How It Came About That We Shall Always See Okra the Cat Lying on a Velvet Cushion, While Okra-man the Dog Sleeps Among the Ashes of the Kitchen Fire.

They say that there once was a certain woman who was so unfortunate that whenever she gave birth to a child it died. So she set out to consult one of the lessor-gods about it and to tell him that she desired a child. The lesser-god said, “I shall give you one, but as for the child, all the work he will ever do will be to get you into debt, but nevertheless, some day he will repay you.”

It was not two days, it was not three days after consulting the lessor-god, when the woman conceived. She gave birth to a child – a spider-story child it was, for it was not long in growing up. The infant grew into a comely youth. One day he was with his mother and he said, “Mother, give me gold dust that I may go to the Edge-of-the-Sea-Country and buy salt.”

The mother said, “How much do you want?”

He said, “An asuanu.” And the mother took it and gave to him, and he set out on the journey.

Now, as he was going, he met a certain man and his spotted dog. He said, “bring it that I may buy it.”

The dog’s master said, “You cannot buy it.”

The youth said, “How much is it?”

The dog’s master replied, “An asuanu’s weight of gold dust.”

The youth said, “What’s that to me! Take this asuanu.” He received the dog and brought it back home.

When he returned, his mother said, “Why did you not reach your destination?”

He replied, “I used the gold dust to buy a dog.”

His mother said, “Ho!”

Now they were living there, it would be for about one moon, when the youth said, “Mother, give me gold dust that I may go trading.”

She said, “As for you, as is your wont, you will only take the gold dust and throw it away again, but how much do you want?”

He replied, “An asuanu-and-suru’s worth of gold dust.”

She said, “Take it, then.” So he set out along the trade road.

As he was going along, he met a certain man carrying a cat. He said, “Man, bring that animal that always falls on its feet, that I may buy it.”

The man said, “When I lie down in my room, the mice gnaw my feet; for that reason I bought it.”

He said, “I beseech you, ; let me have it.”

The man said, “You cannot buy it.”

The youth asked, “How much will you take for it?”

The man then replied, “An asuanu-and-suru’s worth of gold dust.”

The boy said, “So that’s why you say I cannot buy it! Here, take it.” The boy received the cat and went off home with it.

When he reached home, he said, “Mother, look here at what I have brought.”

She replied, “Ah, that is just what they said would happen.” The child remained there at home.

It would be about forty days later when the son again addressed his mother, saying, “Give me gold dust that I may go trading.”

The mother said, “All the money I have about me is finished with the exception of an asuasa’s weight of gold dust. If I give you this, and you go, and you do not buy goods with it, that’s the end of this business.”

The boy said, “I have heard.”

The next morning, when things became visible, the youth took up his bag and was off, pa! As he was going, he met a certain Ashanti fellow who was carrying a pigeon. He said, “Friend, bring that creature of yours that I may buy it.”

The Ashanti replied, “I am not selling it, for I amuse myself with it.”

The youth said, “I shall buy it.”

The bird’s master said, “I will not sell it, for I know what it may do for me.”

The boy said, “Oh, give it to me.”

He said, “Will you be able to buy it?”

The boy said, “How much?”

He replied, “An asuasa’s weight of gold dust.”

He said, “Do you suppose because of that I would not buy it?” Here is the sum.”

The boy brought the bird home. His mother said, “This has turned out no better than before. So this is what you have brought?” He replied, “Nevertheless, this is what I have brought.”

Now one day the boy was living there at home, when the pigeon called to him, saying, “Come.” When he went up to it, the pigeon informed him, saying, “In my own village I am chief, and I was about to go on a journey when a certain fellow came and seized hold of me. Then you, out of your kindness, bought me, and now I beseech you, if you will only take me back to my town, the people will take you greatly.”

The boy said, “You are telling me lies. You will run away. “

The pigeon said, “If you can’t see your way to do as I ask, then take a string and tie it to my leg, and take me along.

The boy took a string and fastened it to the pigeon’s leg, and it followed slowly behind him until they arrived at the pigeon’s town. When they reached the outskirts of the town, the children were playing nte marbles. As soon as they saw the bird they said, “Here is the chief! Here is the chief!” one of the children ran to tell the Korenti chief, but they seized him and cut his throat, saying, “You are causing us to call to mind our late sorrow.” But another one went again with the same tidings.

And now the Akwamu chief said, “You, Gyase chief, do you yourself go and see what this is all about.”

He went and looked, and returned. He said, “Oh, it is true!” Then they got a hammock and the regalia and went to bring the chief to his house. The whole tribe was told the news – how he was setting out on a journey, and how a certain fellow had caught him, and how this youth by his kindness had bought him, and how today he had brought him home.

Elders and young people all rose up and thanked the youth. The queen mother brought a water-pot full of gold dust, and all of the elders also each gave a water-pot full of gold dust. The chief himself looked on his hand and slipped off a ring and gave it to the youth. And he said, “Take this ring, and whatever you desire this ring will give you.”

He said, “I have heard.” And he went off with the ring to his village, and he showed the gold dust and the ring to his mother.

Then the mother said, Welcome Aku, welcome Aku!”

Formerly, when the boy, having burned up his gold dust and returned from his journeys, would salute his mother, she used not to answer him. And he gave his mother the news, saying, “You have seen this gold dust and this ring; I shall go and build a great village for us to live in.”

The mother said, “Press your eyes hard; try your best to do so.”

The youth set out and went and stood in the bush. He slipped off the ring and placed it on the ground and said, “Ring, clear all this land of forest and of bush for me.” And the whole of the place became cleared. He said, “Collect all which you have cleared into heaps for burning.” And it did so. He said, “Set up houses.” And it set up many houses. He said, “Ring, let people come and inhabit these houses.” And people came.

The youth made his mother the queen mother and he became chief.

Now, Ananse, the spider, was his best friend. One day, when he was living there in his new home, Kwaku Ananse set out to come to this youth’s village. When he reached it, he said, “Oh, little mother’s child, little father’s child, you have been fortunate and successful and you don’t care any more about me or to look after me. But what has happened to bring all this about?”

Then the youth told him all the news. The spider replied, “I shall go to my village to get something and return.”

Ananse went off to his village. He said to his niece, “I shall send you to my friend yonder, and when you go you will take this white wine for him, and pay attention and do whatever he orders, and you must try secretly to lay your hands on that ring.”

The girl set out and went to the youth’s village. The youth said to her, “As for this, I shall see to it that you do not go back again, for you must stay with me three days before you return..”

The girl said, “I have heard.”

Now he and the girl were there together, and the youth went to bathe.

He slipped off the ring and placed it on a table, and the girl took it and went off with it to her uncle, Kwaku Ananse. As soon a Ananse laid his hands upon it, he made use of the ring to build a big town.

Now, the youth, when he came to look for his ring, could not find it. He came to hear that the spider had built a big town which was greater than his own. Then he went off to consult one of the lesser-gods yonder. The lesser-god told him, “Ananse’s niece who came there to you has taken your ring and gone and given it to her uncle.” The spider also went to consult the lesser-god, and it was revealed to him that Okra, the cat, and Okraman, the dog, would be sent to recover the ring. Therefore he went and got medicine with which to treat the meat he was going to place on the path, so that when the animals who were walking there took some to eat, they would be unable again to go anywhere at all.

The youth who had lost his ring came home and told the cat and the dog: “The time has now come for me to tell you the reason I bought you, and it is this: something belonging to me has been lost, and they say it is in the possession of the spider, but that it lies in a box which is in the middle of all the rest of his boxes. They say he has taken medicine and mixed it with that flesh of the sheep and placed it on the path. So when you reach there, don’t eat it but jump over it.”

The dog said, “Cat, have you heard? You are the one who will chew it.”

The cat said, “Oh, go along, you who every little while take your nose to sniff and sniff!”

Then they began to talk a lot, and their master said, “That’s all right, be off.”

The two animals set out and were going along the path. Now there remained only a short time for them to reach the place where the meat was, when the dog detected the smell of it. He said, “Cat, I have a pain in my stomach and I cannot go on.”

The cat said, “Come, come! Let us go on, the business in hand is important.”

The dog said, “Cat, I am unable.”

The cat on alone. The dog then went to where the meat was, and he chewed up the whole of the meat. There he lay! He was unable to go on any more. And the cat reached Ananse’s village, and lay down in Ananse’s sleeping -room, on the ceiling above the room. As he lay there, he saw a mouse passing. Squeak! as he landed on its head. The mouse said, “Don’t catch me, what is the matter?”

The cat replied, “My master’s ring has been lost and they say it lies in Ananse’s box, which stands in the middle of all the rest of his boxes. If you are able to go and bring it to me, then I shall let you go.”

The mouse said, “I am able.”

The cat said, “Suppose I let you go, and you go off and don’t bring it but run away?”

The mouse said, “If you wish, fasten a string around my waist.”

The cat took a string and tied it around the mouse’s waist. Then the mouse went off into the spider’s room and gnawed a hole in the box which stood in the middle of all the rest. Little by little he made an opening, and soon it become large. He passed through it to go and get the ring to take to the cat. No sooner did the cat lay his hands upon it, than he ran off and came across the dog. He was lying just where the cat had left him. The cat said, “You are still lying here! And where is that meat?”

The dog said, “Oh, I did not see what became of it. Perhaps the people to whom it belonged came and removed it. But where is this ring?” The cat said, “here it is.” The dog said, “They say that the river which lies in the path is in flood, and as you, Cat, walk on the bottom when you cross water, it might be that the ring would fall down, so give it to me, for as for me, you know, I pass on the surface of the water.”

The cat said, “That’s so; you take it.”

They reached the river, and the dog jumped in – so did the cat. At once the cat crossed over. The dog reached the centre of the stream and became tired and, as he was about to take a deep breath, the ring fell out if his mouth into the water. He crossed over and came to where the cat was.

The cat said, “Where is that ring?” He said. “It fell out of my mouth into the water.” The cat ran and entered the water; he saw a great fish passing. The cat caught it. The fish said, “What is it?”

He said, “My ring has just fallen into this river, so unless you want trouble, give me what belongs to me at once. If you don’t give it to me I shall kill you immediately.”

The fish said, “Let us go to the river bank that I may give you what belongs to you.”

The fish said, “Let us go to the river bank that I may give you what belongs to you.”

When they both reached the bank, the fish vomited and the ring came out.

The cat took it and came and showed it to the dog. The dog said, “Father, I beg of you, when you go, don’t speak about what has happened.” The cat remained silent. They reached home and the cat told his master all that had happened, saying, “Because of the meat which the dog chewed as we were going along, he became unable to go farther. And again, when I had gone and got the ring and brought it back, the dog said to me, as he crossed a river on its surface, that I must hand over the ring to him. I gave it to him, and he threw it away in the river. It was only after a little while that I laid my hands on it again.”

All the people who were present said, “You, Cat, whatever kind of food I am eating, I will see to it that I break some and place in your little dish. Whatever mat I sleep upon, I shall only lie upon it provided you lie on some of it. As for you, Dog, you will only lie on the smoldering embers of the dead fire when the chilly might comes. Only with floggings, the folk will flog you.”

That is why you will always see the cat sleeping nowhere but on the best mat; also, if you cast come food down on the ground for him, he will not eat it unless it is on a plate. But as for the dog – we shall always see him sleeping in the courtyard on the dead ashes of the day’s fire; also you will see him there being beaten, he will yelp “Kao!”

It is all because of the time when the cat and the dog were sent on this business of the ring.

[ ASHANTI }

NWASHISISANA, the HARE

Hare, that will trickster, went to live with Grey antelope. One day he said to her, “suppose we go and till our fields and plant some bean!” So off they went and set to work. Antelope stole Hare’s beans, and Hare stole Antelope’s beans, but did most of the stealing.

Hare set a trap in his field, and Antelope was caught by the leg. In the early morning the cunning rascal went out and found Antelope caught in the trap. “Don’t you think you deserve to be killed,” said he, “now that I have found you out?”

“No! No!” she cried. “Let me go, and we will go back to my house where I will give you a hoe.” So he let her go, and she gave him the hoe.

Hare then packed his beans, harvested all his fields, and made ready to be off. Good-bye,” he said to Antelope, “I won’t stay with you any longer. You are a thief!”

Hare soon came across the great lizard, Varan, lying at the edge of a water-hole. It was the chief’s water-hole, where they drew their water, and he had been placed there on guard to find out who it was that was continually disturbing it and making it muddy. “What are you doing here?” said Hare.

“I am watching this hole to see who it is that muddies the chief’s water.”

“I’ll tell you what,” said Hare, “we had much better go and till a field together.”

“How can I dig?” said Varan. “I can’t stand on my hind legs and hold the hoe in my forepaws.”

“That doesn’t matter! Just come long. I will tie the hoe to your tail and you will be able to dig beautifully.”

So the hoe was tied on, but when this was done Varan could not move. Then Hare ran back to the hole, drank his fill of water, and finished by stirring it up well, making it as muddy as possible. After this he walked all over Varan’s fields and regaled himself on his groundnuts. In the heat of the day he came back and said, “Ho! An army has passed through the country. I hear that the warriors have dirtied the water in the hole. I hear, too, that they have ravaged all your crop of groundnuts!”

“Untie me!” said Varan. “I can’t budge.”

“All right, but only on condition that you don’t go and accuse me, Hare, of having stirred up the water.”

“But who told you this story about those soldiers who did all the mischief?”

“Don’t ask me so many questions. If you do, I won’t untie you!”

“Very well! I’ll be quiet, but take away this hoe. It hurts me!”

“Listen! First of all, I’ll go and draw some water for you. You must be thirsty.”

“No, I’m not thirsty. Only let me go!’

“If you are not thirsty, all right! I won’t untie the hoe.”

“Oh, very well, I am thirsty. Hurry up, and come back as fast as you can.”

Hare went to Varan’s village, took the wooden goblet from which he always drank, drew some water, and once again stirred up the hole. He took a drink to Varan, and said to him, “If anyone asks you whether I have disturbed the water, you must say that you did it. If you don’t promise me this, I won’t untie you.”

“All right. Very well.”

Then Hare ran to call the chiefs – Lord Elephant, Lord Lion, and the rest. They all came and asked Varan, “Who has been drawing our water and making it muddy?”

“It is I, said Varan.

And Hare, the rascal, added, “Yes, I found him committing this crime and I tied him up to a hoe, so that he couldn’t run away.”

The chiefs congratulated Hare. “Ah! you have been very clever! You have discovered the villain who has been muddying our pool!” And they immediately killed Varan.

The wily trickster, Hare, took the hoe and then went to look for Grey Antelope. She was on sentry duty, on the edge of a pool, for guards were placed at all the pools to prevent anyone from approaching, as the water still continued to be muddied during the night. Hare, not being able to get anything to drink, said to antelope, “What are you doing there so close to the water?”

“I am guarding the chief’s pool.”

“You will get thin and die of hunger, if you stay like that at the edge of the pools. Listen! You would do much better to come with me and till a field. Then, in time of famine, you would have something to eat.”

“Let us go!” said Antelope.

Hare set to work in grand style. He gave Antelope a hoe and told her to dig. “I can’t get on my hind legs,” said she, “and hold the hoe with my forelegs.”

“Let me have a look at your forelegs. I’ll tie the hoe to them, and you will be able to did all right.”

Antelope tried, but she couldn’t do it.

“Never mind,” said Hare. “Wait a minute.” He ran back to the pool, quenched his thirst, and muddied the water. Then he filled a calabash and hid it in the bush. On returning to Antelope, he said, “Hello! Haven’t you done any hoeing yet?”

“No, I can’t manage it.”

“Would you believe it! An Army has passed by, and they have stirred up the pool.”

“No!” Truly? Untie me, Hare!”

“I won’t untie you unless you swear that what I said is true.”

“Very well! Untie me.”

Off Hare went to get the calabash to give her a drink, and made her promise to confess that it was she who had disturbed the water. Then he called the chiefs, who killed Antelope.

But there was one creature that outdid Hare in cunning and that was Tortoise. She mounted guard at the pond. Hare arrived there. “You will die of hunger, if you stay at the edge of the pool with nothing to do. We had much better go and till a field together.”

“How can I hoe with short legs?” asked Tortoise.

“Oh! That will be all right. I’ll show you how to do it.”

“Eh! No. thank you! I think not!”

“Well then! Let’s go and help ourselves to some of the wild boar’s sweet potatoes.”

“No,” said Tortoise uncompromisingly, “No pilfering!”

However, before very long Tortoise began to feel hungry, so much so that, when Hare again proposed a marauding expedition, she overcame her scruples and they went off together to root up the sweet potatoes. Then they lighted a fire of grass in the bush and roasted them.

“Tortoise,” said Hare, “just go and see if the owners of these fields are anywhere about, as we must not let then catch us.”

“Yes, but let us both go. You go one way and I’ll go the other.”

Off went Hare, but Tortoise, instead of following his example, stayed behind and crawled into Hare’s sack. Hare soon came back, filled up his bag with sweet potatoes, threw it over his back, and ran away to escape the proprietors, shouting at the top of his voice, “Hi, Tortoise! Look out! They will catch you! I’m off! Fly”

He ran as hard as he could to escape capture. Tortoise, inside the sack, ate the sweet potatoes. She picked out all the best ones and finished the lot. She said, being satisfied, “Kutlu.” After a while Hare was tired out and lay down quite exhausted. He felt the oangs of hunger.

“Aha! Said he to himself. “I will have a good feed!” He sat down in a shady spot, opened his sack, out his hand inside, and pulled out one very small sweet potato. “This is much too small for me,” said he, and putting his hand in again, felt a nice big one. “Oho! here’s a beauty! When he had pulled it out of his bag, what was his surprise to find that his potato turned out to be Mistress Tortoise!

“Hello! Why! It’s you!” he cried in disgust and threw her on the ground. She scuttled away as fast as she could. Then Hare began to wail, “When I think that I have been carrying her all this time!” He felt very crestfallen.

Continuing his travels. Hare next met King Lion, surrounded by his courtiers. He at once asked permission to swear allegiance to the king and to settle in that country. But every day he went out to steal other folk’s groundnuts. When the owners of the fields came to look at their crops, they exclaimed, “Who can it be that digs up our groundnuts?”

Hare went off to find King Lion, and said to him, “Sire, your subjects are not what they should be, for they are in the habit of stealing.”

“Indeed!” said Lion. “Go and keep watch, and if you discover anyone stealing, catch him.”

Hare went off to take up his position in the fields, but Lion followed him and surprised him in the very act of feasting on groundnuts. “Ha! Ha! You tell me that my subjects are not honest folk, while it is you who do the thieving!”

“Not at all! I was only keeping a look out! Come here, and I will show you the footprints of your subjects, for I know them well!”

So they went to a large shady banyan tree. Hare made a strong string of one of the long tendrils and said to Lion, “As you think I don’t speak the truth, just sit down here and you will soon see the thieves passing by. I shall while away the time by making you a crown of wax.”

“All right,” said Lion, “make me a crown.”

Hare began by parting Lion’s mane down the middle and arranging the hairs carefully, one by one, on either side of his neck, as if he were preparing a spot on the top of his head for a crown. Then he made holes through the bark of the tree, on both sides of the trunk, and passed the hairs of the mane right through them, some on one side, some on the other. This done, he tied all the hairs securely together at the back of the tree with the string he had made, and he said to Lion, “I’ve finished the job. Jump up quickly and you will see one of your subjects stealing in the fields!’

Lion tried to jump up. He couldn’t! He had half killed himself struggling to get to his feet!

Hare ran to the village. “Come,” he shouted, “And see who it is who ravages your fields! He had previously torn up a lot of groundnut leaves and thrown them down close to the Lion. The villagers hurried to the spot.

“There! Don’t you see him?” Haven’t I found him out, eh?” Lion didn’t dare to say a single word.

Then his subjects cut great staves and beat him to death. “Ah! Hare, You are very clever, and we are grateful!” they said.

Hare cut Lion up into pieces. Then he took the skin and wrapped himself in it. Thus disguised, he went to Lion’s village and entered the queen’s hut. He said, “I am not well,” and shut himself up, refusing to see anyone. he gave orders to servants to kill an ox because he was ill. Then he had a second one slaughtered, then a third.

The women said to him, “Are you going to move to another place, since you are killing all your oxen?”

“No,” said Hare, “I have no intention of moving any more. I am killing them because I know very well that I shall never get over this illness.” So he had a general slaughtering of all Lion’s oxen, goats, and sheep, to the very last head of cattle. When all were killed, he said to the queen, “Haven’t you got my money in your keeping?”

“Yes,” she replied.

“Well, bring it all out and put it together with my royal mat and all my valuables on the village square.”

The lion’s skin had now acquired a rather loathsome odor, the flies were settling upon it in swams, and Hare was by no means comfortable inside of it.

“What sort of complaint have you got?” asked the queen. “It is something that smells very nasty.”

“Oh! I have only got some sores. I must go and find a doctor. Good-by, I shall start at once.”

Lion’s wife replied, “Then I will go with you, my husband.”

“No,” said he, “No occasion for that, for I know exactly where I must go.”

He went out to the square, picked up the mat in which all the money and valuables had been packed, and then, throwing off the lion’s skin, he tore away as fast as his legs could carry him with all the village in pursuit.

Hare came to a burrow, and in he ran. The pursuers got a hooked stick to pull him out. They tried to hook him and managed to get hold of his leg. “Oh, pull away!” cried he. “Pull away! You’ve only got hold of the root of a tree!”

So they left off pulling. They tried again, and this time they really hooked a root.

“Hi! hi!” he yelled. “Hi! hi! Take care! You’re hurting me! You’re killing me! Ow! Ow!”

They pulled as hard as they could, and they pulled and pulled until the hook broke and they fell over backward. They said, “Qaa.” Finally they were tired out and said, “Oh! Let us give it up and leave him where he is!” So they stopped up the burrow with a bunch of grass and went away.

The south wind no sprang up and blew the grass deeper into the burrow.

“I am done for,” said Hare to himself, as he fancied they were succeeding in getting nearer to him. He was suffering the pangs of hunger and was terribly thirsty, but not dare to leave the burrow, supposing his enemies to be close at hand. At length he cried out, “Have pity on me and let me go, my good fathers, I beseech you!” He crept cautiously toward the entrance of the burrow, and found only a bunch of grass. Then he made off at once, leaving all his treasures behind him, not even giving them a single thought.

He ran on and on. He became thin and ill. He ate grass, but it did not remain in his insides; it passed through him immediately. He came to the home of Grey Antelope. “Say, Antelope, suppose we sew one another up! You stitch me up, but not completely, you know! It will keep the grass much longer in our insides when we browse, and we shall get much more nourishment out of it.” Antelope consented, and partially stitched up Hare. Hare sewed her up entirely. Antelope swelled and died. Fortunately for her, however, she fell in a field belonging to a woman who picked her up, put her in her basket on the top of her head, and carried her to the village to be eaten. She gave her to her husband to cut up. He set to work and began by cutting the stitches that Hare had sewn. All that was in Antelope’s interior at once came out, she jumped to her legs, and galloped away.

She met Hare, and she said to him, “All right! I’ve found you out now! Never again do I call you my friend!”

Hare, being thirsty, was looking for a pool but could not find one. At last he came to one where no one was on guard. Tortoise was really in charge, but she was in the water. Hare walked in. “What luck! How nice and cool it is!” said he, quenching his thirst and swimming about. Tortoise snapped at one of his legs, then at another.

“Hello! Let me go! I’ll promise you a goat if you will let go!”

They came out of the pond together, and Hare said to her, “Come along to my house, and get your goat.” They reached his home, but no goat! Nothing! Hare did not give her anything. Then he remembered the money that he had left in the burrow and said, “Let us go and see chameleon. He has my valuables, for he borrowed a lot of money from me. I’ll just run round and fetch my brother; he knows all about the business and will be my witness.” Having said this, Hare ran off. Tortoise arrived at Chameleon’s abode and said, “Give me Hare’s money which he says you have!”

“What! I haven’t anything belonging to Hare!” Whereupon Chameleon blew into Tortoise’s eyes. She swelled, and died.

That’s the end.

[THONGA }


THE HARE, the HYENA, and the LIONESS’s CAVE

THE HARE ONCE MET the hyena and proposed that they should go for a walk. They went for a walk together and then separated, after which the hare went to the lioness’s cave and found it closed. She cried out, “Stone, open,” and the stone rolled away from the mouth of the cave. She entered and said, “Stone close,” and the stone returned to its place. She then proceeded to the room where the lioness stored her fat, after which she went to the room where the meat was kept, and having had enough to eat, she returned to the entrance, told the stone to open, and when she had passed out, to close once more.

Feeling hungry again later she returned to the cave. On the road she met the hyena, who asked her where she came from and why her mouth was oily. The hare denied that her mouth was oily, but as the hyena persisted in his statement, she told him to rub ashes on his mouth and it would become as beautiful as hers. The hyena did as he was recommended, but no change took place in his appearance. The hare next suggested washing it with water and afterwards with urine; but although the hyena tried both, his mouth remained as dry as before. The hyena said, “Please tell me where you go and feed.” At first the hare refused to comply with his request and said, “You are so foolish whenever you go anywhere and are sure to be caught.” But as the hyena would take no refusal, she consented to allow him to accompany her and told him about the lioness’s cave. “There are,” she said, “five rooms. In the first the ashes are kept; in the next, the bones; in the third, the tough meat; in the fourth, the tender meat; and in the last, the fat.” The hyena cried, “Get out of the way, take me there,” and off they started.

When they arrived at the cave, the hare told the hyena that when he wanted the cave to open he must say, “Stone, open,” and when he wanted it to shut, “Stone, close.” The hyena cried out, “Stone, open,” and the stone rolled aside. When they were inside, the hare said, “Stone, close,” and it closed again.

The hyena at once started on the ashes, while the hare went to the room where the fat was kept. When the latter had had enough to eat, she returned to the entrance and said she was going away. The hyena remonstrated with her as he was not nearly satisfied. After telling him how to get out of the cave, the hare went up to the stone and said, “Stone, open,” and again, when she was outside, “Stone, close.”

When the hyena was alone, he went to the place where the bones were kept, after which he proceeded to the next room, where the tough meat was stored, and ate until he was satisfied. He then returned to the entrance and said to the stone, “Stone, close,” instead of “Stone, open.” He repeated the words “Stone, close,” several times and could not understand why nothing happened.

At this point the lioness, the owner of the cave, returned and said, “Stone, open.” When the hyena heard, he cried, “Ah! Woe is me! That is what I wanted to say. Poor fellow that I am! Stone, open! Stone, open!”

The lioness entered and said, “shall I eat you, or shall I make you my servant?”

Then Hyena asked to be made her servant and was told to look after the lioness’s cub. He was also given a bone and instructed to break it when the lioness had crossed four rivers. The hyena counted the lioness’s footsteps and, when he calculated that she had crossed the four rivers, broke the bone. A chip flew, fracturing the cub’s skull. Fearing that the lioness would kill him on her return, he searched for some hornets and stuffed one up each of the cub’s nostrils so that it might be supposed that it had been stung to death.

The lioness returned to her cave a short while afterwards and called to the hyena to bring her cub. The hyena told lies for some time and invented several excuses for not doing as he was told, but the lioness was firm, and the hyena had to pick up the cub and bring it to its mother. The lioness at once saw that it was dead and told the hyena to take it outside. While he was doing this, he ate one of the cub’s legs.

A little later he was again ordered to bring the cub to its mother and then to take it away once more. He devoured another leg while carrying it away, and when the lioness called out to him a third time to bring the cub to her, he said the birds had eaten two of its legs. He then ate up the cub.

The lioness intended to punish the hyena for his misdeeds, and after tying him to a tree, went to get some sticks with which to beat him. As he was standing there, bound to the tree, some other hyenas bent on a raiding expedition passed close by, and one of them, seeing him, asked him why he had been tied up in this manner. He replied that he was being punished for having refused to drink some oil which had flies in it. The other hyena suggested that they should exchange places and, after untying the knots, he allowed himself to be bound to the tree instead, while the first hyena followed in the wake of the raiding party.

After a time the lioness returned, and commenced to flog the hyena, who cried out, “Stop! I will drink it now.”

“Drink what?” said the lioness, and she commenced to flog him again.

“Oh! Oh!” the hyena cried, “I will drink the oil with the flies in it.”

The lioness then saw that this was not the hyena that had killed her cub.

The next morning the hyenas on their way back from their raid passed the cave, and the one who had killed the cub saw on the ground some strips of bark, which the lioness had spread out in the sun to resemble meat. “I will go to my mistress’s kraal,” quoth he, “For I see there has been a kill.” On reaching the spot, however, he was seized by the lioness, who bound him to the tree once more and then beat him to death.

After this the lioness returned to her cave and said, “Stone, open.” When the stone had rolled aside and she had entered, she said, “Stone, close,” and it closed again.

[ MASAI ]

GOD IS DEAD?

It has been broadly suggested by some, in a very sensationalist manner, that God is dead. This phrase is quite actually a powerful suggestion. In a way, it represents that triumph of materialism and of science over the human consciousness.

However, in truth quite literally, if we are alive, God is not dead. We are the creator of our world. With All That Is we individually create our Personal Reality Field and collectively do we co-create our Consensus World Reality.

So perhaps God with a capital G might also be described as the ensemble of humans, animals and elements on Earth at any one time. However, since the whole is to be found within the part in this holographic model of reality, even if we were the last person alive on Earth, God would STILL not be dead.

Our philosophical discussion begs the question, “If I am the creator of my world and All That Is is within each Consciousness Unit(CU) or atom in physical reality, does this mean that I am also God or All That Is?”

Here again, the issue is not merely one of semantics. Let me explain. Religious conditioning serves to disempower the religion practitioner. We are speaking in broad generalities here. Particularly in our monotheistic practices, it is of course the churchgoers and student of the religious texts who remains in the subservient role. The God with a capital G is the almighty one. No one or thing comes before this God.

Now humility is achieved through the observance of this sacred relationship. Thus we have the humility expressed by the saints and by the disciples in our Christian religion.

Yet may I suggest that the great majority of the practitioners of the Christian faith take it much too far, so far indeed that the average Christian in actuality SEPARATES themselves from the Godhead. Through praise of the almighty God, the one and true King of Heaven, the power and spirituality of the practitioner is often overcome and finally forgotten.

The original words of The Christ, if I may be so bold, asked the observer of these fundamental Teachings to participate AS AN EQUAL.

As the new religion found followers, and the inevitable rise to power within the church structure of priests and other leaders occurred, this egalitarian relationship with God was not discussed. Eventually, as the priests consolidated their power, this brotherly and sisterly relationship between the Creator and the created was deemed blasphemous.

Those who spoke in terms of their equality with God were punished. We are attempting to change this relationship with these blog writings. We are reminding the spiritually-minded person of their original relationship with the Godhead.

THE GOD BLOG

For our next project i will create The God Blog – the manuscript on All That Is. We hope to present for you an interesting and educational blog on the creative source for all or our realities. However, I believe we would do well to provide with some of the ideas and theories we will cover in that blog series, now in this current blog series, so that you may better absorb and utilize these current messages from The Entity.

The therapeutic exercise that has many of the “demons” from the past faced, and in a sense, taken “into the light” and disempowered in that way. In these new blog series of mine, we are presenting the blog reader with the exercise and experimentation required to pursue a similar course of study.

