Four Beninese Folktales of Creation, Magic, and the Gods

In the traditional stories of Dahomey, the world of human beings is closely connected to the actions of powerful spiritual beings. The earth, the sky, mountains, communities and human knowledge all have their place in accounts that explain how the world came to be and how people came to understand it.

Four narratives recorded by Melville J. and Frances S. Herskovits explore these ideas through the deeds of Aido-Hwedo, the arrival of people from the sky, the origin of the Agblo quarter, and the role of Legba in making magic accessible to human beings.

Together, these stories offer a glimpse into one recorded body of Dahomean oral tradition. They are not a single continuous creation account, but separate narratives that explore different aspects of the relationship between the gods, the natural world and humanity.

Aido-Hwedo and the Weight of the Earth

In one Dahomean account, the earth was so heavy that it required support. Its mountains, trees and other features placed a great burden upon it. The great serpent Aido-Hwedo became part of the explanation for how the earth was supported and why it sometimes moved.

Aido-Hwedo was closely connected with Mawu, the creator. In the account, the serpent carried Mawu in his mouth during the creation of the world. As they travelled, the movements of the serpent helped shape the earth. The land did not remain perfectly level; its uneven features became part of the world that people would inhabit.

Mountains also acquired a place in the story. The account connects their riches with the serpent’s excrement, which was associated with valuable substances beneath the earth. These riches help explain why mountains were regarded as places containing important treasures.

Yet the earth remained a heavy burden. Mawu therefore arranged for Aido-Hwedo to coil beneath it, supporting it like a carrying pad. The serpent was given the sea as a place to live because he disliked excessive heat.

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The arrangement also explained earthquakes. Whenever Aido-Hwedo shifted beneath the earth, the ground could move. What people experienced as the shaking of the land was thus connected, in the story, to the movements of the great serpent supporting it.

The narrative presents the earth as something that requires support and describes the relationship between the serpent, Mawu and the natural world through a traditional explanation of mountains, underground riches and earthquakes.

The People Who Descended from the Sky

Another Dahomean narrative tells of the first human family and the arrival of people from the sky.

The story places the beginning of human settlement within the actions of the spiritual beings who shaped the world. Rather than presenting human origins as an ordinary event, it describes a connection between the sky and the people who came to inhabit the earth.

The people who descended from the sky became part of the story of how human communities began. Their arrival links the world above with the world below and gives an account of the beginnings of human life within this particular tradition.

The narrative is significant because it does not treat the earth as a place entirely separate from the spiritual world. The arrival of the first people is connected to the wider order in which the gods and human beings exist.

This account should be understood as one recorded Dahomean explanation of human beginnings, rather than as a universal account shared by every community in present-day Benin.

The People of Agblo and Their Origins

The third narrative concerns the origin of the people of the Agblo quarter. It explains the beginnings of a particular community through an encounter involving Sagbata, a powerful deity associated with the earth.

The story links the identity of the Agblo people to events involving their ancestors and the spiritual world. Through the account of their origins, the community’s place within Dahomean tradition is connected to Sagbata.

The narrative is important because it does not simply explain the beginning of a geographical settlement. It also preserves a traditional account of how a community understood its own beginnings and its relationship with a deity.

The story belongs to a wider collection of narratives in which the gods influence the formation and organisation of human life. However, its details concern the Agblo quarter specifically. It should not be expanded into a claim that every community in Dahomey shared the same origin or made the same agreement with Sagbata.

Legba, Awé and the Birth of Magic

The final narrative explores how magic became a human skill and how Legba became chief of the gods.

Legba occupies an important position in the recorded Dahomean stories. His actions often bring about changes in the relationship between human beings and the spiritual world. In this narrative, his role is connected to the spread of magic and the ability of people to use knowledge that had previously belonged to the gods.

The account describes a contest involving the Creator and the question of whether human beings could acquire magical power. A carved human figure and a grain of corn become central to the test. Their use demonstrates the difference between the Creator’s power and the knowledge that human beings might learn to exercise.

The story presents magic not simply as an unexplained force, but as a skill whose use becomes possible through the events involving Legba and the other spiritual beings. Its spread changes the relationship between humanity and the divine world.

The narrative also connects these events with Legba’s rise to a position of authority among the gods. His actions establish him as chief of the gods in this account, while the spread of magic explains how human beings came to possess a skill associated with supernatural knowledge.

The story therefore links two developments: Legba’s position among the gods and the arrival of magic as a human practice. It offers a traditional explanation of how people gained access to powers that had once been beyond their reach.

The Meaning of the Four Narratives

These four stories explore different questions about the world and humanity. The account of Aido-Hwedo explains the support of the earth, the presence of riches beneath mountains and the occurrence of earthquakes. The story of the people who descended from the sky addresses the beginnings of human settlement. The Agblo narrative preserves a community’s account of its origins, while the story of Legba explains the spread of magic and his position among the gods.

Although the narratives address different subjects, they share an interest in the relationship between spiritual beings and human life. The natural world, the formation of communities and the development of human knowledge are all presented through stories involving the gods.

They also demonstrate the importance of oral narratives as records of how communities explained their surroundings and preserved accounts of their past. Each story offers a particular perspective, and together they provide a glimpse into the rich narrative tradition recorded in Dahomey.

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Moral of the Stories

These narratives encourage reflection on the relationship between humanity, the natural world and the spiritual forces that shape traditional explanations of existence. They also show how stories preserve community identity, explain natural events and pass knowledge from one generation to another.

Knowledge Check

1. Who is Aido-Hwedo in the first narrative?
Aido-Hwedo is the great serpent associated with Mawu and the support of the earth.

2. How does the story explain earthquakes?
It connects earthquakes to the movements of Aido-Hwedo beneath the earth.

3. What does the second narrative describe?
It tells of the people who descended from the sky and their place in the beginnings of human settlement.

4. Which deity is connected with the origin of the Agblo quarter?
Sagbata is connected with the narrative about the origins of the Agblo people.

5. What is the central subject of the fourth narrative?
It explains how magic became a human skill and how Legba became chief of the gods.

6. What do the four narratives reveal about Dahomean oral tradition?
They show how traditional stories explain the natural world, human origins, community identity and the relationship between people and the gods.

Source

Adapted from four Dahomean narratives recorded in Melville J. Herskovits and Frances S. Herskovits, Dahomean Narrative: A Cross-Cultural Analysis (1958): “Serpent as Head-rest for an Overburdened Earth” (p. 135); “The People Who Descended from the Sky” (p. 136); “Origin of the People of the Agblo Quarter” (p. 137); and “How Legba Became Chief of the Gods” (p. 139).

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