4 fascinating and thought-provoking African myths that would make you wonder

Why does death exist?

According to a Zulu story, the Old One, ‘Unkulunkulu’ sent the chameleon to men with the message ‘let not men die’. The chameleon set off to deliver the message but it was slow and it spent time eating berries from the ‘ubukwebezane’ tree and longed in the sun and even fell asleep. The old one had a rethink and sent the lizard with another message to men. This time the message was ‘let men die’. The lizard hurriedly got to men and delivered the message. Later on, the chameleon arrived with the message but it was told it was late and that they had heard what lizard said already. From this story, the lateness of the chameleon is the reason why death exists today. According to the Luhya (a Bantu ethnic group in Kenya), death exists as consequence of a curse placed on man by a chameleon. It is said that man broke the laws of hospitality by refusing to share his food with the chameleon.

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