When I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Chad I always had my ear out for myths, legends, and good stories. There was a Chadian tribe, name pronounced as bah-nah-nah (real spelling Banana believe it or not), that was always being accused of sorcery and shapeshifting. Many countries African and otherwise have one group that they blame for all the negative things that happen. It was claimed that their sorcerers would change into elephants at harvest to steal grain, and you could identify them by the red eyes of the elephant. Once in chatting with some UN or World Bank Ag people (I forget), they said that there might be a basis for that myth. Given the peculiar nature of an elephant’s digestive system, and assuming it was filled almost 100 percent with grain, some fermentation might be possible. Therefore during the harvest season theoretically an elephant could get drunk because of all the internally stored grain, and subsequently hung over with blood shot eyes. Highly doubtful but fun speculation. Anyway that is the seed of inspiration for this story.
There was a time long ago when supernatural beings were present on the earth more than they are today. Although frowned upon by the greater powers back in the home office, as human beings emerged contact between them happened all too frequently. Those immortals performed varied tasks. Some were elemental forces of fire and earth and wind and water, who moved continents, raised mountains and volcanic islands, and steered the currents of the great oceans. Others were the guardians of fish and birds and grasslands and forests and wild beasts, permitting those creatures to progress and develop at a measured pace according to a Grand Design of which they themselves had no ultimate knowledge. They had jobs to do, but where it all led was not in their purview. Some people called these entities spirits or elementals or angels or demons. One of the old words for those deemed benign was “eudaemon” — literally “good demon,” which later people translated as “angel.” Classfying them as good or bad, angel or demon, was often a result of how their individual actions affected the beholders. An earthquake is destructive but not evil, although the elemental causing it would most likely be labeled a demon by the people in a destroyed village.
However powerful, they were not immune to many of the same temptations faced by man. One of the great sins was having carnal relations with humans. A far worse sin was having children with humans. That almost always involved a male angel/demon and a human female, since the female immortals, though certainly not above lust, could prevent conception. It took a singularly rare act of definance for a female immortal to intentionally conceive a child. Perhaps because they were the progeny of two very different creatures, the children of a union between an immortal and human were always sterile. Their original name was Nephilim, and although they were not immortal and could be killed, they lived far longer and possessed powers far greater than ordinary people. Rare was the Nephilim who could resist the temptations such longevity and power entailed. No doubt they were the source of many of the legends of nightmare creatures like vampires and werewolves. Some of the famous conquerors of ancient history may well have been Nephilim. Fortunately there were never many of them living at any one time. Also in an era when great kings and conquerors often fought at the front leading their warriors, the more ambitious of them tended to lead risky lives. Nevertheless, if not for their sterility, there is little doubt that their descendents would have ruled the world. Apparently that was not part of the Grand Design.
Magawa was a Nephilim, the son of Chuila, the guardian spirit of the large wild animals of Africa. Over the countless years Chuila had become more and more drawn to the predators, especially the larger cats. In time he became cruel and arrogant and greedy and lustful. The big cats lusted mostly for blood, where he lusted for other things as well. One evening in the guise of a lion he spied a beautiful young woman, Miralu, bathing in a pond. Without thought he changed into a man, pounced on her, and raped her. Magawa was the result of that rape. The Grand Design of The Creator included a covenant guaranteeing Free Will to all the mortal creatures on earth. However since Chuila was immortal, he was subject to swift certain judgement for his horrible transgression. Chuila was walled away from the earth and imprisoned in the dark cold void between the stars for as near to forever as to make no never mind.
Miralu was never quite right after her rape. Although she tried, she couldn’t force herself to feel the love and affection of a normal mother toward her child. Listless and sad, she died when Magawa was just a boy. Magawa grew apace in strength and cunning, inheriting some of the powers of his father, including the ability to shapeshift into animal form. As a boy he had only a slight reddish tint to his eyes, but as he aged and the evil within him grew as well, his eyes became the color of blood. He would have been considered handsome if not for those eyes. Increasingly he was shunned by everyone, including the young women he desired. Nevertheless his powers enabled him to become wealthy. Eventually he lived apart in a grand house in a large compound guarded by fierce animals. At times he would change into a lion or leopard to kill his enemies and to abduct women in the night, women who would never return to their villages. During the harvest season he would become an elephant in order to steal grain that he would carry home in his large stomach, which could hold undigested for many hours around twenty-five gallons of grain. The people always knew that the elephant stealing their grain was Magawa because of its blood red eyes. Thus he became known and feared as an evil sorcerer.
Harmattan was a wind elemental whose domain in the north of Africa was mostly desert. In the winter he blew cold dry air, often filled with fine dust, far southward to peopled lands. Those dust storms irritated eyes, throats and lungs and caused illness. In the desert he could whip up a quick sandstorm that could scour the skin of men and animals. In the summer when moister air moved up from rains far to the south, he would toss it high and create thunderstorms that he would push westward into the sea to strenghten as they moved across the warm waters and sometimes became hurricanes that devastated distant lands. Harmattan was not beloved, but he was not evil. Although there were times when he enjoyed flexing his powers to excess, causing great destruction to lands and peoples and pushing his barren domain ever southward. He did this because he had no empathy with living things. However gradually over the long years he began to delight in the flight of birds. He loved the way they played in his winds. One species of bird became especially precious to him. We might even call them pets. However because the birds ate grain, and there was little of that in the desert, they often flew south to find food. For the first time Harmattan experienced loneliness when his pets left him, and for the first time he experienced happiness when they returned.
Cramcrami was the guardian of the vast savannahs of Africa. She loved all things grass, even the little burr grass that thinly blanketed the dunes on the borders of the true desert during the rainy season, only to die completely away in the hot dry months. It is said that grass and grain have the same mother, and for all intents and purposes that mother was Cramcrami. She came into contact with humans early on when nomadic women first gathered the seeds of wild grasses. She helped when humans began to settle and farm. She sang long over the grasses favored by humans, and her powers increased the size of the grains and the yield per plant. Cramcrami was gentle by nature and lacked the physical strength of elementals like Harmattan, although still quite strong by human standards. Nonetheless she was in fact one of the most powerful entities on earth, for in addition to grasses, grains, and herbs, she also had great influence over bushes and small trees. Most importantly, she was thoughtful and did nothing without considering the consequences, which distinguished her from most of the other supernatural entities on earth at that time, and was a kind of power in and of itself. She was called by many different names in many places. She was credited for giving olive trees and fig trees and many berries and fruit to mankind. She Continue reading
George Branson Stories 