Seeking monsters in African mythology.

The father of the gods and his children

[Benin]

The world and mankind were created by the father of the gods, Mahuliza. After he finished this great project, he felt very tired, and things were much more complicated than before. He can't take care of it by himself, so he leaves everything in the world to his children. He has many children, all of whom are very capable.

Dazodri and his sister are also his wife, Neo Hervey Ananou. They are Mawuliza's first twins. He loved them very much and gave them all his possessions, making them the gods of the earth and giving them the right to manage the earth. Dazuodeli took his wife to the world and traveled all over the world, caring about people's food, clothing, housing and transportation, solving the drought and flood in the fields, guiding people to cultivate and sow, harvest and collect.

Heved Oso is Mawuliza's second son. He has a bad temper and a bad temper. Mawuliza made him a Raytheon, regulating hot and cold weather, arranging the coming and going of wind and rain, managing the landing of hail and the flooding of rivers, and enriching people on the earth. Herved Ossur often turns into a big ram and runs around in the clouds. When it is calm, it rains in time to protect the growth of crops and fruit trees. When he is angry, it's a lot of thunder and little rain, killing creatures, destroying houses, destroying trees and fields. His youngest son, Gebad, also inherited his father's grumpy temper and constantly fired lightning at the earth. The rumbling thunder is his roar, and he wants to destroy everything, even the eggs hidden in the nests of lizards, pythons and crocodiles are shattered by him. His mother has been with him all the time, constantly blaming and obstructing him: "Don't kill creatures! Gebad, you have to calm down. " Gebad sometimes listens to his mother's advice and sometimes turns a deaf ear to her words. Gebad still comes into this world from time to time. When he visited someone who had done something bad, he ruthlessly released lightning to kill him. If somewhere is overcast and thunder rumbles, there is no need to ask. Either Gebad is punishing the bad guys or he is doing bad things himself.

Agbe, his sister and his wife Nayetai are Mauliza's second twins. Mau Lisa made them Poseidon, managing the oceans and rivers. Agbe and Nayetai landed in the sea and settled in it. The sun is Ageby's eyes. Every morning, when he opens his eyes, the sun rises from the sea, crosses the sky and shines on the earth. At night, the sun sank to the bottom of the sea, Agbe closed his eyes, and the night came to the world. Every day, at the junction of the sea and the blue sky, Agbe reports everything about the sea to his father Mauliza.

Fa is the younger brother of the twins Agbe and Nayetai. He knows the secret language of witchcraft. Ma Wu Lisa made him the god of divination. Fa lives at the top of a palm tree in the sky. He has sixteen eyes. Every morning, his brother Legba always holds a long stick and opens sixteen eyes one by one. These sixteen eyes are the keys to the "future" that Ma Wu Riza gave him. The future building has sixteen doors, exactly the same as the number of his eyes. Fa sent his son Zoe to the world to teach Mahuriza, which is the divination secret of Fa. And named his son Fallowono, which means "a man who has mastered legal secrets".

Mau Lisa put his fourth son, algie, the god of hunting, in charge of the animals and birds in the forest. A ge dressed himself as a hunter, dressed in animal skins and holding a spear. He crossed his legs to race with sika deer, and then flew into the sky to chase the playful birds. Under his protection, birds and animals are rarely hurt by people.

Dior is the sixth son of Mauliza, who appointed him as the god of air breathing, and ruled the field between the sky and the atmosphere. Dior gave people air and breath and gave them life. And use the air to "cover up" the gods, so that people can't see the gods clearly, and increase the mystery and dignity of the gods in people's hearts.

Leba is the youngest son of Maulizha, and Maulizha gave him special power to make Leba his special envoy, shuttle between brother kingdoms, understand the situation and report to him. But Legba is naughty and often lies about the situation, which makes him make many wrong decisions.

Mahuriza also has a youngest daughter named Minguona. Mau Lisa made her a goddess of women and textiles. He let her live in the house where women live, safeguard women's rights and interests, teach them to spin and weave, and take care of people engaged in witchcraft activities.

The division of labor is orderly, and the children are in their positions, performing their duties and responsibilities. Mawuliza sits high in the sky, constantly paying attention to and understanding what is happening in the sky and underground, reminding and guiding children to pay attention to and solve problems at any time, so that heaven and earth can be orderly under the management of the gods.

The messenger of god

[Benin]

Legba is the youngest son of Mahuliza. Of all the brothers, he is the cleverest and has won the love of his father. However, there is a little cunning in his cleverness and a little cunning in his cleverness. He is a naughty elf.

Once, Mawuliza was going to hold a music and dance competition in the sky, and all the immortals in the sky, underground, sea and air came. They took part in the competition happily, and they showed their talents in music and dance one by one. Legba was the last one to play. I saw him holding a piccolo, gently across his mouth, and then a string of beautiful music flew out from the piccolo. The flute sounds slow and urgent, high and low. When it is low, it is like a clear spring over a stone, and a stream flows on the beach; When it is rapid, it is like a storm, lightning and thunder; When it is high, it can break through the clouds; When you are down, it's like you're whispering. Perform flute and dance. With the change of music, his dance movements are constantly changing. He shook his shoulders, twisted his waist and shook his legs, moving forward and backward. When it is strong, it looks like a standing pine tree, and when it is soft, it looks like a weak willow. Suddenly spinning like a gust of wind; Jumping to the sky suddenly, like an eagle spreading its wings and soaring; Suddenly landed, like a dragon playing in the water. He danced and danced to his heart's content and looked straight at the gods as if they were all crazy. Ma-Wu Lisha also involuntarily shook her head and danced.

