Afunjo knew that his father was an anthropologist— but he didn’t
know what that was. He knew that his father spent lots of time at the
museum, in the town of Ife. And he knew his father often went to the
The chain from heaven
villages near the forest to talk with old people whose skins were as
wrinkled as raisins. But why?
Finally, Afunjo’s curiosity got the best of him.
“What,” he asked, “does an anthropologist do?”
“An anthropologist studies the way people live,” his father told him.
“He studies their customs and beliefs and the stories they tell. That’s
what I’m doing right now—collecting stories.”
“What kind of stories?” asked Afunjo.
“The stories of our own people, the Yoruba, who live here in Nigeria,”
his father said. “Many of the old stories have been forgotten by
everyone but our old people. The museum wants to be sure that all the
stories are written down and kept, so that none will be lost.”
“Tell me one of the stories,” said Afunjo.
His father chuckled. “All right. I’ll tell you the Yoruba story of how
the world began.
“Long ago, there was nothing but a great, silent ocean that filled the
sky. Above the ocean, the Great God, the Chief of Heaven, sat and
thought about things.
“Finally, the Great God reached into himself and brought out a son whose
name was Odudua. \’Go down to the ocean that fills the sky and put a
world upon it,’ the Great God said to his son.
“Odudua fastened a chain to heaven, and let it hang down so that its end
reached to the ocean. Carrying a bowl of sand and a chicken, he climbed
down the chain. He poured the sand out of the bowl onto the water. Lo!
instead of sinking, the sand made a pile upon the water!
“Odudua placed the chicken upon the pile of sand. The chicken began to
scratch the sand with its feet, spreading the sand out upon the water.
Odudua covered the sand with trees and grass, and there was the world,
all new and shining.
“Then Odudua brought the Yoruba people down from heaven and built the
city of Ife for them to live in. He ruled them as their king, and his
children became the kings, queens, and chiefs of all the towns and
villages of Yorubaland.”
Afunjo’s father leaned back and smiled. “And that’s only one of the many
wonderful stories from the days of long ago, when our people had one of
the richest and greatest kingdoms in all Africa.”
