent Great God back to Ife to plant trees and to feed humans when they
came, and to give them goods. He planted palm trees. The humans would drink their juice. More
trees were planted there, and the rain was made to fall and water them.

The first people came from heaven. Olorun sent them down to the earth to live there.
Great God made some of the people’s parts out of the soil. He molded their bodies and heads.

The task of bringing these still figures to life was left to to Olorun, Owner of the Sky, the
creator.

Great God was jealous of Olorun’s work. He wanted to give life to the earth figures he
had made.

“ I will watch Olorun so I can see how he does it,” thought Great God. So he stayed with
the figures and hid amongst them so that he might see the work of Olorun firsthand.

But Olorun knew everything. He knew if somebody was watching. He saw Great God
from where he hid himself. And he put Great God into a very deep sleep.

Great God slept and slept. When he woke up again, all the people had come to life. He
never saw it happen.

So it is that Great God still only makes the bodies and heads of humans, both men and
women. He leaves his marks on them though. And sometimes, the marks show how unhappy
Great God is.

Source: World Tapestries: An Anthology of Global Literature. Globe Fearson. 1997.

In the beginning, all tales and stories belonged to Nyame, the sky god. But Kwaku
Anansi, the spider, yearned to be the owner of all the stories known in the world and he went to
Nyame and offered to buy them.

The sky god said, “I am willing to sell the stories, but the price is high. Many people have
come to me offering to buy, but the price was too high for them. Rich and powerful families have
not been able to pay. Do you think you can do it?”

Anansi replied to the sky god: “I can do it. What is the price?”

“The price includes three things.” The sky god said. “I must first have Mmoboro, the
hornets. Then, I must have Onini, the great python. I must also have Osebo, the leopard. For
these things, I will sell the right to tell all stories to you.”

Anansi said: “I will bring them.”

He went home and made his plans. First, he cut a gourd from a vine and made a small
hole in it. He took a large calabash and filled it with water. He went to the tree where the hornets
lived. He poured some of the water over himself, so that he was dripping. He threw some water
over the hornets, so that they too were dripping. Then he put the calabash on his head, as though
to protect himself from a storm, and called out to the hornets, “Are you foolish people? Why do
you stay in the rain that is falling?”

The hornets answered: “Where shall we go?”

“Go here, inside this dry gourd,” Anansi told them.

The hornets thanked him and flew into the gourd through the small whole. When the last
of them entered, Anansi plugged the hole with a ball of grass, saying: “Oh, yes, but you are really
foolish people!”

He took the gourd full of hornets to Nyame, the sky god. The sky god accepted them. He
said: “There are two more things.”

Anansi returned to the forest and cut a long bamboo pole and some strong vines, Then he
walked toward the house of Onini, the python, talking to himself. He said, “My wife is stupid. I
say she is longer and stronger. My wife says she is shorter and weaker. I give her more respect.
She gives him less respect. Is she right or am I right? I am right. She is longer. I am right. She is
stronger.”
 When Onini, the python, heard Anansi talking to himself, he said, “Ah, I have had a
dispute with my wile. She says you are shorter and weaker than this bamboo pole. I say you are
longer and stronger.”

Onini said, “It’s useless and silly to argue when you can find out the truth. Bring the pole
and we will measure.”

So Anansi laid the pole on the ground and the python came and stretched himself out
beside it.

“You seem a little short,” Anansi said.

The python stretched further.

“A little more,” Anansi said.

“I can stretch no more,” Onini said.

“When you stretch at one end, you get shorter at the other end,” Anansi said. “Let me tie
you at the front so you don’t slip.”

He tied Onini’s head to the pole. Then he went to the other end and tied the tail to the
pole. He wrapped the vine all around Onini until the python couldn’t move.

“Onini,” Anansi said, “It turns out that my wife was right and I was wrong. You are
shorter than the pole and weaker. My opinion wasn’t as good as my wife’s. But you were even
more foolish than I, and you are now my prisoner.”

Anansi carried the python to Nyame, the sky god, who said, “There is one thing more.”

Osebo, the leopard, was next. Anansi went into the forest and dug a deep pit where the
leopard was accustomed to walk. He covered it with small branches and leaves and put dust on
it, so that it was impossible to tell where the pit was. Anansi went away. When Osebo came
prowling in the black of night, he stepped into the trap that Anansi had prepared and fell to the
bottom. Anansi heard the sound of the leopard falling, and he said, “Ah, Osebo, you are half-
foolish!”

When morning came, Anansi went to the pit and saw the leopard there.

“Osebo,” he asked, “what are you doing in the hole?”

“I have fallen into a trap.” Osebo said. “Help me out.”

“I swear it won’t happen!” Osebo said.

“Very well. Since you swear by it, I will take you out,” Anansi said.

He bent a tall green tree toward the ground, so that its top was over the pit and he tied it
that way. Then he tied a rope to the top of a tree and dropped the other end of it into the pit.

“Tie this to your tail,” he said.

Osebo tied the rope to the tail.

“Is it well-tied?” Anansi asked.

“Yes it is well-tied,” the leopard said.

“In that case,” Anansi said, “You are not merely half-foolish, you are all-foolish.”

And he took his knife and cut the other rope, the one that hold the tree bowed to the
ground. The tree straightened up with a snap, pulling Osebo out of the hole. He hung in the air
head downward, twisting and turning. As he twisted and turned, he got so dizzy that Anansi had
no trouble tying the leopard’s feet with vines.

Anansi took the dizzy leopard, all tied up to Nyame, the sky god, saying, “Here is the
third thing. Now I have paid the price.”

Nyame said to him, “Kwaku Anansi, great warriors and chiefs have tried, but they have
been unable to do it. You have done it. Therefore, I will give you the stories. From this day
onward, all stories belong to you. Whenever a man tells a story, he must acknowledge that it is
Anansi’s tale.”

And that is why, in parts of Africa, the people love to tell, and love to hear, the stories,
they call “stories.” And now you have heard one too.

Adapted from: All Stories Are Anansi’s

African Literature: A Quick Survey

Many say that African history and literature are partly myths. How true is that? Today, I
will share with you a quick survey about African literature based on my readings.

African literature was mainly oral until the 20th century. In fact, these oral traditions of
proverbs, mythological narratives, and poetry still continue and inspire modern-day writing.

There exists a wide variety of narrative, dramatic, and lyric forms in African literature.

Like the Philippines, Africa has folktales, myths, and stories, too. The folktale, often
featuring an animal hero, is one of the most common genres. Stories of a trickster-hero (in the
form of a spider, a tortoise, a rabbit, a human, or a god) are particularly popular. Also, the many
religious myths and stories help preserve in legendary form the history and worldview of African
people. Now here are African poems. These poetic forms are often tied to particular occupations
or cults. Some examples are the ijala, the ifa, and the songs of the fishing communities. The ijala
is being performed by Yoruba hunters. The ifa are Yoruban prophetic poems used for divination.
Others are religious poems that include hymns to the gods.

In most African languages, there are numerous laments. Laments or lamentations are
expressions of grief. These are in the forms of love songs, children’s chants, war poems, and
poems of praise and attack. Drums and horns are often used to communicate or emphasize the
sounds in some African languages.

In the field of drama, Africa has a rich background. African traditional drama, often
associated with ritual and social events, tends to emphasize mime, dance, music, costumes, and
masks.

Apart from African oral literature, there are also written forms. A Swahili poem is
composed of 79 stanzas. It describes ancient Swahili culture and lectures which convey that
power and riches are only temporary.