At the end of the competition, Legba ranked first, and his talent in music and dance made him a great success. Ma Wu Riza Special Award gave him the highest honor and named him as the "translator" of the gods. It turns out that Mawuliza teaches children different languages in order to avoid mutual communication and interference between them. Now, he lets Leba know both the language of Maulizha and the language of his brothers, and sends him in and out of his brothers' kingdom to report to Maulizha on the situation of various countries. Brother vassal States should regard him as the special envoy of Ma Wuli, and must not hide or neglect him. In this way, Legba's position is above the brother god. This is the honor he won in the competition.

However, Legba could not faithfully carry out his task, but used his special status to stir up disputes between brother kingdoms and make a mess of things.

After Mau Lisa handed over the power to manage the earth to Da zod Ri, the second child, Herved Ozo, was always dissatisfied. He has long wanted this position, and he thinks it should be his. Therefore, when the land was dry and it needed to rain, when Mawuliza sent Leggba to inform Herved Oso of the rain, he mumbled and complained, "My father is eccentric, taking care of the twins, giving them the best position and letting me wait on them. Hey, I don't want to do it! "

On hearing this, Legba immediately pretended to be very sympathetic and said, "Yes, I am not convinced of you. That position should be yours. How easy it is for you to manage land and rain at the same time. But now ... then don't rain, let the earth dry. In this way, people will certainly blame Dazuo Dezhi and reflect it on my father. Maybe my father will say that he didn't do his duty and let you be a land god! "

Hearing this, Herved Ossur entered his heart, so he shut the storm and lightning tighter and fell asleep.

Legba hurried to Mahuriza again and said, "Dad, Hervey Osso said there was not a drop of water in the sky. What Herved Ossur is building now is only enough for heaven. If you put this water down, there will be no water to drink in heaven. What should I do? "

Hearing this, Maulizha said discontentedly, "Why doesn't he save more?" ? In order to ensure the water supply in heaven, we should not rain for the time being. Tell Herved Ossur to make more rain quickly! "

"Ok, I'll inform Hervey Osso right away." Legba promised and turned and walked out of the palace. He was secretly laughing, and there was a good show. He doesn't have to go to Helvedoso, there is plenty of water in the sky. He wandered around.

The ground is as dry as fire. The river dried up, the land opened wide, the trees dried up, the seedlings withered, and the sun hung high in the air, without a cloud or a drop of rain. People complained one after another: "Since Dazuodeli became the god of the earth, there hasn't been a drop of rain in the sky. He is really a plague god. I hope he leaves here early! "

People's complaints reached Maulizha, who immediately called Legba and ordered him to find out the actual situation of the drought in the earth. On the way, Legba met Wu, a bird flying and playing. He rolled his eyes and limped up to the bird and said, "Wu, my leg is hurt and I can't walk." You fly fast, please fly to the earth for me, and tell Dazedrei to light a big bonfire at once. This is our father's order and he must carry it out. In addition, when the bonfire smokes, you should shout loudly so that I can know and tell Dad. "

Wu, a bird, thought it was really Maulisa's order. He didn't dare to neglect, and immediately flew to Earth to inform Da zod.

Da zod Rui is anxious about the long-term drought of the earth. After listening to the bird's notice, I don't know why dad did it. But he dare not refuse. Fortunately, firewood is readily available. Those dry branches will break as soon as they are pulled by hand, and soon they will become a big pile. He lit a bonfire. Tu Tu, a bird, sings loudly at the sight of fireworks. Hearing this, Legba turned to the sky and said to Mahuriza in a panic, "Great! The dry land ignited a dry fire, and all life on the ground was burned to death. Now that the fire is spreading upward, I'm afraid the heaven will suffer! Go and have a look. "

Hearing this, Mahuriza was surprised and hurried out of the palace. Looking down, he saw the underground fire soaring into the sky, and a scorching heat wave came at him. He couldn't help shouting, "Why did you do that underground? What did da zod do? " At the same time, he told Legba: "Go and ask Hervid Osso to raise clouds and rain, and let all the rain in the sky come down! Heved Osso is too negligent in his work! "

It rained and the drought on the ground eased. Da Zodez and Hervid Ozo were severely reprimanded and scolded by Ma Wu Liza, and were warned that if this happens again in the future, they will be dismissed from their posts and put in prison for committing crimes. The two brothers were too depressed to speak. And all this is caused by Legba's secret trick!

Later, Ma Wu Liza gradually understood the truth of the matter. He doesn't trust this son so much and doesn't give him any important tasks.

Legba doesn't have much to do in heaven, so he often goes to the underworld to engage in witchcraft activities. Because he knows the secret language of Maulisa, which is the language of divination. At that time, God lived on human offerings. But people gradually worship God less and less, and offer less and less, so God often goes hungry. Only Legba is full. He made a poisonous snake and put it on the roadside leading to the market. When people passed by, the snake jumped out and bit them. At this time, Legba will appear beside the victim and treat the snake's wound with witchcraft. People thanked him and gave him many rewards. A man named awei was interested in Leba's witchcraft, so he worshipped him as a teacher and followed him all day. Of course, that's to provide Legba with a lot of delicious food for tuition.

Ma Wu-Riza saw that Leba was too difficult to control, and he was worried that he would reveal other magical machines in the sky and could not get back his secret words, which made him blind. In this way, he can't see what is happening in the sky and on the ground, and he can't say anything.

Legba finally got what he deserved and became a blind man who lived in the dark all day.