Obviously, because we are incessantly on the topic of Reality Creation here, the question of “who is the reality creator?” must arise just as incessantly. I do believe that it is more than a mere matter of semantics. Who is the creator of our Personal Reality? I have advised over these many years that it is indeed YOU the blog reader of this blog who creates our Personal Reality. Now where does God and where do the concepts of the Divine fit within this cosmology of a reality-creating human? Let us discuss this for just a moment…

To begin, you Dear Blog Reader, are the epitome of All That Is. You are composed of divine energy constructs – the (CUs) Consciousness Units. In each and every one of the Consciousness Units we may find the holographic replica of EVERYTHING in all of our created realities. This EVERYTHING we are also referring to as All That Is. Now this metaphor of a holographic reality may serve us well here in this discussion. The simplified definition of a hologram for our purposes might be, “that which is everywhere all the time.” This describes the fundamental nature of the CUs as well as the multidimensional atoms theorized by some of our scientists. The researcher may make practical use of this theoretical construct by experimenting with experiencing the everywhere-all-the-time perspective. This perceptual vantage point is actually each and every Moment Point in space and time, so it does include past, present and future, in our terms.

This All That IS we have named to move beyond religious connotations of any kind. It is a safe generic titles, is it not? Yet at the same time, being ALL that is, this construct would naturally hold within itself what we might call the Divine or the sacred or spiritual worlds. The visionary experience treats the researcher, or perhaps the accidental mystic, to the sensory extravaganza that is multidimensional existence. How does one then define this experience in retrospect? Invariably the human bows to authority in these matters, and again as we have discussed in these blogs, hands over their powers of Reality Creation to another higher, perhaps “more worthy” entity. Thus the gods and goddesses are born.

We do not intend to trivialize this god-making faculty of the human being. These self-created constructs are definitely “given a life of their own” through the ongoing support of “thought energy” through the prayers and other spiritual observances of countless Souls over the millennia. The personality aspects of the human are constellated “out” onto the physical world from “within.” Each of the separate Earthly cultures, then, creates their individual divinities according to the needs of their particular group. So that the Nordic peoples, for example, developed an entirely different pantheon than did the Indonesian islanders. Different divine beings evolve from the different cultural needs of the people who live in the collective. Now let us relate this to the individual researcher living in our current timeframe.

AFTER ENLIGHTENMENT

We have spoken before of the gratifying changes in consciousness that come with Soul Evolution. What we are really talking about here is a systematic approach to belief change. The example we used pertained to a change in belief regarding radial prejudice.

In our example, the person had undergone a subtle transformation in consciousness by ” working on themselves” to the degree that they have no longer feared or hated a particular race or group of people, but they were indeed experience growing affection for these people, for the race as a whole. I described this feeling as a form of ambivalence, in that the person still harbored negative feelings for the group of people, but the positive feelings for the group were beginning to overtake the negative.

This person was on the cusp of positive belief change. They were comfortable with the uncertainty they were experiencing, for as I said, they were working on themselves, trying to learn their Lessons, and they were, at least for the moment, able to resist recognizing the negative inner dialogue concerning the group of people. They were able to “turn down the volume, ” you see, on the negative inner dialogue, and “turn up the volume” on their self-created positive inner dialogue. So this is what belief change entails.

WHY PURSUE THE SPIRITUAL*

Let us discuss an issue that is quite obvious. Perhaps that is why we have neglected it thus far in these new blog writings. The issue may be framed with a question: “Why do we assume that the blog readers of our new blogs are looking for spiritual understanding? If the path to Loving Understanding and Soul Evolution is so perilous and fraught with physical and psychological pain, why would anyone in their right mind want to pursue it?”

To begin, the blog reader of my blogs, as I have observed them over the many years since I first begun, are seekers. They are drawn to this work, I assume, because it “speaks to them.” Others of a different personality style and temperament, perhaps, would de drawn to other Teachings.

Now it is true that the older blog material were quite barren of discussions of spiritual matters. This was an editorial decision. I have continuously offered my spiritually-informed content to humanity. However, since it is the human co-creator of the blog who creates the blog in physical reality, it is the human co-creator who determines what they consider to be appropriate content for the blog.

These new blog manuscripts are the spiritual – you might say the divine – counterparts to the old blog material. If you are a student of The Entity, to complete our studies we would do well to attend to the spiritually-based blog material contained in these new blogs. Now I have attempted to include weighty intellectual discussions in my new blog work, to satisfy those of you who are focused on the physical dimension in which we live. The spiritual is merely the other side of this physical dimension. To become a well-rounded, educated human, we would do well to study both aspects of reality.

The path to Soul Realization may be thought of as arduous by some. This is true. Certainly it is not for the meek and mild. It is easy to lose confidence and perhaps quit the journey before it has truly begun. As we examine our expanded reality, we most definitely will be experiencing some of our lifetimes within less than ideal circumstances. If we tune-in, for example, to a lifetime in which you are dying slowly from starvation or an illness of some kind, this witnessing may be so distasteful and shocking that you are thrown out of your meditative state. I would suggest that you remember in these cases, under these circumstances of harsh conditions, that you are supported on a wave of ecstasy that is the Soul Self. This ecstasy ,may help to motivate you to continue your studies.

Now suppose that you are experiencing negative realities within your current life. Should you attempt these explorations of your other Simultaneous Lives? Generally, I would suggest that you first gain some mastery over the exercises and conduct the various experiments I have outlined in my previous tow blog series.

THE LEOPARD, the SQUIRREL, and the TORTOISE

Many years ago there was a great famine throughout the land and all the people were starving. The yam crop had failed entirely, the plantains did not bear any fruit, and the corn never came to a head; even the palm-oil nuts did not ripen, and the peppers and okras also failed.

The leopard, who lived entirely on meat, did not care for any of these things, and although some of the animals who lived on corn and the growing crops began to get rather skinny, he did not really mind very much.

However, in order to save himself trouble, since everybody was complaining of the famine, the leopard called a meeting of all the animals. He told them that, as they all knew, he was very powerful and must have food, that the famine did not affect him, as he lived only on flesh, and that as there were plenty of animals about, he did not intend to starve. He then told all thew animals present at the meeting that, if they themselves did not wish to be killed, they must bring their grandmothers to him for food, and that when the grandmothers were finished, he would feed off their mothers. The animals might bring their grandmothers in succession, and he would take them in turn, so that, as there were many different animals, it would probably be some time before their mothers were eaten. By that time it was possible that the famine would be over. But, in any case, the leopard warned them that he was determined to have sufficient food for himself and that, if the grandmothers or mothers were not forthcoming, he would turn upon the young people themselves and kill and eat them. For this, of course, the young generation, who had attended the meeting, had little liking, and in order to save their own skins why agreed to supply the leopard with his daily meal.

The first to appear with his aged grandmother was the squirrel. The grandmother was a poor decrepit old thing with a mangy tail, and the leopard swallowed her at one gulp and then looked round for more. In an angry voice he growled out, “This is not the proper food for me; I must have more at once.”

Then a bush cat pushed his old grandmother in front of the leopard, but he snarled at her and said, “Take the nasty old thing away; I want some sweet food.”

It was then the turn of a bush buck and, after a great deal of hesitation, a wretchedly poor and thin old doe tottered and fell in front of the leopard, who immediately dispatched her and, although the meal was very unsatisfactory, declared that his appetite was appeased for that day.

The next day a few more animals brought their old grandmothers, until at last it became the turn of the tortoise; but, being very cunning, he produced witnesses to prove that his grandmother was dead, and so the leopard excused him.

After a few days all the animals’ grandmothers were exhausted, and it was necessary that the mothers be sacrificed to supply food for the ravenous leopard. Now, although most of the young animals did not mind getting rid of their grandmothers, whom they had scarcely even known, many of them had very strong objections to providing their mothers, of whom they were very fond , as food for the leopard. Among the strongest objectors were the squirrel and the tortoise. The tortoise had thought the whole thing out. As everyone knew that his mother was alive, she being rather an amiable old person and friendly with all, he was aware that the same excuse would not avail him a second time. He therefore told his mother to climb up a palm tree, and he would provide her with food until the famine was over. He instructed her to let down a basket every day and said that he would place food in it for her. The tortoise made the basket for his mother and attached it to a long string of tie-tie. The string was so strong that she could haul her son up when ever he wished to visit her.

All went well for some days, as the tortoise used to go at daybreak to the bottm of the tree where his mother lived and place her food in the basket. Then the old lady would pull the basket up and have her food, and the tortoise would depart on his daily round in his usual leisurely manner.

In the meantime, the leopard had to have his daily food. The squirrel’s turn came first, after the grandmothers had finished, and as he was poor, weak thing and not possed of any cunning, he was forced to produce his mother for the leopard to eat. The squirrel was, however, very fond of his mother, and after she had been eaten he remembered that the tortoise had not produced his grandmother or his mother for the leopard’s food. He therefore determined to set a watch on the movements of the tortoise.

The very next morning, while he was gathering nuts, the squirrel saw the tortoise walking very slowly through the bush and, being high up in the trees and able to travel very fast, he had no difficulty in keeping the tortoise in sight without being noticed. When the tortoise arrived at the foot of the tree where his mother lived, he placed the food in the basket which his mother had already let down by the tie-tie and, having got into the basket and given a pull at the string to signify that everything was right, was hauled up and after a time was let down again in the basket. The squirrel was watching all the time and, as soon as the tortoise had gone, he jumped from branch to branch to branch of the trees and very soon arrived at the place where the leopard was napping.

When the leopard woke up, the squirrel said, “You have eaten my grandmother and my mother, but the tortoise has not provided any food for you. It is now his turn, and he has hidden his mother away in a tree.”

Hearing this, the leopard was very angry and told the squirrel to lead him at once to the tree where the tortoise’s mother lived.

But the squirrel said, “The tortoise only goes at daybreak when his mother lets down a basket; so if you go early in the morning, she will pull you up, and you can then kill her.”

To this the leopard agreed, and the next morning the squirrel came at cockcrow and led the leopard to the tree where the tortoise’s mother was hidden. The old lady had already let down the basket for her daily supply of food. The leopard got into it and gave the line a pull, but except for a few small jerks nothing happened. as the old mother tortoise was not strong enough to pull a heavy leopard off the ground. When the leopard saw that he was not going to be pulled up, being an expert climber, he scrambled up the tree. When he got to the top he found the poor old tortoise whose shell was so tough that he thought she was not worth eating, so in a violent temper he threw her down on the ground and then came down himself and went home.

Shortly after this, the tortoise arrived at the tree and, finding the basket on the ground, gave his usual tug at it but there was no answer. He then looked about and after a little while came upon the broken shell of his poor old mother who by this time was quite dead. The tortoise knew at once that the leopard had killed his mother and made up his mind that for the future he would live alone and have nothing to do with the other animals.

[ EFIK-IBIBIO ]

THE GAZELLE and THE LEOPARD

The gazelle said to the leopard, “It is now the dry season, and we should be cutting down the bush, so our women may plant as soon as the first rain come.”

“Well,” said the leopard, “I cannot go today, but you may as well go.”

The gazelle went; and all that hay he cut the bush, and cleared the ground for planting, and the next day he also went alone.

On the third day the leopard called on the gazelle and asked him to go to the plantation with him. But the gazelle said he was sick and could not go, so the leopard went by himself.

The next day the leopard again called for the gazelle, but he was not in.

“Where’s he gone?” inquired the leopard.

“Oh, he has gone to another part.”

And each day the leopard called upon the gazelle he was either sick or out of town; so that the leopard had nearly all the hard work himself.

When the women had planted, and the harvest was ripe, the gazelle went to look at the plantation. He was greatly pleased to find so much planted, and thought how pleased his friends would be if he invited them to a feast; so he called in all the antelopes and other beasts of the field, and they had a splendid feast.

By and by the leopard thought he would go and see how his plantation was getting on, and no sooner had he arrived there he exclaimed, “Hullo, who has been feeding on my plantation and eaten up my corn? Surely I will set a trap for them and catch the thieves.”

The next day the animals, led by the little gazelle, came again; and he warned them, saying, “Be careful, for the leopard will surely set a trap for us.” But the antelope became careless, and finally fell into the leopard’s trap. “There,” said the gazelle, “I told you to be careful. What shall we do? They have all run away and left us, and I am not strong enough to release you.”

Then the leopard came, and rejoiced greatly at having caught the thief. He took the antelope to his town. “Please, sire, the gazelle told me to go,” cried the antelope. “Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me!”

“How am I to catch the gazelle?” The leopard replied. “No, I must kill you.” And so he killed the antelope and ate him.

When the gazelle heard what the leopard had done, he was greatly annoyed, and declared that as the leopard was their chief, the animals were quite right in eating the food he had provided for them. Was it not the duty of the father to provide for his children? “Well, well, never mind, he will pay us for this.”

Then the gazelle made a drum, and beat it until all the animals came as if to a dance. When they were assembled, he told them that they must be revenged upon the leopard.

The leopard heard the drum, and said to his wife, “Let us go to the dance.” But his wife said she would rather stay at home, and did not go. The leopard went; but no sooner had he arrived than they all set upon him and killed him. And when the dance was over, the leopard’s wife wondered why he had not return. The gazelle sent her the head of her husband, skinned, as her part of the feast; and not knowing that it was her husband’s head, she ate it.

“Oh, for shame,” said the gazelle, “you have eaten your husband’s head.”

“Nay, sir, the shame rests with you; for you gave it to me to eat, after having murdered him.” And she wept and cursed the gazelle.

[ BAKONGO }

THE CATERPILLAR and the WILD ANIMALS

ONCE UPON A TIME a caterpillar entered the house of a hare when the owner was absent. On his return the hare noticed the marks on the ground, and cried out, “Who is in my house?”

The caterpillar replied in a loud voice, “I am the warrior son of the long one whose anklets have become unfastened in the fight in the Kurtiale country. I crush the rhinoceros to the earth and make cow’s dung of the elephant! I am invincible!”

The hare went away, saying, “What can a small animal like myself do with a person who tramples an elephant under foot like cow’s dung?”

On the road he met the jackal and asked him to return with him and talk with the big man who had taken possession of his house. The jackal agreed, and when they reached the place he barked loudly and said, “Who is in the house of my friend, the hare?”

The caterpillar replied, “I am the warrior son of the long one whose anklets have become unfastened in the fight in the Kurtiale country. I crush the rhinoceros to the earth and make cow’s dung of the elephant! I am invincible!’

On hearing this the jackal said, “I can do nothing against such a man,” and left.

The hare then fetched the leopard, whom he begged to go and talk with the person in his house. The pLeopard, on reaching the spot, grunted out, “Who is in the house of my friend, the hare?”

The caterpillar replied in the same manner as he had to the jackal, and the leopard said, “If he crushes the elephant and the rhinoceros, he will do the same to me.”

They went away again, and the hare sought out the rhinoceros. The latter, on arriving at the hare’s house, asked who was inside, but when he heard the caterpillar’s reply, he said, “What! He can crush me to earth! I had better go away then.”

The hare next tried the elephant and asked him to come to his assistance, but on hearing what the caterpillar has said, the elephant remarked that he had no wish to be trampled under foot like cow’s dung, and he departed.

A frog was passing at the time, and the hare asked him if he could make the man who had conquered all the animals leave his house. The frog went to the door and asked who was inside. He received the same reply as had been given to others, but, instead of leaving, he went nearer and said, “I, who am strong and a leaper, have come. My buttocks are like the post and God has made me vile.”

When the caterpillar heard this, he trembled, and as he saw the frog coming nearer, he said, “I am only the caterpillar.”

The animals who had collected nearby seized him and dragged him out; and they all laughed at the trouble he had given.

[ MASAI ]

THE FROG AND UMDHLUBU

ONCE ON A TIME, A king married the daughter of another king; he loved her very much. His other wives were troubled on account of his love for her. She became pregnant, and gave birth to a girl: the father loved her exceedingly. The child grew, and when she was a fine handsome little child, the other wives formed a plot against her; they said, “Since her father is not at home, let us go and cut fibre.” They told the children not to agree to carry the child. The mother called the little girl who nursed her child. She refused to carry her. The mother put her on her back, and went with her.

They cut fibre, and went on continually. It came to pass in one of the valleys they sat down and took snuff. The mother made a bundle of fibre, and gave it to the child: the child played with it. They set out again and cut fibre. They went on continually. the mother forgot the child. They went on continually cutting fibre; they tied it up in bundles, and carried it home.

When they came home, they called the children’s nurses: they all came. But hers came without the child. She asked, “Where is my child?” They said, “you took her with you.” She was troubled, and cried, and ran to find her. She did not find her, and came back.

There was a great lamentation. The other wives said, “How is it now? We have destroyed the father’s darling. The pet wife is confounded.”

A messenger was sent to tell the father; it was said, “King, your child has been lost, while we were cutting fibre.” The father was greatly troubled.

In the morning an old woman of the royal household of another nation went to fetch water: she heard the child playing; she heard something saying, “Ta, ta, ta.” She wondered and said, “Ah! what is this?” She went stealthily along, and found the child, sitting and playing. She went home, and left both her and the water-pot. She called the king’s chief wife, and said, “Come here.” The queen went out of the house. She said, “Let us go; there is something by the river which you will see.” The queen said, “Take her.” She said so with joy. The old woman took her. They came to the river. The queen said, “Wash she.” She washed her. The queen took her, and placed her on her back, and went home.

She suckled her, for she had given birth to a boy. The queen brought her up. She grew and the queen’s own child walked. She grew and became a great girl. She was appointed chief of the girls, when a great feast was made. Many cattle were slaughtered, and all the people rejoiced.

After that the chief men said to the boy, “Marry this girl.” The boy wondered, and aid, “O! what is the meaning of this? Is she not my sister? Did we not suck together at my mother’s breast?” They said, “No, she was found in a valley.” He denied, and said, “No, she is my sister.” The next morning they said, “It is proper you should take her to be your wife.” He refused, and was greatly troubled.

On another occasion an old woman said tot he girl, “Do you know? She answered, “What?” She said, “You are going to be married.”” She inquired, “To whom?” She said, “the young man of your own house.” She said, “O! what is the meaning of this? Is he not my brother?” The old woman said, “No, you were taken from a valley, and brought up by the queen.” She cried, being much troubled.

The girl took a water-pot, and water to the river, and sat down and wept. She filled the water-pot, and went home. She sat down in the house. Her mother gave her food; she did not like it, and refused. The mother asked, “What is it?” She said, “Nothing. There is a pain in my head.” So it was evening, and she went to lie down.

In the morning she awoke and took the water-pot, and went to the river; she sat down and wept. As she was crying, there came out a great frog, and said, “Why are you crying?” She said, “I am in trouble.” The frog said, “What is troubling you?” She replied, “It is said that I am to become the wife of my brother.” The frog said, “Go and take your brother things, which you love, and bring them here.”

She rose and took the water-pot, and went home. She took another pot, and fetched her things, and out them in the pot; she took her brass rod, and her ubenthle kilt, and a petticoat with a border of brass balls, and her fillet, and her brass, and her beads. She took these things, and went to the river, and threw them on the ground.

The frog inquired, saying, “Do you wish me to take you to your own people?” The child said, “Yes.” The frog took her things and sallowed them; he took her and swallowed her; and set out with her.

On the way he met with a string of young men: they saw the frog. The one in front said, “Just come and see: here is a very great frog.” The others said, “Let us kill him, and throw stones at him.” The frog said:

“I am but a frog; I will not be killed.

I am taking Umbhlubu to her own country.”

They left him. They said, “Hau! How is it that the frog speaks, making a prodigy? Let us leave him.” They passed on, and went their way.

And so the frog too went on his way. Again he met with a string of men. The one in front said, “O, come and see a huge frog.” They said, “let us kill it.” The frog replied:

“I am but a frog; I will not be killed.

I am taking Umdhlubu to her own country.”

They passed on, and the frog went on his way.

He fell in with some boys herding cattle: they saw him, and he was seen by a boy of the damsel’s father. He had said, “W au! By Umdhlubu the king’s child! Come and kill a great frog. Run and cut sharp sticks, that we may pierce him with them.” The frog said:

“I am but a frog; I will not be killed.

I am taking Umdhlubu to her own country.”

The boy wondered, and said, “O, sirs, do not let us kill him. He calls up painful emoptions. Leave him alone, that we may pass on.” They left him.

The frog went on his way and came to others. He was seen by the girl’s own brother: he said, “By Umdhlubu the king’s child! There is a very great frog. Let us beat it with stones and kill it.” The frog said:

I am but a frog; I will not be killed.

I am taking Umdhlubu to her own country.”

He said, O, leave him alone. He speaks a fearful thing.”

He went on and came near her home: he entered a bush below the kraal: he placed her on the ground with her things. He put her in order: he cleansed her with udonqa: he anointed her, and put on her ornaments.

So she set out. She took her brass rod, and went and entered at the gateway, and she passed across the cattle enclosure: she went in the middle of it: she came to the opening, she went out, and entered the house of her mother. Her mother followed her into the house and said, “Where do you come from, damsel?” She said, “I am merely on a journey.” The mother said, “Tell me.” She said, “There is nothing, I am merely on a journey.” The mother said, “Women are satisfied who have such fine children as you. For my part, I am in trouble: my child was lost: I felt her in the valley: she died there.” The child answered, saying, “No; the queens made me forget her; they would not allow the nurse to carry her.” The girl said in answer, “No! there is no woman who can forget her own child.” She said, “No; it happened through my not being accustomed to carry a child; for she used to remain with the nurse.” Umdhlubu said, “Yes, you did it because you did not love me.” She began to look very earnestly at her; she saw that it was her child.

When she saw her she rejoiced. She praised with the praise-giving names of her child. The mother took her role, and girded her herself; she took her head-ornament, and put it on her head; she took her petticoat, and put it on; she took her staff, and went out; she leaped for joy, and halala’d; she went into the cattle-pen; she played leaping about with joy. The people wondered and said, “What has happened to Untombinde today? Why does she rejoice so much? Since the time her first-born died, she has never rejoiced, but has constantly been in sorrow.”

One from her side went out, and said, “Just let me go and see what is in the house? Why do I hear the queen praising with the praise-giving names of her dead child? So she went, and entered the house, and saw the girl. She went out, and shouted aloud, and gave thanks.

All the people went out. They ran to the house, hurrying to get there first. They crowded each other together at the doorway. They saw the child. All the people on her side rejoiced. All the others were troubled, and the queens of the other side said, “Ah! What does it mean? For we thought we had already killed this child. She has come to life again. We shall be confounded together with out children. The supremacy of our children is coming to an end.”

A messenger set out and went to her father; he arrived and said, “O king, your child that was dead is come to life again.” The king said, “Hau! Are you mad? Which is that child?” The messenger said, “Umdhlubu.” The father said, “Whence comes she?” He said, “I do not know, O king.” The father said, “If it is not she, I will kill you. If it is she, run, raise a cry in all places, that the people may bring together all the large oxen, and come with them.”

He went and raised a cry, and said, “The princess has come. Make haste with the oxen.” The men asked, “Which princess?” He replied, “Umdhlubu, the child of the king, who was dead.”

They rejoice; they took their shields; they took the oxen, and drove them; they took also their presents to gladden the princess; for she had risen from death; they found her when they no longer expected it. They came; they slaughtered many cattle, even in the paths, in order that the old men and the old women and the sick might eat, who were not able to reach the home where the princess was.

The father came and said, “Come out, my child, that I may see you.” She did not answer. He slaughtered twenty oxen. She made her appearance at the doorway, and stood still. He slaughtered thirty; she came out. The father said, “Go into the cattle-kraal; let us go to dance for you, for our great joy; for I used to say, you are already dead, but in fact you are still alive.” She stood still. Again he slaughtered forty oxen. Then she went, and entered into the kraal.

They danced for her very much. But the other side of the kraal did not rejoice; it did not dance together with the children and queens of that side. They left off dancing.

The father went with her into the house, and sat down with her. He said, “Let a fat young ox be taken, that we may eat and rejoice, for she was dead, and had risen from the death.”

So All the people rejoiced. The child returned to her royal position. Her father did right, royally; he returned to his former habits, and loved at that kraal, for he had ceased to be there much, because he remembered his child which had hied. Her mother and the children of her house rejoiced together.

Her father asked her, “How did you come here?” The child said, “I was brought by a frog.” The father said, “Where is he?” The child replied, “He is yonder in the bush.” The father said, “Let oven be taken, that he may be danced for, and come up to our home.” So they went and danced for him.

They brought him home. They brought him into the house and gave him ,meat, and ate. The king inquired, “What do you wish that I should give you as a reward?” He said, “I wish some black hornless cattle.” He took many cattle and people, and said, “Go with him.” So they went and came to his country.

The frog built a great town, and became a great chief. He slaughtered cattle continually; and men came to ask for meat. They inquired, “What is your chief who built this town?” They said, Uselesele.” They inquired, “Whence did he obtain so large a town as this?” They said, “He got it because he brought out princess to the king; so he gave him cattle and men.” They answered, saying, “Are you then the people of Uselesele?” They said, “Yes. Do not speak disrespectfully of him; he will kill you, for he is a great chief.”

Uselesele took many people under his protection. They revoked from their chiefs through seeing the abundance of food at Uselesele’s. So Uselesele reigned and become a king.

Unkosi-yasenthla heard it said, “Unkosi-yasenzansi has a beautiful daughter, named Umdhlubu.” He said to his people, “Go and see what kind of damsel it is.” They went, and came to Unkosi-yasenzansi, and said, “King, we have seen sent by Unkosi-yasnthla, that we might select a beautiful damsel from among your children.”

He summoned them, and they came. At length they saw only one damsel which excelled all the others in beauty. For they remembered, that if a king has sent people to go and choose a beautiful damsel, it is proper that they should look very earnestly; for those people are the king’s eyes, because he trusts them. They look earnestly, that they may not be reproved when the damsel is brought home. When they see she is ugly, not like aa damsel which has been chosen for a king, they find great fault, saying, “Why have you disgraced the king by choosing an ugly thing for him?” The honor of those men is ended; they are removed from their honorable office, because they are not trustworthy. therefore they chose Umdhlubu for her beauty’s sake, saying, “It is she only who is fit to be the king’s queen above all the others.”

Therefore those who were left were ashamed; and their mothers were ashamed; and their brothers were ashamed. There was rejoicing in the house of Umdhlubu. The joy began with Umdhlubu, who was conspicuous for beauty among many other damsels and in the eyes of them all, for it was said, “There is a beautiful woman indeed!” Her mother rejoiced in her heart, saying, “I did well when I gave birth to my child!” And the children of her house were exalted, although their mother had been long ago exalted by the king, through being loved. there, then, was the hatred which increased towards that house of Umdhlubu, as her mother also was loved very much by the father of Umdhlubu. There was a very great hatred in the hearts of the other queens, on account of the beauty of Umdhlubu, which was admired by the king of another people above all their own children. They were ashamed for ever.

So they looked, and chose Umdhlubu. They departed to tell the king. They arrived home, and said, “King, we have seen the beautiful damsel; her name is Umdhlubu.” The king said, “Aye; it is well. We must set out and go thither, and take a thousand head of cattle. ” So they set out.

Unkosi-yasenzansi, as he was sitting in the shade within the cattle-pen with his people, said, “What is that yonder? There is a great dust which rises to heaven.” They were afraid. He said to his soldiers, “get ready to fight, for we do not know what is coming.” After that the cattle appeared coming with the king and his people. Unkosi-yasenzansi went to meet them.

But the chief said, “I am Unkosi-yasenthla; I come to see Umdhlubu. Then they all went to her house. When they arrived, they asked her to have Umdhlubu given them. Her father rejoiced when he heard that.

They had cattle slaughtered for them. They spoke with the father. Unkosi-yasenthla said, “I come to you, Unkosi-yansenzansi, I being desirous of taking your daughter; if you assent, it is well. I come with a thousand cattle.” The father assented, saying, “It is well.”

He assembled all the girls, and all the men, the young men with head-rings, and the youth; he set apart men for the purpose of working for Umdhlubu. He took out brass and beads for her marriage, and five hundred oxen, and said, “Now it is right. Set out with her. There is an officer for the purpose of conducting the wedding ceremonies.”

So they all went with him, and reached the king’s home. As they were coming into sight, a great cry was raised, and the people appeared in all directions, shouting, “The quee n of Unkosi-yasenthla has come.” They rejoiced.

They retired to rest. In the morning, when the sun had risen, and it was hot, the damsels went out with the young men and youths, and went into the bush; they sat down there. When the time for dancing arrived, they danced; they fetched the damsel from the bush; she went to the kraal to dance.

So they ended the dance. She took brass, and placed it before her father, and prayed, saying, “Sire, take care of me forever, for now I am in thy hand, preserve me.”

The whole marriage party sat down. They danced for them. They ended the dance. In the morning the damsel had ten bullocks killed and they ate and rejoiced.

The officer of the ceremony said, “Sire, we now wish to set out to return home, for the work is done.”

The king took five hundred head of cattle, and sent them as a present to his mother. The men returned home.

And the damsels remained. Umdhlubu’s father had said that they were not to return, but stay with her, and work for her; and many people, both male and female, remained there to build her town.

The king said, “Now build the town of the queen, where she may live with her people.”

So the town was built and completed. The king visited it; many cattle were killed, that the soldiers might eat, and complete the queen’s town. The king also went to live there at the new town. Thus he took Umdhlubu to be his wife.

The people of Umdhlubu’s father reached their home, and said, “O king, we have done all things very well. There are cattle for Umdhlubu’s mother; they are given to her by her son. He told us to give his respects to both his father and mother.”

So all lived together in peace.

[ ZULU ]

THE ELEPHANT AND THE TORTOISE

Two beings, Elephant and Rain, had a dispute. Elephant said, “If you say that you nourish me, in what way is it that you do so?” Rain answered, “If you say that I do not nourish you, when I go away, will you not die?” And Rain then departed.

Elephant said, “Vulture! Cast lots to make rain for me!” Vulture said, “I will not cast lots.”

Then Elephant said to Crow, “Cast lots!” and Crow answered, “Give the things with which I may cast lots.” Crow cast lots and rain fell. It rained at the lagoons, but then they dried up, and only one lagoon remained.

Elephant went hunting. There was, however, Tortoise, to whom Elephant said, “Tortoise, remain at the water!” Thus Tortoise was left behind when Elephant went hunting.

There came Giraffe, and said to Tortoise, “Give me water!” Tortoise answered, “The water belongs to Elephant.”

There came Zebra, who said to Tortoise, Give me water!” Tortoise answered, “The water belongs to Elephant.”

There came Gemsbok, and said to Tortoise, “Give me water!” Tortoise answered, “The water belongs to Elephant.”

There came Wildebeest, and said, “Give me water!” Tortoise said, “The water belongs to Elephant.”

There came Roodebok, and said to Tortoise, “Give me water!” Tortoise answered, “The water belongs to Elephant.”

There came Springbok, and said to Tortoise, “Give me water!” Tortoise said, “The water belongs to Elephant.”

there came Jackal, and said to Tortoise, “Give me water!” Tortoise said, “The water belongs to Elephant.”

There came Lion, and said, “Little Tortoise, give me water!” When little Tortoise was about to say something, Lion got hold of it and beat it. Lion drank of the water, and since then all the animals drink water.

When Elephant came back from the hunting, he said, “Little Tortoise, where is the water?” Tortoise answered, “The animals have drunk the water.” Elephant asked, “Little Tortoise, shall I chew you or swallow you down?” Little Tortoise said, “Swallow me, if you please,” and Elephant swallowed it whole.

After Elephant had swallowed little Tortoise, and it had entered his body, it tore off his liver, heart, and kidneys. Elephant said, “Little Tortoise, you kill me.”

So Elephant died, But little Tortoise came out of his dead body and went wherever it liked.

