Episode 144 – A Meal to Die For – Myths Your Teacher Hated

Episode 144 Show Notes

Source: Krachi Mythology

This week on MYTH, we’re traveling to west Africa to discover the strange origins of Death and how it came into the world. You’ll learn that you should never ask the ingredients in a Michelin star meal, that your boss is not your friend, and that good hair can be a real curse sometimes. Then, in Gods and Monsters, what should you do when your firstborn child is a real snake in the grass? This is the Myths Your Teacher Hated podcast, where I tell the stories of cultures from around the world in all of their original, bloody, uncensored glory. Modern tellings of these stories have become dry and dusty, but I’ll be trying to breathe new life into them. This is Episode 144, “A Meal to Die For”. As always, this episode is not safe for work.
Death is one of the great mysteries of life the world over, so it’s no surprise that multiple cultures have come up with stories to explain what it is and how it came to be. This week’s story comes from the Krachi (ka-akye) people of modern Ghana by way of the folklore collection Epic Tales: Gods & Monsters, Myths & Tales. Many years ago, the land was beset by a terrible famine. With food scarce and only getting scarcer, the eldest son of every household was sent out to seek out a new source of sustenance; each was instructed not to come back until and unless he had found enough food to share with his entire household. It was a major quest, and each eldest son took it seriously. They set out individually in whatever direction seemed best to each (it wouldn’t do for them to actually find something and then have to fight over which of them got to bring it back).
Among these seekers of the Krachi people was a young man whose name has been lost to time. Like many others, he began his search in the more familiar areas of the bush but, also like the others, he found that any food that might have survived the famine had long since been consumed. Forced to wander farther afield, he soon enough found himself in a part of the wilderness that he had never set foot in before.
Moving more cautiously now, the young man noticed the form of some kind of creature just up ahead. It was curled up in the tall grass, so he couldn’t make out exactly what it was but it was definitely large. It didn’t appear to be moving but it also didn’t stink of rotting meat, and hope blossomed in his heart. He crept stealthily forward hoping that he had gotten lucky and found something very large and only recently dead of natural causes. Something that large could provide food for his family for quite a long time.
He had only taken a few cautious steps before the mound began to move and uncurl itself, revealing that A), it was very much not dead, only sleeping; and B), it was not an animal at all. The creature sat up and up and up, revealing itself to be a truly enormous giant with a great mane of shaggy white hair that flowed down the monster’s back and across the bush for miles and miles, stretching all the way from Krachi to Salaga. Worse, the stirring creature opened one enormous eye and stared right at the terrified young man, who had frozen in place and held his breath hoping to avoid notice.
“Who are you, human? What are you doing here? Explain yourself!” The poor young man nearly pissed himself in fear and his teeth were chattering far too hard for him to speak coherently for a minute or two. At last, he managed to gather his courage and force the words out of his mouth. “I am terribly sorry, O giant! I had no idea you were there and definitely didn’t mean to disturb your slumber. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there’s an awful famine blighting the land. I was out looking for food for my family, that’s all. So sorry about waking you. If you want to just lay back down, I can be going…”The young man’s hope was quickly squashed as the giant yawned, stretched, and stood up to its full towering height.
“I am Owuo, but people have also named me Death. You’re in search of food, huh? You know what? You, my lucky young man, have caught me in a good mood so I’ll tell you what – I’ll give you all the food and drink you could want if, in return, you act as my personal assistant. You know, fetch things, carry things, do whatever grunt work I need done. That sort of thing. What do you think about that?” The young man was momentarily struck speechless by this offer. He couldn’t help but agree with Owuo that he was indeed very lucky. “I humbly accept your gracious offer, Owuo. I would be more than happy to fetch and carry for you in exchange for some regular meals for me.” I can’t help but notice that neither party to this deal makes any mention of food for the young man’s family back home. You know, the whole reason he was sent out into the bush in the first place?
The giant smiled at this and motioned the young man towards a nearby cave, beside which the giant had built his equally enormous home. A few enormous strides from him (and many more hurried ones from the young man) brought them to the entrance where a fire pit was laid out. Owuo quickly rekindled his fire from the lingering coals and was soon roasting enormous hunks of meat on a spit over the roaring flames. The intoxicating aroma made the young man’s stomach growl in anticipation. When the giant finally handed over a very generous portion to the young man, he almost burned his tongue in his eagerness to devour it. The meal was the most delicious he’d had in a long time (and only part of that was due to long weeks of privation and hunger). Washing one of the best meals he’d ever had down with the crispest, cleanest water he’d ever tasted, the young man was even more grateful to have made the acquaintance of the generous Owuo.
