AFRICAN MYTH: WHY THE TORTOISE HAS A CRACKED SHELL!

Myths are beliefs held by an ethnic group which is passed from generation to generation through stories. These myths mostly explain supernatural events and natural phenomena, they also tell us about the universe and its different components.

The people from Africa have unique characteristics in their myths; describing their way of life, the animals and plants that surround them. Some African stories include trickster animals and spirits; as this enhances the stories.

THE TORTOISE AND THE BIRDS

Long time ago when the earth and the firmament were friends, and the humans and animals were great friends, the tortoise and the birds were good friends. The birds trust the tortoise so well and gave out all their secrets to him. They have a special kind of love for him, but he the tortoise took advantage of them. The birds see the tortoise as a very wise animal and never thought anything bad about him. Whatever happens in the kingdom of the birds, the tortoise is always the first to know.

One day, the birds threw a feast in the sky and invited the tortoise, but he had no wings to get to the sky.

The birds who were genuine friends to the tortoise, promised to help him out. They agreed to donate feathers and help him fly to the sky.

THE CUNNY TORTOISE

The Tortoise was excited and thanked them. The day for the feast came, and the Tortoise called the birds for a meeting; in the meeting, the cunning Tortoise told them that it would be proper to  give names to everyone attending the party. The birds agreed with him and he gave them names. As a wise animal, the Tortoise gave himself EVERYBODY.

They all flew to the sky for the great feast.
The tortoise was a clever speaker, so they made him in charge of the party.

The food was served for all, but anytime the food is served by the servers, Tortoise will jump up and ask “who is the food for?” The servers and the birds will chorus, “it is for Every body!” The Tortoise will halt the birds, and eat up all the food. The birds were surprised at the what the Tortoise did, so they asked him why he ate all the food, he answered, “My name is Everybody, so the whole food is meant for me.”

The birds remained hungry throughout the feast. Tortoise ate up all the foods, drank all the wine and ate all the snack.

THE BIRDS DEALT WITH THE TORTOISE

The birds got provoked and angrily snatched all the feathers from him. Tortoise cried out but no one listened to him. He cried to the Eagle and begged him to go to his house and tell his wife to remove all the soft material and foam and set them outside his compound, so when he falls from the sky, he will fall on them and won’t get hurt. The Eagle took pity on him and set off for his house.

On the Eagle’s way to the Tortoise house, he remembered what the Tortoise did to them and changed his mind. He got to Tortoises wife and told her to take out all hard objects in their house and set it towards the sky, that the husband wants to throw down food. Tortoise wife did as the Eagle said and added more hard objects due to their greedy nature.

The Tortoise saw his wife setting the materials outside his compound, but because the sky was too far, he couldn’t see well and with a loud noise, the Tortoise descended from the sky to the earth, and landed on top of the hard objects in his compound. His shell got broken. His wide took him to a native doctor and the shell was patched up with a local gum.

Since that day, the Tortoise shell has remained patched up and never whole again.