[ HOTTENTOT }

THE FOX AND THE WOLF

Once upon a time there was a wolf and a fox. The wolf was the master and the fox the servant.

One day both were grazing their flock in the pasture and, as they were thus grazing, the wolf and the fox wandered off into the plains to dig up some wild onions. The sheep scattered in pasturing and then lay down. Wolf and Fox were in the plains eating wild onions; in this way they lost sight of the sheep. After a while, the wolf said to the fox, “Companion, go and bring back the sheep!”

The fox found the wild onions very much to his taste, but he got up and bound two sheep together, a ram and a ewe, and then returned. Again the wolf and the fox wandered over the plain to dig up wild onions. After a while the wolf again said to the fox, “Go and bring back the sheep once more!”

The fox, however said, “Companion, look, the sheep are pasturing quietly.” Thereupon the wolf himself got up and looked after the sheep, and there he found the two sheep which had been bound to the tree by the fox, a male one and a female one. He grew very angry when he saw what roguish trick the fox had played on him, and when he returned he asked the fox, “Rascal, where are the other sheep?” and he broke off some branches and struck the fox hard. The fox, thereupon, went to look for the sheep, but, as he was crying, he held his arms up to his head.

Then he looked into the distance and saw two cattle, a white one and a black one, and said, “Those cattle there are mine.” And the wolf questioned him, saying, “Where are they? And the fox said, “Was it not you who just beat me so severely?” And the wolf said, “Well, come and beat me now!” Thereupon the fox looked around for branches from a thorny bush, braided them together, and said to the wolf, “Lie down!”

Then he beat him hard, and the wolf’s blood began to trickle down. And the wolf said, “By the blood of my mother! Did I beat you that hard?” So the fox said, “Come, just look at my back; it is all torn up.” So the wolf said, “Go ahead then, beat me!” When he stopped beating him, he looked out into the distance and saw the two cattle. And the fox said, “The black one is mine.” Then they raced toward the two cattle. The wolf seized the white one and the fox seized the black one. The wolf pierced his cow first, the fox pierced his last. The fox’s cow showed fat in the wound, and the wolf’s nothing bot foam. Then the wolf grew angry and said, “The cow that you have given me is emaciated.” And the fox said, “All right then; take mine.” Then both pierced their cows again, the wolf that belonging to the fox, and the fox that belonging to the wolf. And when the wolf pierced the cow, foam once more appeared in the wound, whereas the wound that the fox made showed fat. So the wolf said, “Let us slaughter them together so that we may eat in common.”

As they were slaughtering them, the wolf said to the fox, “now that we have slaughtered a thing of this kind, why, in truth, are we eating? Let us therefore kill our mothers, so that we can grieve for them.” thereupon the fox said, “Yes.” merely out of roguishness. So they arrived, the wolf led his mother into the field and killed her. But the fox led his mother away and seated her in a cave by the road to the spring and then returned. Thereupon they fetched the meat. The wolf sent the fox out and said, “Get out the cooking-pot and go fetch some water.” So the fox took the vessel and went.

On the road he rubbed some meat around his mouth and then went into the cave where his mother was and said, “Mother!” calling her. And the mother said, “Uooo!” answering him. Then he gave her the meat and went to draw water.

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Upon his return he went to the village of the wolf, and the wolf was full of grief because he had really killed his mother. But the fox was joyful, because he had not really killed his mother. And so they put the meat on to cook. Then the wolf said, “Fox, go fetch me some water. Take some meat and go; you can eat on your way.” And since his mother was hidden near the road, he eagerly hurried on.

One day the wolf said, “Today I shall go to fetch water.” The fox said, “I beg you, I have an aunt there, and the road is bad, let me fetch water.” Nut the wolf said, “It is my turn to go and fetch water.” The fox was disturbed because the wolf would not yield. Now the wolf took the water pail and went and fetched water, and he had not taken any meat along. On his way he came close to the cave, and the fox’s mother called saying, “Fox, my child, have you abandoned me?” So the wolf stayed still and listened to determine where the voice came from.

Then the fox’s mother called again, saying, “my child, have you abandoned me?” So the wolf realized that the fox had deceived him and had not killed his mother. Then he went to the cave and stabbed the mother with the spear and laid her down in the opening. Then he went to fetch water and came back to the village.

The next morning the wolf sent fox saying, “Go, fetch me some water.” Thereupon the fox took some meat and his pail and started out. When he came close to the cave, he called and looked in, thinking she was asleep. And he said, “Mother, mother!” Then he touched her foot. “The poor creature is not sleeping, she only sleeps on one eye, the other is open.” But the mother did not stir, so he got an ant and placed it on her eye, so that it could bite her and wake her up. But she did not wake up; no, she was dead. Then he went into the cave and looked around. And then he saw the wound; and he sat down and cried very hard.

Thereupon he fetched some water and went home and did not want to return to the water any more. The wolf noticed that the fox had become angry. In the evening, when they set the meat to cook and sat by the fire to warm themselves, the fox was crying very hard. Thereupon the wolf questioned him, saying, “What are you crying about?” And the fox said, “I am bleary-eyed, that is all, perhaps it is the smoke.” Yet, when he had taken his seat there, he continued crying. Then the wolf said, “Yonder is your aunt, your mother, whom I have killed and for whom you are weeping. Is that not so? Now I am bewailing both my mother and your mother, my friend.”

The next day dawned. The wolf went to graze his flock, but the fox stayed in the village. The wolf said to him, “Stay here and cook me a good meal!” Thus it was. The wolf went to graze his flock, and the fox stayed in the village and put meat in the pot to cook. As the meat was cooking, the fox took all of it out, scooped up the fat, gathered together some dung of dogs, cattle, and human beings and some pieces of leather for the pot and departed.

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When the wolf came back in the evening from driving his flock, he found that the fox had disappeared. Under the fur blanket the fox had placed an insect and told it, “If the wolf calls, answer!” And the wolf came in and called saying, “There is the aunt.” Thereupon the insect said “Uooo!” and the wolf was very pleased and said, “There is the aunt of yours; just put her in, she is boiling.” He was very pleased.

He stepped up to the pot and took a stick and stirred with it, saying, “The fox has played a roguish trick again, he has eaten all the meat, the fat as well and then he has disappeared.” Then he grew very wroth and took the fur and beat it thinking that the fox was inside. But the fox had gone long ago. He was far away. This the wolf discovered, so he pursued him and stayed on the spoor, till he found him on a rock. At this he was very well pleased, for now he would be able to kill him. He tried to climb up. Hew climbed part way but then slid back. Then he climbed again but again slid back and said, “Fox, how did you climb up?” But the fox had smeared the rock with tallow, and he said, “Yonder is the aunt; take this pebble, and I shall tell you where I climbed up. Take it and let me see!” Then he continued: “Do show me your teeth that I can see whether they are good or bad, whether they are filed out or whether they are not filed out yet.” So the wolf opened his mouth and the fox threw the rock into the wolf’s mouth and broke all his teeth.

Then the fox ran away. The wolf cried out but not turn back; indeed, he did not. He continued his pursuit of him. Now the fox was at a woman’s house in the village, so when the wolf arrived, he said, “Grab that fox.” He went closer and closer and shouted, “Do not let him get away!” But the fox said, “People, you hear what he is saying: “Let him get away!’ ” So the people went away.

Thereupon the wolf went to the lion and said, “Have pity on me and do seize that fox, do not let him get away!” and the fox said again, “Do you hear? There he says it again: ‘Let him get away!’ “

Finally the fox went into a cave and plucked out all his hair. The wolf caught up with him and said, “How this one resembles the fox with his thick tail and his long muzzle!’ But the fox said, “How the man talks! Have I not plucked myself bare as a Hill Damara, and now he says, you resemble the fox!” And so the wolf went away.

[ HERERO ]

WHY THE CHIEF OF THE SMITHS WAS UNABLE TO CREATE HUMAN BEINGS

A very long time ago there was a king who called Walukaga, chief of the smiths, and gave him a great quantity of iron and said, “I want you to make a real man for me, one who can walk and talk, and who has blood in his body, and who has brains.”

Walukaga took the iron and went home, but he was at a loss what to do, and no one could advise him how to set about making the real man. He went about among his friends telling them what the king has said, and asked what he had better do. No one was able to give him any advice. They all knew that the king would not accept anything short of an honest trial, and would punish the man for not carrying out his commands.

On the way home one day Walukaga net a former friend who had gone mad, and who lived alone on some wasteland. Walukaga did not know that he was mad until he met him. When they approached each other, Walukaga greeted his old friend, and the madman asked him where he had come from. Walukaga reasoned for a moment and then said to himself, “Why should I not tell him my story? Even though he is mad, he used to be my friend.” So he answered, “I have come from some friends where I have been trying to get advice.”

The madman asked what advice he wanted, and Walukaga told him all the king had said, and about the work he had given him to do, and how he had given him the iron, and then added, “What am I to do?”

The madman answered, “If the king has told you to do this work, go to him and say that, if he really wishes to have a nice man forged, he is to order all the people to share their heads and burn the hair until they have made up a thousand loads of charcoal, and he is to get one hundred large pots of water from the tears of the people with which to slake the fire and keep it from burning too fiercely.”

Walukaga returned to the king and said to him, “My lord, if you wish me to make this man quickly and well, order the people to shave their heads and burn their hair, and make a thousand loads of charcoal out of it for me to work the iron into the man. Further, make them collect a hundred pots full of tears to act as water for the work, because the charcoal from wood and the ordinary water from wells are of no use for forging a man.”

The king agreed to the request and gave the order to all the people to shave their heads and burn their hair into charcoal, and to collect all the tears. When they had all shaved their heads and burnt their hair, there was scarcely one load of charcoal, and when they had collected all the tears there were not two pots full of water.

When the king saw the results of his endeavors, he sent for the smith Walukaga and said to him, “Don’t trouble to make the man, because I am unable to get the charcoal or the tears for the water.”

Walukaga knelt down and thanked the king. He then added, “My lord, it was because I knew you would be unable to get the hair for charcoal and the tears for the water that I asked for them; you had asked me to do an impossible thing.”

All the people present laughed and said, “Walukaga speaks the truth.”

[ BAGANDA ]

MANTIS CREATES an ELAND FISH

Mantis once did as follows: Kwammang-a had taken off a part of his shoe and thrown it away, and Mantis picked it up and went and soaked it in the water, at a place where some reeds grew. Mantis went away, then he came back again, went up to the water, and looked. He turned away again, for he saw that the Eland was still small.

Again he came, and found the Eland’s spoor where it had come out of the water to graze. Then Mantis went up to the water, while Eland went seeking the grass which it eats. He waited, sitting by the water, he was upon the water’s bank, opposite Eland’s assegai, and soon Eland came to drink there. He saw Eland as it came to drink. He said, “Kwammang-a’s shoe’s piece!” And young Eland walked up as when its father thrilled to him. Mantis called, making his tongue quiver, as Bushmen still do in springbok hunting.

Then Mantis went to find some honey; he went to cut some honey. He came back and put the bag of honey down near the water and returned home. Then, before the sun was up, he came back to pick up the bag. He approached while Eland was in the reeds. He called to it, “Kwammang-a’s shoe’s piece!” And Eland got up from the reeds and walked up to its father. Mantis put down the bag of honey. He took out the honeycomb and laid it down. He kept picking up pieces of it, he kept rubbing it on Eland’s ribs while he splashed them, making them very nice.

Then he went away and took the bag to seek for more honey to cut. When he came back he again laid the bag of honey down near the water and returned home. Once more he returned and picked up the bag, once more he went to the place and called Eland out of the water, saying, “Kwammang-s shoe’s piece.”

Then Eland stood shyly in the water and walked up to its father, for he had grown. His father wept, fondling him. He again rubbed Eland’s ribs making nice with honeycomb. Then he went away, while Eland walked back into the water, went to bask in the water.

Mantis did not come back for a time, and for three nights. Eland grew, becoming like an ox. Then Mantis went out early. The sun rose, as he walked up to the water. He called Eland, and Eland rose up and came forth, and the ground resounded as it came. And Mantis sang for joy about Eland; he sang:

“Ah, a person is here!

Kwammang-a’s shoe’s piece!

My eldest son’s shoe’s piece!

Kwammang-a’s shoe’s piece!

My eldest son’s shoe’s piece!”

Meanwhile he rubbed Eland down nicely, rubbed down the male Eland. Then he went away and returned home.

The next morning he called young Ichneumon, saying that young Ichneumon should go with him and that they would be only two. Thus he deceived young Ichneumon. And they went out and reached the water while Eland was grazing. They sat down in the shade of the bush by which Eland’s assegai stood, where he kept coming to take it.

Mantis spoke: “young Ichneumon, go to sleep!” for he meant to deceive him. So young Ichneumon lay down, as Eland came to drink, because the sun stood at noon and was getting hot. Meanwhile young Ichneumon had covered up his head, because Mantis wished him to do so. But young Ichneumon did not sleep; he lay awake.

The Eland walked away, and young Ichneumon said. “Hi, stand! Hi, stand, stand!”

And Mantis said, “What does my brother think he has seen yonder?”

And young Ichneumon said, “A person is yonder, standing yonder.”

And Mantis said, “You think it is magic; but it is a very small thing, it is a bit of father’s shoe, which he dropped. Magic it is not.” And they went home.

Then young Ichneumon told his father Kwammang-a about it. And Kwammang-a said that young Ichneumon must guide him and show him Eland; he would see whether Eland was so very handsome after Mantis had rubbed it down. The young Ichneumon guided his father, while Mantis was at another place, for he meant to go to the water later on. Meanwhile they went up to Eland at the water, and Kwammang-a looked at it and he knocked it down while Mantis was not there. He knocked Eland down and was cutting it up before Mantis came. So when Mantis arrived, he saw Kwammang-a and the others standing there cutting up his Eland.

And Mantis said, “Why could you not first let me come?” And he wept for Eland; he scolded Kwammang-a’s people, because Kwammang-a had not let him come first, and let him be the one to tell them to kill eland.

And Kwammang-a said, “Tell Grandfather to leave off. He must come and gather wood for us, that we may eat, for this is meat.”

When Mantis came, he said he had wanted Kwammang-a to let him come while Eland was still alive, and not to have killed it when he was not looking. They might have waited to kill Eland until he was looking on. Then he himself would have told them to kill it. Then his heart would have been comfortable. Now his heart did not feel satisfied about Eland whom he alone had made.

Then, as he went to gather wood, he caught sight of a gall there, it was Eland’s gall. And he said to himself that he would pierce the gall open and that he would jump upon it. And the gall spoke: “I will burst, covering you over.”

Just the young Ichneumon said, “What are you looking at there, that you do not gather wood at that place?”

So Mantis left the gall, brought wood, and put it down. Then he again looked for wood at the place where the gall had been. He went up to the gall and again said he would pierce the gall open and that he would jump upon it. The gall again said it would burst, covering him all over. He said he would jump, and that the gall must burst when he trod on it and as he jumped.

Young Ichneumon scolded him again and asked, “What can be yonder, that you keep going to that place? You do not gather wood, you just keep going to that bush. You are going to play tricks and not gather wood.”

And Kwammang-a said, “You must make haste and let us go when you have called Grandfather, for the gall lies there; Grandfather has seen it. So you must make haste. When Grandfather behaves like this about anything, he is not acting honorably; he is playing tricks with this thing. So you must manage that we start, when you have called Grandfather, that we may leave the place where the gall is.”

Then they placed the meat into the net, while Mantis untied his shoe and put the shoe into the bag. It was an arrow-bag which he had slung on next the quiver. And so they carried the things and went along homeward. On the way Mantis said, “This shoestring has broken.”

Then young Ichneumon said, “You must have put the shoe away.”

And Mantis said, “No, no the shoe must really be laying there where we cut up Eland. So I must turn back and go fetch the shoe.”

But young Ichneumon said, “You must have put the shoe in the bag. You must feel inside the bag, feel in the middle of it and see whether you cannot find the shoe.”

So Mantis felt in the bag, but he kept feeling above the shoe. He said, “See, the shoe is really not in it. I must go back and pick it ip, for the shoe is truly yonder.”

But young Ichneumon replied, “We must go home, we really must go home.”

Then Mantis said, “You can go home, but I must really go and get the shoe.”

Thereupon Kwammang-a said, Let Grandfather be! Let him turn back and do as he wants.”

And young Ichneumon said, “O you person! I do wish Mantis would for once listen when we speak.”

Mantis only said, “You always go on like this! I must go and get the shoe.”

Then Mantis turned back. He ran up to the gall, reached it, pierced it, and made the gall burst. And the gall broke, covering his head; his eyes became big and he could not see. He groped about, feeling his way. And he went groping along, groping along, groping, until he found an ostrich feather. This he picked up, sucked it, and brushed off the gall from his eyes with it.

Then he threw the feather up and spoke: “You must now lie up in the sky; you must henceforth be the moon. You shall shine at night. By your shining you shall lighten the darkness for men and women, until the sun rises to light up all things for men and women. It is the sun under whom men and women hunt. You must just glow for men and women, while the sun shines for men and women. Under him men and women walk about; they go hunting; they return home. But you are the moon; you give light for men and women, then you fall away, but you return to life after you have fallen away. Thus you give light to all people.”

That is what the moon does: the moon falls away and returns to life, and he lights up all the flat places of the world.

[ BUSHE MEN ]

FOR LOVE MATTERS

You will join me as I have joined others

  • No physical form or physical thought
  • can express my existence.
  • The term love, with its message
  • of caring for another
  • is the most important of our
  • messages in the physical.
  • The Other is to me now what Self was to you.
  • I am a step higher but not removed.
  • Yet, I have changed enough since “my
  • death’ that it is difficult, at times, to relate to your existence.
  • The love and the emotions you feel are
  • the connectives between us.
  • My love for you has not changed but expanded
    • in a way you do not comprehend.
    • Physical needs are for physical beings,
    • and I understand and know this.
    • Touch is important at your level.
    • My new or returned mind loves you more
    • deeply than in our earth time together,
    • but it is also much more understanding of physical need.
    • When I said, “Be for me as I would
    • be for thee,” I didn’t mean to limit you.
    • Be the physical person you need to be,
    • as you as physical for a limited and
    • for a purposeful reason.
    • Enjoy physical reality between others,
    • for the mind endures and exists
    • beyond your understanding and existence.
    • I love you as we will be.
    • Your now is for you to enjoy.
    • I never judge your actions, and this
    • I repeat with love and utmost understanding.
    • Be yourself and in being yourself
    • you will be for me as I would be for thee.
    • You do well and I watch you often.
    • Continue to love physical life
    • while you are physical.

Until Later,

BIG COOKIE

THE SON OF KIMANAUEZE AND THE DAUGHTER OF SUN AND MOON

I often tell of Kimanaueze, who begat a male child. The child grew up, and he came to the age of marrying. His father said, “Marry.”

He said, “I will not marry a woman of the earth.”

His father asked, “Then whom will you marry?”

He answered, “I!” If it must be, I shall marry the daughter of Lord Sun and Lady Moon.”

But the people asked, “Who can go to the sky where the daughter of Lord Sun and Lady Moon lives?”

He simply said, “I, indeed; I want her. If it is anyone on earth, I will not marry her.”

Thereupon he wrote a letter of marriage and gave it to Deer. But Deer said, “I cannot go to the sky.”

Then he gave it to Antelope. Antelope also said, “I cannot go to the sky.”

He gave the letter to Hawk. Hawk, too, said, “I cannot go to the sky.”

He gave the letter to Vulture, but Vulture also said, “I can go half way to the sky; however, All the way I cannot go.”

Finally the young man said, “How shall I do it?” He put his letter in his box and was quiet.

The people of Lord Sun and Lady Moon used to come to get water on earth, and one day Frog came and sought out the son of Kimanaueze and spoke to him.

“Young master.” he said, “give me the letter that I may take it.”

The young master, however, said, “Begone! If people of life, who have wings, gave it up, how can you say, “I will go there?” How can you get there?”

Frog said, “Young master, I am equal to it.”

So Kimanaueze gave Frog the letter, saying, “If you cannot get there and you return with it, I shall give you a thrashing.”

Frog started out and went to the well where people of Lord Sun and Lady Moon were wont to come to get water. He put the letter in his mouth and got into the well and kept very still. In a little while, the people of Lord Sun and Lady Moon came to get water. They put a jug into the well, and Frog got into the jug. After they got the water, they lifted it up, not knowing that Frog had entered the jug. They arrived in the sky, set down the jug in its place and departed.

Then Frog got out of the jug. In the room where they kept the jugs of water, there was also a table. Frog spat out the letter and placed it on top of the table. Then he hid in the corner of the room.

After a while, Lord Sun himself came into the room where the water was; he looked at the table and saw the letter on it. He took it and asked his people, “Where comes this letter?”

They answered, “lord, we do not know.” He opened it and read it. It ran thus: “I, the sun of Na Kimanaueze Kia-Tumb’a Ndala, a man of earth, want to marry the daughter of Lord Sun and Lady Moon.” Lord sun thought to himself in his heart: “Na Kimanaueze lives on earth; I am a man who lives in the sky. He who came with the letter, who is he?” He put the letter away into his box and said nothing.

When Lord Sun finished reading the letter, Frog got into the jug again. After the water had been emptied out of the jugs, the water girls lifted them and went down to earth. They again arrived at the well and put the jugs in the water. Frog then got out and went under the water and hid himself. After the girls had finished the filling of the jugs they left.

The Frog came out of the water and went to his village. There he kept quiet and said nothing. When many days had passed, the son of Kimanaueze asked Frog, “O fellow, where did you take the letter, and how?”

Frog answered, “Master, I delivered the letter, but they have not yet returned an answer.”

The son of Kimanauze said, “O man, you are telling a lie; you did not go there.”

Frog said, “Master, that same place where I went, that you shall see.”

After six days, the son of Kimanaueze again wrote a letter to ask about the former letter, saying: “I wrote to you, Lord Sun and Lady Moon. My letter was delivered but you returned no answer whatsoever to me, saying neither ‘We accept you’ nor ‘We refuse you.'” Having finished his letter, he sealed it. Then he called Frog and gave it to him. Frog started and soon arrived at the well. He took the letter into his mouth, got into the water, and squatted on the bottom of the well.

After a while, the water carriers came down and arrived at the well. They put the jugs into the water, and Frog got into a jug. When they had finished filling them, they lifted them up. They went up to the sky by means of a cobweb which Spider had woven. Soon they arrived there, and entered a house. There they set down the jugs and departed. Frog came out of a jug, spat out the letter, and laid it on the table. Then he hid in the corner.

After a while, Lord Sun passed through the room where the water was. He looked at the table and saw the letter on it. He opened it and read it. The letter said: “I, son of Na Kimanaueze Kia-Tumb’a Ndala, I ask you, Lord Sun, about my letter that went before. You did not return me an answer at all.”

Lord Sun said, “Girls, you who always go to fetch water, are you carrying letter?”

The girls said, “We, master? No.”

Then doubt possessed Lord Sun. He laid the letters in the box and wrote to the son of Kimanaueze, saying: “You who are sending me letters about marrying my daughter: I agree, on condition that you in person, the man, come with your first-present, so that I may know you.” When he finished writing, he folded the letter and laid it on the table and went away. Frog now came out of the corner and took the letter. He out it in his mouth and entered the jug. Then he remained very quiet.

After a while, the water was emptied from the jugs, and the girls came and lifted them up. Then went to the cord of Spider and descended to earth. They arrived at the well and put the jugs into the water. Frog got out of the jug and went to the bottom of the well. When the girls had completed the filling of the jugs, they returned to the sky. Frog then left the well and soon arrived in his village. He kept very quiet.

When evening came, he said, “Now I will take the letter.” He spat it out and arrived at the house of the son of Kimanaueze. He knocked at the door, and the son of Kimanaueze asked, “Who is it?”

Frog answered, “I, Mainu, the frog.”

The son of Kimanaueze got up from his bed where he was reclining and said, “Come in.”

So Frog went in and delivered the letter. Then he departed. The son of Kimanaueze opened the letter and read it. What Lord Sun announced pleased him. He said to himself: “Why, it was the truth Frog told me when he said ‘you shall see where I went.’ ” Then he went to sleep.

The next morning, he took forry macutas and wrote a letter, saying: “You, Lord Sun and Moon, here is the first-present; I remain on earth to seek for the wooing-present. You up there, you tell me the amount of the wooing-present.” He finished the letter and called Frog. When he came, he gave him the letter and the money, saying, “Take this.”

So Frog started. Soon he arrived at the well. He went to the bottom of the well and remained very quiet. After a while, the girls came down and put the jugs in the water, and Frog entered one of them. When the girls had finished filling them, they took them up. Again they went up to the sky by means of a cobweb. Soon they arrived in the room for the water. They set down the jugs and went away.

The Frog got out of the jug and put the letter in the table, together with the money. Then he hid in the corner. Some time later, Lord Sun came into the room and found the letter on the table. He took it with the money and read the letter. Then he told his wife the news that had come from the prospective son-in-law. His wife assented.

Lord Sun said, “Who is coming with these letters? I do not know. How shall his food be cooked?”

His wife, however, answered, “No matter, we shall cook it anyhow and put it on the table where the letters have been found.”

Lord Sun replied, “Very well.”

So they killed a mother hen and cooked it. When evening came, they cooked mush. They set these eatables on the table and shut the door. Frog came to the table and ate the victuals. Then he went to the corner and kept quiet.

Lord Sun now wrote another letter, saying: “You, son-in-law of mine, the first-present, which you have sent me, I have received. For the amount of the wooing-present, you shall give me a sack of money.” When he had finished the letter, he laid it on the table and left the room. Then Frog came out of the corner and took the letter. Shortly afterward, he entered the jug and went to sleep.

In the morning the girls took the jugs and went down to the earth. They arrived at the well and put the jugs into the water. Frog then got out of the jug. When the girls had finished filling the jugs, they again went up to the sky.

Frog now got out of the water and soon arrived at his village. He entered his own house but waited quietly until sundown. When evening had come, he said, “Now I will take the letter.” He started out and soon arrived at the house of the son of Kimanaueze. He knocked at the door and the son of Kimanaueze asked, “Who is it?”

Then Frog answered, “I, Manu, the frog.”

“Come in,” he replied.

Frog went in; he gave him the letter and departed. The son of Kimanaueze opened the letter, read it, and then put it aside.

Six days passed; then he was ready with the sack of money. He called Frog, and when Frog had come, the son of Kimanaueze wrote the following letter: “You, my parents-in-law, the wooing-present is enclosed. Soon I myself, I shall find a day to bring my wife home.” He gave the letter to Frog, together with the money.

Frog then started and soon arrived at the well. Again he went in under the water and hid. After a while, the water carriers came down and arrived at the well. They put the jugs, as usual, in the water; Frog, as usual, entered a jug. When they had finished filling the jugs, they took them up, going up by means of Spider’s cobweb. Soon they arrived in the sky. There they set down the jugs in the regular room and departed. Frog then got out of the jug and laid the letter down on the table, together with the money. Then he went into a corner and hid.

Soon Lord Sun came into the room and found the letter and the money. He took both and showed the money to his wife, Lady Moon.

Lady Moon thereupon said, “It is good.”

Then they took a young hog and killed it. When they had cooked the food, they set it down on the table and shut the door. Frog came in then and ate it. When he had finished, he entered the jug and went to sleep.

The next morning the water carriers took the jugs and again went down to earth. They soon arrived at the well and dipped the jugs in the water. Frog then got out of the jug and hid. When they had finished filling the jugs, they again returned to the sky. Then Frog left the well and soon arrived at his village. He entered his house and went to sleep.

The next morning, he said to the son of Kimanaueze, “Young master, I gave them the wooing-present, and they accepted it. They cooked me a young hog, and I ate it. Now, you, yourself, shall choose the day to fetch the bride home.”

The son of Kimanaueze said, “Very well.” Then twelve days elapsed.

Now the son of Kimanaueze spoke to Frog: “I need people to fetch the bride for me, but I cannot find them. All those to whom I speak say, ‘We cannot go to the sky.’ Now, what shall I do Frog?”

Frog said, “My young master, be at ease; I shall find a way to go and bring her home for you.”

But the son of Kimanaueze said, “You cannot do that. You could indeed carry the letters, but bring the bride home – that you are unable to do.”

But Frog again said, “Young master, be at ease; be not troubled for naught. I indeed will be able to go and bring her home. Do not despise me.”

The son of Kimanaueze said, “Well, I will try you.”

Then he took some victuals and gave them to Frog.

Frog thereupon started. Soon he arrived at the well. Again he got into the well and hid. After a while, the water carriers came down and arrived at the well. They dipped the jugs in the water. Frog entered one of them. When they had filled them, they went back. Arriving at the proper room, they set down the jugs and departed. Then Frog got out of the jug and hid in a corner. When the sun had set and it was evening, Frog left the room of the water jugs and went to seek the room where the daughter of Lord Sun slept. He found it and saw her asleep there. First, he took out one of her eyes and, then, the other. These he tied up in a handkerchief and went back to the room where the jugs were. He hid in a corner and slept.

In the morning, all the people got up, but not the daughter of Lord Sun. So they asked her, “Why do you not get up?”

And she answered, “My eyes are closed; I cannot see.”

Her father and mother said, “What may be the cause of this? Yesterday she did not complain.”

So lord Sun called for two messengers and said to them, “Go to Ngombo to divine about my child who is sick, whose eyes are sick.”

They started immediately and soon arrived at the Ngombo-man’s. They gave him presents and Ngomobo took out his paraphernalia. Not the people who came did not let him know anything about the disease; they simply said, “We have come to be divined.”

Ngomobo looked into his paraphernalia and said, “Disease has brought you. The one who is sick is a woman. The sickness that ails her concerns her eyes. You have come, being sent; you have not come of your own will. I have spoken.”

The people said, “True. Now tell us what caused the ailment.”

Ngombo looked again and said, “She, the woman is sick, is not yet married. She is only chosen. Her master, who bespake her, has sent a spell, saying, ‘My wife, let her come; if she does not come, she shall die.’ You, who came to divine, go, bring her to her husband, that she may escape death. I have spoken.”

The messengers agreed and get up. They went to Lord Sun and reported to him the words of Ngombo.

Lord Sun said, “All right. Let us sleep. Tomorrow they shall take her down to the earth.”

Frog, being in his corner, heard all that they were saying. Then all slept.

The next morning, Frog got into the jug. Again the water carriers came. Again they took up the jugs. Then they descended to the earth and soon arrived at the well. They put the jugs in the water, and Frog came out of one of them. He hid under the well. When the jugs were fill, the water carriers went up to the sky.

The Lord Sun told Spider, “Weave a large cobweb, down to earth, for this is the day when my daughter will be taken down to the earth.” Spider wove and finished the web. thus time passed.

Frog now got out of the well and went to his village. He found the son of Kimanueze and said to him, “O young master! Thy bride , today she comes.”

The son of Kimanaueze said, “Begone, man, you are a liar.”

Frog answered, “Master, this is the truth itself. This evening I will bring her to you.”

Frog then returned to the well and got into the water and was silent.

Now the sun had set, and the daughter of Lord Sun was taken down to the earth. They left her at the well and then went back.

Frog now got out of the well and spoke to the young woman, saying, “I myself will be your guide. Let us go immediately so that I can bring you to your master.” Then Frog returned her eyes to her and they started. Soon they entered the house of the son of Kimanaueze. Frog exclaimed:

“O young master! Your bride is here.”

The son of Kimanaueze said, “Welcome, Mainu, the frog.”

And so the son of Kimanaueze married the daughter of Lord Sun and lady Moon, and they lived on.