For many days thereafter (the young man soon lost count), he served Owuo in whatever capacity the giant required in exchange for daily meals, each as exquisite as the first. It wasn’t exactly easy work but neither was it exceptionally grueling and Owuo’s Michelin star meals each night more than made up for the hard work it took to earn them. This went on until, one morning, the young man awoke from a wistful dream with a longing for home in his breast. His homesickness only grew stronger throughout the day and so he asked Owuo if it would be alright for him to take a trip back home to see his family, even if only for a few days.
The giant smiled indulgently. “Of course, that’s no problem at all. You can of course visit your family, and for as long as you wish, on one condition: you bring me another boy to replace you as my gopher while you’re gone.” This seemed like an easy and reasonable ask, so the young man readily agreed to Owuo’s terms. He hurried home that very day, bursting with excitement at seeing his family and at sharing news of his good fortune with them. As soon as the excited greetings and rejoicing at their eldest son’s return was done, the young man told them the whole story of his meeting with the giant named Death and of the bargain they had made. He made a specific point of engaging his younger brother with his wondrous tale, encouraging him to go with his elder brother to meet Owuo and take his place for a bit.
It took a little doing (the younger man was understandably hesitant about agreeing to serve a terrifying giant he had never met all alone in the wilderness), but the eldest brother was very convincing and he was obviously well-fed and healthy so the younger brother soon agreed to go. Together, they returned to the cave of Owuo and the eldest brother promised them both that he would return before very long. He just wanted to visit with the rest of his family for a few days, that’s all.
The elder brother returned home to celebrate with his family. No word on what they were eating at this point. I have to assume that there’s still a famine on and it doesn’t sound like he brought any food back with him from Owuo, but the story doesn’t really explain. Maybe the worst of it was over though times were clearly still lean. Either way, days turned into weeks turned into months and still the eldest brother stayed at home with his family. When he finally did think to return to Owuo, it wasn’t because he wanted to honor his promise to his brother to not be gone for long but because he was once more growing lean and hungry. He yearned for another taste of the savory meat that Death cooked over his massive fire pit.
Making his way back to the giant’s hut, he strode up and knocked boldly on the door. A few moments went by before Owuo himself opened the door and peered down at the small human outside. “What do you want, little human?” The young man stood up a little taller, having forgotten just how big the giant really was. “Hello again, Owuo. Remember me? I was hoping you might be willing to share some of that incredible meat you cook again. It’s the best thing I’ve ever tasted.” The giant peered down at him, head cocking quizzically. “I could probably do that, but you’d need to work for it. Same deal as before. Fetch and carry for me and you can have all you can eat.” “Perfect! I’d be delighted to be your assistant again.” And so they fell back into their old rhythm.
He and Owuo once again shared a delectable meal and, in the morning, the young man went about his chores for the giant again. For many weeks, the young man worked for Death all day and, each night, he had a scrumptious meal. In all that time, he never saw hide nor hair of his younger brother. He’d kind of thought he would be relieving his brother and taking over the position. Or at least working together, but no. When he finally worked up the nerve to ask Owuo about his brother, the giant sniffed dismissively. “He’s gone away on business. Don’t worry about it – there’s plenty for you to worry about right here and now.” It was an unsatisfactory answer but it was clearly all he was going to get. Is this starting to feel like horror movie territory to anyone else?
Unsatisfied but unwilling to push any further, the young man returned to his duties. He was content for a time but, eventually, he began to grow homesick once more. A second time, he asked Owuo for permission to take a short trip home to see his family. “Of course, that’s no problem at all. You can of course visit your family, and for as long as you wish, on one condition: you bring me another assistant to replace you as my gopher while you’re gone. A girl this time.” This seemed an easy enough ask so the young man once more agreed to the terms and hurried home.
There, he was once more greeted happily by his family (still no word on if he brought any food home during this time or if they were just figuring shit out for themselves with two less mouths to feed). The young man began to speak to his little sister once the initial greetings were done. It took a little doing (the young woman was understandably hesitant about agreeing to serve a terrifying giant she had never met all alone in the wilderness, especially since their brother had not yet returned), but the eldest brother was very convincing and he was obviously well-fed and healthy so she soon agreed to go. Together, they returned to the cave of Owuo and the eldest brother promised them both that he would return before very long. He just wanted to visit with the rest of his family for a few days, that’s all. Waving goodbye to her brother, she entered Owuo’s cave with a great deal of excitement for the promised meal (along with a slave girl her own age so she wouldn’t be completely alone, which I don’t love).
