African Myths of Origin

by Stephen Belcher

  The first Sow to arrive were three brothers, Mamba, Teri and Abrapimon. They were joined later by their wives. Mamba had three daughters. One day, while Mamba was out hunting, his two brothers decided the time had come to establish their city. They started by building walls, and they took Mamba’s daughters and buried them in the foundations of the walls: the eldest under the south-west wall, the middle one to the east, and the youngest in the north-west. Mamba returned from his hunting and looked for his daughters; his brothers did not dare confess what they had done. But some days after the daughters had been buried, great lizards emerged from holes in the walls at the places of sacrifices; the lizards made their way to the house of Mamba and found Mamba and his wife sitting and weeping with grief. Laying their heads in the laps of the mourning parents, the lizards somehow conveyed to the humans that they, the lizards, were their daughters, transformed.

  After some time, other Sow arrived from the north and settled in the city. They learned how the walls of the town had been consecrated, and inevitably Mamba learned the true fate of his daughters. His rage against his brothers was great, and he gathered followers to attack and slay them. But the elders of the other groups intervened and a compromise was reached. To the lizards was given the power of choosing the new king of the town. When the old king died, the new candidate would make offerings of honey, milk and meal. If the lizards emerged from their lairs and accepted the offering, the candidate would be confirmed. If they refused, another candidate would be presented.

  It is said that Goulfeil eventually fell to the Muslims because of a break in the rituals. The town was protected by a magical book, a copy of the Koran, and this book was kept in a magical case that was remade with the accession of each new king. At the accession of a new king, they would bring forth an ox and the king’s mother. Both would be killed and skinned; their skins were tanned and sewn to make a new cover for the magical book.

  But at last one king, Memachi, refused to order the death of his mother. He asserted that he held his kingship through his father’s line and that his power did not need such a sacrifice. There was division in the city at that time, and many people who held to the old ways fled into the bush and there they died of starvation. Others remained and supported the king. But it was because the magical book no longer had its powerful case that soon after the Muslims of Abecher were able to capture the city of Goulfeil.

  THE CITY OF MAKARI

  A Sow named Abdullah came from the east. He was guided by a great lizard, which went into the earth at the future site of Makari, and so Abdullah settled there. Later, his descendant Moussa Kalla built the wall which surrounded the town. After he died, he was succeeded by his grandson, Ahe. But Ahe did not have human form; he was a great black serpent. He communicated with his subjects by moving his tail; he would raise it to signify assent, or twitch it to deny their request. He lived in the centre of the town, under a grove, and was fed one sheep each day.

  The people eventually began to tire of being ruled by a non-human being. There were mutters of discontent, but no one dared to do anything against the being that had ruled them for so long, until a prince came from a nearby kingdom: Hussein, son of the ruler of Ngazargamu in Bornu. He found the people gathered and complaining and learned why they were unhappy, and so he simply marched into the centre of the city, to the serpent’s place, and pierced it with a spear. It died quickly. Its offspring scattered throughout the town, and some fled to other towns.

  Hussein laid out the serpent’s carcass and it was butchered. The head was buried under the shrine to the lizard which had led the founder Abdullah to the site; the entrails were buried in a place of power, and the other parts of the body were buried in the different neighbourhoods of the town; even today (at the time of telling) the town of Makari has something of the shape of a serpent. Hussein then declared himself king. He and his descendants ruled over the town.

  In typical human fashion, the people of Makari mourned the serpent and resented their new rulers.

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  THE KINGDOM OF BAGIRMI

  The kingdom of Bagirmi was established in the sixteenth century among the Barma, living to the south-east of Lake Chad along rivers that feed into the lake. The story is clearly Islamic in origin, but includes local elements as well; it is a dynastic legend rather than a regional creation myth. It also indicates the degree of ethnic fluidity in the region; the presence of the Fulani woman may be technically an anachronism but does reflect the current mix of peoples in the region. This story is retold from an ethnographic study published in 1977.