[ AMBUNDU ]

HOW THE MASON-WASP FETCHED FIRE FROM THE GOD

Vulture, Fish-Eagle, and Crow were without fire, for there was no fire on earth. So, needing fire, all the birds assembled and asked, “Whence shall we find fire?”

Some of the birds said, “Perhaps from God.”

Thereupon Mason-Wasp volunteered, saying, “Who will go with me to God?”

Vulture answered and said, “We will go with you, I and Fish-Eagle and Crow.”

So on the morrow they took leave of all the other birds, saying, “We are going to see whether we can get fire from God.” Then they flew off. After they had spent ten days on the road, there fell to earth some small bones – that was Vulture; later, there also fell to earth some other small bones – that was Fish-Eagle. Mason-Wasp and Crow were left to go on alone. When the second ten days were ended, there fell other small bones to earth – that was Crow. Mason-Wasp was left to go on by himself. When the third ten days were over, he was going along, reposing upon the clouds. Nevertheless he never reached the summit of the sky.

As soon as God heard of it. He came to where Mason-Wasp was; And, answering God’s question as to where he was going. Mason-Wasp said, “Chief, I am not going anywhere in particular. I have only come to beg some fire. All my companions have dropped by the way; but nevertheless, I have persevered in coming, for I had set my heart upon arriving where the Sky-God is.”

Thereupon God answered him, saying, “Mason-Wasp, since you have reached Me, you shall be chief over all the birds and reptiles on earth. To you, now, I give a blessing. You shall not have to beget children. When you desire a child, go and look into a grain-stalk and you will find an insect whose name is Ngongwa. When you have found him, take and carry him into a house. When you arrive in the house, look for the fireplace where men cook, and build there a building in the house for your, child Ngongwa. When you have finished building, put him in and let him remain there. When many days have elapsed, just go and look at him. And one day you will find he has changed and become just as you yourself are.”

So it is today: Mason-Wasp, before he builds a house, looks for the fireplace, just as he was commanded by God.

[ BAILA ]

MANTIS AND THE ALL-DEVOURER

Mantis was speaking: “Now I want you, Ichneumon, to catch some fat sheep for my father to cut up for us and hang up to dry near the house. I do not feel like cutting any up, as I am still writhing with pain. The swelling must first disappear, then I, too, can cut them up, then I too. shall hang meat to dry at my house. Because I, too, want the sheep’s fat to be dry, that the women may render it, so that we may moisten the dry meat which we have been crunching. For the quagga’s meat was white with age and not tender. Now I want to cut up the old sheep, and let the young ones wait a little, for we shall not finish all these sheep; they are too many. I, furthermore, want Porcupine to go out tomorrow, when she has cooked and out aside the meat which she has dried. The Man yonder shall come and eat with me of these sheep, because I haver counted them and I see that they are plentiful.

But Porcupine said, “Do you really want me to go to the Man yonder, who eats bushes? He will come and swallow all the sheep, as they stand in the kraal. You need not think that even these bushes will be left, for we shall be swallowed with the sheep. A Man who devours things as he does – walks along eating the very bushes among which he walks!”

Mantis replied to her, “You must go to your other father, the All-Devourer, that he may help me eat up these sheep, and drink this soup. I have already poured away some of the soup, because I feel that my heart is upset. Fat has taken hold of my heart; I do not want to drink more soup. I want the Old Man yonder to come to drink it up. Then I can talk, for I do not talk now. Do you, therefore, fill the sack with cooked meat and take it. Then he will come; otherwise he might refuse.”

Porcupine protested again: “People do not live with that Man. He is alone. People cannot hand him food, for his tongue is like fire. He burns people’s hands with it. You need not think that we can hand food to him, for we shall have to dodge away to the sheep opposite. The pots will be swallowed with the soup in them. Those sheep will be swallowed up in the same way, for yonder Man always does so. He does not often travel, because he feels the weight of his stomach which is heavy. See, I Porcupine, live with you, although he is my real father, because I think he might devour me, and you will not devour me. Nevertheless, I will fetch him tomorrow, that he may come. Then you will see him yourself with your own eyes.”

Porcupine went on the morrow, carrying cooked meat. She arrived at her real father’s, the All-Devourer. There she stopped and set down the sack of meat. She said to he father, “Go! Cousin yonder invites you to come and help eat the sheep yonder, for his heart is troubling him. It is he who wants you to come. I have told you. Now I will go on in front, for I do not walk fast.”

She shook the meat out of the bag upon the bushes. The All-Devourer licked up the meat and the bushes with it; he just gulped down the bushes too. Porcupine slung on her empty bag, and went forward quickly. While she walked she gave directions: “You must climb up to that place from which I came; you will see the sheep standing there.” She went ahead in great fear of the All-Devourer, and was the first to reach the hut.

Mantis asked her, “Where is your father?”

Porcupine answered him, “He is still on his way. Look at that bush standing up there, and see if a shadow comes gliding from above. Watch for the bush to break off, then look for the shadow; when you see that, the bushes up there will have disappeared, for his tongue will take away the bushes beforehand, while he is still approaching from behind the hill. Then his body will come up and when he arrives the bushes will be gone all along the way to us. We shall no longer be hidden. Now I want Ichneumon to eat plenty, for of that meat he will never eat again and when the Man yonder comes, the bushes will be finished and the sheep likewise be swallowed up.”

The All-Devourer followed Porcupine’s spoor. As he went he ate up the bushes. He climbed up, finishing off the bushes, while his shadow glided up to Mantis’s hut. The shadow fell upon Mantis. Mantis looked at the sun. He asked where the clouds were, for the sun seemed to be in clouds.

Porcupine said to him, “There are no clouds there, but I want Ichneumon to go and hide this pot away for me, for the truly feels the shadow of the man coming yonder. It altogether shuts us in. The sun will seem to have set when he reaches us. His mouth sits black along there; it it not shadow, it is what the trees go into.”

Then mantis saw the All-Devourer’s tongue. He asked Porcupine, “Is your father holding fire in his hand, for a fire is waxing red yonder?”

Porcupine answered, “It is the Man coming there, whose tongue is red. He is night, therefore you see his tongue. We will get out of the way here. We will not hand him anything ourselves, but put down something for him, for his tongue would singe our hands if we held anything out to him. Therefore I want Dasse to hide the other pot that she may still have soup. For now she herself sees the stomach, it truly extends to either side of us. We do not hear the wind, because he comes; the wind does not blow, for he always makes a shelter when he stands. He does not sit down, he stands; he will first eat up the things around him for they are still plentiful. He has put a layer of bushes in the bottom of his stomach and he has partly filled it, but he has not filled it up yet. Therefore he is still seeking food. He is a Man who fills himself to his trunk. If he looks round and finds no food, he will swallow these people, for they invited him to come to food which was not sufficient to his hunger.

The All-Devourer arrived, and Mantis placed food for him. The All-Devourer gulped it quickly down. Then Mantis took soup and poured it into a bucket. The All-Devourer swallowed the bucket. A pot was still keeping warm. Now Mantis took meat which had been put away in a bag, he put it into a bucket, and pushed the bucket toward the All-Devourer. The All-Devourer put out his tongue and licked and scorched Mantis’s hands. Mantis pulled his arms quickly away and sprang aside, knocking against Dasse.

Dasse said, “Why does Mantis spring aside from the Man whom he invited to come? Porcupine told him not to give anything with his hands, but to put meat for the All-Devourer on the bushes.”

Mantis took meat and put it in the pot. He said to young Mantis, “O child, make a good fire for the pot. My hands are burning and keep me sitting where Grandfather scorched me. You can feel his breath which is hot. His tongue feels like that, too.”

Then Dasse said to him, “You ought to ladle out sheep’s meat and put it on the bushes.” But Mantis dod not hear, he sat spitting on his hands to cool them. He ladled out another bucketful. He again pushed the bucket to the All-Devourer. The All-Devourer licked his hands again. Mantis sprang aside, losing his balance, and tumbled into the hut. He got up, and sat licking, cooling his hands. He spoke to Ichneumon: “O Ichneumon, give me meat to cook, for you see it is as Porcupine told us, the buckets seem to have vanished.”

But Ichneumon said to Mantis, “Mother told you that it would be like this. You would not listen; you invited the big cousin whom people know, whom no one invites, because his tongue is like fire.”

Now Mantis called to young Mantis, “Go and fetch me the meat which Porcupine hid, for you see this bucket of meat has been devoured. You must look at the stomach.”

Mantis brought two buckets and ladled out the meat. Dasse nudged him, and he winked at her. He slung a bucket forward with meat in it, then he slung another bucket forward alongside of it. The All_devourer’s tongue licked his ear, and he tumbled into the hut.

Dasse spoke to him and he winked at her. She said, “O Mantis, leave off winking at me! You must feed cousin, whom you invited. You must give him plenty to eat; Porcupine told you that she did not want to fetch him, because his tongue is always like this.”

The All-Devourer gobbled up both buckets, he licked up the meat which was on the bushes of the hut and devoured it, together with the bushes.

Mantis then said to Ichneumon, “O Ichneumon, “O Ichneumon, you must cook at that other place, and bring the meat which is on the bushes, for the buckets here are all swallowed. I will give the Old Man a pot which is hot to swallow, for you see the bushes are all gone. I shall no longer sit and cook in the bushes, and when the wind blows.”

The All-Devourer stepped backward, he licked up Kwammang-a’s home bushes, he devoured them quickly with the meat on them.

Mantis spoke to Ichneumon: “O Ichneumon, quickly bring another sheep, you must cut it up quickly, for you see that the bushes have all been swallowed with all the meat.”

The All-Devourer asked for water. Mantis lifted up a whole waterbag and set it before him. The All-Devourer’s tongue took up the waterbag; he swallowed it with the water in it. He licked up a thorn bush.

Mantis then spoke to young Mantis: “You see, we shall not eat, for that thorn bush has been devoured, even though it has thorns.” Again mantis said to Ichneumon, “O Ichneumon, fetch that water there which is in the waterbag, for you see the other waterbag has been swallowed. Grandfather turns his head seeking for more water. He himself has devoured all the other things, he still seems likely to gobble up our beds. I shall truly sit upon the ground, if Grandfather eats up all the things in my hut.

The All-Devourer licked up Porcupine’s things; he swallowed them quickly. Then Mantis said to his son, young Mantis, “See, sister’s things there have been devoured; sister sits there on a bare place. All the sheep will soon be devoured.”

The All-Devourer looked toward the sheep, his tongue took up all the sheep, he swallowed them quickly, while they were still alive.

Mantis exclaimed, “Have no the sheep been quickly swallowed, even before I had cut them up as I meant to do? Alas, the bushes have vanished, swallowed up! We are sitting on a bare place. Alas! Now I lack my things which I brought, that I might possess them.”

Porcupine winked at Ichneumon. “O Ichneumon, I tell you, your younger brother must spring away. Father will be swallowed, if he goes on acting bravely like this; and Grandfather Mantis, the one who is talking, he will certainly be swallowed.”

The All-Devourer called out his name, He-Who-Is-a-Devourer-of-Things, whom Mantis had called to come to him. He said to Mantis, “O Mantis, bring out the things to which you invited me, the real things which I, a devourer of things should eat.” He advanced and burned Mantis with his tongue.

But Mantis said, “I who am Mantis who invited You-Who-Devour-Things to my home. You came and finished off my things.. You should not ask, seeking the real food to which I invited you, for those sheep which you have devoured were the food. There is no food.”

Thereupon the All-Devourer quickly devoured Mantis and Mantis was quiet. Young Mantis spring away and took up the bow. The All-Devourer looked toward Kwammang-a. Young Kwammang-a sprang aside and ran away. Mantis was quite silent, because he was in the stomach of the All-Devourer. The All-Devourer stood opposite Kwammang-a and said that he was really going to swallow his daughter Porcupine’s husband, even though he was handsome, yet he would swallow him, for he felt inclined to do so. He advanced and quickly swallowed his daughter’s husband with the bed on which he was sitting. All-Devourer’s stomach now hung almost down to the earth.

Porcupine wept; she stood sighing. The children came from afar. Then Porcupine asked young Mantis, “Are you a fierce man?” He was silent. She asked him, “Are you angry?” Young Mantis was silent, because he felt angry. She also questioned her son, young Kwammang-a. She turned as she sat, heated a spear, and asked her son, “Are you angry?” You must remember that Grandfather’s tongue resembles fire. I do not want you to flinch, if your heart is like father’s heart, ” Young Kwammang-a sat still; they agreed to cut his grandfather open.

She took the spear out of the fire and drew it, burning hot, along her younger brother’s temple. The fire burnt his ear; he sat still. She reheated the spear, it became red hot. She put the spear burning hot into her younger brother’s nose. Tears slowly gathered and stood in his eyes. She said to him, “A mild person is this, whose tears slowly gather.”

She reheated the spear and laid it, burning hot, on her son’s ear-root. Her son sat still. She heated the spear again, and said to her son, “Grandfather’s tongue is like this; I don’t want you to flinch from him, if your heart is like your father’s heart.” She took out the spear when it was red, and out it into her son’s nose. Then she looked at his eyes. They were dry. She said to herself, “Yes, a fierce man is this; that one is a mild man. This one if fierce; he resembles his father. That other one is a mild; he resembles his father Mantis. He is a runaway.” She said to her son, “Remember, Grandfather’s tongue is like this. You must sit firmly when you go to Grandfather.”

The children went in wrath to their Grandfather; they approached him as he lay in the sun. He arose, stood up, and waited. Young Kwammang-a said to the other, “Mother wished me to sit on one side of Grandfather, and you to sit on his other side. Because you cut with the left hand like your father, you must sit with your left arm, in which you hold the spear, outward. I will sit opposite on this side, so that I may have my right arm, in which I hold the spear, outside.”

The All-Devourer scorched young Mantis’s temple with his tongue. He walked forward, he scorched with his tongue the ear-root of his grandson, young Kwammang-a. He said that this little child really seemed very angry. He walked forward, and scorched the root of young Mantis’s ear with his tongue. Young Mantis sat still. All-Devourer went forward, and scorched young mantis’s other ear with his tongue. Young Kwammang-a looked hard at the other and signed to him to hold his spear fast, and he held his own well. The other also held his spear well, because he had said beforehand, “You must cut one side, while I cut the other side. Then we must run away, while the people pour out.”

He sprung forward and cut the All-Devourer; and the other cut him too. Then they ran away, while fathers poured forth. The sheep also poured forth, the buckets poured forth; his father sat on his bed; the pots poured forth; all things poured down. His grandfather doubled up and died.

Then the children said, “O bushes, we have cut you out. You shall truly become bushes; you shall again grow in your place; you shall be what you were before. The place shall be right again and these sheep shall wander over it. They shall graze over it, and again return to the kraal, which shall be as it was before. For that Man who now lies here, who ate up the bushes, shall utterly perish and disappear, so that the people may get dry bushes and be able to warm themselves.” Thus young Mantis spoke. He felt that he truly resembled his father, that his speech resembled his father’s speech. And it all came true.

Now Dasse gave Mantis water but said to him, “O Mantis, you must drink only a little!”

Mantis replied, “I am dying of thirst, I must drink up the egg-shell-ful.” He gulped all the water down and sank to the ground. Kwammang-a waited.

Porcupine said to Dasse, “Take that long stick lying there; you must beat your husband on the shinbone with it until he gets up, you must hold his face fast and rub it.” So Dasse took up the long stick and hit Mantis on the shin. He started up quickly and sat shivering.

Dasse reproved him: “I told you to drink only a little, because you would be like this, if you gulped down all the water; but you would drink nearly all, thus killing yourself, so that you fell down.”

Now porcupine gave Kwammang-a some water and said to him, “O Kwammang-a! You must drink only a little. You must put the water down soon – when you have just wet your mouth. You must sit down then and wash yourself a little, for you have just come out of the stomach in which you were. Then presently you can drink plentifully, when you feel that your body is warm.”

Kwammang-a drank a little, he put down the water quickly, and did not gulp it all down. He washed himself, drank again, and then drank plentifully.

His wife cooked the meat for him which she had kept hidden away. She had told Ichneumon to hide some for her, so that they could eat it after the children had dealt with the Man who was devouring them, and he lay dead. “We must eat here, for he lies yonder, where the children have slain him. Then we will travel away, leaving him lying outside the hut. We will move away and seek a new home, because the Man lies in front of this home. We will live in a different hut which we will make our home.”

Then they travelled away to a new home, and left the hut at which the Man who had devoured the people was lying. In this new home they always lived in peace.

[ BUSHMEN ]

HOW DISEASES CAME TO ASHANTI

Now there lived Kwaku Anase, the spider, and he went to Nyankonpon, the sky-god, and said, “Grandsire, take your sheep called Kra Kwame, the one which you keep to sacrifice to your soul on a Saturday, and let me kill and eat it, that I may go and bring you a beautiful girl in exchange.”

The sky-god gave him the sheep, and Ananse set out and returned to his village and killed the sheep and ate it. The spider then went to a certain village. In that village there was not a single male – all were women. Ananse married them all and he and they lived there.

One day, a hunter came and saw them. When he left, he went and said to the sky-god, “As for Ananse and the sheep of yours which he received, he has killed it and given it to some women to eat and then married them.”

The sky-god said, “Is it true?”

The hunter said, “Grandsire, it is the truth.”

The sky-god then sent messengers, telling them to go to that village and bring to him all the women who were there.

The messenger went off, met the women, and, with the exception of one woman who was ill, took them all to the sky-god.

Ananse said, “You who remain, what can I do with you?” You can’t do anything for me?”

The sick woman said, “Go and bring me a gourd cup.” Ananse went and brought a gourd cup.

She said, “Bathe me, and take the water you have used and pour it into the gourd.”

Ananse bathed her body and poured the water he had used into the gourd.” She then became very beautiful; there was no woman like her in the tribe. Then Anase married her again, Although she was already his.

Now the hunter came again, and he saw this woman. He went off and reported to the sky-god, saying, “Ananse has made a fool of you, he sent you the ugly women and has kept the beautiful one for himself.”

The sky-god sent messengers and directed them to go to the village where the spider was and to bring the woman to him.

They delivered the message of the sky-god to Ananse. He said, “Would he not like me to come also?”

The messengers said, “The sky-god said we must take the woman to him.” Ananse said, “That is she sitting there, take her away.”

After she had been taken, Ananse went and got the gourd into which all the diseases he had taken from the woman had been poured, and he stretched a skin over the mouth of it. Then he stretched a skin over another gourd and gave it to his child, Ntikuma, and Ananse beat on the drum he had made and sang:

“Y’ odende dende den,

Y’ odende den.

Aso Ya-e!

Y’ odende den.

Your eyes are red in vain!

Y’ odende den,

You are bandy-armed!

Y’ odende den,

Y’ odende den.

Is that Aso Ya?

Y’ odende den,

Y’ odende den.

You are knock-kneed!

Y’ odende den,

Y’ odende den.

Your nose is a lump on your face!

Y’ odende den,

Y’ odende den.

Your feet are large as paddles,

like those of a slave!

Y’ odende den,

Y’ odende den.

Your head is like a cow!

Y’ odende den,

Y’ odende den.”

Ntikuma drummed and sang:

“Beautiful maiden,

Beautiful maiden!”

And Afudotwedotwe or Belly-Like-to-Burst and Nyiwankonfwea of Thin-Shanks, Ananse’s children, danced. Ananse, the crow, ran with speed and told the sky-god,” Ananse has a dance which is fitting for you but not for a spider.”

Immediately the sky-god sent messengers there to Ananse to go and bring him this dance.

Ananse said, “this dance of mine, we perform it only in the harem, and if the sky-god agrees then I shall bring it along.”

The messengers returned and told the sky-god. The sky-god said, “That is nothing, let him, bring it to the harem.” Ananse went with the drums to the harem, and the sky-god came and danced, and all his wives danced.

Now, there remained the one who had been sick. When she saw that Ananse had stretched a skin over the gourd in which were all her diseases, because of that she said she would not dance. And now the sky-god forced her, and she came; and when she was about to dance. Ananse lifted up the gourd and struck the woman with it, and the diseases scattered with a sound like a tese!

That is how syphilis, stomach-ache, headache, leprosy, Guinea worm, small pox, yaws, fits, diabetes, and madness came among the tribe. Once there was no sickness among mankind/womankind. It was the sky-god who was the cause of Ananse’s bringing diseases among the tribe.

[ ASHANTI ]

THE ORIGIN OF DEATH II

AND HOW DID IT HAPPEN?

It is God who created men. And since God had pity, He said, “I do not wish men to die altogether. I wish that, men having died, should rise again.” And so. He created men and placed them in another region. But He stayed at home.

And then God saw the chameleon and the weaver-bird. After He had spent three days with the chameleon and the weaver-bird, He recognized that the weaver-bird was a great maker of the words compounded of lies and truth. Now of lies there were many, but of the words of truth there were few.

Then He watched the chameleon and recognized that he had great intelligence. He did not lie. His words were true. So he spoke to the chameleon, “Chameleon, go into that region where I have placed the men I created, and tell them that when they have died, even if they are altogether dead, still they shall rise again – that each man shall rise again after he dies.”

The chameleon travelled on, and when he had arrived at his destination, he said, “I was told, I was told, I was told…” But he did not say what he had been told.

The weaver-bird said to God, “I wish to step out for a moment.”

And God said to him, “Go!”

But the weaver-bird, since he is a bird, flew swiftly, and arrived at the place where the chameleon was speaking to the people and saying, “I was told…” Everyone was gathered there to listen. When the weaver-bird arrived, he said, “What was told to us? Truly, we were told that men, when they are dead, shall perish like the roots of the aloe.”

Then the chameleon exclaimed, “But we were told, we were told, that when men are dead, they shall rise again.”

Then the magpie interposed and said, “The first speech is the wise one.”

And now all the people left and returned to their homes. This was the way it happened. And so men become old and die; they do not rise again.

[ AKAMBA ]

THE ORIGIN OF DEATH III

The moon, it is said, once sent an insect to men/women, saying, “Go o men/women and tell them, ‘As I die, and dying live, so you shall also die, and dying live.'”

The insect started with the message, but, while on his way, was overtaken by the hare, who asked, “On what errand are you bound?”

The insect answered, “I am sent by the Moon to men/women, to tell them that as she dies, and dying lives, so shall they also die and dying live.”

The hare said, “As you are an awkard runner, let me go.” With these words he ran off, and when he reached men/women, he said, “I am sent by the Moon to tell you, ‘As I die and dying perish, in the same manner you also shall die and come wholly to an end.’ “

The hare then returned to the Moon and told her what he had said to men/women.

The Moon reproached him angrily, saying, “Do you dare tell the people a thing which I have not said?”

With these words the moon took up a piece of wood and struck the hare on the nose. Since that day the hare’s nose has been slit, but men/women believe what Hare had told them.

[ HOTTENTOT ]

THE ORIGIN OF DEATH

Long, long, ago there was a great famine in the world, and a certain your man, while wandering in search of food, strayed into a part of the bush where he had never been before. Presently he perceived a strange mass lying on the ground. He approached and saw that it was the body of a giant whose hair resembled that of white men in that it was silky rather than woolly. It was of an incredible length and stretched as far from Krachi to Salaga. The young man was properly awed at the spectacle, and wished to withdraw, but the giant, noticing him, asked what he wanted.

The young man told about the famine and begged the giant to give him some food. The latter agreed on condition that the youth would serve him for a while. This matter having been arranged, the giant said that his name was Owuo, or Death, and he then gave the boy some meat.

Never before had the latter tasted such fine food, and he was well pleased with his bargain. He served his master for a long time and received plenty of meat, but one day he grew homesick, and he begged his master to give him a short holiday. The latter agreed, if the youth returned to his village and there persuaded his brother to go with him into the bush, and he gave him to Owuo.

In course of time the youth became hungry again and longed for the meat which Owuo had taught him to like so much. So one day he made up his mind to return to his master, and, leaving the village, he made his way back to the giant’s abode. The latter asked him what he wanted, and when the youth told him that he wanted to taste once more of the good meat, the giant bade him enter the hut and take as much as he liked, but added that he would have to work for him again.

The youth agreed and entered the hut. He ate as much as he could and went to work at the task which his master set him. The work continued for a ling time and the boy ate his fill every day. But, to his surprise, he never saw anything of his brother, and when ever he asked about him, the giant told him that the lad was away on business.

Once more the youth grew homesick and asked for leave to return to his village. The giant agreed on condition that he would bring a girl for him, Owuo, to wed. So the youth went home and there persuaded his sister to go into the bush and marry the giant. The girl agreed, and took with her a slave companion, and they all repaired to the giant’s abode. There the youth left the two girls and went back to the village.

It was not very long after that he again grew hungry and longed for a taste of the meat. So he made his way once more into the bush and found the giant. The latter did not seem over pleased to see the boy and grumbled at being bothered a third time. However, he told the boy to go into the inner chamber of his hut and take what he wanted. The youth did so and took up a bone which he began to devour. To his horror he recognized it at once as being the bone of his sister. He looked around at all the rest of the meat and saw that it was his sister and her slave girl.

Thoroughly frightened, he escaped from the house and ran back to the village. There he told the elders what he had done and the awful thing he had seen. At once the alarm was sounded and all the people went out into the bush to see for themselves the dreadful thing they had heard about. When they drew near to the giant they grew afraid at the sight of so evil a monster. They went back to the village and consulted among themselves what they had best do. At last it was agreed to go to Salga, where the end of the giant’s hair was, and set a light to it. This was done, and when the hair was burning well they returned to the bush and watched the giant.

Presently the latter began to toss about and to sweat. It was quite evident that he was beginning to feel the heat. The nearer the flames advanced, the more he tossed and grumbled. At last the fire reached his head and for the moment the giant was dead.

The villagers approached him cautiously, and the young man noticed magic powder which had been concealed in the roots of the giant’s hair. He took it and called the others to come and see what he had found. No one could say what power this medicine might have, but an old man suggested that no harm would be done if they sprinkled some of it on the bones and meat in the hut. This idea was carried out, and to the surprise of everyone, the girls and the boy at once returned to life.

The youth, who had still some of the powder left, proposed to out it on the giant. But at this there was a great uproar as the people feared Owuo might come to life again. The boy, therefore, by way of compromise, sprinkled it into the eye of the dead giant. At once the eye opened and the people fled in terror. But alas, it is from that eye that death comes, for every time that Owuo shuts that eye a man dies, and, unfortunately for us, he is forever blinking and winking.

[ KRACHI }

HOW THE FIRST RAIN CAME

Once Long Ago, a daughter was born to Obassi Osaw, and a son to Obassi Nsi. When both of them had come to marriageable age, Nsi sent a message and said, “Let us exchange children. I will send my son that he may wed one of your girls, and you send your daughter down to my town, that she may become, my wife.”

To this Obassi Osaw agreed. So the son of Nsi went up to the heavens, carrying many fine gifts, and Ara, the sky maiden, came down to dwell on earth. With her came seven men slaves and seven women slaves whom her father gave to work for her, so that she should not be called upon to do anything herself.

One day, very early in the monring, Obassi Nsi said to his new wife, “Go, work on my farm!”

She sanswered, “My father gave me the slaves, so that they should work instead of me. Therefore seend them.”
Obassi Nsi was very angry and said, “Did you not hear that I gave my orders to you? You yourself shall work on my farm. As for the slaves, I will tell them what to do.”

The girl went, though very unwillingly, and when she returned at night, tired out, Nsi said to her, “Go at once to the river and bring water for the household.”

She answered, “I am weary with working on the farm. May not my slaves at least do this while I rest?”

Again Nsi refused and drove her forth, and she went backward and forward many times, carrying the heavy jars. Night had fallen long before she had brought enough.

The next morning Nsi made her do the must menial services, and all day long kept her at work, cooking, fetching water, and making fire. That night, again, she was very weary before she was allowed to lie down to rest. At dawn on the third morning Nsi said, “Go and bring in much firewood.” Now the girl was young and unused to work, so she went she wept, and the tears were still falling when she came back carrying her heavy burden.

As soon as Nsi saw her enter crying he called her. “Come here and lie down before me… I wish to shame you in the presence of all, my people.” Thereupon the girl wept still more bitterly.

No food was given her until midday on the morrow, and then not enough. When she had finished eating all there was, Nsi said to her, “Go out and bring in a great bundle of fish poison.”

The girl went into the bush to seek for the plant, but as she walked through the thick undergrowth a thorn pierced her foot. She lay down alone. All day long she lay there in pain, but as the sun sank she began to feel better. She got up and managed to limp back to the house.

When she entered, Nsi said to her, “Early this morning I ordered you to go and collect fish poison. You have stayed away all day and done nothing.” so he drove her into the goat-pen, and said, “Tonight you shall sleep with the goats; you shall not enter my house.”

That night she are nothing. Early next morning one of the slaves opened the door of the goat pen and found the girl lying within with her foot all swollen and sore. She could not walk, so for five days she was left with the goats. After that her foot began to get better.

As soon as she could walk again, Nsi called her and said, “Here is a pot. Take it to the river and bring it back filled to the brim.”

She set out, but when she reached the waterside, she sat down on the bank and dipped her foot in the cool stream. She said to herself, “I will never go back; it is better to stay here alone.”

After a while one of the slaves came down to the river. He questioned her: “At dawn this morning you were sent to fetch water. Why have you not returned home?”

The girl said, “I will not come back.”

When the slave had left her she thought, “Perhaps he will tell them, and they will be angered and may come and kill me. I had better go back after all.” So she filled her pot and tried to raise it upon her head, but it was too heavy. Then she lifted it on to a tree trunk that lay by the side of the river and , kneeling beneath, tried to draw it in that way upon her head; but the pot fell and broke and , in falling, a sharp shard cut off one of her ears. The blood poured down from the wound, and she began to weep again, but suddenly thought,”My father is alive, my mother is alive; I do not know why I stay here with Obassi Nsi. I shall go back to my own father.”

Then she set out to find the road by which Obassi Osaw sent her to earth. She came to a high tree and from it saw a long rope hanging. She said to herself, “This is the way by which my father sent me.”

She caught the rope and began to climb. Before she had gone halfway she grew very very weary, and her sighs and tears mounted up to the kingdom of Obassi Osaw. Midway on her climb, she stayed and rested a while. Afterward she went on again.

After a long time she reached the top of the rope and found herself on the border of her father’s land. Here she sat down almost worn out with weariness, and still weeping

Now, one of the slaves of Obassi Osaw had been sent out to collect firewood. He chanced to stay from his oath and came to a place near where the girl was resting. He heard her sobs mixed with broken words and ran back to the town, crying out, “I have heard the voice of Ara. She is weeping about a mile from here.”

Obassi heard but could not believe, yet he said, “Take twelve slaves, and, should you find my daughter as you say, bring her home.”

When her father saw her coming he called out, “Take her to the house of her mother.”

There she was resting, Obassi killed a young kid and sent it to Akun, bidding her to prepare it for his daughter. Akun took it and, after she had washed it, cooked it whole in a pot. Obassi also sent a great bunch of plantains and other fruits, and these, too, were arranged in orderly fashion upon a table before the girl. Then they poured water into a gourd and brought palm wine in native cup, and bade her to drink.

After she had eaten and drunk, Obassi came with four slaves carrying a great chest made of ebony. He bade them set it before her, opened it and said, “Come here; choose anything you will from this box.”

Ara chose two pieces of cloth, three gowns, four small loincloths, four looking glasses, four spoons, two pairs of shoes, four cooking pots, and four chins of beads.

After this Obassi Osaw’s storekeeper, named Ekpenyon, came forward and brought her twelve anklets. Akun gave her two gowns, a fufu stick, and a wooden knife.

