Agemo

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: OlodumareOlorun's servant. The registry carries the supreme being under the name Olodumare, with Olorun among its aliases.Reference treatment of Agemo as the servant and messenger of Olorun. (secondary)

Sources

• Agemo is the chameleon, messenger and servant of Olorun in Yoruba cosmogony, sent to check on Obatala's work and to out-match Olokun in the contest of cloth.: Reference treatments of the Yoruba creation account and of the cloth contest. (secondary)