Tauetona

The Tswana people of southern Africa have an oral tradition that says Tauetona was the first human created. In the beginning of all things, God created Tauetona, who then worked with God to create other humans who were his brothers and sisters, as well as animals, birds, and fish. The Earth was peaceful, and the humans and animals lived among each other in harmony. All of the plants were bountiful, and the land seemed divinely serene. The land was called Tbaya Banna, meaning “The Place of the Beginning of Humanity.” However, as things turned out, all was not as peaceful as it could have been and as God and Tauetona wanted it to be. They soon discovered that there was discord because all of the animals had wives, but men did not have wives. They were disgruntled and felt extremely bad about their condition.

According to the story, men were not happy and could not be pleased, so God sent a message with Tread Carefully, the Chameleon, which told men what would happen to them. The message said that men would all have to die, but that they would then be reborn. Men would be allowed to return later. This was a complicated, strange, and bizarre message to the men. It took Tread Carefully a long time to tell this message to men.

Because God saw that it was difficult for Tread Carefully to tell the message as quickly and as precisely as it should have been told, he decided to send another more exact message to men by the speedy lizard. So when Speedy Lizard got to the men, he said, “God said that your spirits will live forever but you will die just like all the rest of the animals.” Furthermore, according to Speedy Lizard, God said that the men would have children. The men asked the question, “How can we have children without women?”

Of course, there was something the men did not know. They did not know that God had created women far away in another valley called Motlbaba Basetsana or “The Great Savanna of Women.”

One day while hunting, Tauetona came upon some mysterious footprints that looked somewhat like his own, but they were much smaller. He turned to ask someone about them and the only animal he saw was Brown Hyena. So he asked Brown Hyena, “Do you know what these are?” Brown Hyena answered, “No, I do not know this animal.” Actually, Brown Hyena was not interested in the footprints because whoever made the footprints seemed much too large for him to catch.

Tauetona looked around and saw Giraffe. He asked, “From your great height can you tell what animal made these footprints?” Turning his head toward the valley where the women were made, Giraffe said, “I can see some bipeds who look somewhat like men. I shall go and ask them to return with me.” Tauetona was impressed that he might know more about these animals. Giraffe went and spoke to the women, and he told them that there were men waiting to meet them. The women, apparently, were eager to meet the men as well, and they followed Giraffe across the plains, dancing and singing that they were going to meet men.

...