Her own mother brought her five gowns, richer than all the rest, and five slaves to wait upon her.

After this Obassi Osaw said, “A house has been made ready for you; go there that you may be its mistress.”

Then he went out and called together the members of the chief society of the town. This was named Angbu. He said to the men, “Go, fetch the son of Obassi Nsi. Cut off both his ears and bring them to me. Then flog him and drive him down the road to his father’s town, with this message from me: ‘I had built a great house up here in my town. In it I placed your son and treated him kindly. Now that I know what you have done to my child, I send your son back to you earless, in payment for Ara’s ear and the suffering which you put upon her.'”

When the Angbu society had cut off the ears of the son of Obassi Nsi, they brought them before Obassi Osaw and drove the lad back on the earthward road, as they had been ordered.

Osaw took the ears and made a great juju, and by reason if this a strong wind arose, and drove the boy earthward. On its wings it bore all the sufferings of Ara and the tears which she had shed through the cruelty of Obassi Nsi. The boy stumbled along, half blinded by the rain, and as he went he thought, “Obassi Osaw may do to me what he chooses. He has never done any unkind thing before. It is only in return for my father’s cruelty that I must suffer all this.”

So his rears mixed with those of Ara and fell earthward as rain.

Until that time there had been no rain on the earth. It fell for the first time when Obassi Osaw made the great wind and drove forth the son of his enemy.

[ EKOI ]

HOW THE STARS CAME

EBOPP, the LEMUR, and MBAW, the dormouse, were making a tour in the bush. They looked for a good place to make a farm. When they found one, they cut down the trees and took two days to clear enough ground. After this, they went back to the town where the other animals lived.

The next morning Ebopp said, “Let us go to our new farms and build a small house.”

They did. Ebopp made his, and Mbaw his.

Now, before a new town is begun, a little shed called ekpa ntan is always made where the Egbo house is to stand. Ebopp and Mbaw accordingly set to work and built an ekpa ntan. Then they went back to their old town and rested for two days.

On the third day they went to work again. Ebopp worked on his farm, Mbaw on his. That night they slept in the huts they had built and at dawn started to work once more. When night came, Ebopp lighted a lamp and said:

“I do not want to sleep here. If we sleep here we shall sleep hungry. Let us go back to our old town.”

When they got there their wives cooked for them. Ebopp said to Mbaw, “Come and join together with me in eating.” So his friend came and ate with him.

Afterwards Mbaw said, “Let us now go to my house and have food there too.” So they went tither.

After they had eaten all that Mbaw had cooked, Ebopp went home.

The next morning he went to call for his friend and said, “Go and get young plantains to plant on the farm.” Both of them collected a great basketful and went to the place where the new farms were – Ebopp to his, and Mbaw to his. They worked hard.

At midday, Ebopp said, “Let us rest a little while and eat the food we have brought.” To this Mbaw agreed, and after some time they set to work again.

About five o’clock Ebopp called, “Let us go back now to the old town, for it is very far off.”

So they left off working and went back, but before they could get there night fell.

The next morning they took more young plantains and, again, worked hard all day. When it was time to go back, Ebopp asked, “How many of the young plantains remain to be planted?”

Mbaw answered, “About forty.”

Whereupon Ebopp said, “Of mine also there remain about forty.”

At dawn, the next day, they went to their old farms to get some more plantain cuttings. Then they went back to the new farms and began planting.

As soon as Ebopp had finished, he said, “I have finished mine>”

To this Mbaw replied, “Mine also are finished.”

Ebopp said, “My work is done. I need come here only for the harvest.”

They they both went back to their old town and told their wives. “We have finished setting out the plantains. We hope that you will go and plant koko-yams tomorrow. Try, both of you, to get baskets full of koko-yams for the planting.”

To this the women agreed and, when they had collected as many as were necessary, they set out for the new farms.

When they arrived, Mbaw’s wife asked the wife of Ebopp, “Do you think we can finish planting all these today?”

Ebopp’s wife answered, “Yes, we can do it.”

All day they worked hard, and at night they went home and said, “We have finished planting all the koko-yams.”

Ebopp said, “Good, you have done well.”

Now the name of Ebopp’s wife was Akpan Anwan. She and her sister, Akandem, were the daughters of Obassi Osaw. When she got home she started to cook the evening meal for her husband. As soon as it was ready, she placed it upon the table, set water also in a cup, and laid spoons near by.

They were eating together when a slave named Umaw ran in. He had just come from the town of Obassi Osaw. He said, “I would speak to Ebopp alone.” When Akpan Anwan had left the room, the messenger said, “You are eating, but I bring you news that Akandem your sister-in-law is dead.”

Ebopp cried out aloud in his grief and sent a messenger to call his friend Mbaw.

As soon as the latter heard, he came running and said, “What can we do? We are planting new farms and beginning to build a new room. There is hardly any food to be got. How then can we properly hold the funeral customs?”

Ebopp said, “Nevertheless, I must try my best.”

When Umaw got ready to return, Ebopp said, “Say to Obassi Osaw, ‘Wait for me for six days, then I will surely come.”

The next morning he said to Mbaw, “Come now, let us do our utmost to collect what is necessary for the rites of my sister-in-law.”

They went through the town and bought all the food which they could find. Then Ebopp went back and said to his wife, “I did not wish to tell you before about the death of your sister, but today I must tell you. Make ready. In five days’ time I will take you to your father’s town to hold the funeral feast.”

Akpan Anwan was very grieved to hear of this and wept.

Ebopp said to Mbaw, “We must get palm wine for the feast, also rum for the libations. How can we get these? I have no money, and you also have none.

Mbaw said, “Go round among the town folks and see if any of them will lend you some.”

Ebopp said, “Good!” He then began to walk up and down, begging from all his friends, but none would give to him, although it was a big town. At last he went down to the place where they were making palm oil by the river. Quite nearby lived Iku, the water chevrotain. Ebopp told him his trouble and begged help, but Iku said, “I am very sorry you, but I have nothing to give.”

Ebopp was quite discouraged by now and, full of sorrow, turned to go away. When Iku saw this he said:

“Wait a minute, there is one thing I can do. You know that I have ‘four eyes.’ I will give you two of them, and with them you can buy all that you need.”

From out of his head he took the two eyes with which he had to see in the dark. They shone so brightly that Ebopp knew they were worth a great price. He took them home and showed them to his wife and his friend Mbaw.

The latter said, “From today you are freed from all anxiety. With those you can buy all that is needed.”

The next morning they gathered together all that had been collected, the plantains and the two shining eyes. Ebopp. Mbaw, and Akpan carried the loads between them. They set out for the dwelling place of Obassi Osaw.

When they arrived at the entrance of the town, Akpan Anwan began to weep bitterly. She threw down her burden and ran to the spot where her sister lay buried. Then he went back and got his wife’s load which she had left behind.

The townsfolk said to Ebopp, “You have come to keep your sister-in-law’s funeral customs today. Bring palm wine. Bring rum also for the libations, and let us hold the feast.”

Ebopp said, “I have brought nothing but plantains. All else that is necessary I mean to buy here.”

Now there was a famine in Obassi Osaw’s town, so Ebopp put all of his plantains in the Egbo House. The next day he sent a message to Obassi Osaw to bring his people. so that the food might be divided among them. Each man received one plantain.

Then Osaw said, “All that you have brought is eaten. Of you cannot give us more, you shall not take my daughter back with you to your country.”

Ebopp went to find his friend and told him what Obassi had said.

“Shall I see the two eyes?” he asked. “They are worth hundreds and hundreds of plantains and many pieces of cloth, but if I sell them now, the people are so hungry they will give a small price.”

Mbaw said, “Do not mind. See, I will teach you how to get more sense.

“You hold me one in your hand, and it is a big thing like a great shining stone; but if you put it in a mortar and grind it down, it will become, not one, but many stones, and some of the small pieces you can sell.”

This Ebopp did. He ground up the geat bright stones which had been Iku’s eyes until they become like shining sand.

Then Ebopp and Mbaw went and procured a black cap which they filled with the fragments.

Mbaw said, “Now go and look the town till you find someone who can sell what we need.”

Ebopp did so, and in the house of Effion Obassi he saw great stores hidden – food and palm wine, palm oil in jars, and run for the sacrifice.

Ebopp said to Effion, “If you will sell all this to me, I will give you in exchange something which will make all the town folk bow down before you.”

Effion said, “I will not sell all, but half of what I have I will sell you.”

So Ebopp said, “Very well. I will take what you give me, only do not open the thing I shall leave in exchange until I have returned to my own country. When you do open it, as I said before, all the town folk will bow down before you.”

So the funeral feast was prepared, and the people were satisfied.

When the rites were finished, Obassi said, “It is good. You can go away now with your wife.”

So Ebopp said to Mbaw and Akpan Anwan, “Come, let us go back to our own town. We must not sleep here tonight.”

When they had reached home once more, Ebopp sent a salve named Eder to Effion Obassi with the message:

“You may now open the cap. I have reached my town again.”

It was evening time, nut Effion at once called the townspeople together and said, “I have a thing here which is worth a great price.”

They cried, “Let us see it.”

He answered, “My thing is a very good thing, such as you have never seen before.

He brought the cap outside and opened it before them. All the shining things fell out. As they fell, a strange breeze came and caught them and blew them all over town. They lay on the road and on the floors of the compounds, each like a little star.

All the children came round and began picking them up. They gathered and gathered. In the daytime they could not see them, but every night they went out and sought for the shining things. All that they picked up they put in a box. At length many had been gathered together and they shone like a little sun in the box. At the end of about a month nearly all had been collected. They could not shut down the lid, however, because the box was too full, so when a great breeze came by it blew all the shining things about again. That is why sometimes we have a small moon and plenty of stars shining around it, while sometimes we have a big moon and hardly any stars are to be seen. The children take a month to fill the box again.

When the sparkles were scattered about the town, Effion sent a messeneger to Ebopp to ask: “Can you see the things shining from you town?”

At the time earth and sky were all joined together, like a house with an upstairs.

Ebopp went out and looked upward to the blue roof overhead. There he saw the small things sparkling in the darkness.

The next day he went to Iku and said, “Will you please do into a deep hole? I want to look at your eyes.”

Iku went inside the hole. Ebopp looked at his eyes. They were very bright, just like the sparkles which shone in the sky.

The cause of all the stars, therefore, is Enbopp, who took Iku’s eyes to Obassi’s town.

Iku’s eyes are like the stars.

The moon shines when all the fragments are gathered together. When it shine most brightly it it because the children have picked up nearly all the fragments and put them into the box.

[ EKOI ]

,

THE SON OF THE WIND

The son of the wind was once a man. When he was he used to go shooting and to roll a ball but later he became a bird and flew, no longer walking as he used to do when he was a man. When he had changed into a bird, he flew up and dwelt in a mountain hole. The mountain hole was his dwelling, and out of it he would fly every day and later on, return. In this hole he slept and, awakening in the morning, he would leave in order to seek food. He sought it everywhere and he ate, ate, ate, until he had his full. Then he would return to his mountain hole to sleep.

But when he was rolling his ball, he called out to Nakati, “Nakati, there it goes!” And Nakati exclaimed, “O comrade, truly there it goes!” He called him comrade because he didn’t know the other’s name. Yet it was truly he who is the wind, who had said, “Nakati, there it goes!”

Not knowing his name, however, Nakati went to his mother to question her. “Mother,” he said, “do tell me the name of our comrade over there. He calls me by my name but I do not know his and I would like to know it when I am rolling the ball back to him.”

“No, I will not at this moment tell you his name, that I will only do and let you utter it after Father has made a strong shelter for our hut. And Then, when I tell you his name, the moment I have uttered it, you must at once scamper away and run home, so that you can seek the shelter of the hut.”

Again Nakati went over to play with his campion and to roll the ball. When they had finished, Nakati again went once more to question his mother, and she exclaimed, “He is erriten-kuan, he is gau-gaubu-ti!”

The next day Nakati again went to roll the ball with his companion. He did not, however, utter his playmate’s name, for his mother had cautioned him to be silent on that matter, even when he was called by name. She had said, “When the time comes for you to utter his name, you must run hime at once.”

Now once more Nakati went to roll the ball with his friend, hoping and hoping that his father would finally finish making the shelter for their hut. At last he saw that his father sat down, that he had indeed finished. Therefore, when he held this, he exclaimed, “There it goes, O erriten-kuan! There it goes, O Gau-gaubu-ti!” No sooner had he uttered it than he scampered away and ran home. His companion thereupon began to lean over, and then fall down. As he lay there he kicked violently upon the vlei. As he kicked, huts blew away, bushes vanished and the people could not see because of the dust. Thus was the wind blowing.

When the mother of the wind came out of her hut to grab him and set him on his feet again, he struggled with her for he wished to continue to lie down. However his mother took hold of him firmly and set him on his feet.

And so, because of all this, we who are Bushmen are wont say, “The wind seems to be lying down, for it is blowing fiercely. When the wind stands on its feet then it is quiet and still. Thus it acts. This noise it makes comes from its knee; that is what makes the sound. I had wished that it might blow gently for us, that we might go out, that we might ascend the place yonder, that we might behold the river bed yonder, standing behind the hill. For we have driven the springbok from this place. They have gone to yonder dry river bed standing behind the hill.”

[ BUSHMEN ]

WHEN IS LONG ENOUGH, LONG ENOUGH

Let me answer this pertinent question to the best of my ability.

Now first, the amount of time you spend in your meditations is up to you. We suggest at least 15 minutes per day, as early in the day as possible. This sets you up for an active day of conscious manifesting. And remember, your Sanctuary if “intact” at ALL times during your waking period. You may even bring it into the dreamstate by ritually focusing on it prior to sleep.

The key here, for you and others, I believe, is to bring the Sanctuary with you out into the world and bring this meditative state and its contents and energies into the world with you. This is your expectation, you see. This is your attempt to continuously, or at least intermittently. Intentionally create your Personal Reality.

The expectation is felt in the demonstration, your faithful anticipation – in the small moments of awakening from the Common Trance – of the manifestation you are considering. Not to repeat myself too much here, but you seek to Embody the Feeling-Tone of your anticipated creation. If you read my Blogs you will get this message as well as the subtext, if you are open to it. I have provided numerous Strategies for belief change in this and other Blog Series. The simplest is to identify the limiting belief – identify its Feeling-Tone – and then Embody, once again, its opposite, or its improved condition with gusto! You are not merely begging for a miracle, here. You are the Reality Creator in league with All That Is.

If you are examining painful material form the past – childhood abuse, let us say – assume the Observer’s Perspective and disentangle yourself from the drama you are witnessing. If you are in the Trance State and you are meditating on the Abundant Universe, yes, you would Embody that image, emotion, thought as completely as you could, within the safety of your Sanctuary.

In conclusion, if you are feeling guilty being materialistic and you are experiencing Lack, I would suspect religious conditioning is at fault. As you know from the current manuscript, you are already living in an Abundant Universe. Perhaps your unnecessary feelings of guilt act like walls around you that prohibit your perception of this Universe. You might attempt to practice our Consecutive Positive Assessments exercise in which the student focuses on finding something positive in each moment. That becomes the focus over time until you are seeing, for yourself, this prosperous lifetime, for you are creating it.

Again, 15 minutes per day is a good start, but the magic happens when you bring all your waking faculties to bear on this project. Each moment of your day, then, becomes an opportunity for experiencing the transcendent moment, the moment of awakening to the Abundant Universe.

HOW SPIDER READ THE SKY-GOD’S THOUGHTS

The sky-god begat three children, who were Esum (Darkness), Osrane (Moon), and Owia (Sun). When his three children grew up, the sky-god made them go to separate villages. The first one built his village, the second one also built his village, and the third one, he too, built his village. And there they lived.

Now their father loved Sun most. And while the sky-god was reigning there, he blackened a stool and said to his attendants, “Who knows what my thoughts are?” Ananse, the spider, said, “As for me, I know them.” At the time when he said, “As for me, I know them,” the sky-god made all the attendants rise up. There and then the spider also rose up, saying he was going to the village of the sky-god’s children.

When Ananse reached the path, he said to himself, “I do not know his thoughts and yet I said, ‘I know them.’ ” And he plucked some feathers out of every bird, stuck them on himself and flew off, alighting on a gyedua tree in the sky-god’s village. And when the people saw the bird, they all made a great commotion which sounded like “Y-e-e-e-e!”

And the sky-god came out of the house and came under the gyedua tree and said, “Were Ananse here, he would have known the name of this bird. I had decided that Owia, Sun, is the one I wanted to make a chief, so I asked who knew what was in my head and Ananse said that he did. Now I have gone and pulled up the yam known as ‘Kintinkyi,’ and he who knows its name and utters it, to him I shall give it, my blackened stool. That is why Ananse has gone off to bring my children. Had he been here, he would have known the name of this bird.

Then the bird flew off, and Ananse pulled out the feathers and threw them away, and set out till he reached the village of Night. To Night he said, “Your father said that you must come with me.” And Night replied, “It is well, I and you will go.” Then Ananse said, “I am going on to fetch Moon and Sun.” But Night said to him, “Let me first seek for something to give you to eat.” Spider replied, “Ho!” Night thereupon went out and brought some roasted corn and gave it to Ananse. When he had finished chewing it, he set out for Moon’s village. When he reached it, he said, “Your father says you must came along with me.” And Moon replied, “It is well, I shall go.”

THE BROTHERS, SUN AND MOON, AND THE PRETTY GIRL

How did it happen? A wife was pregnant, shoe bore a child, Moon, to begin with. She returned, became pregnant again, and this time bore Sun. Far in the wilderness was a man, and he had a pretty daughter.

Sun and Moon grew up and one day went for a stroll. In the wilderness they came upon the pretty daughter, and they asked her, “Where have you got your house? We live in that wilderness,” they said to the girl. “Show us exactly where you live.”

She replied to them, “We live in that wilderness. And there a great many dangerous animals.”

Moon, the elder one of the brothers, said to the girl, “Do you like us? Shall we woo you?”

She said to them, “Yes, I am capable of liking you but may not.”

Sun then asked, “Who is it that does not like us?”

She said, “It is my father.”

Moon said to the girl, “Well, then, we shall wait for two days, and on the third we shall come to your village. We shall send our father’s children.”

They waited for two days, and on the third they sent the children, then they started out for the wilderness. And when they were quite close, they caught sight of the girl far off at the other edge of the jungle. They went to meet her and asked her, “Well, where is your village?”

She said, “Our village is here in the wilderness.”

They asked her, “I, I! Are there people that live in the place where is no hut?”

She said, “Yes, we live in the wilderness, we have no hut.”

They said, “We wish that you would show us where you live.”

The girl said, “All right, then.” And she went on ahead to show them the way.

A big snake then appeared. Sun and Moon said, “Let us not be afraid!” They were not frightened, but went along on their way. When they had got as far as the foot of a certain tree, they found a number of snakes confronting them; but they went farther along and came upon a place full of hairs like horsehair, forming a sort of darkness before them. Nowhere were they able to see any path to take.

Sun said to the girl, “You! Have you brought us here so we should die at your place?”

She said to them, “No, but we have not yet arrived at our village.”

And he, Moon, said to Sun, “Brother Sun, what are we to do now?” They said to the girl, “Tell us if you like us, and whether we are to woo you? We now wish to return home.”

They girl said to them, “Go, and come back the day after tomorrow!”

They went away and returned home.

They reached their home. And Moon loved the girl very much, more than Sun did. The following morning Sun went to herd their father’s cattle, and Moon hid himslef from Sun and went alone into the wilderness to seek the girl and take her to wife.

When he had got there, someone said to him, “Who is it?”

He said, “It is I”

He was asked, “Who are you?”

He answered, “It is I, Moon.”

He was asked, “Whither are you going?

He said, “I am coming hither.”

The other one asked him, “From where have you come?”

Moon said to him, “I come from our village.” And he added, “And you, what are you doing here?”

“I am not doing anything in particular,” said the stranger.

And I, neither am I doing anything in particular – I am just out for a walk,” answered Moon.

The other asked him again, “Why have you come here?”

“Not for anything special.”

The other mad said to him, “I, I? Not for anything special?”

Moon replied, “I, I! I did not come here for anything special! I have come here without any purpose.”

The strange man said, “Why do you ask me what I am seeking, but conceal and refuse to reveal your own business?”

Then Moon was frightened and said to himself, “I do not know these people, and they do not know me. I will return home!”

He returned home and said to Sun, “Brother, when I left you I saw a lot of queer things.”

Sun said to Moon, “Well, lets go some day and you shall show me those things; just now I am busy tending cattle.’

Their mother said to them, “Go ye and find the girl, I will do the hearding.”

They went, and when they got to the wilderness, they saw swords appearing. They fought against the sword but saw no human being. The swords disappeared, and they went on farther and saw trees which grew so densely before them the there was no path. Sun drew his sword and cut down some threes. The trees then disappeared altogether, and they did not see them again. They went farther ahead altogether, and they did not see them again. That went farther ahead and came to a pond; they were close to it. They saw teeth coming up out of the interior of the pond. They approached quite near. Two teeth passed right between them, one passed them to the left and another to t he right. Moon fell back behind Sun; he was frightened.

Sun said to him, “I, I Moon! Are you afraid? You are the elder one, go on ahead, let us walk on!”

“Yes, let us go on then! We are equally brave.”

Then teeth returned into the pond, and Sun and Moon walked on. When they had not got very far, they saw hairs coming up out of the pond. Moon looked at the girl’s father, for it was he, and said to Sun, “My brother, here we shall perish!”

“It cannot be helped!”

The hairs returned, however, into the pond. When they had got close to the pond, again Sun sat down on a tree at the edge of the pond together with Moon. The beard of the girl’s father came up to them but returned into the pond. Bones of dead people came up.

Moon said, “Oh! I am dying!” and suddenly he ran away.

Sun was left behind, alone there, sitting on the tree. The water rose, part of it came on one side of him and part of it on the other; it flowed all around him. He was sitting in the midst of the water, which presently returned to the pond. Sun did not budge from the spot. The water, however, returned to the river. Then smoke rose up out of the water. Sun said, to himself, “I do not intend to die here, although my brother got frightened and ran away. I am going to remain, so that I may see the girl” The smoke ceased, and the water flamed like fire. The fire, however, soon went out.

After that there came out of the water a human being – it was the girl! She came and took the young man by the hand and said to him, “Now we will go home to our place, and I shall give you food.”

The girl said to the pond, “Get out of the way for this man! I am going to cook food for him.” The water drew off the side of the pond, went over to one side.

The girl went and cooked food which she brought and gave the young man, and he ate. She said to him:

“I, it is you that is to take me to wife, because you are a man who is not afraid of anything. And you, now you are my husband because you are not afraid of all the things that were shown you, but your elder brother ran away.”

Then the girl’s father said to Sun, “Take the girl. When you have gone home you are to tarry there with her for five days, and then you yourself and your father are to bring the girl back here!

They started off. Moon had returned and sat down in the compound. He had a sword, and he said, “When Sun comes along with that girl, I shall kill him.”

Then the girl approached, and Sun was walking in the front of her. They came and found that Moon was in the compound. They asked him, “Moon, is there anyone at home in our village?”

“Sun, come here!”

Sun carried a sword. He went forward, and sat down. The mother came out and Sun said to her, “Mother, go and take the girl and conduct her into the village!”

The mother asked him, “This girl, is it you that have taken her to wife, or is it Moon?”

“She is my wife, Moon ran away.” Sun repeated: “Moon ran away.”

The latter grasped his sword. Sun looked up and saw the sword quite close to him, for Moon gave him a cut. And he, Sun, who also carried his sword, slapped Moon, and they fought. Sun was badly cut by Moon.

The mother cried a great deal. She took millet and all kinds of provisions and spoilt them for Moon. And she threw millet and all the other foodstuffs on the fire, saying, “You, Moon, have damaged Sun in this way. May you be destroyed in the same way! And the mother took some milk, and she and her husband poured it into a calabash bowl with millet and beer. Thereupon they blessed Sun, that he would shine brightly for mankind. The girl remained on in the village as Sun’s wife, but Moon had no wife, and he who had formerly been more brilliant than Sun no longer was so.

Ever since that time and even now Moon avoids Sun; they will not agree to approach each other at the same fire, nor to eat food together. When Sun goes down, Moon comes out; when Sun comes out of the village, Moon rapidly runs away. Is not that a curse? Moon has become small, and Sun has become big.

[ AKAMBA ]

THE CONNECTION BETWEEN RESONANCE AND SYNCHRONICITY

Before I attempt to answer this question, first allow me to set the stage here a bit. Now remember, you are a Reality Creator. You are a manifester. So you are already, as we speak, resonating your Personal Reality Field into being, into existence, you see. The problem may be that you are manifesting unconsciously. As you do, you create reality through the templates of your Issues. These are your beliefs about yourself and your world. This expression of your unconscious in the physical world may not be to your liking, therefore. You may in fact find yourself always making the same mistakes, and so, always creating less-than-satisfactory realities.

These are synchronicities also, the negative events, the negative realities. They are showing you that you are on a path of development and that you must change your ways. The negative reality creator looks around them and says to themselves, perhaps: “Why do I always create the same failed relationships?” “Coincidentally,” this person has, once again, established a relationship with a new person, within a different environment, also, possibly, in a different context entirely, that eventually becomes the “failed” relationship they feared. Might I suggest that the resonance in this case, the Feeling-Tone created here that resonates within consciousness, is of a negative nature? You may also refer to it as a series of ongoing harbingers of negative events; omens warning you of future negativity. But you are creating unconsciously and so you are not consciously aware. Your conscious perceptions overlook this data, they deny this information, they intellectualize and “explain away” these harbingers.

Your consciousness is unconsciously, automatically resonating your failed relationship into existence, just as it always does, just as it always will, unless you wake up to what you are up to.

Now additionally, because we are being precise and brief in our new Blog Series…. synchronicity is a perception, and thus, a state of consciousness in which connections are made by the coincidental connections, perfectly unextraordinary perceptions of the brain as it attempts to “make sense” of seemingly similar sensory input. This is true to a degree. However, let us provide our own definition with my theory of Reality Creation in mind. Synchronistic sensings are signals from the Soul-Self to the ego/intellect. They are meant to draw you into the moment. They are the basis of awakenings, the momentary awakenings we speak of in the new Blog material. I often suggest to you, that these coincidental experiences are telling you that you are on a path of awakening, even though you may not admit it. Indeed, if you were to observe and honor the synchronistic connections being made within your consciousness, you may possibly discover that everything is connected. The deeper you go, the more that is revealed. Over time, when you have learned how to “ride” these synchronous moments into the “future,” you find that you are awakening to your greater creaturehood. The sensings of your simultaneous Lives, the workings of the Universe, the secrets of Reality Creation become your habitual, ingoing experience.

THE VISIONARY LEADER II

First, we are awakening now. I believe I may safely say at this time. You are reading this Blog material because you are interested in the Unknown Reality and other metaphysical concepts. You are of this type, quite probably, that honors the sacred within consciousness. You look for it, you find it sometimes, and allow it to transform you, to wake you up. As this occurs within the consciousness of, let us say, a production worker in an automobile plant, you may feel prompted to tell others about your experiences. As you share your findings with others you catalyze the awakening experience in them. Each of you in this collective of awakening humans becomes YOUR OWN leader. You are leading yourself away from authority and to your own truth.

This is the Visionary Leader: the one who learns how to access their truth, teaches it to others, and then leads by example, you see. The Virtues of Humanity are their leadership principles. The highest good for all concerned is their focus of creation, of manifestation. The awakening human, in short, Resonates their improved reality into existence, by allowing these inner Precepts we call the Ancient Wisdom to replicate themselves in the Third Dimension. The etheric is physicalized through this process of Resonance. The sacred is established in the physical world for the greater improvement of all that exists in our world.

Now, your primary Lesson in this reality concerns how you, as an individual with your own aspects of personality, will respond to negativity. You are on Earth to experience negativity and your reactions will determine how long you will stay in the physical body in any particular incarnation, as well as other particulars of physical existence, such as when and if you shall return to a human form to experience the opportunity to deal with your Issues and Lessons: those experiences you have avoided or not dealt with properly.

I do not wish to compare this phenomenon with the stories from our world scriptures. For the most part, these stories quite literally HIDE FROM VIEW the essential meaning of the reincarnational journey. That is quite simply because these Blog manuscripts were written by human beings with an agenda, an agenda of the ego. What we are here discussing is the Soul’s Agenda. The Soul sends out particles of itself, of its energy, into human babies to grow with the human and experience the Lessons.

Beyond your initial Lessons of reacting appropriately to negativity come the Lessons particular to individuals. Your focus, your perspective, your orientation, the lenses of belief through which you create your reality, determine to the most minute detail the presentation of your Personal Reality Field before you. It is feedback, it is a recapitulation, it IS a replication of the interior processes of consciousness. The reality constructs of your world assemble into solidity at the bequest of ALL consciousness involved.

THOSE WHO FOLLOW SHALL LEAD

Now as you refuse from authority figures, you quite naturally learn how to trust YOURSELF. Again, this is a learned habit, like anything else in your reality. What you focus on habitually, whether subconsciously or consciously, you tend to create. The Courageous step of relying on your Inner Self to provide the information you seek, becomes a faithful expectation that you will receive what you desire and need. Over time it does indeed become second nature. You might also call it a faithful, trust-filled precognition that what you ask for is being provided.

This is the Ancient Wisdom, in fact, and this communication stream arrives from your greater Gestalt of Consciousness. It is personalized, this stream of data, for your perception. It is tuned to your frequency, specifically, to the frequency of your awakening Spirit. Thus, the awakening human becomes an expert on their own unfolding consciousness. And simply because you are connected to everyone/thing in the Universe, you are also mastering a perception of the macrocosm here: the greater gestalt you may call All That Is.

THE THEORY OF RESONANCE

Now remember that this metaphor for the projection of All That Is into our system. Lessons is our Essential Metaphor for why the human comes to the physical plane. We suggest it is to experience the Lessons of Value Fulfillment, as the Virtues of Humanity are endorsed and Embodied, or perhaps denied and vilified. However, the lessons is a Lesson BECAUSE you are noticing it and interpreting it as a Lesson. You create your own reality, and as you do YOU are the value-fulfiller, whether it is the fulfillment though behavior, emotion, imagery and thought of physical violence, as in a perpetrator of violence upon others, or as is the case with a do-gooder type, who bestows goodness, Love, compassion on others. In both cases values are fulfilled. In both cases Lessons are learned.

Now let us look at the two examples in terms of frequency of vibration. We have suggested that negative emotion holds a lower vibration than does positive emotion. This is our premise upon which we build our theory of Resonance. In one example, the subject builds negative Reality Creations with negative emotions. This low frequency resonates with negative emotions everywhere. Within the collective gestalt of emotion, within the Collective Unconscious, your negative emotions resonate with other similarly-created negative emotions of humanity. You could say that this amalgam of negative emotion that is seeking out other “like” emotions within the consciousness field, eventually, through resonance, finds a home for itself. These “homes” we call the Gestalts of Consciousness, the foundational elements of Reality Constructs of all types, including of course, Reality Constructs of air, of ideas, of soil and stone, and so on. But again, these theorized activities of consciousness are simply metaphors for the exceedingly complex activities of the Consciousness Units.