  The kings of Bagirmi traced their ancestry to Yemen. They said that the wife of Abd el Tukruru (of the line of the Prophet Muhammad) gave birth to a black child. The father interpreted this oddity to infidelity on his wife’s part, accused her of adultery and fornication, and ordered that mother and child be burned alive in a structure made of mbese wood. But mother and child survived the fire, and Abd el Tukruru’s sister was the first to reach them. Amazed at finding them alive, she took the child and threw it up in the air, exclaiming, ‘Baggar mia!’ (colloquial Arabic: a hundred cows), referring to the compensation the father owed after this visible proof of his wife’s guiltlessness.

  Nevertheless, the father eventually ordered his son, named Muhammad, to leave Yemen and travel west. His son departed in the company of his eleven brothers and ten other companions, and they took also three pack-oxen carrying an anvil, musical instruments and hunting weapons. Along the way, some brothers died and others chose to settle down. One brother stayed in a town called Erla, and there Muhammad also left the anvil. At that time a Muslim holy man sacrificed the pack-ox that had carried the anvil, sprinkling its blood over the metal. The anvil vanished into the ground.

  Finally, Muhammad came to a place where an old Fulani woman named Nyo-nyo was making salt from the ashes of the jan tree; she was sitting under an mbese tree. She was near a watercourse, and a rhinoceros was drinking from the water. Using his hunting weapons, Muhammad killed the rhinoceros, and from that deed received his regal name, Dala Birni (rhinoceros king).

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  THE KINGDOMS OF KANEM AND BORNU

  The history of Kanem and Bornu is lengthy and complex. The kingdom of Kanem arose first in the savannahs east and north of Lake Chad; its capital was Njimi, and the Maighumi dynasty which ruled traced its ancestry to Yemen. In the fifteenth century the nomadic Bulala displaced the Maighumi rulers (the king was called Mai) from Njimi. The kings wandered for some time, but then settled in what is now called Bornu, west of Lake Chad, and established a second capital, Ngazargamu. The king at this time was Mai Ali Ghaji Dunamami, and the date around 1470. Over the next few hundred years, Bornu reconquered their old territory of Kanem to the east, and held off first the Songhay and then the Hausa and Fulani Muslim states to the west. Finally, in the eighteenth century Muslim Fulani rulers displaced the Mais and a thousand-year dynasty ended.

  The people of Bornu are the Kanuri, tracing their origins to the Tubu and the Kuwar (equated with the Sow), with a strong Arabic influence. Their documented history goes back to the conversion to Islam of Mai Umme, c. 1080. While the economy depended in some part on slave-raiding to the south, among the unconverted peoples, trade, agriculture and various forms of industry were also central. Their traditions of origin are heavily influenced by Islam, and echo the traditions found in other Muslim kingdoms of the savannah. These stories are retold from undated local Arabic writings translated into English.

  THE FIVE TRIBES OF KANEM

  The Ngalawiyu, the Kuburi, the Magumi, the Kangu and the Kajidi all trace their origin to Ayesha, who was the daughter of the Sultan of Baghdad. The Sultan married her first to his brother, Maina Ahmed, and to this husband she gave a son named Ngal. But Maina Ahmed died. The Sultan of Baghdad then married Ayesha to Abraha, the Sultan of Yemen. She gave him a son named Sayf. But then Abraha died.

  The Sultan of Baghdad then married Ayesha to the ruler of the city of Medina. She gave him a son nam
ed Mani. Then the ruler of Medina died. Then the Sultan of Baghdad married Ayesha to the Sultan of Misra (Egypt). She went to Egypt and there she gave the Sultan of Egypt a son, named Abdurrahman. Then the Sultan of Egypt died and Ayesha returned to the home of her father.

  After some months she married Kaigama Barka; to him she gave a son named Jidi Gaji. After some time, she died, leaving her five sons. Each of them became the ancestor of a fraction of the people of Kanem:

  From Ngal came the Ngalawiyu.

  From Sayf came the Magumi of Yemen.

  From Mani came the Kangu.

  From Abdurrahman came the Kuburi.

  From Jidi Gaji came the Kajidi.

