Mythology Book

285

T

he Maasai, a nomadic

cattle-raising community,

historically with a fierce

warrior-like reputation, are believed

to have orginated in the lower Nile

valley and migrated to the savanna

of East Africa in the 15th century.

Their one supreme god, En-kai, is

often associated with the thunder

clouds that bring the rains, causing

the grass to sprout and provide

fresh grazing for their herds.

In the beginning, En-kai told

Maasinta, the first Maasai, to build

an enclosure using thorn bushes.

En-kai then lowered a leather rope

from a black storm cloud, and down

this rope descended a multitude of

cattle—creatures that the world

had never seen before.

Dorobo, who lived with Maasinta

and was the first of the Doroba clan,

was upset, complaining that he had

not gotten any of the cattle. In some

versions of the tale, Dorobo shouted

so loudly that En-kai took back the

rope; in others, Dorobo used his

metal-working skills to make a

knife, then cut the rope. Either way,

no more cattle descended from the

sky. Maasinta was angry with

Dorobo and cursed him and his

people to be forever poor and

without cattle, living by hunting

wild animals. This explains why

the Doroba clan were hunters and

blacksmiths, not pastoralists.

The Maasai people believe that

En-kai granted all of the cattle on

Earth to their community. When

the Maasai take cattle from others,

they believe that it is not theft; they

are simply reclaiming what En-kai

had declared was rightfully theirs. ■

See also: Spider woman 238–39 ■ The Woge settle a dispute 240–41 ■

San creation myth 284 ■ The Dogon cosmos 288–93

ANCIENT EGYPT AND AFRICA

I WILL GIVE YOU

SOMETHING

CALLED CATTLE

EN-KAI AND THE CATTLE

IN BRIEF

THEME

Beloved creatures

SOURCE

Oral Literature of the Maasai,

Naomi Kipury, 1983.

SETTING

The East African savanna.

KEY FIGURES

En-kai The supreme god of

the Maasai.

The Maasai A nomadic

community that graze their

cattle on the grasslands of

East Africa.

The Doroba A clan within

the Maasai community, who

were formerly hunter-gatherers

and blacksmiths.

May the milk

of my cattle be poison

if you ever taste it.

Maasinta, Oral Literature

of the Maasai

US_284-285_Creation_Maasai.indd 285 05/12/17 4:16 pm