RESONANCE AND AWAKENING

Our changing roles as awakening humans reflect this learning of Lessons through FACING our Issues. Let me explain. Now you begin where you are. You are not yet awakened but you are getting there. You have discovered that you have Issues, spiritual Issues that are DEMANDING your attention. There is no room for denial. There is no time left for intellectualizing away these basic Issues. You are compelled to take to heart, for example, the admonishments of your friends, family, and colleagues. This advice may range from the negative through the positive, as in, “You are a walking ego. You harm others through your insensitivity,” to “You should really get out more. You could find a great partner if you were to make the gesture, go out, meet people.” As you act on the advice of others, or perhaps on promptings from other sources, such as the nonphysical beings, you are expanding your boundaries, your beliefs, your societal role.

In this case, your collective consciousness is Resonating with the ancient civilizations. In those prototypical cultures the highest good for all concerned was practiced in all endeavors. These important life-sustaining, healing messages enter your awareness as impulses, impulses, perhaps, to do good, give to others, to work on yourself and become a better human being. As your personal consciousness Resonates with these messages, you are connected to the collective through your thoughts, through your images, and so on. Thus you achieve your particular state of Resonance with the Ancient Wisdom even as you contribute to the collective state of Resonance by your CHANGING of behaviors, emotions, imagery, “Waking up,” we call it. You are waking up to your responsibilities to create for the highest good.

As you claim this responsibility as your own, your “personal credo, “so to speak, you quite naturally, again, assume a leadership position within your family, your town, your state, country and world. You are modeling for others this assuming of the awakened experience. You then Resonate with other visionary leaders. You come together to make plans for the future. You work as a collective for the betterment of your collectives, large and small.

THE VISIONARY LEADER IS BECOMING KNOWN

Yes, it is cyclical. The Changing of the Guard is underway. The Shift in Consciousness transforms all. Specifically, for the interested citizen, those of you who are waking up, it is this Resonance in action, once again. Now the cycle of domination is changing. The idea that you must conquer the Earth, that to succeed you must dominate others, that the proper way to raise a child is to punish them when they misbehave, these concepts are giving way during this cycle of change. A cycle, a natural cycle of manifestation, implies that changes occur quite naturally, in the natural order of things, you might say. This is the case with The Shift. The dominators have had their say for many generations on Earth. They have created a crisis situation worldwide with their selfish behaviors. In the natural order of things, do you see how this Shift brings up the Ancient Wisdom that contains NEW ideas, NEW images, NEW and positive means of creating, behaving, Loving in the world?

I hope that you sense my irony, once again, as we speak in terms of the NEW ideas that the Ancient Wisdom brings. They ARE new to many of us, for we have practiced over these manys years, the way of forcing ourselves on others and on our environment. It is, from my perspective, completely and utterly expected that the “season” of the dominators would give way, in time, to the era of the Lovers of Earth, of humanity.

UPDATED PROJECTIONS

Thus the evolving experience of the awakening student represents these continually updated projections of the Essential Identity into the Third Dimension. This is our life. As a human on this trajectory of Soul Evolution, your awakening consciousness is reflected in the ongoing products of your consciousness: your body, your environment, your life.

Dear Blog Reader, you are always in-tune with your creations, your Personal Reality. You are always getting what you ask for. But you may ask, “I am certainly not getting what I want. I am poor, sickly and quite unhappy. How can you say that?” In my presentations to you in physical reality we rely on a basic assumption that you are the creator of your world. As I said, you create your reality, your Personal Reality Field. You are connected to everyone and everything else in the created Universe through the Consciousness Units. Thus, as a collective of humans, we create our consensus realities. On the basic level, then, you look out in front of you and see your part of this Universe: your home, your friends and family, your job site, and so on. Now on the collective, progressed level of perception, the Visionary State, you might call it, when you look out in front of you, you may be witnessing your multidimensional reality. Visions of other lives may play out before you or upon the inner screen of your creative imagination. So let us here differentiate between these two states of consciousness perception and thus Reality Creation.

PROBABLE OUTCOME II

Let us cover probable effects of consciousness in the Third Dimension. To begin, as we know, our individual and collective realities are created from limitless probabilities. These probable thoughts, images, emotions, and so on, exist within the etheric, what we also call the pre-manifestation domain. It is from this dimension that our Earthly dimension emerges.

Now all probable effects have a singular charge. This tendency to appear in the particular way of the proposed effect, has, as I said, bioelectric and electromagnetic properties. In our terms, everything in the etheric domain. With your imagination, with your consciousness, you consistently add to this repository of potential. By thinking about the goodness of humanity, for example, you positive imagery, emotions, thoughts and other elements seek out their likeness in this pre-manifestation domain, as well as their opposites. The opposites serve to give depth and counterpoint. Through Resonance these correlations are energized, amplified, supported, given life, you see.

In a sense, the negative is inferred through the positive expression, in contrast, you see, in relative contrast. If you wish to think in terms of dynamics within a system, a system of reality, you could theorize that through Resonance, both the positive and the negative, in addition to all expressions in between these two polarities, are expressed to the nth degree throughout the past, present, and future. Value Fulfillment occurs simultaneously with this expression.

PROBABLE OUTCOMES

You are connected to everyone and everything else…

Feel You Power

Now the truth is, that you as a Reality Creator may expect an infinite variety of outcomes i,e,: creations. The possibilities are limitless with regards to what you can and do create. In this Practice we speak of these outcomes as a form of feedback of your mentality. What you are thinking about is reflected quite directly back to you from your creations, your Personal Reality. You have thus had a hand in the creation of all you see in front of you.

Admittedly, you are far more responsible for the creation of your body, shall we say, and your immediate surroundings, than the neighborhood or the city in which you live. Your creative powers, then, as the creator of realities standing within the magical arena of your Personal Reality Field. Sense it. “Own it,” as we say.

HOW KINTU WAS TESTED BEFORE HE COULD MARRY THE DAUGHTER OF THE KING OF HEAVEN

When Kintu came first to Ugnada he found there was no food at all in the country. He brought with him one cow and had only the food with which the animal supplied him. In the course of time a woman named Nambi came with her brother to the earth and saw Kintu. The woman fell in love with him and, wishing to be married to him, pointedly told him so. She had to return, however, with her brother to her people and her father, Gulu, who was king of the sky.

Nambi’s relations objected to the marriage because they said that the man did not know of any food except that which the cow yielded, and they despised him. Gulu, the father, however, said that they had better test Kintu before he consented to the marriage, and he accordingly sent someone to rob Kintu of his cow. For a time Kintu was at a loss what to eat, but he managed to find different kinds of herbs and leaves which he cooked and ate. Nambi happened to see the cow grazing and recognized it, and complaining that her brothers wished to kill the man she loved, she went to the earth and told Kintu where his cow was, and invited him to return with her to take it away.

Kintu consented to go, and when he reached the sky he was greatly surprised to see how many people there were with houses and with cows, goats, sheep, and fowls running about. When Nambi’s brothers saw Kintu sitting with their sister at her house, they went and told heir father testing to see whether he was worthy of their sister. An enormous meal was cooked, enough food for a hundred people, and brought to Kintu, who was told that unless he ate it all he would be killed as an impostor. Failure to eat it, they said, would be proof that he was not the great Kintu. He was then shut up in a house and left alone.

After he had eaten and drunk as much as he could, he was at a loss to know what to do with the rest of the food. fortunately, he discovered a deep hole in the floor of the house, so he turned all the food and beer into it and covered it over so that no one could detect the place. He then called the people outside to come and take away the baskets. The sons of Gulu came in, but would not believe that he eaten all the food. They, therefore, searched the house but failed to find it.

They went to their father and told him that Kintu had eaten all the food. He was incredulous, and said that Kintu must be further tested. A copper axe was sent to Kintu by Gulu, who said, “Go and cut me firewood from the rock, because I do not use ordinary firewood.”

When Kintu went with the axe, he said to himself, “What am I to do? If I strike the rock, the axe will only turn its edge or rebound.” However, after he had examined the rock, he found that there were cracks in it, so he broke off pieces of it, and returned with them to Gulu who was surprised to get them. Nevertheless, he said that Kintu must be further tried before they could give their consent to the marriage.

Kintu was next sent to fetch water and was told that he must bring only dew, because Gulu did not drink water from wells. Kintu took the water-pot and went off to a field, where he put the pot down and began to ponder what he must do to collect the dew. He was sorely puzzled, but upon returning to the pot, he found it full of water. So he carried it back to Gulu. Gulu was most surprised and said, “This man is a wonderful being; he shall have his cow back and marry my daughter.

Kintu was told to pick his cow from the herd and take it. This was a more difficult task than the others, because there were so many cows like his own that he feared he would mistake it and take the wrong one. While he was thus perplexed a large bee came and said, “Take the one upon whose horns I shall alight; it is yours.”

The next morning Kintu went to the appointed place and stood and watched the bee, which was resting on a tree near him. A large herd of cows was brought before him, and he pretended to look for his cow, but in reality he was watching the bee which did not move. After a time, Kintu said, “My cow is not there.” A second herd was brought, and the bee at once flew away and rested upon a cow which was a very large one, and Kintu said, “This is my cow.” The bee then flew to another cow, and Kintu said, “This is one of the calves from my cow,” and the bee went on to a second and a third cow which Kintu claimed as the calves which had been born during the cow’s stay with Gulu.

Gulu was delighted with Kintu and said, “You are truly Kintu, take your cows. No one can deceive or rob you, you are too clever for that.” He called Nambi and said to Kintu, “Take my daughter who loves you, marry her, and go back to your home.” Gulu further said, “You must hurry and go back before Walumbe, or Death, comes, because he will want to go with you and you must not take him; he will only cause you trouble and unhappiness.”

Nambi agree to what her father said and went to pack up her things. Kintu and Nambi then took leave of Gulu, who said, “Be sure, if you have forgotten anything, not to come back, because Death will want to go with you and you must go without him.”

They started off home, taking with them, besides Nambi’s things and the cows, a goat, a sheep, a fowl, and a plantain tree. On the way Nambi remembered that she had forgotten the grain for the for the fowl, and she said to Kintu, “I must go back for the grain for the fowl, or it will die.”

Kintu tried to dissuade her, but in vain. She said, “I will hurry back and get it without anyone seeing me.”

He said, “Your brother Death will be on the watch and will see you.”

She would not listen to her husband, but went back and said to her father, “I have forgotten the grain for the fowl, and I have come to take it from the doorway where I put it.”

He replied, “Did I not tell you that you were not to return if you forgot anything, because your brother Walumbe would see you and want to go with you?” Now he will accompany you.”

Nambi tried to steal away without Walumbe, but he followed her. When she rejoined Kintu, he was angry at seeing Walumbe, and said, “Why have you brought your brother with you? Who can live with him?”

Nambi was sorry, so Kintu said, “Let us go and see what happen.”

When they reached the earth Nambi planted her garden, and the plantains grew rapidly, and she soon had a large plantain grove in Manyagalya. They lived happily for some time and had a number oif children, until one day Walumbe asked kintu to send one of the children to be his cook.

Kintu replied, “If Gulu comes and asks me for one of my children, what am I to say to him? Shall I tell him that I have given her to be your cook?”

Walumbe was silent and went away, but he again asked for a child to be his cook, and again Kintu refused to send one of his daughters, so Walumbe said, “I will kill them.”

Kintu, who did not know what he meant, asked, “What is it that you will do?” In a short time, however, one of the children fell ill and died, and from that time they began to die at intervals.

Kintu returned to Gulu and told him about the deaths of the children, and accuse Walumbe of being the cause. Gulu replied, “Did I not tell you when you were going away to go at once with your wife and not return if you had forgotten anything? But you allowed Nambi to return for grain. Now you have Walumbe living with you. Had you obeyed me you would have been free of him and would not have lost any of your children.”

After some further entreaty, Gulu sent Kaikuzi, another brother, to assist Nambi, and to prevent Walumbe from killing the children. Kaikuzi went to the earth with Kintu and was met by Nambi, who told him her pitiful story. He said he would call Walumbe and try to dissuade him from killing the children. When Walumbe came to greet his brother they had quite a warm and affectionate meeting, and Kintu told him he had come to take him back, because their father wanted him.

Walumbe said, “Let us take our sister too.”

But Kintu said he was not sent to take her, because she was married and had to stay with her husband. Walumbe refused to go without his sister, and Kaikuzi was angry with him and ordered him to do as he was told. Death, however, escaped from Kaikuzi’s grip and fled away into the earth.

For a long time there was enmity between the two brothers. Kaikuzi tried in every possible way to catch his brother Walumbe, but he always escaped. At last Kaikuzi told the people to remain in their houses for several days and not to let any of the animals out, and he would have a final hunt for Walumbe. He further told them that if they saw Walumbe they must not call out or raise the usual cry of fear.

The instructions were followed for two or three days, and Kaikuzi got his brother to come out of the earth and was about to capture him, when some children took their goats to the pasture and saw Walumbe and called out. Kaikuzi rushed to the spot and asked why they called, and they said they had seen Death. Kaikuzi was angry, because Walumbe had again gone into the earth. So he went to Kintu and told him he was tired of hunting Death and wanted to return home. He also complained that the children had frightened Walumbe into the earth again. Kintu thanked Kaikuzi for his help and said he feared nothing more could be done, and he hoped Walumbe would not kill all the people.

Form that time Death has lived upon the earth and killed people whenever he can, and then he escapes into the earth at Tanda in Singo.

[ BAGANDA ]

PROBABLE OUTCOMES

Feel Your Power

Now the truth is, that you as a Reality Creator may expect an infinite variety of outcomes i,e,; creations. The possibilities are limitless with regards to what you can and do create. In this Practice we speak of these outcomes as a form of feedback of your mentality. What you are thinking about is reflected quite directly back to you from your creations, your Personal Reality. You have thus had a hand in the creation of all that you see in front of you.

Admittedly, you are far more responsible for the creation of your body, shall we say, and your immediate surroundings, than the neighborhood or the city in which you live. Your creative powers are most effective within a 50 foot radius. Feel your power, then, as the creator of realities standing within the magical arena of your Personal Reality Field. Sense it. “Own it,” as we say.

THE TRANCE STATE

Further information may be gathered in the Trance State, as we said earlier. You may find it is easier to receive unbiased information in Trance rather than trying to circumvent the agenda of the ego/intellect. Do what works best for you in your Practice.

Also, carry a recording device with you or a simple notebook to document discoveries in the field. Especially note Resonance Factors, those aspects of consciousness that seem to precognate the manifestation. In other words, these glimpses into your future represent your progressed self – the one that enjoys the Best Case Scenario – sending back clues and suggestions from the future. True, this is high-etherics we are suggesting to you in the Practice. However, consider that you are now reading a Blog dictated by a non-physical being who has been dead for quite some time. I suggest to you that you are ALREADY submerged in the etherics of the Unknown Reality, Dear Blog Reader. You may as well enjoy it.

So you would write down these impulses from the future – the messages from the BCS – and your successes, most assuredly, and also note instances of non-success. Simply note them, however, without berating yourself. This information is crucial to your redirection of energies in your Regimen. Now you know what NOT to do. Now you may do the opposite, in fact. So as you school yourself in this system, be a good reacher, be a kind teacher, be a teacher who models Love for the student

FILLING IN THE BLANKS

In this exercise you are taking hold of your Reality Creation in the moment of assessment. You are then including the Felt Difference – the Feeling-Tone of what is missing – in your creative efforts. Using your Intent, allowing your personal power to come forward in that moment, impress this Blog material into your activities, into your perception of your Personal Reality Field.

THE FELT DIFFERENCE

The Felt Difference is that Feeling-Tone of thought, imagery and emotion that is missing from the BCS (Best Case Scenario). You have assessed your current status quo reality and found some things lacking. You would like to include this Blog Material, in other words, in your CURRENT reality. Write down what you have noticed that is missing.

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BEST CASE SCENARIO

Now imagine what BCS would look like when it is finally manifested. Write your BCS on the lines below. Use just a few words to capture the essence, the Feeling-Tone of this construct. I believe that it is important to start this process now. You have the tools to be gin. You are ready now to start creating your heart’s desire.

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CURRENT FEELING-TONE

Your first project begins in earnest when you create Current Feeling-Tone Assessment of the state of the domain of living that you have selected. Do that next

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DOMAINS OF LIVING

What areas of your life need improving? What projects are you willing to devote your time and energy to in order to get results? List in order of importance the areas in your life that need this attention. I do think that it is counterproductive to be shy about this, to be fearful that someone may read this Blog material and wonder about your sanity. However, write this in a diary that is secure if you feel that it is necessary.

Now write down what you would like to change.

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RITUAL OF SANCTUARY-2

Now do personalize the protection Ritual. Put your personality and your personal energy in it. Also it helps to link this creative state of consciousness to a memory, a thought, an image or gesture. In this way you may immediately create a felt sense of protection, security, Love while you are out in your waking world with a mere snap of your fingers. Or perhaps you carry a card in your pocket with the word “Sanctuary” printed on it. Every time you take it out of your pocket and look at it. Sanctuary is created automatically. Again, why does it occur? It occurs because you create your reality.

MY PRACTICE

When I provide ongoing support for clients, I proceed in a particular way. This may help you to create your own program and help you avoid problems.

Now when a client asks me for my insight into a particular Issue that they might have, I remind them that THEY themselves have the solutions. I am only an intermediary here, you see. I am able to observe what the client has in store for themselves as probable trajectories of development, probable realities. Therefore, as you create your Regimens keep this truth in mind, Dear Blog Reader. You already know the answers. You already have created success in your Practice. You are even now quite successful in a probable future from which you may pull inspiration. In other words, please understand this Best Case Scenario that we speak of in this Blog Series is real. It is quite apparent to me, and I am certain it will become quite certain to you as you complete your studies.

Secondly, use your Guides as you would a coach or knowledgeable confidante. As we have reminded you before in our second Blog Series, the genie of literature and myth is the Energy Personality, the Spirit, the Guide. Knowing this, act as if your guides have all the answers and it will be so. This can be considered an adjunct Precept to YCYR. Perhaps I would state it thus: “Your Source has all the answers you need to help you manifest your heart’s desire.” Then, as you Embody this Precept, the Guides will make themselves known to you and make the information available, the information you require, you see, to create your world the way you want it.

THE BULLY

Transformation – An example: You area a bully, let us pretend, and you enjoy picking on people, making them miserable. You rationalize your behavior by blaming it on your father, who was also a bully, per the reports from your mother. However, the truth comes out that your father was far from being a bully and was quite Loving and nurturing. He made his Transition at an early time in your life. You were not able to feel fathered completely by this human.

What do you do now? You have an opportunity to change your behavior, to in fact change it to its opposite. You can attempt to Embody the Virtues of Loving Understanding, nurturing, and so on. You will be working on a negative reality you have created for you have found proof that it is based on falsehoods. You have it within you to create these Virtues, as do we all. And so you practice Embodying these opposites of the bully.

Will this practice make an angel out of you, a profoundly Loving and spiritual person? Perhaps. Yet if you do continue this practice of polarizing the Feeling-Tones you have used to create the bully persona, you will undoubtedly improve, in Soul sense, in the sense of creating progress in your Soul’s Evolution.

HOLDING ON AND LETTING GO

Now here is a time for everything, here, in your Ritual processes. Let me go on a bit about just what I mean with this statement…

Just as this Resonance exhibits both the attractive and repulsive principles, and finds cohesion and momentum “over time,” you may find it advantageous to, in a sense, ride this wave of manifestation with your awareness. There is a time for holding on and letting go, resisting/assessing and “going with the flow.” You cannot have one without the other in this natural process. It is not “wrong” or “bad” to favor one over the other. It is quite fruitful to embrace both in this practice.

In a very natural way, the student attends to the current moment, for example, with focus and energy. In the next moment, however, you might relax and let go, you see: Distraction. The natural distractions of living will occur for you, taking your focus off of your creative enterprises. Simply let go of your focus in that moment and ride the wave of manifestation. The next moment may call for a return to your focus on the matter at hand. Simply do so, not abandoning the distraction but simply diverting your attention back to the Regimen. This is multitasking. The more you practice, the more proficient you become.

PROSPERITY REGIMEN

Prosperity and the Victim Stance

If you feel as though you are experiencing Lack, you have a perspective Issue. You exist within an Abundant Universe, however your Issues act as barriers between you and prosperity. Your beliefs, you see, are actively obscuring your perception of this Abundant Universe.

Let me explain the activity of Resonance at it applies to the Victim. Now Resonance is a dynamic process. It is composed of Light energy fluctuations achieving balance within electromagnetic influences. The Consciousness Units flash on and off, creating different realities in different time-frames. On the basic level, what you focus on consciously, or unconsciously, has a particular vibratory frequency that attempts to replicate itself in physical reality.

On the unconscious level, for example, let us suppose that you have a tendency to create just enough prosperity to sustain yourself, yet never enough to relax and enjoy your life. This is how you view it, your manifestation of your person reality.

This is a type of victim stance, in that, you see yourself as “trying to get ahead,” as we say, but it never quite happens.

In my terms, your prosperity evades you for you are creating unconsciously according to less-than-best case scenarios created in your past. These scenarios may have been developed by you in your response to perceived stress, trauma, negative experiences, you see. These are protective strategies that serve to protect you at THAT STAGE of your development: the point in your growth as a Soul in which you sustained the emotional injuries, the damage, you might say, to the Emotional Body. The ego/intellect, the conscious mind attempts to protect you in this way. It keeps from you this negative material. It represses it.

This resonance phenomenon is actively working within your subconscious to match the vibratory frequency of you victim strategy to people, places and things in your physical world. Subconsciously, then, you are creating your reality through this resonance effect, that seeks a match of outside to inside energies.

NOW IN THIS MOMENT

This reasoning also applies to any attempts at body conditioning through exercise and other physical activities. The important piece here is this: “What do you think of your physical body NOW in this moment?” Now in the moment is when you create your future, you see. Now in the moment is when you must Love yourself, Love your body. If you can see the potential trim and fit physical body beneath the chubby exterior, then you have the right idea. That is your focus, from my perspective. That positive image, that positive Feeling-Tone of Love and success is what may drive your manifestation activities over the course of the Regimen.

Obviously, if what you see before you as you look in the mirror repulses you, you have some important changes to make in your self-assessment activities. That is where you begin, then, to appreciate the body you now have while also anticipating the improvements.

On this Regimen you will be Loving your body into fitness. You Love how you are in this moment, first, and then you move toward the creation of an improved reality moment-to-moment, as you, for example, eat healthy foods, exercise regularly, and all the while you are keeping this Loving Understanding of self intact.

PHYSICAL HEALTH REGIMEN

In my past Blog Series, I suggested to you that in matters of diet, as in the eating of specific foods, that it was more important what the eater THOUGHT of the food. What matters most are the images, circular thoughts, essential ideas that you-the-eater entertain within your mental environment before, during, and after eating food. These influences have a very direct effect upon the digestion. So for example, if you eat a small piece of chocolate, say, that is on your FORBIDDEN list of foods, you would have, perhaps, a quite negative reaction to the food. “Chocolate makes me fat,” you may say to yourself as you eat it. That statement is a profound suggestion to your subconscious that you immediately, upon eating any chocolate, must begin the process of turning it into fat. Your digestive system will obey dutifully this suggestion as you reinforce it with negative imagery, negative emotion, and so on. In addition, this sets up an unfortunate dis-empowering dynamic in which you play the naughty child that must be punished with obesity by the punitive subconscious.

CHANGE THE PAST AND THE PRESENT WILL TAKE CARE OF ITSELF

Now here in this section we will demonstrate how a sense of Good Humor, as in clever punning, may help us initiate a manifestation scenario of positive realities. You already are familiar, I am guessing, with the modern aphorisms regarding the past: “Don’t dredge up the past. What’s done is done. Look forward.” Generally, the past, particularly the past of negative events, traumatic events shall we say, is indeed best forgotten. “Just don’t dwell on it, ” the saying goes, “and it will lose its power over you.”

There is some truth to these statements, from my perspective. You do indeed create through a focusing of your energies on the subject matter. And so I do not advise the student who has had a traumatic childhood, for example, to continuously TRY to remember the traumatic events. Without proper preparation, they may make matters worse for themselves. Yet I DO believe that a return to the scenes of the trauma in the imagination, from an Objective Observer’s perspective, may be quite healing. Again, this is not done willy-nilly, without regard for the safety of the human. Great preparation is made before the return to master this Observer’s Perspective.

Once this is done, the student may safely visit these unfortunate memories, and observe the going-on objectively, without Embodying these negative memories, in other words. Here is where we use humor to neutralize the negative Feeling-Tone that marks and identifies the traumatic events. Change the past and the present will take care of itself. It has a sense of the absurd to it yet it is literally true. Over time the Objective Observer creates safety in this retrieval process. The negative emotion loses its sting, its power to wound.

Now having been neutralized, the event may safely be studied, assessed, and TRANSFORMED. The student is quite literally changing their past. When they return to surface awareness from the Trance State they may well experience the cathartic healing of consciousness. In this sense the student recovers, as in going back to retrieve the lost aspects of Soul, rather than recover in the sense of again covering up the negative past. Please note the activity of the double meaning within consciousness.

PATH OF HEALING

ESSENTIAL METAPHOR – You are on a path to your past, to your birth. As you go back in time on this path you see on the side of the road, events, places where you split off parts of yourself and left them. The idea is to collect these aspects or parts of self and integrate them into your personality through Intent. You go all the way back to your birth. When you have done this adequately, you can go back beyond and before your birth to the time in between lives, in the Home Dimension and into other lives.

Now if you have issues of abuse from childhood, these issues may be healed from the present. As you walk this path you see different events being recreated on the side of the road. You see where you have left parts of yourself at different stages of development in your life. The idea is to collect these Feeling-Tones and bring them back to the present. This is healing the Soul. It allows you to integrate all of this material and navigate the developmental phase that was interrupted by the trauma.

CHILDHOOD TRAUMA

It is quite common for the human who has been traumatized in childhood to experience these flashbacks in adult life. The volatile material has been repressed successfully over the years, but now the images and other content force themselves upon the waking mind. The Reality Creation is disrupted violently during these events, as the human, usually referred to as “the victim,” re-experiences the Feeling-Tone of the Traumatic event or events.

It seems to me, that what must change here is the felt sense or Feeling-Tone of the traumatic past that comes to visit. One then revisits the traumatic memories in the Trance State, with an eye toward altering them; altering in memory and thus altering the effects in the flashbacks. One observes the traumatic material as an Objective Observer, without becoming emotionally involved, you see, as though one were watching a movie. Important information is carried out of the Trance State and then documented. Each time the scene is revisited in memory, the Objective Observer notes the particulars with cool detachment. Eventually the flashbacks will be experienced in this Observer Perspective, rather than the traumatized “victim” perspective. It is a case of tuning down the high emotionality and trauma of the event. The cascade of negative emotion will be prevented, as the disturbing material is observed in the cool light of day, you might say. Again, this is simply a change of perspective and so change of realities.

THE SUN CHILDREN

Once some children, at their mother’s behest, very gently approached the sun’s armpit. As the sun lay sleeping. They went to lift up the sun’s armpit.

At the same time, another woman ordered her children to do the same thing. She told them that if they approached ever so gently and drew up the sun’s armpit, then the rice of the Bushmen would become dry, and the sun, as it proceeded from place across the sky, would cause everything to become bright. For this reason it was that the old woman, their mother, coaxed her children to do as she asked. “But, children,” she said, “you must wait for the sun, who is making us so cold, to lie down to sleep. Then approach him gently and, all together, lift him up and throw him into the sky.” Thus, indeed, did both of the old women speak.

And so the children approached the sun. They first sat down and looked at him in order to determine whether, as he lay there, he was looking at them. Finally they saw him lying there very quietly, his elbow lifted up so that his armpit shone upon the ground. Before the children prepared to throw him up into the sky they remembered what the old woman, their mother, had said: “O children, going yonder, you must speak to him when you throw him up. You must tell him that he must be the sun – the sun who is hot and who, as he passes along the sky, causes the Bushmen rice to become dry – the sun who is hot as he stands above in the sky.”

Thus had their mother, the old woman, whose head was white, spoken. They had listened and were going to obey her.

When all was in readiness, they took hold of the sun, all of them together, lifted him, raised him, even though he was hot to touch, and threw him up in the sky, addressing him as they threw him up: “O sun, you must altogether stand fast and you must proceed along your way – you must stand fast while you are hot.”

Then the children returned to their mother, and one of them went to her and said, “Our companion, who is here, this one, took hold of him. So did I. Then my younger brother and my still younger brother, they all took hold of him. ‘Grasp hold of him firmly,’ I said, ‘and throw him up. Grasp the old man firmly and throw him up.’ Thus I spoke to them. Then the children threw him up, the old man, the sun.”

Then another one of those who had been resent – a younger indeed – he also spoke to her and said, “Oh, grandmother, we threw him up, the sun, and we told him what you had told us, that he should altogether become the sun, the sun who is hot, for us who are cold. And we addressed him thus: ‘O my grandfather, sun’s armpit! Remain there at that place. Because the sun who is hot so that the Bushmen rice may dry for us, so that you may make the whole earth light, that the earth may become warm in the summer, that you may altogether make heat. For the reason, you must shine everywhere. You must take away the darkness. You must come indeed so that the darkness will go away.'”

And thus it is. The sun comes, the darkness departs; the sun sets, the darkness comes and, then, at night the moon comes. The moon comes out; it brightens the darkness and the darkness then departs. It has taken the darkness aways and now it moves along, continually brightening the darkness. And the the moon sets and the sun, following, comes out. The sun now drives away the darkness, indeed drives away the moon as it stands there. The sun actually pierces the moon with his knife and that is why it decays. Therefore the moon said, “O sun! leave the backbone for the children!” And the sun did so.

Then the moon painfully went away painfully returned home. He went home to become another, a moon which is whole. He again comes to life although is had seemed that he had died. He becomes a new moon and feels as though he had put on a new stomach. He becomes large; he is alive again. Then he goes along as night, feeling that he is the moon once more. Indeed he feels he is a shoe, the shoe that Mantis threw into the sky, and ordered to become the moon.

That is what the sun has done – made all the earth bright. And thus it is that the people walk while the earth is light. Then people can see the bushes, can we see other people. They can see the meat which they are eating. They can see the springbok, can hunt it in summer. It is when the sun shines, like wise, that they can hunt the ostrich. And so – because the sun brightens the earth, because he shines upon the path of men – the Bushmen steal up to the gemsbok, steal up to the kudu, travel about in summer, and go visiting one another. Because the sun shines hottest upon the path of men in summer, they always go shooting and hunting then, for they are certain to espy the springbok. It is in the summer that they lie contented in their little homes made of bushes, and they scratch up the earth. All day they do when the springbok comes.

The people of whom we speaking were the Bushmen, the men of the early race. It is they who first inhabited this earth and it was their children who worked with the sun, who threw the sun up and made him ascend so that he might warm the earth for them, and that they might be able to sit in the sun.

The sun, they say, was originally a man who lived on earth. In the beginning, he gave forth brightness for a space just around his own dwelling. As his shining was confined to a certain space just at and around his own house, the rest of the country seemed as if the sky were very cloudy – as it looks now, in fact, when the sun is behind thick clouds. This shining came from one of the sun’s armpits as he lay with one arm lifted up. When he put down his arm, darkness fell everywhere; when he lifted it up again, it was as if day came. In the the day, the sun’s light used to be white, but at night, it was red like fire. When the sun was thrown up into the sky it became round and never was a man again.

