How Death came into the world

In cultures all around the world one can find mythical stories about the origin of death. According to many such stories in Africa,

“The supreme god meant for humans to be immortal, but through an unlucky mistake, they received death instead of eternal life. Some stories relate that the god told a cautious chameleon to carry the news of eternal life to earth, but a faster lizard with news of death arrived first. The Mende people of Sierra Leone say that a toad with the message “Death has come” overtakes a dog with the message “Life has come” because the dog stops to eat along the way. (African Mythology)

Here is a similar story in the Daffo dialect of Ron, told by Mr. Mafulul Lek.

What causes rain and thunder

The following story in the Daffo dialect of the Ron language was told by Mr. Danjuma Malan Kating from Daffo. It was recorded in Daffo in 1992 by Mr. Mafulul Lek.

It is a so called “etiological myth“, i.e. “a myth intended to explain the origins of cult practices, natural phenomena, proper names and the like”. (Wikipedia: Etiology)

The story gives an explanation for the natural phenomenon of rain and thunder.