He was home for far shorter this time, mere weeks instead of months, before his hunger for the giant’s incredible meat returned once more. He thought about it all day. He dreamed about it at night. Unable to stand it, the young man returned to Owuo’s cave at a quick trot, his mouth watering in anticipation of the delectable food he would soon enjoy. The cave lay at the end of the familiar path with its giant-sized hut and the young man knocked boldly on the door. A very grumpy giant opened the door this time. “The fuck do you want, tiny human?” “Hello again, Owuo. Remember me? I was hoping you might be willing to share some of that incredible meat you cook again. It’s still the best thing I’ve ever tasted.”
The giant grumbled and muttered, clearly less than pleased to see his former assistant on his doorstep once more. After a lot of complaining, he finally sighed very loudly and gestured towards a room at the back of the cave. “Alright, fine. Head on in and help yourself to as much meat as you want.” This was a bit of a turn from the last two times he’d been here, but the young man couldn’t be bothered to worry about much of anything aside from getting more of that savory meat in his mouth hole right the fuck now. He hurried back into the dimly lit cave where indeed the giant had a stockpile of freshly cooked meat along with some butchered hunks that were still raw.
Grabbing himself a nice big thigh bone, the young man began gnawing happily on the roasted flank. It was every bit as delicious as he’d remembered and he moaned a little with pleasure as the juice dribbled down his chin. Something flashed in the dim light as he turned the bone for his next big bite, and he paused to see what it was. To his absolute horror, the young man saw that it was a bangle that his sister had always worn around her ankle. His heart dropped into his sickening stomach as he looked more closely at the butchered meat stacked beside him. Now that he knew what he was looking for, he immediately realized that the meat he’d been so happily munching on mere moments ago was human. All of it was human. The piled meat was from the butchered bodies of his sister and her slave girl.
Shocked and terrified, the young man snuck back out of the cave as quietly as he could to avoid alerting Owuo. As soon as he was out of sight, he raced back through the bush towards the village as fast as his legs could carry him. He fled the gory abattoir and hurried to see the village elders, interrupting whatever business they were in the middle of. Breathlessly, he told them the whole story including all of the horrifying carnage he had witnessed and unknowingly participated in, doing his best not to retch as he recounted realizing he was eating his own sister.
The elders sounded the alarm throughout the village. Everyone gathered together and followed the young man back through the bush to see Owuo and his cave of terrors for themselves. Their nerve grew shakier as they drew nearer however, and before they had reached the cave it shattered altogether. The village broke and returned back to the relative safety of their homes to discuss what should be done. After much frantic discussion, it was decided to journey to Salaga. The young man had said that Owuo’s magnificent mane of white hair stretched all the way there. If they could find its end, then they could light it on fire. That feels like a very roundabout and ineffective solution to the giant problem to me, but it does have the very nice perk of keeping everyone well out of reach of the man-eating monster.
Night had fallen by the time the village chief lit the torch and used it to set the giant’s white hair ablaze. Once they were certain that the small fire had turned into an unstoppable inferno that raced back towards the giant, they followed it back into the bush. Stopping at what they hoped were good hiding places, they secreted themselves away and waited for Owuo’s reaction. Back in his hut, the giant had begun to sweat profusely in the sudden and unexpected heat. He brushed it away with the back of his hand, but the day just kept getting hotter and hotter. He tossed and turned in discomfort, then thrashed in pain. Moaning in rising agony, he burst out into the night to see his blazing hair burning its way towards him. He shrieked in agony as his head caught fire and burned like a torch in the night.
It took a long, awful time for Owuo to stop thrashing and screaming. It took even longer for anyone to dare to venture close to him to see if he was still breathing. Of those assembled, only the young man was brave enough to do so. As he crept slowly up to the massive form, he noticed something in the giant’s hair – a bundle of medicine concealed in the very roots at his scalp. Seizing it and tearing it out of the charred remains, he called to the others to come and see what he had discovered.