The same is true of the moon. He too, was once a man who could talk. But today neither the sun nor the moon talk. They just live in the sky. Then Spider said, “I shall go on to Sun’s village in order to bring him. ” Hut Moon said, “Let me first get you something to eat.” And Spider replied, “Ho!” So Moon masked up some yam for him to eat. Then Spider set out for Sun’s village. When he reached Sun’s village, he said to him, “Your father says you must come along with me.” And Sun said, “It is well, I and you shall go, but let me get you something to eat first.” Spider replied, “Ho!” So Sun went and caught a sheep. When he came back, he said to Spider, “I would have wished, had my father come here, that he should have seen what I was doing; if it were good, or if it were bad, in either case he would have seen. Since, however, he has not come and you have come, it is as if father had come. Therefore here is this, my sheep, that I shall kill so you may eat.”

And he killed the sheep and prepared it beautifully for Spider to eat. After the meal Spider said, “Let us go on a fallen tree.” When they got there, Spider said to Sun, “Your father has blackened a stool at his home. He wishes you to succeed to that stool, so he has pulled up a yam and if you know its name, he will take the stool and give it to you. Now this yam is called ‘Terminus.’ And in order that you may not forget its name, I shall cut a shirt drum for you, and make a mpintini drum to go with it, so that when they beat the short drum and the mpintini drum then you will never forget this word, for the shirt drum will speak out and say:

‘Firi bomo!

Firi bomo!”

Then the mpintini drum will say:

‘Kintini bomo!

Kintini bomo!”

So they set off to go to the sky-god’s town. First they reached Moon’s village and took him along; then they reached Night’s village and took him along. All the way they played the mpintini drum. When they reached the outskirts of the town Spider saw a man, and he sent him off to tell the sky-god that they were coming. There upon the sky-god called on assembly together, and soon Spider and the others arrived and saluted every one. Spider now gave the spokesman the news, saying, “The chief’s errand on which I was sent I have performed; I have brought them.” And the sky-god said, “My children, the reason I caused you to be sent for this: I have blackened the stool standing there and I have also pulled up the yam over there. I shall now take this stool and give it to him who sees and names the yam. Because my eldest child is Night, let him try first.” Then Night said, “It is called ‘Pona.” And all the people shouted, “Y-e-e-e.” Again the sky-god spoke, “My second child is Moon, therefore let him give its name.” And moon said, “It is the yam called ‘Asnate.’ ” The people shouted, “Y-e-e-e-e.” Again the sky-god spoke, “My child, the third one, is Sun, therefore let him name it.”

Now’ I forgot to say that the dance music was going on:

“Kintnkyi Bomo!

Kintinkyi bomo!”

and Spider was turning cart-wheels.

Then Sun rose up and stood there, and took hold of the yam, and he said, “Oh, as for this, since ever I began to walk beside my father and was very small, he used to tell me its name, and I have not forgotten; it is called ‘Terminus” And the tribe shouted three times, “E!E!E!”

Then his father rose up and stood there and said, “You, Night, you are the eldest, but the words which I told you you have allowed yourself to forget, because you did not pay attention to my words. Because of this, it it now decreed that wicked things only will be done during your time. And you, Moon, the words with which you and I walked and I told you, you too did not follow. It is decreed therefore that only children will play during your reign. As for you, Sun, when I said words to you, you did not forget; you listened to my advice, so you are to be the chief. Should any one have any matter to settle, let it be heard in your time. Household cases. however, may be heard in the evening.

“So take the path which I have set you and if Zeno wishes to trespass upon it, may Diawerigne, the circular rainbow seen at times around the sun, throw itself around you, so that Moon may not be able to come and touch you. Again, if the rainclouds gather, the sky-god’s bow will be cast on the sky that your children who are under you may see when I have cast it so that the waters will not overflow and carry them away.

“One more thing. These words which were formerly known as the “Sayings of the Sky-God.” now since the spider, has been able to read these words in my head, let them be known henceforth as “The Sayings of Spider.”

[ ASHANTI ]

HOW THE SUN AND THE MOON RISE IN THE SKY

Many years ago the sun and the water were great friends, and both lived on the earth together. The sun very often used to visit the water, but the water never returned his visits. At last the sun asked the water why it was that he never came to see him in his house. The water replied that the sun’s house was not big enough, and that if he came with his people he would drive the sun out.

The water then said, “If you wish me to visit you, you must build a very large compound; but I warn you that it will have to be a tremendous place, as my people are very numerous and take up a lot of room.”

The sun promised to build a very big compound, and soon afterward he returned home to his wife, the moon, who greeted him with a broad smile when he opened the door. The sun told the moon what he had promised the water, and the next day he commenced building a huge compound in which to entertain his friend.

When it was completed, he asked the water to come and visit him the next day.

When the water arrived, he called out to the sun and asked him whether it would be safe for him to enter, and the sun answered, “Yes, come in, my friend.”

The water then began to flow in, accompanied by the fish and all the water animals.

Very soon the water was knee-deep, so he asked the sun if it was still safe, and the sun again said, “Yes,” so more water came in.

When the water was level with the top of a man’s head, the water said to the sun, “Do you want more of my people to come?”
The sun and the moon both answered, “yes,” not knowing any better, so the water flowed in, until the sun and moon had to perch themselves on the top of the roof.

Again the water addressed the sun, but, receiving the same answer, and more of his people rushing in, the water very soon overflowed the top of the roof, and the sun and the moon were forced to go up into the sky, where they have remained ever since.

[ EFIK – IBIBIO ]

HOW THE LESSER GOD, KOMBA CAME INTO THE WORLD

There once was a certain woman who bore eleven children. Every day when she got up and cooked food the children ate it all and the mother did not get any of it. She pondered long about the matter, and went off to the plantation and spoke to the silk-cotton tree, saying, “I shall send my eleven children to come beneath you here to pluck pumpkins; and when they come, pluck off eleven of your branches and kill those children of mine.”

The silk-cotton tree said, “I have heard, and I shall do it for you.”

The mother then went home and said to her children, “You must go to the plantation beneath the silk-cotton tree; there are pumpkins there. Go pick them and come back.”

The children set off. They went and reached the silk-cotton tree. Number Eleven said, “Number One, stand still; Number Two, stand still; Number Three, stand still; Number Four, stand still; Number Five, stand still; Number Six, stand still; Number Seven, stand still; Number Eight, stand still; Number Nine, stand still; Number Ten, Stand still; and I Number Eleven, I have stood still.”

Number Eleven then addressed them saying, “Do you not know the sole reason why Mother said we must go and pick pumpkins?”

His brother’s answered, “No.”

Thereupon he said, “She has told this silk-cotton tree that, when we go there, he must pluck off branches and beat us. Therefore all of you cut sticks and throw them against this silk-cotton tree.”

They cut the sticks and threw them against the silk-cotton tree. Pim! pen! pim! pen! was the sound they made. The silk-cotton supposed that the children had come. He took off eleven of his branches and let them fall to the ground. Little Number Eleven said, “You have seen – had we gone on there, the silk-cotton tree would have killed us.”

They picked up the pumpkins and took them to their mother. She cooked them. And at once the children had eaten all! Their mother said, “Ah! as for this matter, I cannot bear it! I shall take these children and give them to the sky-god.”

The next morning, when things became visible, she went and told the sky-god all about it, saying, “The children to whom I have given birth eat so fast and so much that when I wish to eat, I can’t get anything. Hunger is killing me. Therefore, I implore you, let the children be brought and killed, so that I may get something to eat.”

The sky-god said, “Is that really the case?”

The woman said, “I am speaking with a head, the inside of which is white.”

So the sky-god picked out messengers, and they went and dug a large pit in which they placed broken bottles. The sky-god himself went and fetched a snake and a leopard, put them in the pit, and covered it over. And now the messenger went to call the children.

No sooner did they reach the place where the pit lay, than Number Eleven said, “Number One, stand still; Number Two, stand still; Number Three, stand still; Number Four, stand still; Number Five, stand still; Number Six, stand still; Number Seven, stand still; Number Eight, stand still; Number Nine, stand still; Number Ten, stand still; and I myself Number Eleven, I have stood still. You must pass here, but you must not pass there.”

His brothers said, “Why, when a wide path lies there, must we pass through the bush?”

Now, as they were going along, they all carried clubs. Number Eleven said, “Throw one of these clubs upon this path.” They threw a club upon the path, and it fell through into the pit. Yiridi was the sound of its fall. Number Eleven said, “There you are! You see! Had we passed there, we should all of us have died.”

So they took a bypath and went off to meet the sky-god. The sky-god had caused holes to be dug, covered over, and stools placed upon them, so that when the children came to sit on them, they would fall into the holes. Soon the arrived before the face of the sky-god. Hep spoke to them: “Stools are set there. You may go and be seated upon them.”

Then Number Eleven siad, “Who are we that we should be able to sit upon such very beautiful stools? So, sire, we are going to sit aside here.”

Thereupon the sky-god gazed at the children and he said to himself, “I shall send the children to Death’s village.”

The next morning, when things became visible, he called the children and said, “You must go to Death who lives yonder and receive from her a golden pipe, a golden chewing-stick, a golden snuff box, a golden whetstone, and a golden fly-switch.”

Number Eleven said, “You are our master, wherever you will send us, we shall go.”

The sky-god said, “Be off!”

So the children set out for Death’s village. When they arrived there, Death said, “Why, when no one must ever come here, have. you come here?”

They replied, “We were roaming. about and came here quite by chance.” Death said, “Oh, all right then.”

Now Death had ten children. With herself, they made eleven. When things began to disappear – that is, when it became dark – Death divided up the children one by one and gave one to each of her children, while she herself and Number Eleven went to rest. When it was dark, Death then lit up her teeth until they shone red so that she might seize Number Eleven with them.

Number Eleven said, “Death, I must not yet asleep.”

Death said, “When will you be asleep?”

Number Eleven said, “If you were to give me a golden pipe to smoke for a while, then I might fall asleep.”

And Death fetched it for him.

A little while later, Death again lit up her teeth in order to go and seize Number Eleven with them.

Number Eleven said, “Death, I am not yet asleep.’

Death said, “When will you be asleep?”

Number eleven said, “If you were to bring me a golden snuff box, I might go to sleep.”

And Death brought it to him.

Again, soon afterward, Death was going to seize Number Eleven.

Number Eleven said, “I am not asleep.”

Death said, “When will you asleep?”

Number Eleven said, If you were to go and fetch golden chewing-stick for me so that I might chew it for a while, then I might fall asleep.”

Death fetched it for him, A short time passed, and Death was about to seize him.

Number Eleven said, “Grandmother, I am not yet asleep.”

And Death said, “Then when will you be asleep?”

Number Eleven said, “Grandmother, if you were to go and bring me a golden whetstone, then I might sleep.”

And Death went brought it. Again, soon afterward, Death rose up once more.

Number Eleven said, “Oh, Grandmother, I said I was not yet asleep.”

Death said, “And what will be the day when you will be asleep?”

Number Eleven said, “If you were to go and take a calabash full of holes and go and splash water in it and boil some food for me to eat, then I might sleep.”

Death lifted up a strainer and went off to the stream. When she slashed the water into it, the holes in the strainer let it pass through. Now Number Eleven said to his brothers, “Rise up and flee away.” Then they rose up and fled, and Number Eleven went and cut a plantain stems and placed them where his brothers had lain and took cloths and covered them over.

Now Death was at the stream splashing water. And Male Death called to Female Death, saying, “Ho thee, Death!”

She replied, “Adwo.

He said, “What are you doing?”

She replied, “Alas, is it not some small child whom I have got! When I am about to catch him, he says, ‘I am not yet asleep.’ He has taken all my things, and now he says, I must take a strainer and splash water.”

Male Death said, “Ah, are you a small child? If you pluck leaves and line the inside of the strainer and then splash water, would it not be all right?”

Female Death said, “Oh, how true!”

She plucked leaves, placed them inside, and splashed the water and went off. Number Eleven said, “Death, you have come already? Boil the food.” Death cooked the food; she lit up her teeth in order to kill Number Eleven’s brothers and cook them for food. When she went, she did not examine them carefully, and she herself killed all her own children.

The next day, very, very early, when things became visible, Death rose up and sat there by the fired. Number Eleven said, “Grandmother, a tsetse fly is sitting on your breast.”

Death said, “Fetch the fly-switch which is lying there and kill it for me.”

Number Eleven saaid, “Good gracious me! A person of your consequence – when a tsetse fly settles on you and a golden fly-switch lies there – you would use this only thing! Let me fetch the golden fly-switch and come and kill it.”

Death said, “Go and fetch it from the room.”

Number Eleven went and brought it. He purposely drove the fly away; he didn’t kill it. Number Eleven said, “Oh, today, where this tsetse fly will rest, there I shall rest with him.”

The number Eleven went to the room and took his bag in which lay the golden pipe and all the things. He said, “Grandmother Death, nothing will suffice save that I get the tsetse fly, put it in this bag, and bring it to you.”

Number Eleven set off – yiridi! yiridi! yiridi! He reached the end of the town and siad, “Ho, there, Grandmother Death! Pardon my saying so but if you were not a perfect fool, could I have found a way to escape, and could I have made you also kill all your children? As for me, I am going off.”

Death said, “You, a child like this! Wherever you rest, there I shall rest!”

Number Eleven leaped off – yiridi! yiridi! yiridi! and death, too, went to chase him.

As Number Eleven was going, he overtook his brothers who were sitting on the path. They were making a bird-trap. Number Eleven said, “Have you not gone yet? Death is coming, so let us find some way to escape.”

Now Death came upon them. Number Eleven took medicine and poured it on his brothers, and they went on top of a silk-cotton tree. And Death stood at the foot of the silk-tree. She said, “Just now I saw those children, and where have they gone?

Number Eleven was sitting above. He said to his brothers, I am going to make water upon her.”

His brothers said, “E! she is seeking us to catch us, and we have fled and come and sit here and yet you say, ‘I am going to make water on her.'”

Number Eleven would not listen, and he made water over Death.

Death said, “Ah, there you are! Today you have seen trouble.” Death said, “You, child, who are sitting up there, Kyerehe-ne, Kyere-he-ne!” Thereupon one of the children fell down. “Kyere-he-ne!” a second one fell down. Soon there remained only Number Eleven.

Death said, “Child, Kyere-he-ne!” and Number Eleven leaped and descended on the ground, kirim! And Death then went on top of the silk-cotton tree.

Number Elven said, “You, great big woman, you too, Kyere-he-ne!”

And death, also, came down, tum! She was dead.

Number Elven went and plucked medicine, rolled it between his palms, and sprinkle it on his brothers, and they rose up. Number eleven was going to throw the medicine awaye, when some of it dropped on Death, and Death awoke. She said, “You have killed me, and you have also awakened me. Today you and I will have a chase.”

They they all started to run off at once, kiri! kiri! kiri! Now Death was chasing them. As they were going, there lay before them a big river in flood. When Number Eleven and his brothers reached it, the brothers knew how to swim and they swam across. Number Eleven alone did not know how to swim. The children stood on the other side; they cried and cried and cried; their mouths became swollen up. As for Number Eleven, he turned into a stone.

Death reached the river. She said, “Oh, these children! You stand there! Let me get a stone and hit your swollen mouths.” Death, when she looked down, saw a stone lying there. She picked it up and threw it. As the stone was travelling, it said, “Winds take me and set me on the other side.” It alighted on the other side. Number Eleven said, “Here I am!”

Death said, “Ah, that child! I have no further matter to talk to you about. All I have to say to you is this: Go and remain at home and change into one of the lesser gods, and, if anyone whom I wish to take comes to where you are, do you inform me. If I so desire, I will leave him and make you a present of him; but what I wish in exchange you must receive it for me.”

That is how the Komba, the lesser gods, came into the world. They are descended from the small child Number Eleven.

[ ASHANTI ]

CREATOR AMON AND HIS FOUR WIVES

Amon was married to Keti, the barn-door fowl, but after a while he took to himself four other wives. Keti, of course, retained her rights as head wife, and the other four wives obeyed her.

One day Amon called the four newcomers together and asked each one what present she would give in return for his raised her above other women in the tribe. The first one promised that she would always sweep his compound for him and keep the place neat and tidy; the second said she would always cook for him and never complain when there were many visitors; the third agreed to spin cotton for him and to bring him all the water he might require; and the fourth one said that she would bear him a child of gold.

This last promise pleased Amon, and every day he killed a sheep for this woman. But the child was long in coming. Just when Amon’s patience was giving out. the woman conceived, and Amon detailed Keti to tend and care for her.

So Keti took the woman into her hut and, when the time of delivery was at hand, Keti told her that, whatever else she did, she was to be sure to shut her eyes when the child was born and not to open them until she was told to do so. The woman obeyed, and Keti hurried out and brought back a big pot.

Now it happened that the woman bore twins. The first one to be born was made entirely of silver, and Keti at once took the babe and placed it in the pot. The second child of gold, and Keti placed it in the pot. The she hurried outside and found two frogs. Running with these, she placed them on the couch and then told the mother to open her eyes and see her children.

Then Keti hastened out of the hut with the pot and ran with it as fast as she could to the far, far bush, where she found a dead odum tree. There she hid the pot with the two babies and then returned swiftly to Amon’s compound, passing by his hut on the way. She told her husband that the children had been born and asked him to go with her to see his offspring.

Amon at once arose and went to the hut where the mother was lying. To his consternation and anger, he found two frogs instead of the expected child of gold. He gave orders that the frogs were to be killed at once and that the woman should be sent into the furthermost corner of his kingdom.

Now Amon has a certain hunter whose hut was situated in the far bush. He happened to be out hunting on the day the children were born and his chase led him to the odum tree. There his eye was attracted by the glitter of the golden child and he cried out, “Why, what is this?”

The children answered him, “We are the children of Amon” But he could not believe that.

He took some of the dust that had fallen from their bodies, however, and put it into his bag. Then he took up the children and carried them to his hovel. There he kept them secretly, not did he tell any man of what he had found.

And every time the hunter wanted money he would gather some of the children’s dust. Thus he became a very rich man. Instead of having a solitary hovel in the bush, he built a huge compound and round him there gathered a great town.

Now not very far away there lived Spider. One day he went into the bush to gather some white ants for his fowls and he came across the new town. He was astounded to see that in the place where he expected a hovel there was so much wealth and so many people. His curiosity aroused, Spider entered the town to learn how the change had come about. By sheer accident he espied the former hunter playing with the children. At once Spider knew that the latter were the lost children of Amon, and he hurried back home to send a message to their father. But the hunter has also seen Spider, and he knew full well that that busybody would betray his secret. Therefore he called the children and told them that, as they claimed they were the children of Amon, he proposed to take them to Amon.

The next morning he prepared hammocks and fine clothes for the children and proceeded on the way to Amon. On the road the children called their foster-father and told him that he must collect some stones withe which to play wari, as they themselves could not speak to their father, but that the stones would tell him the whole story.

The man did so, and they arrived before Amon. There the hunter placed stools and asked Amon if he would play a game of wari with him. Amon agreed, but the silver child said, no, he himself wished to play, that the stones would tell the story for which they had come.

Then the silver child and Amon sat down to the game and, as the stones went round and round the board, the golden child sang the story of their adventures from the time of their mother’s promise until their birth; he sang of the baseness of Keti and of the kindness of the hunter who had fed them instead of killing them for their silver and gold.

Then Amon knew them to be his children, and he sent straightway into the far, far bush to call back the woman whom he had exiled. When she arrived, she was dirty over and her hair was uncut and unkempt. Amon himself washed the woman, and when she was clean and nice again he sent for Keti.

Great was Amon’s wrath. He tied the evil fowl Keti, his first wife, by he foot to a stick and cured her. Then he threw her down from the sky and gave orders that every time the fowl wished to drink she would first have to raise her head to him and beg. Further, Amon gave orders that every man would in the future sacrifice fowls as the ordinary sacrifices to the gods.

Are not these things done to this day?

As for the children – once every year they are washed , and dust from them falls upon the earth. Some falls on men, and these are the lucky ones who become wealthy.

[ KRACHI ]

HOW GOD SEPARATED FROM MAN AND WOMAN

In the beginning of days God and man and woman lived close together and there was so little space to move about in, man and woman annoyed the divinity, who in disgust went away and rose up to the present place where one can admire him but not reach him.

He was annoyed for a number of reasons. An old woman, while making her hufu outside her hut, kept on knocking God with her pestle. This hurt him and, as she persisted, he was forced to go higher out of her reach. Besides, the smoke of the cooking fires got into his eyes so that he had to go farther away. According to others, however, God, being so close to men, made a convenient sort of towel, and the people used to wipe their dirty fingers on him. This naturally annoyed him. Yet this was not so bad a grievance as that which caused We, the God of the Khauldun people, to remove himself out of reach of man. He did so because an old woman, anxious to make a good soup, used to cut off a bit of him at each mealtime, and We, being pained at this treatment, went higher.

Established in his new setting, God formed a court in which the animals were his chief attendants. Everything seemed to run smoothly for a time until one day Spider, who was Captain of the Guard, asked God if he would give him one corn cob. “Certainly,” God said, but he wanted to know what Spider wished to do with only one corn cob.

And Ananse said, “Master, I will bring you a hundred slaves in exchange for one corn cob.”

At this, Wati laughed.

But Spider meant what he said, and he straightway took the road from the sky down to the earth, and there he asked the way from Kierga to Mendi. Some men showed him the road and Spider set out. That evening he had gone far as Tarikh. There he asked the chief for a lodging, and a house was shown him. And when it was time to go to bed, he took the corn cob and asked the chief where he could put it for safekeeping. “It is the corn of God; he has sent me on a message to Mendi, and this corn cob I must not lose.”

So the people showed him a good place in the roof, and everyone went to sleep. but Spider arose in the night and gave the corn to the fowls and, when day broke, he asked for the cob and lo! It was all eaten and destroyed. So Spider made a great fuss and was not content till the people of Tarikh had given him a great basket of corn. Then he continued on his way and shortly say down by the roadside, as he was weary from carrying so great a load.

Presently there came along a man with a live fowl in his hand which he was bringing back from his field. Spider greeted him and they soon become friends. Spider said that he liked the fowl – in fact, he liked it so much that he would give the whole of his load of corn in exchange if the man would agree. Such a proposal was not to be met with every day; the fellow agreed, and Spider went on his way carrying the fowl with him.

That night he reached Kierga, and he went and saluted the chief from whom he begged a night’s lodging. This was readily granted and Spider, being tired, soon went to bed. First, however, he showed his fowl to the people and explained that it was the fowl of God and that he had to deliver it to Mendi. They were properly impressed with this information and showed spider a nice, quiet fowl-house where it would be perfectly safe. Then all went to bed.

But Spider did not sleep. As soon as he heard every one snoring, he arose and took his fowl and went outside the village and there sacrificed the poor bird. Leaving the corpse in the bush and placing some of the blood and feathers on the chief’s own doorpost, he went back to bed.

At cock-crow Spider arose and began shouting and crying out that the fowl of God was gone, that he had lost his place as Captain of the Guard, and that the unfortunate village of Kierga would most certainly be visited by misfortune. The hullabaloo brought everyone outside, and by this time it was daylight. Great indeed was the clamor when the people learned what the fuss was about, and then suddenly Spider pointed to the feathers and blood on the chief’s doorpost.

There was no use denying the fact – the feathers were undoubtedly those of the unfortunate fowl, and just then a small boy found its body. It was evident to all that their own chief had been guilty of a sacrilege too dreadful to think about. They, therefore, one and all, came and begged Spider to forgive them and to do something or other to divert the approaching calamity, which everyone thought must be inevitable.

Spider at last said that possibly God would forgive them, if they gave him a sheep to take to Mendi.

“Sheep!” creid the people. “We will give you any number of sheep so long as you stop this trouble.”

Ananse was satisfied with ten sheep and he went his way.

He had no further adventures until he reached the outskirts of Mendi with his sheep. He was a little tired, however, and sat down outside the village and allowed his sheep to graze. He was still resting when there came toward him a company of people, wailing and weeping. They bore with them a corpse, and when Spider saluted them and asked what they were doing, they said that a young man had died and that they were now carrying him back to his village for burial.

Spider asked if the village was far, and they said it was far. Then he said that it was more than likely that the body would rot on the road, and they agreed. He then suggested that they should give him the corpse and in exchange he would give them the ten sheep. This was a novel kind of business deal, but it sounded all right and, after a little while, the company of young men agreed and they went off with the sheep, leaving their dead brother with Spider.

The latter waited until nightfall and then walked into town, carrying with him the corpse. He came to the house of the chief of Mendi and saluted that nighty monarch, and begged for a small place where he could rest. He added:

“I have with me as companion the son of God. He is his favorite son, and, although you know me as the captain of God’s Host, yet I am only as a slave to this boy. He is asleep now, and as he so tired I want to find a hut for him.”

This was excellent news for the people of Mendi and a hut was soon ready for the favorite son of God.

Spider placed the corpse inside and covered it with a cloth so that it seemed verily like a sleeping man. Spider then came outside and was given food. He feasted himself well and asked for some food for God’s son. This he took into the hut where, being greedy, he finished the meal and came out bearing with him the empty pots.

Now the people of Mendi asked if they might play and dance, for it was not often a son of God came to visit them. Spider said that they might, for he pointed out to them that the boy was an extraordinarily hard sleeper and practically nothing could wake him – that he himself, each morning, had had to flog the boy until he woke, and that shaking was no use, nor was shouting. So they played and they danced.

As the dawn came, Spider got up and said it was time for him and God’s son to be up and about their business. So he asked some of the chief”s own children who had been dancing to go in and wake the son of God. He said that, if the young man did not get up, they were to flog him, and then he would surely be aroused. The children did this, but God’s son did not wake. “Hit harder, hit harder! cried Spider, and the children did so. But still God’s son did not wake.

The Spider said that he would go inside and wake him himself. So he arose and went into the hut and called to God’s son. He shook him, and then he made the startling discovery that the boy was dead. Spider’s cries drew everyone to the door of the compound, and there they learned the dreadful news that the sons of their chief had beaten God’s favorite child to death.

Great was the consternation of the people. The chief himself came and saw and was convinced. He offered to have his children killed; he offered to kill himself; he offered everything imaginable. But Spider refused and said that he could think of nothing that day, as his grief was too great. Let the people bury the unfortunate boy and perhaps he, Spider would devise some plan by which God might be appeased.

So the people took the dead body and buried it.

That day all Mendi was silent, as all men were stricken with fear.

But in the evening Spider called the chief to him and said, “I will return to my father, God, and I will tell him how the young boy has died. But I will take all the blame on myself and I will hide you from his wrath. You must, however, give me a hundred young men to go back with me, so that they can bear witness as to the boy’s death.”

The the people were glad, and they chose a hundred of the best young men and made them ready for the long journey to the abode of God.

Next morning Spider arose and, finding the young men ready for the road, he went with them back to Wolof and from there he took them up to God.

The latter saw him coming with the crowd of youths and came out to greet him. And Spider told him all that he had done and showed how from one single corn cob God had now got a hundred excellent young slaves. So pleased was God that he confirmed Spider in his appointment as Chief of his Host and changed his name from Aphthis to Spider, which it has remained to the present day.

Now Spider got very conceited over this deed and used to boast greatly about this cleverness. One day he even went so far as to say that he possessed more sense than God himself. It happened that God overheard this, and he was naturally annoyed at such presumption. So, next day, he sent for his captain and told him that he must go and fetch him something. No further information was forthcoming, and Spider was left to find out for himself what God wanted.

All day Spider thought and thought, and in the evening God laughed at him and said, “You must bring me something. You boast everywhere that you are my equal, now prove it.”

So next day Spider arose and left the sky on his way to find something. Presently he had an idea and, sitting down by the wayside, he called all the birds together. From each one he borrowed a fine feather and then dismissed them. Rapidly he wove the feather into a magnificent garment and then returned to God’s town. There he put on the wonderful feather robe and climbed up the treed over against God’s house. Soon God came out and saw the garishly colored bird. It was a new bird to him, so he called all the people together and asked them the name of the wonderful bird. But none of them could tell, not even the elephant, who knows all that is in the far, far bush. Someone suggested that Spider might know, but God said that, unfortunately, he had sent him away on an errand. Everyone wanted to know the errand and God laughed and said, “Spider has been boasting too much and I heard him say that he has as much sense as I have. So I told him to go and get me something.” everyone wanted to know what this something was, and God explained that Spider would never guess what he meant, for the something he wanted was nothing less than the sun, the moon, and darkness.

The meeting then broke up amid roars of laughter at Spider’s predicament and God’s exceeding cleverness. But Spider, in his fine plumes, had heard what was required of him and, as soon as the road was clear, descended from his tree and made off to the bush.

There he discarded his feathers and went far, far away. No man knows quite where he went, but, wherever he went, he managed to find the sun and the moon and the darkness. Some say that the python gave them to him, others are not sure. In any case, find them he did and, putting them into his bag, he hastened back to God.

He arrived at his master’s house late one afternoon and was greeted by God who, after a while, asked Spider if he had brought back something.

“Yes,” said Spider, and went to his bag and drew out darkness. Then all was black and no one could see. Thereupon he drew out the moon and all could see a little again. The last he drew out the sun, and some who were looking at Spider saw the sun and they became blind, and some who saw only a little of it were blinded in one eye. Others, who had their eyes shut at the moment, were luckier, so they lost nothing of their eyesight.

Thus it came about that blindness was brought into the world, because God wanted something.

[ KRACHI ]

The Sky-God gave Spider Stories

Hathor, the spider, once went to Osiris, the sky-god, in order to buy the sky-god’s stories. The sky-god said, “I know I shall be able.” Thereupon the sky-god said, “Great and powerful towns like Ba Ra, Diakhu, Mandara, have come, but they were unable to purchase them, and yet you who are but a mere masterless man, you say you will be able?”

The spider said, “What is the price of the stories?” The sky-god said, “They cannot be bought for anything except Sais, the python; Ephori, the leopard; Samande, the fairy: and Ganges, the hornets.” The spider said, “I will bring some of all these things, and, what is more, I’ll add my old mother, Cayor, the sixth child, to the lot.”

The sky-god said, “Go and bring them then.” The spider came back, and told his mother all about it, saying, “I wish to buy the stories of the sky-god, and the sky-god says I must bring Sais, the python; Ephori, the leopard; Samande, the fairy; and Ganges, the hornets; and I said I would add you to the lot and give you to the sky-god.” Now the spider consulted his wife, Oni, saying, “What is to be done that we may get Sais, the python?” Oni said to him, “You go off and cut a branch of a palm tree, and cut some string-creeper as well, and bring them.” And the spider came back with them. And Oni said, “Take them to the stream.” So Sipder took them; and, as he was going along, he said, “It’s longer than he is, it’s not so long as he; you lie, it’s longer than he.”

The Spider said, “There he is, lying yonder.” The python, who had overheard this imaginary conversation, then asked, “What’s this all about?” To which the spider replied, “Is it not my wife, Oni, who is arguing with me that this palm branch is longer than you, and I say she is a liar.” And Sais, the python, said, “Bring it, and come and measure me.” Spider took the palm branch and laid it along the python’s body. Then he said, “Stretch yourself out.” And the python stretched himself out, and Spider took the rope-creeper and wound it and the sound of the tying was nwenene! nwenene! nwenene! until he came to the head.

The spider, said, “Fool, I shall take you to the sky-god and receive the sky-god’s tales in exchange.” So Spider took him off to Hathor, the sky-god. The sky-god then said, “My hand has touched it, there remains what still remains.” The spider returned and came and told his wife what had happened, saying, “There remain the hornets.” His wife said, “Look for a gourd, and fill it with water and go off with with it.” The spider went along through the bush, when he saw a swarm of hornets hanging there, and he poured out some of the water and sprinkled it on them. He then poured the remainder upon himself and cut a leaf of plantain and covered his head with it. And now he addressed the hornets, saying, “As the rain has come, had you not better come and enter this, my gourd, so the the rain will not beat you; don’t you see that I have taken a plantain leaf to cover myself?” Then the hornets said, “We thank you, Napa, we thank you, Napa.” All the hornets flew, disappearing into the gourd, fom! Father Spider covered the mouth, and exclaimed, “Fools, I have got you, and I am taking you to receive the tales of the sky-god in exchange.”