  After the death of their mother, these five sons travelled to the land of Kanem, and then took counsel to choose a king among them. They chose Sayf, who became the founder of the Sayfawa dynasty of the Magumi. His elder brother Ngal then came to him in secret and warned him that the people might challenge his rule, because he was not the eldest, and told Sayf that he should execute him, Ngal, in public so that there should be no question about his power and his authority. Sayf was reluctant to kill his elder brother, but Ngal reassured him that a blow from a sword would not be enough: he would seem dead, but would actually be alive. If Sayf came to him after the crowd had dispersed and called him by name, Ngal would rise again. So Sayf assented.

  He announced to the people that because some were challenging his authority on the grounds that Ngal should be king, he would execute Ngal. Then he struck Ngal with a sword upon the neck, cutting his throat so that blood flowed and his brother fell dead. Then he waited until the crowd had left and returned to revive his brother, but no life returned to the body. This was Ngal’s trick to assure the authority of his younger brother. Now there was no rival claimant, nor was there any doubt that the new Mai would protect his throne. This was far-sighted, for in later years the kingdom of Kanem was destroyed by wars of succession among rival brothers.

  THE SAIFAWA AND THE SOW

  The land of Bornu into which the new people wandered was then inhabited by the Sow, hunters who were great in stature. A Sow hunter would return from the bush with an elephant slung over his shoulder, and they used hills for pillows when they slept. Their leader at this time was Dala Ngumani. He was astounded one day to see a new people coming out of the dry lands to the north with a new animal: it had no horns or hoofs, and its feet were great pads, split in two. Its neck was long, like that of the giraffe, and its body was topped by a great hump.

  He talked with the leader of this people – and one legend says it was Mai Ali Ghaji, leading the Kanuri who had been expelled from Kanem – and agreed to give them land and shelter. In one story, he traced out a circle of land for them using a stick, and so encompassed a great expanse of land; in another, he offered them a bullock’s hide of land, and the king told his people to cut the hide into a very long continuous thong with which he was able to measure a far greater space than Dala Ngumani had intended. It is also said that Dala Ngumani helped them build their new town, bringing great bundles of wood and planting them in the ground to form the stockade around the town. There were six gates, and the name of the new city was Ngazargamu.

  For a time the Saifawa and the Sow lived quietly together, but inevitably there was friction and then conflict. One cause was the children’s play: when Sow and Saifawa children played together, the newcomers invariably got the worst of it, and sometimes they were even killed in the rough and tumble. So the Saifawa considered how they might defeat the mighty hunters. They could not compete in strength: people who tossed elephants about like balls were clearly beyond them. So they settled on a stratagem.

  Like many desert peoples, they practised the art of dyeing their skin with henna to form intricate patterns on their hands and feet. One week, all the people of the town dyed their hands with ornate designs. Naturally, the Sow whom they met noticed their hands and admired the beauty of the work; eventually, the Sow asked their neighbours to do the same for them. The Saifawa agreed, and all settled upon a particular day to invite the Sow to have their hands and feet coloured with the henna. They then proceeded to prepare many strong leather thongs, which they wet.

  The operation of henna-dyeing requires the person to sit still for some time after the henna paste has been spread over the masking pattern, so that the colour will set and take hold. The longer the person waits, the darker and more durable the pattern that results. The Saifawa told the Sow what was required, and said that to ensure that the paste was not disturbed while colouring the skin, they would have to tie the Sow with the leather thongs. Innocently, the Sow agreed.

  Then the Saifawa waited a day or so, until the thongs had dried out and tightened, immobilizing the Sow. They attacked the helpless hunters and killed almost all of them, although some managed to put up a good resistance despite having their hands and feet bound, and killed a number of the Saifawa. They spared the life of Dala Ngumani, because he had been so helpful to them.

  THE WARS WITH THE BULALA

  There was conflict between the new rulers of Bornu and the occupiers of Kanem, the Bulala. In an attempt to end the conflict, the Emir of the Bulala gave his daughter, Ya Juma, to Mai Dunama of Bornu. But the hostilities broke out again some months later, and in the fighting, Mai Dunama was killed.