Everyone looked it over, including the elders and the chief himself, but none could say what powers this strange medicine might have. No one was quite sure what to do with it either until one of the oldest elders piped up. “I think maybe there could be no danger in taking that medicine and sprinkling some of it on the butchered people in the cave.” No one had any better ideas and so it was done. To their joyous wonder, the sister, the slave girl, and the younger brother all sprang back to life from the bloody carcasses, confused but unhurt.
Resurrecting these three had taken up most of the medicine that had been tied up in Owuo’s hair, but a very little still remained. What was to be done with this? People shuffled and muttered, but no one spoke until the young man stepped forward. “I, uh…I think we should use it on the giant. Bring him back.” There was a massive uproar at this suggestion, which seems totally justified. I mean, this asshole did just kill and eat three people from the village. Standing firm, the young man refused to back down in the face of the pressure. “I’m serious. When I was starving, he helped me. Yeah, I don’t love that he was serving people meat but he’s not exactly people so maybe it’s not exactly cannibalism for him. I owe him, and I mean to pay that debt.”
The villagers roared in outrage again, but the young man refused to budge. The chief finally calmed everyone down and proposed a compromise: the medicine could be used on Owuo, but the leftover dust could only be sprinkled into one eye. Figuring it was better than nothing, the young man agreed. The dust was sprinkled into the crisp, burnt eye and it immediately sprang back to glaring health, opening wide and blinking. The villagers’ remaining courage broke at this and they fled back home in terror. And Owuo, also known as Death, is there still his one great eye staring at the world. It is from this giant’s eye that death comes for us all. Every time that Owuo blinks, someone dies. Alas for us all, the mostly-dead giant is forever blinking furiously in a vain attempt to clean the medicine dust out of his eye without any hands.
This is a very bizarre story, even for folklore. It is meant to explain the phenomenon of death, but three people and Owuo himself all seem perfectly capable of dying before capital D Death comes into the world at the end of the story. Or, even more horrifying, maybe the three humans weren’t actually dead. Maybe they were dismembered but still magically and horrifyingly alive to experience the terror of being cooked and eaten. Ye gods, I hope not. And so, with three innocent people saved but the entire world doomed to death in the process, it’s time for Gods and Monsters. This is a segment where I get into a little more detail about the personalities and history of one of the gods or monsters from this week’s pantheon that was not discussed in the main story. This week’s strange and unusual child is Gihilihili.
This story also comes from Epic Tales: Gods & Monsters, Myths & Tales but was originally from the Tutsi people of modern Rwanda. Once, long long ago, there lived a middle-aged woman. She had lived in her small village all her life and she desperately wanted a child. Despite many attempts with her husband however, she never managed to conceive. She had all but abandoned hope when, one day, she realized to her great joy that she was unexpectedly pregnant! It was the happiest news she could have imagined and she spent many a day dreaming about what it would feel like to sit with the other women, bouncing her happy, healthy baby on her knee.
Nine months came and went, but the woman didn’t go into labor, which was…concerning. The baby didn’t seem to be stillborn however, so she just gritted her teeth and carried on. Days went by, then weeks, then months, and finally years and still no baby. This was getting both ridiculous and deeply unsettling, but the poor woman didn’t know what else to do but just keep waiting. Finally, after several years of pregnancy, she finally felt the beginnings of her labor pains. It was initially a relief, but any comfort was soon lost in the long, agonizing ordeal of a particularly difficult birth. When it was finally over, she lay there, sweaty and panting and alone. Where was her husband? Why hadn’t he brought their child to her?
Looking around the room, she saw him still kneeling down by her legs, a mask of horror frozen on his usually handsome face. His hands were empty, no crying baby nestled in his palms. With growing alarm, she felt movement beside her in the bed and looked down. Instead of a baby, the woman saw a long, thick snake coiled up beside her, nestled against her hip for warmth. It looked up at her with obvious affection, its dark eyes meeting hers.
This small movement seemed to break her husband’s trance and he suddenly leapt to his feet and grabbed hold of a shovel leaning against one wall. He raised it overhead and then struck, trying to cut the terrified snake to pieces. Its thick hide protected it from the initial blow and it curled even tighter against its mother for protection. “Stop, husband! Don’t hurt it! It’s not the baby we expected, but it’s still the baby that I gave birth to. Treat this poor creature with gentleness and respect. For me, husband?” The man could deny his beloved wife nothing but he still didn’t like this situation, so he put the shovel down and headed out in search of the village elders.
