The Younger Brother
The younger brother is the second of the two primordial men of the Bagre and, in the Black Bagre especially, its restless questing hero. Where the elder brother founds the ritual society, the younger one drives the story of cultural origins: he journeys to the country of God, whose house teems with every kind of animal, and there is given a wife and set upon the acquisition of knowledge. Guided by a being of the wild, he learns cultivation, iron-working and the arts by which human life is sustained, and with his wife discovers the mystery of begetting children. He is unnamed, marked only as the junior brother, yet through his curiosity and his dealings with God and the beings of the wild the Dagara account for the whole shape of their culture. Performers differ over the details of his journey and over how knowledge is shared between God and the wild.
Domains
- cultural origins
- revelation knowledge
- procreation sexuality
Powers
- journeys to God's country
- learns craft and culture from the beings of the wild
Relations
- sibling: The Elder BrotherJack Goody, The Myth of the Bagre (1972). (secondary)
- spouse: The Slender GirlThe wife given to him in God's country, the slender girl.Jack Goody, The Myth of the Bagre (1972), on the wife given to the man. (secondary)
- companion: KontomeA being of the wild guides and instructs him.Alexis B. Tengan, Mythical Narratives in Ritual: Dagara Black Bagr (2006). (secondary)
Sources
- The younger brother is the inquisitive protagonist of the Black Bagre who journeys to God's country, is given a wife, and, guided by the beings of the wild, obtains the knowledge of cultivation, craft and procreation that founds Dagara culture.: Jack Goody, The Myth of the Bagre (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972). (secondary); Alexis B. Tengan, Mythical Narratives in Ritual: Dagara Black Bagr (Peter Lang, 2006). (secondary)