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Legends of Africa: Antelope (Kaang)
The Bushmen,
also called the Khoi or San, are the nomads of Africa.
In the last few
decades, many have become farmers due to the dangers that our modern
life poses to their traditional hunter-gatherer lifestyle, but their
territory once stretched from the Cape to Kenya.
The Bushmen are experts
at finding water, and their advice is often sought out due to their
precognitive dreams and divining capabilities.
According to their beliefs, the supreme god Kaang created
the world but sent death and destruction after experiencing too much
disobedience and antagonism.
Even though he lives in the sky, his
invisible spirit still resides in all living things.
In one story
Kaang’s wife gave birth to an eland (African antelope). The god nurtured
the calf but it was mistakenly killed by his two sons. Kaang demanded
that the eland’s blood be boiled.
The subsequent fatty residue was
scattered across the landscape, in turn becoming other antelope and
animals.
In this manner, Kaang provided the meat that his people hunt,
kill, and eat to this day.
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Legends of Africa: The Exploits of Anansi
Who is Anansi? The exploits of Anansi,
West Africa’s great trickster-god, are described in hundreds of
folktales.
Usually in the form of a spider, his stories mainly deal with
his attempts at fooling humans into stealing or doing something immoral
that would benefit him in some way.
These attempts normally fail
miserably, teaching the listeners various life lessons.
One tale tells
of his attempt to hoard the entire world’s wisdom into a pot for
himself. When he succeeded, he attempted to hide the pot at the top of a
tree where nobody could find it. He tied the pot in front of him and
tried to climb the tree, but progress was slow as he kept sliding and
losing his grip.
His son, who had followed him, finally asked him why he
didn’t tie the pot to his back so that he could climb more easily. As
he realized his son’s ingenuity, the pot slipped and fell to the ground.
The wisdom fell out and a sudden rainstorm washed it into the river and
from there to the waters of the ocean, so that everyone in the world
now owns a little bit of it.
