Agemo
Yoruba · deity · cosmogonic · deity
Agemo wins the best argument in the Yoruba creation story without saying anything clever. Olokun, who owns the sea and all the cloth in it, challenges the sky god to a contest of dress; the sky god does not go, and sends the chameleon. She brings out her finest cloth and the messenger is already wearing it; she brings out another and so is he; and after a while she works out that if this is the servant she is not going to beat the master. The moral is about knowing when you have been outclassed, and it is delivered by a lizard.
Domains
- messengers
Powers
- to reproduce on his own skin any cloth he is shown
Relations
- subordinate to: Olodumare
Sources
- Reference treatments of the Yoruba creation account and of the cloth contest.