the Old Woman Who Sought God
Tonga · mortal · primordial · Recorded classification
An unnamed mortal protagonist of the canonical Tonga/Ila mortality myth (the inverse of the creator's ascent: a human trying and failing to climb up to the sky-god). Recorded with no personal name in Smith & Dale.
Domains
- mortality grief
Powers
- build a tower of trees to climb to God
Relations
- enemy: the Besetting Rain-GiverBereaved of all kin by Leza 'the Besetting One', she built tower after tower to climb the sky and confront him, and failed; a one-sided quarrel.Smith & Dale, The Ila-Speaking Peoples of Northern Rhodesia (1920), vol. 2 (secondary)
Sources
- The Ila/Tonga tell of an old woman who, bereaved of all her family by Leza, tried to build a tower of trees up to heaven to question the god, and failed.: Smith, E. W. & Dale, A. M. (1920). The Ila-speaking Peoples of Northern Rhodesia, 2 vols. London: Macmillan. (secondary)