Ekineba is the culture-heroine of Kalabari masquerade. In the legend recorded by Horton, a woman so beautiful that the water-people took human form to court her was carried off to their town beneath the water. There the owuamapu danced before her and, uniquely, allowed her to beat their drum; when they returned her to land she brought their plays to her own people, on the condition that she must always be the first to beat the drum whenever her people staged a masquerade. After that rule was broken three times the water-people lost patience and took her back for good. She is honoured as patroness of the men's masquerade society named for her, the Ekine or Sekiapu ('dancing people'), which stages the long cycle of water-spirit plays; although she is a woman, only men may belong to the society, wear its masks or dance.