  Ali Ghaji Zeinam was chosen as the new Mai, because Dunama had left no sons, although he had seventy wives and all were with child at the time of his death, including Ya Juma, daughter of the Emir of the Bulala. Mai Ali decreed that any male child born to one of these wives would be put to death, although any girls would be allowed to live, and so it went for sixty-nine deliveries. Ya Juma was the last to give birth, and her child was a son. But she found an opportunity to preserve her son’s life, since one of her servants had also given birth at the same time to a girl. She exchanged the babies, and when the messenger came from Mai Ali Ghaji to ask about the birth of the child he was told a girl had been born.

  All went well for a few years, until Mai Ali Ghaji called diviners together to augur the future of his reign. They performed their operations and then informed the king that there was living in the city a king’s son who would succeed him. Mai Ali Ghaji was disturbed by this, but they could not tell him how to identify the child. Hearing of the results of the divination, Ya Juma became worried and sent her son, whom she had named Idris and passed as the son of the servant, into the Fezzan, and from there he was taken to live with the Emir of the Bulala.

  Mai Ali Ghaji Zeinami died, leaving no heir, and a daughter of Mai Dunama, Aissa Kili, was chosen to rule as Mai, although the people were not told she was a woman. She ruled for seven years, until Idris, the son of Ya Juma, sent a message to her asking if she did not know she had a brother living. She sent for Ya Juma and asked about her son, and at first Ya Juma denied that she had given birth to a boy, but finally she admitted that she had switched her son with the servant-girl and later sent him to live with the Bulala, after Mai Ali’s divination.

  Aissa Kili followed the messenger into the desert, seeking her lost brother. When she came among the Bulala, she was told she should identify him among a crowd of horsemen, and they organized a fantasia, a riding spectacle in which all the participants would demonstrate their skills.

  Idris distinguished himself among the crowd: he was the foremost rider, and when the horsemen charged the crowd he alone did not stop short, but charged in among the people. So Aissa Kili identified him and abdicated the throne to him. But Idris had listened incognito to the talk of the Bornu people who accompanied Aissa Kili, and he realized they were discontented at the thought of having been ruled by a woman (for Aissa Kili had passed as a man) and might cause trouble. So Idris went to his grandfather, the Emir of the Bulala, and asked for a force of soldiers to accompany him back to Ngazargamu to quell any opposition to his rule. The Emir agreed and sent a force of horsemen with Idris.

  After some months, the Bulala horsemen wished to return home, for they had seen no signs o
f opposition to the rule of the new Mai Idris. Idris arranged to have them killed. Later, he made war on the Bulala, and finally captured his grandfather, the Emir of the Bulala.

  ‘Where is Mai Dunama, my father?’ asked Idris.

  ‘He died from wounds received in our battles,’ answered the Emir.

  ‘Then go and join him and continue your battle,’ ordered Idris, and the Emir was put to death.

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  THE HAUSA

  The Hausa are the people who settled in the territory between the Niger, as it flows south out of the desert, and the Benue flowing west from the Mandara and Cameroon mountains. The cities of the Hausa became renowned trading centres, acting as middlemen between the trans-Saharan caravan trade that led north to Tripoli (in Libya) and to Egypt and the southward trade in ivory, slaves, kola nuts and other commodities. Islam was adopted by the rulers in many cities around the sixteenth century, but they made accommodations with the traditional practices of their subjects. In the late eighteenth century, Muslim Fulani took power in most of the cities, beginning with Uthman dan Fodio in Sokoto and continuing with others; this period of the ‘Fulani Jihad’ involved a wave of conquests towards the south and east that ended with the arrival of the British a century later.

  The Hausa divide their cities into the ‘Hausa Bakwai’ (the seven true sons) and the ‘Banza Bakwai’ (the seven bastards), looking to the descendants of Bayajida, founder of the ruling lineage. Among the seven ‘true’ Hausa cities, the principal ones were Daura (the first), Kano, Zazzau (now Zaria) and Katsina.

  BAYAJIDA AND DAURA

  Bayajida was a son of the king of Baghdad. He settled in the land of Egypt, but was forced to leave because of his passion for horses. The king of Egypt had a stallion that was considered supreme in the land; when it whinnied, all other horses remained silent. Even the people would stop what they were doing until the horse had ceased its call. Bayajida had a wonderful mare, and he longed to have her breed by the stallion.