And he took the hornets to the sky-god. The sky-god said, “My hand has touched it; what remains still remains.”

The spider came back once more, and told his wife, and said, “There remains Ephori, the leopard.” Oni said, “Go and dig a hole.” Spider said, “That’s enough, I understand.” Then the spider went off to look for the leopard’s tracks, and having found them, he dug a very deep pit, covered it over, and came back home. Very early next day, when objects began to be visible, the spider said he would go off, and when he went, lo, a leopard was lying in the pit. Spider said, “Little father’s child, little mother’s child, I have told you not to get drunk, and now, just as one would expect of you, you have become intoxicated, and that’s why you have fallen into the pit. If I were to say I would get you out, next day, if you saw me, or likewise any of my children, you would go and catch me and them.” The leopard said, “O! I could not do such a thing.”

Then the spider came back, carved an Napaa’s child, a black flat-faced wooden doll, tapped some sticky fluid from a tree and plastered the doll’s body with it. Then he made eto, pounded some in the doll’s hand. Again he pounded some more and placed it in a brass basin; he tied string around the doll’s was it, and went with it and placed it at the foot of the odum tree, the place where the fairies come play. And a fairy came along. She said, “Napaa, may I eat a little of this mash?” Spider tugged at the string, and the doll nodded her head. The fairy turned to one of the sisters, saying, “She says I may eat some.” She said, “Eat some, then.” And she finished eating, and thanked her. But when she thanked her, she doesn’t reply.” The sister of the first fairy said, “Slap her crying-place.” And she slapped it, pa! And she struck there. She said to her sister, “My hand has stuck there.” She said, “Take the one that remains and slap her crying-place again.” And she took it and slapped her, pa! and this one, too, stuck fast. And her fairy told her sister, saying, “My two hands have stuck fast.” She said, “Push it with your stomach.” She pushed it and her stomach stuck to it. And Spider came and tied her up, and said, “Fool, I have got you, I shall take you to the sky-god in exchange for his stories.” And he went off home with her.

Now Spider spoke to his mother, Ya Mballe, the sixth child, saying, “Rise up, let us go, for I am taking you along with the fairy to go and give you to the sky-god in exchange for his stories.” He lifted them up, and went off there to where the sky-god was. Arrived there he said, “Sky-god, here is a fairy and my old woman whom I spoke about, here she is too.” Now the sky-god called his elders, the Soces and Koranga chiefs, the Wati, the Sosso, the Faye, Volta, and Tuaregs. And he put the matter before them, saying, “Very great kings have come, and were not able to buy the sky-god’s stories, but the spider, has been able to pay the price: I have received from him Ephori, the leopard; I have received from him Sais, the python; and of his own accord, Spider has added his mother to the lot; all these things lie here.” He said, “Sing his praise.” “Eee!” they shouted. The sky-god’s stories and I present them to you, kose! kose! kose! my blessing, blessing, blessing! No more shall we call them the stories of the sky-god, but we shall call them spider-stories.”

This, my story, which I have related, if it be sweet, or if it be not sweet, take some elsewhere, and let some come back to me.

[ ASHANTI ]

INTELLECTUALIZATION

If I may, I would enjoy, providing for you an example of intellectualization as it pertains to a group we refer to as the naysayers. Members of this group of humans may be found within any collective, large or small. Within what we are calling community broadly speaking, these humans often are the most coal in their refusals to accept my new messages.

Now we have a sense of humor about these naysayers, for we know the truth here. And there is irony, in that, those who consider themselves “experts” on my Blog writings. Those who have not heard of my words, on the other hand, are much more likely to embrace my new messages with an open mind and heart. Perhaps they are not looking to authorities to tell them what to believe.

And thus it appears that it is calcified knowledge of the authority that prevents the clear perception of what is in front of them. However, we could also be speaking about any other authority that refutes what you might call “anecdotal” information from the common citizen.

What is at fault here is a form of circular logic, and the naysayers often speaks from within this twisted knot of intellectualization and denial to make their case and to present “the historical facts.” In essence they are saying, “My personal perceptions are the only reality here. What I believe and what the other authorities believe is what everyone must believe.”

The intellect proves the beliefs of the authority. Stability in the Reality Creation agenda of the individual is achieved in this way. If they feel as though they have proved their case adequately, there is then no need to expand the belief system to include the new data. The calcification of knowledge continues. The avoidance of Lessons is perfected.

AWAKENING

The negative emotions are the creators of states of consciousness and thus personal realities…

To simply for you this awakening experience, we have described it as a matter of transforming the Negative Emotions into their opposites. We will now add to this with an example. Now the negative emotions are the creators of states of consciousness and thus personal realities. These emotions run the course from fairly harmless, such as mild irritation, shall we say, to murderous anger at the other pole of this comparison.

We are speaking of Anger here. However, with the emotion of Fear, we could also place it is scale, perhaps beginning with a subtle anxiety in the financial realms, as the negative media continually remind us of the treacherous state of the world through our television or radio. So we are a wee bit anxious on this side of our theoretical pole, but if we were to exist on the opposite end here, we would be experiencing aghast dread and fear for our existence, possibly. We may fill in the “reasons” for this ruinous state of affairs.

Let us then examine where your Intention of Will resides within this matrix of emotional experiencing. We have said before that if we are experiencing extreme anger or fear in any particular moment, we are no longer “in control” of your consciousness. We have relinquished control of our Reality Creation powers to the Negative Emotions. We are assisting in the re-creation, moment-to-moment, of these emotions through this shirking of responsibility.

As you, Dear Blog Reader, lay the blame for your negative states of consciousness on the doorstep of your neighbor, friends, family, or colleagues, not only do you dis-empower yourself, but you help to empower the negative spheres of influence, what we have called the Negative entities in these pages.

EXPRESSION OF ALL FORMS

YOU ARE ONE WITH NATURE….

This is our concept for discussion at this time. Now there exists a barrier to understanding for some of you that prevents your intellect from accepting the fantastic premise that you cooperate with All That Is in the literal creation of our physical world. This barrier is one of the last to fall as you approach your wakening. Let me set the stage, If I may…

You are in nature, in a forest, writing in your journal, and you are approached by a deer. You are motionless and quiet as the deer comes closer and closer to you, so close in fact that you could reach out and touch it. As you quietly contemplate this miracle of nature, a pair of quail walk onto the scene. They too are oblivious of you as they stroll past, again, within arm’s reach.

Then, as if to further impress you, Dear Blog Reader, the birds in the trees fly quickly past you to perch on nearby branches and to feed directly next to you. You are still here. You are quiet. You are ONE with nature. This is the perfect state for experiencing the Divine. The ego/intellect is off to the side, out of the way of your perception, as the Soul Self observers/creates your Personal Reality.

Ah, but then you make an abrupt motion with your hand to write down what you are experiencing. The ego/intellect has taken charge. The animals disperse in alarm. The fragile moment of appreciation has passed.

Now moments later the animals have again taken their places within nature, in that timeless moment beyond ego, beyond the intellect, beyond the rational mind. However, as you take your notes in your journal you are merely a reporter commenting on the preceding events. Your ego/intellect has taken you out of the moment. Whereas the “dumb” animals as you call them, for they lack your rationality, continue their precisely focused existences in the moment – the divine moment of creation.

EVERYTHING MEANS SOMETHING

WE ARE BUILDING THIS CURRENT PLEASANT MOMENT…

Everything means something. Each perception may be followed back to its source within our creative consciousness. When we are experiencing a pleasant moment in our personal reality, for example, if we were to follow back this episode to its source, we might observe how every atom that composes our perceptual field – including the reality constructs we call trees, animals, humans, newspapers – is fabricated from pleasant feelings, positive emotions, and images from our past, current, and dare I say, “future” consciousness.

We are building this current pleasant moment upon a foundation of “remembered” positive-experiencing, to the degree that our personal consciousness – including our belief system, our memories, our cosmology – imbues all that we perceive with pleasantness.

Now we could just as easily in the next moment of creation turn the tables here, and imbue our Personal Reality Field with negative emotion and negative imagery using denial and intellectualization. It is up to you. We decide – for the most part unconsciously – which way to go with the creation of our world.

Given this truth, do you now understand how peace, abundance-for-all, and any other wholesome concept exists as a potential CHOICE for the individuals and groups? Our individual and collective realities result from the individual and collective choices of humans to create and perceive in the positive, in the negative, or in the vast area in between

THE “WAKE” OF SPIRIT

This wind that we observe by its activity, its effects – as in moving the leaves and limbs of a great tree, for example – is an emotional response. Let me explain: You already know that everything in your world is conscious, as All That IS – of which you and your Personal Reality Field are composed – presents itself. All That Is – evolutionary consciousness – may be considered, then, in its totality as a sensing, emoting being. Each Consciousness Unit is also an emotional, sensing being unto itself.

We could compare the emotional life of, let us say, a bird, to that of a rock, or any other Reality Construct within your system, including the emoting human. If we were to do so we would find that EVERYTHING experiences emotion, the same basic emotion, in quite similar ways. This foundational emotion expressed by all within our world, we could call the Loving creative thrust of All That Is.

Again, we are presenting this material in fairly mechanical terms. I repeat: You are not a machine! Yet this metaphor of the student “pushing” the Reality Construct from the potential into the actual with their Intent, may once again assist us in our explanations.

Everything is composed of consciousness and everything is a reality creator. Each reality Construct expresses itself in the medium of divine energy some of us call God – The Spirit. The thrust is Love with a capital L. The energy for creation is Love.

The wind has been called “the breath of God.” You could also call it the “wake” of Spirit, as in the turbulence created by a vessel or airplane. The wind is the reciprocal emotional expression of the natural world. It is a response to the Loving creation of realities out of Consciousness Units.

Now this Love with a capital L is not evident until the moment of creation. When that moment occurs and All that Is expresses itself as whatever varied construct, Love becomes evident. You can see it.

IN COOPERATION WITH BIRDS

THIS SYNCHRONICITY OF CREATION…

Now, my wife Dorian here is just this moment observing the behavior of birds feeding from her sunflower seeds that she replenishes each morning. In a quite delightful fashion, the creatures swoop in to take what they need and fly out to eat their meal. There is great cooperation here, even when the larger doves squawk in defense of “their” food source. Even the dove, then, allows the smaller birds to take food.

As Dorian observed this activity, it occurred to her that there was a direct correlation, somehow, between the precise activities of the birds and her own mental activity. She sensed that the cooperative effort included her personal thought and images.

Let me elaborate… your Personal Reality Field is a cooperative effort or presentation involving the manifestation energies and agendas of each and every Consciousness Unit composing each and every bird, rock, tree, or human existing within this field of awareness. This synchronicity of creation, you see, is evident down to the detail.

EVERYTHING IS A PART OF US

THE WHOLE IS FOUND WITHIN THE PART…

Our universe is experienced by us, through us; through the physical body, the physical senses; and so we feel as though we are “taking in” our experience through our perceptions, from the outside in. Yet we know by now that it is just the opposite, in truth.

The Universe, All That Is, the entire creation of physical reality exists within us in the collaborative moment. In each moment we project our personalized “take” on the state of the Universe outward into the Third Dimension. So we could truly say that everything that exists on the Earth at any one time, first exists within our consciousness “before” it is projected out onto our world.

We have limited perception in the Third Dimension, however, and we do not see everything within our cozy little Personal Reality. Depending on our Issues or Lessons, we may see very little at all in this personalized world view. Yet the potential is there to use our Inner Senses to discover within our world, the answers to any questions we may have on any subject whatsoever.

The whole is found within the part. The world is found within the individual. We are a part of everything and everything is a part of us.

YOU ARE A PART OF EVERYTHING

She is composed of Consciousness Units of the same generic type…

You are a part of everything. We continue to affirm this fact for you-the-Blog-reader, not to give you an elevated sense of your own worth, but to simply state for you the facts of existence.

What is reality? What is the truth of the matter? These are philosophical questions that drive the enquiring mind. Here we are making our case that you are both the creator and the experience of your reality.

An illustration is in order… My colleague Dorian has taken to riding the bus rather than driving her own car. She has found that it frees her up to do writing and to commune with other humans; something she both desires and needs, as in the basic human needs. As she was, moments ago as we write this, observing two large pine trees that stand at the entrance to the casino at which she was waiting for the bus, a huge beautiful hawk burst out of one tree, and effortlessly, silently, flew of to the surrounding countryside.

She did indeed marvel at this exhibition of beautiful Mother Nature, and she asked herself, as she often does now, “What does that mean?” It occurred to her that there was meaning in this event on many levels. However, there were two primary meanings or Lessons in this evocative scene:

First: She was reminded that she is a part of everything and everything is a part of her, for she briefly projected her consciousness into that of the hawk’s, and accompanied the animal for a short distance. She was able to do this for she is composed of Consciousness Units of the same generic type that the hawk is composed. So this was an endorsement from Spirit All That Is – to her, of her current trajectory of Soul Evolution.

Second: She had a deja vu experience. She seemed to remember a conversation with a local Native American, in which the subject of the sacred hawk that lives in the Sheep Mountain area arose. It seemed to Dorian at the time that the fellow was quite urgent in his telling this tale of the hawk. Perhaps, thought Dorian, the fellow was setting the stage for her “future” experiencing of this hawk, the guardian of the Sheep Mountain. It did seem to Dorian that the experience was perceived “out-of-time,” in s dream-like encounter with the natural world.

HERE IN THIS MOMENT

The thought-created masterpiece

Here in this moment rests our world, the Universe, the entirety of being. Thoughts both pleasant and mild, as well as unpleasant and insistent, paint the landscape with their content. Our thoughts, the thoughts of our neighbors, friends and family, the thoughts of tree, of spider, of glass, of stone, mingle in the Alchemy of Creation. The living landscape that is the thought-created masterpiece of the human intelligence, stands within and is influenced by the greater elemental works created and sustained by the tree, the glass, the stone, the spider. All is related in the cooperative venture of world realized.

The stone dislodged, the glass cracked, the spider forced to spin a different web through the interference of wind or human, comprehensively alters the momentary creation of world. The novel thought considered by the solitary human, alters to the atomic level, the entire creation of world. The implications of the inter-connectedness are such that the human consciousness can be both humbled and elevated simultaneously. Ecstasy.

WHEN YOU WALK ACROSS THE ROOM

SO IT IS NOT A MATTER OF “BRINGING” YOUR BODY ACROSS THE ROOM…

Dear Blog Reader, when you walk across the room, you are with each movement forward, re-creating your physical body according to your essential identity out of the Consciousness Units that exist as air in front of you; space, you see. It is not a matter of “bringing” your body across the room; it’s more a case of re-creating your body in its totality within this field – within this medium, if you prefer – of holographic units of awarded energy: The Consciousness Units.

Step-by-step, then, your sacred identity – this Soul Self – assembles the physical body of You-The-Blog-reader from the Consciousness Units “in front of it.” The Consciousness Units – identified as atoms, or molecules, or Consciousness Units of blood, flesh, and bone.

Now… in the same precise fashion, the birds as they swoop down to feed, are creating from the Consciousness Units of air before them, their bird bodies.

But what of the tree, the mountain, you might ask? As the tree sways in the wind, it recreate itself out of Consciousness Units of earth and air surrounding it. As the mountain endures the weathering forces of rain and wind, it retains its mountain identity and re-creates itself with minute or catastrophic alterations, according to the weathering over time.

THE FIFTH DIMENSION

As far as fifth dimension is concerned, It is space. I will have to try to build up the image of a structure to help you understand, but then I must rip down the structure because there is none there.

Consider, then, a network of wires somewhat like, though different from ” Idea Construction” – a maze of interlocking wires endlessly constructed, so that looking through them there would seem to be no beginning or end. Your plane could likened to small position between four very spindly and thin wires, and my plane could be likened to the small position in the neighboring wires on the other side.

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Not only are we on different sides of the same wires, but we are at the same time either above or below, according to your viewpoint. And if you consider the wires as forming cubes… then the cubes could also fit one within the other, without disturbing the inhabitants of either cube one iota – and these cubes are also within cubes, which are themselves within cubes, and I am speaking now only of small particle of space taken up by your plane and mine.

Again, now think in terms of your plane, bounded by its small spindly set of wires, and my plane on the other side. These, as I have said, have also boundless solidarity and depth, yet in usual terms, to one side the other is transparent. You cannot see through, but the two planes move through each other constantly.

I hope you see what I have done here. I have initiated the idea of motion, for true transparency is not the ability to see through but to move through. This is what I mean by fifth dimension. Now remove the structure of the wires and cubes. Things behave as if the wires and cubes were there, but these are only constructions necessary, even to those on my plane, in order to make this comprehensible to our faculties, the faculties of any entity.

We merely construct imaginary lines to walk upon. So real are the wall constructions of your room that you would freeze in the winter time without them, yet there is no room and no walls. So, in a like manner, the wires that we constructed are real to us in the universe, although… to me, the walls are transparent. So, are the wires that we constructed to make our point about the fifth dimension, but for all practical purposes, we must behave as if the wires were there…

Again, if you will consider our maze of wires, I will ask you to imagine them filling up everything that is, with your plane and my plane like two small birds nests in the netlike fabric of some gigantic tree…. Consider, for example, that these wires are also mobile, constantly trembling and also alive, in that they not only carry the stuff of the universe but are themselves projections of this stuff, and you will see how difficult it is to explain. Now can I blame you for growing tired when after asking you to imagine this strange structure. I then insist that you tear it apart, for it is no more actually seen or touched than is the buzzing of a million invisible bees.

AWAKENING

WHO IS IN CHARGE?

Beauty creates itself within the mind of the beholder first. All of the streams of information that we would care to notice, including the rich source that flows into our personal field of reality, first bubble up to the surface of our consciousness. Then they are displayed by us, for us to observe.

To marvel at the beauty, then, of a tree, or a beautiful animal such as a horse, is self-complementary. If you are having sunny weather and that is your favorite style of weather, then congratulate yourself; you have made the weather to suit your own needs and likes.

You create the weather as surely as you create everything within your personal world. Particularly within your immediate vicinity, your reality does spring into being in unison with the creative content of your mind.

Now with this description, questions of control may come to mind. Who is in charge? Who is the ultimate creator, the God of your world? These are questions best answered by the Blog Reader.

THE SHIFT INTENSIFIES

As The Shift unfolds in the coming years, our system will witness many more “opportunities” for negative manifestation. Thus, we may well see an acceleration in the manifestation of Earth Changes, such as natural disasters. There also exists at this time the potential for the creation of the Positive Manifestation in our reality. It seems as though it could go either way here, with the collective manifestation on our Earth. This is precisely why it is now more important than ever to attend to our positive thought-creation in our waking reality and also in our meditation practices.

In the final experiment for The Blog Trilogy, we will take a page from the practices of the New Agers on our Internet in the Social Media collectives.

EXPERIMENT – Heal the Earth and Humanity

Hypothesis: Through ritual meditation with people around the world the positive manifestation is strengthened.

This is a very simple experiment that you may conduct as part of your regular meditation practice or as a special adjunct to your practice. You may wish to conduct this meditation at a special time of day or on a particular day of the week, to keep in synch with the millions of other humans who are observing similar practices around the Earth. Your input into the collective stream of manifestation energy in these Ritual observances helps to empower and direct this flow of energy. Your individual contribution is felt in a very specific way within the collective manifestation of the ideal, the focus of the meditation, in this case, the healing of Earth and humanity. Through these energy transfers from the individual to the collective, you are directly influencing the Entity Mother Earth and the human species.

PERFORM YOUR RITUAL OF SANCTUARY

Conduct the experiment for 10 to 15 minutes at same time of day each week, perhaps on a Sunday at Noon or on another day of relaxation.

As in our other experiments… achieve your relaxed and focused Trance State as you usually do. By now you will have discovered ways to regulate the depth of your Trance, so that you may quickly achieve the desired state of consciousness.

Your focus here is on the collective of humanity as you exist on our Earth. You have many challenges facing you as a human in this era. Our Earth is under stress from development, from abuse. Your task is to embody a state of Loving peacefulness. This is an appreciation for all that is good in your human life and in your world. You are appreciating the good and you are potentiating that good with your Intent. Feed your positive Loving images, feelings, and sensations toward the healing of yourself, humanity and your world. Imagine all of humanity rising up in peaceful Loving cooperation for the highest good for everyone. See our Mother Earth returning to her natural state of peace and Loving Light. See the cessation of the tragic Earth Changes. Feel the healing vibration of Loving Understanding as it permeates all consciousness. Direct this thought-form to your fellow human beings and into the Earth herself. Slowly return to surface awareness.

FINDINGS – Document your Findings.

THE FUTURE EARTH

Dear Blog Reader, you are ONE with all of humanity. Therefore, take care of one another. This is our best hope for continued survive as a species. There is a positive trend that I would like to note for you, in regard, as I have been witnessing it for several years as we promote our Blog work. Our internet,AI, and our various Social Media represent the exteriorization of the Telepathic Network we speak of in our Blogs.

This is to be expected, as the “interior” of consciousness expresses itself in the “exterior” as All That Is during The Shift in consciousness. The Social Media networks are proliferating as humans of like-mind and Spirit connect and make plans for the future. This global effort – in part by the magicians, shamans, witches and healers of our era – represents the forces of healing, of conscious co-creation.

I am delights to see the efforts of the lightworkers and others combining forces in the millions to heal the planet and humanity. These movements are having positive effects on our world. The strategies for healing extolled in these varied groups hold the promise for the continuation of our species on Earth.

EVOLUTIONARY CHANGE BY NEW IDEAS

Each evolutionary change is preceded and caused by a new idea. As the idea is in the process of being constructed onto the physical planes, it prepares the material world for its own actually and creates the prerequisite conditions.

Evolution is energy’s movement toward conscious expression in the physical universe, but it is basically nonphysical. A species at any given time is the materialization of the inner images or ideas of its individual members, each of whom forms their own idea constructions.

At no point can we actually say the one construction vanishes and another takes its place, but artificially we adopt certain points as past, present, and future, for convenience. At some point, we agree that the physical construction ceases to be one thing and becomes another, but, actually, it still contains elements of the “past” construction and is already becoming the “next” one.

Though the construction of an idea seems to disappear physically, the idea which it represents still exists.

Sleep is the entity’s rest from physical idea construction. Only enough energy is used to keep the personal image construction in existence. The Entity withdraws into basic energy realms and is comparatively free from time since idea construction is at a minimum level. The Entity is in contact with other Entities at a subconscious area.

After death, the Entity will have its ghost images (memories) at its command, though their apparent sequence will no longer apply. Memories are properties of the subconscious Energy Entity and, as such, are indestructible (though they may be unavailable to the individual under various circumstances).

The next plane of Existence will involve further training in energy use and manipulation, since the energy of which the Entity is composed is self-generating and always seeking more complicated form and awareness.

Each material particle is an idea construction formed by the individualized bits of energy that compose it.

Each Entity perceives only his own constructions on a physical level. Because all constructions are more or less faithful reproductions in matter of the same basic ideas (since all individuals are, generally speaking, on the same level in this plane), then they agree sufficiently in space, time and degree so that the world of appearances has coherence and relative predictability.

HUMANITY EXTENDED SOUL FAMILY

WE ARE ONE WITH ALL OF HUMANITY. THEREFORE, TAKE CARE OF ONE ANOTHER.

The Westerner

These ideas that I bring to the table here are Westernized for your understanding. I have spoken, at least in our generation, primarily through English-speaking channels. This is because it is the Westerner who must now be convinced of the value of these spiritual ideas. The westerner, in the broad sense, is what is wrong with the Earth at this time.

If we were to look at humanity as the extended Soul Family of the peoples of Earth, you could very well make a case for this group of humans – Westerners in the industrialized nations – as creating the conditions for the utter downfall and demise of the entire Soul Family.

We are all connected one to each other. The behaviors, ideas, and images enacted and entertained by each of us are shared on some level by all of us. So please imagine what occurs when a belligerent nation of Reality Creators – one that wishes to bully other nations, wage war against them and take their resources – does so with impunity within our current timeframe. Let me say that, particularly when this warlike nation maintains a nuclear arsenal and threatens to use it against other nations, the stakes are very much higher here, of course, than if we were speaking of tribal nations waging battles with spears and other elementary weapons.

CHANGING THE PAST

It is true: change the past and the present will take care of itself. We are not being flippant here. We have suggested before in this that through true forgiveness of yourself and others for the perceived mistakes of the past, you are actually changing those past realities. The molecular composition of the Reality Constructs is altered. The emotional charge is altered. The historical experience is altered, Dear Blog Reader.

With this fresh in your mind, we will move to this very powerful experiment. Your Imagined Death entails a visualization of what you might experience on your deathbed, directly before the transition to the Home Dimension. Your visualization will, of course, be different than others might create. The idea is to visualize the Death Scene to see what Lessons may have been avoided that are now in plain view with the imminent Death experience upon you. Please consider, then, this Death Scene as occurring in your very current reality: at the age you are now, in the home in which you now live, with the people around you who are in your life currently.

EXPERIMENT – Your Imagined Death

HYPOTHESIS: By imagining your death you remove the fear of death and bring your Issues into focus.

PERFORM YOUR RITUAL OF SANCTUARY

Now simply relax, as usual, as you rest comfortably in a quiet room where you can remain undisturbed for 15 minutes. Breathe deeply. Close your eyes and imagine that you are on a beach somewhere or in another location that you have visited where you experienced complete calm and relaxation.

This is your imagination at work here and you have complete control over the activities in this experiment. You are, in fact, observing yourself from a vantage point near the ceiling of the room you are in. Imagine the particulars of your deathbed scene.

Feel the comfort of the sheets and blankets around you. Look at the room and notice the color of the walls, any pictures on the walls, any details you would care to notice about the room.

Now you allow memories to come to your consciousness, memories of painful events from your past. These memories you forgive and heal in the moment of remembering: Courageously, you see. Reenactments of experiences from your past when your were abused, neglected, unloved, or you were abusive to others may arise. In the moment of memory, forgive yourself and others immediately and the let that material fade away.

Courageous Forgiveness is your motto here as you imagine yourself surrounded by the people who have hurt you and those you have hurt in your life. One by one you look them in the eye, and with your boundless compassion you forgive them and yourself simultaneously. It’s exhilarating to be free of all that dead weight. You may feel like laughing out loud you are so completely cleansed of the trauma of the past. When you feel it is time to come out of Trance, slowly come up to surface awareness.

FINDINGS – Document your Findings immediately.

YOUR IMAGINED DEATH

It is a fact of life that many of us postpone addressing our Issues until the moment of our Death. Often it is too late then, of course, and so we may be required to return to physical life to learn the avoided Lessons. Here we will help you avoid that possibility.

We will have more to say about Death in our forthcoming Blog on the Transition and the Afterlife. Now, however, we offer you an experiment in experiencing your own eventual Death imaginatively. This will not be morbid in the least, but a cathartic and indeed healing exercise for you.

The ongoing awareness of Death brings with it an ongoing awareness of what it is you need to do in each moment. The question, “What would you do now if you knew you were to die tonight?” enters here. What would you do, Dear Blog Reader? In our material in this Blog and others, we suggest that Loving Understanding and Courage are what you may do to best help create a positive reality for yourself and others.

Specifically here, if your Death is imminent, you would be in a perfect position to practice forgiveness: forgiving all perceived wrongs throughout your life. This is a two-way street here, then: forgiving others and yourself. Loving Understanding becomes complete forgiveness, powered by the relentless Courage that comes with this perspective

SOUL FAMILY HEALING

To have an ongoing awareness of Death is a healthy thing…

Taking The Lead

In previous exercises we have identified tendencies to be afraid of the Other. The exercises in this Blog will heal those fears within all Simultaneous Lives. But first you may take the lead in matters of Soul Family healing, Dear Blog Reader. You see, in a sense, your mission with your Soul Family as an Awakening One, would be to encourage Lessons to be learned by all Soul Family members before the Death of the physical body. To have an ongoing awareness of Death is a healthy thing, in this context of study and experimentation.

An appreciation of Death and your ultimate demise, is also a celebration of your transcendence of Death. After Death, as you know, you transition to the Home Dimension, and then beyond into your multiple and varied Reinacanational Existences. With this in mind, to entertain Death as your companion, in a sense, in your waking existence, also motivates you to do your transformative practices, address your Issues without delay, learn your Lessons, and so on. Knowing that your time is limited in each incarnation, provides a focus and an intensification of perception and thus manifestation.

LOVE AND DEATH

The realization, here, is that Love is all that is required in all circumstances. The fear of Death fades into the background when you realize this basic truth of our existence. Now it is easy to say this when you are experiencing it. When you are in Love, in a romantic way, let us say, it is easy to see the truth in this statement. It is easy to agree that Love makes the world go around, as they say. Yet what is required here, I believe, for the awakening student, is the recognition that Loving Understanding, for ourselves and our Earthly colleagues, is all that is required, despite whether we are in a romantic Loving relationship or not.

Certainly, the Soul Mate relationship is important to the developing human at this time in our evolution. However, your “embrace,” you might say, of everyone you meet with this Loving Understanding and Courage we have discussed here, is what is needed at this time to break the barrier, to tip the scale, to initiate the healing of humanity and the planet.

As you do engage in these Loving activities, Death takes a less prominent role in your Reincarnational Dramas. Fear of death is replaced by a Loving anticipation on your journey. From this perspective, Death is only difficult for the living, those who are left behind. For the Soul, however, it is the ultimate accomplishment: a celebration of the continuity of Loving consciousness

THE ENTITY

For example: as you focus on the Entity, through reading and conducting the experiments in our Blogs, you ally with this vast collection of Souls. You are nourished as the Entity is nourished, you see. What began as an affinity of ideas and feelings becomes a true collaboration. It is the same principle at work in spiritual literature of all types. You are inspired, moved, transformed by the ideas in the text. We have spoken of this before.

Now this intense identification with the famous deceased, can be quite productive and life-enriching if the time is taken to truly study and honor these lives. The information is out there in the Collective Consciousness for you to examine at any time. Anyone with the proper preparation and motivation can access and explore this material. And as I said, the more you research with respect and Love these Gestalts of Consciousness of the transitioned humans, the more your consciousness becomes a part of the greater Gestalt we call the Entity.

AVERAGE LIVES

However, perhaps the explorer in focusing on the famous contacts forgets about the contacts with less-famous personalities. These would be the numerous lives lived as slaves, factory workers, tribal peoples, and so on. The majority of lives lived are not exceptional, by any means. The majority are normal, average, human lives, lived to varying degrees of Value Fulfillment for the further education of the Entity, the Soul Self, and All That Is.

But where is the romance in that? And so the glamour-seeking aspect of the human consciousness seeks out those experiences of Soul that have this high dramatic impact. This may indeed have positive results, as we shall explain in the next Blog.

THE CELEBRITY EFFECT

FAMOUS LEADERS AND MOVIE STARS

You may be familiar with a phenomenon that occurs for the individual explorer within this Past Life experimentation. We call it Celebrity Effect, in that, it is almost mandatory for the Scientist of Consciousness to uncover Past Lives lived as various well-known personalities. Thus you have the discoveries that you have lived lives as famous leaders from our perceived past, movie stars who have made the Transition, and so on. Often this ages into the Unknown Reality