Yoruba Creation Myth
Read the oral narrative below then answer the questions that follow.(20mks)
The entire world was filled with water when God decided to create the world.God sent His messenger Obatala to perform the task of creating the world.Obatala brought along his helper,a man named Oduduwa as well as a calabash full of earth and a chicken.Then they began their descent to earth from a rope.
Along the way,they stopped over at a feast where Obatala got drunk from drinking too much palm wine.Oduduwa,finding his master drunk,picked up the calabash and the chicken and continued on the journey.When Oduduwa reached the earth,he sprinkled the earth from the calabash over the water and he dropped the chicken on the earth.The chicken then ran around the earth in every direction he moved until there was land.Oduduwa had now created earth from what used to be water.
Later when Obatala got out of his drunken haze,he discovered that Oduduwa had already performed his task and he was very upset.God however gave him another task to perform;to create people that would populate the earth.
And that was how the world was created in a place now called Ile-Ife.
Questions and Answers on Yoruba Creation Myth
a) With illustrations,classify the above narrative (3 marks)
Myth
it is a creation story
“God decided to create the world”
It has a deity as one of its characters i.e God
“the world was created in what is now called…”
Correct identification -1mark; any two illustrations -1mark each
b) State two duties God gave Obatala according to the story (2marks)
To create the world
To create the people that would populate the earth
c)Describe the economic activities of the people depicted in this narrative (4marks)
Poultry keeping/Chicken rearing- a chicken
Crop farming- palm wine
d) Using illustrations,comment on the character traits of the following characters in the narrative(6marks)
i.Obatala
Irresponsible - gets drunk and fails to carry out the duty to create the earth as allocated by God
Irrational - gets upset upon realizing that Oduduwa had performed his task
Unreliable - he cannot be depended upon to accomplish tasks allocated to him.
ii.Oduduwa
Helpful - he was Obatalas helper
Responsible - he continued with the journey and created the earth which was his masters duty.
iii.God
Forgiving - fails to punish Obatala for his irresponsible actions
Lenient - gives Obatala another chance by allocating him a task to create the people.
e)What moral lesson can be drawn from the narrative?(3 marks)
Replacements are always available.
It is important to perform duties well failure to which one can be embarrassed when a replacement does a better job
It is possible to be replaced by someone one least expects
(Any 1 or any other appropriate -3 marks)
f)Who would be the appropriate audience for this narrative (2marks)
Adults
The youth