He soon returned with a group of them. The old men delicately examined the woman and her snake baby closely with gentle hands. After looking them both over thoroughly, the wisest of them spoke. “We see no reason to be unkind to this creature. Take it to the forest and build it a home there where it will be safe and comfortable. Let it live there in peace and grow to maturity, free to do as it wishes. Let it wander the forest and shed its skin as is natural for its kind.” This seemed the best option (keeping snakes as pets wasn’t exactly a thing at this point) and so it was done. The husband took the snake, who they had named Gihilihili, out to the forest and, with his own hands, built it a fine house. He ensured that it had plentiful food until it learned to hunt on its own, and the snake thrived in its forest home.
The years passed quickly and the snake grew and grew and grew. It was now a truly impressive size and yet, despite that, it had not yet shed its skin. Finally, one day, it felt a fierce itching along its whole body and headed deep into the forest in search of the perfect rubbing rock. As it slithered along, its old skin began to peel away and the most incredible transformation began. Instead of a snake, the figure emerging from the shed skin was a tall, handsome young man. When he was finally free of his old form, Gihilihili stood, picked up the discarded snake husk, and took a deep, steadying breath. Throwing the skin over his shoulders, he followed the path back through the forest to the village and his parents’ home.
He knocked on the door and, upon opening it, his mother pulled him into a tight, tearful hug. She recognized her child immediately, new form or no. She and her husband were overjoyed to see that the snake they had left out in the woods so many years ago was now returned to them as a fine, strong son. The family invited all of their extended relatives over for a huge feast to meet their newest member and rejoice with the thrilled parents.
Things soon settled down into something approaching normality. Several weeks went by, and the husband pulled his son aside for a man-to-man conversation. “You are the finest son we could have ever imagined and all the more for being unexpected. I think it is time for us to begin thinking about who will be your wife, Gihilihili.” The young snake-man smiled. “I already know who my wife will be, father – I have chosen the daughter of Bwenge. Even back when I still slithered on my belly through the underbrush, I knew that we would one day be wed. Each time she came out to the forest to gather wood, I would come to be near her and send my love out to her. Each time she would go and cut grass for her cattle, I would come to be near her and send my love out to her. She is the one.”
“That’s all well and good son, but I don’t think it’s realistic. She is the daughter of a chief and we are simply poor farmers. We’re not rich enough for me to be able to arrange such a match.” Gihilihili would hear nothing else on the subject, utterly refusing to consider any other possible matches. He was in love and that was that. The snake-man called for a great fire to be built as the sun was setting. When the flames were dancing and leaping as tall as the buildings in the village, he came out with his old snakeskin over his shoulder and tossed it onto the flames. “Mom? Dad? Watch this.”
As they stared in amazement, the skin sizzled and burned away to reveal a dazzling assortment of riches and finery. Cattle, sheep, and fowl leapt from the roaring flames to gather behind the family. Drums, calabashes, and churns rolled out of the popping logs to pile up beside them. Skin burned to ash, blowing away to reveal all kinds of other fine and expensive things. The family was suddenly very, very rich. “Are we rich enough to approach Bwenge about her daughter now?”
Wide-eyed, the young man’s father agreed that they were indeed now rich enough to make a fine match for the chief’s daughter. Taking a large portion of the new riches (but still only a small percentage of the total), he went the next morning to speak with the chief, who was very impressed by the offered dowry. He was delighted to arrange the marriage of his daughter to this tall, handsome, strong, and kind young man. Oh, and rich. We mustn’t forget rich.
The two were soon wed and the young bride returned to live with Gihilihili in his village. They were very happy together and had many fine children over the course of a very fruitful and peaceful life. The snake-man grew old amongst his people and was soon venerated as one of their elders. Word of his great wisdom spread far and wide, and people would come from many miles away to seek his counsel. Whenever someone had a problem that no one else seemed able to solve, they would set out to speak with Gihilihili the snake-man. When at last he passed away from old age, his story and his wise words lived on. People told the story of his birth and how the young man had almost been killed for being different and unexpected, but mercy had saved him. “Never allow yourself to be destroyed by misfortune, but endure and come back stronger,” they said. “Never despair of yourself or of others and, above all, never condemn another because of their appearance. Judge them instead by their character, their kindness, and their wisdom.”
I figured we could use a little hope after the bleak ending of our main story. I love that, aside from the concerned husband’s initial startled attempt to kill the giant snake curled up beside his wife, everyone just accepts Gihilihili as a part of the village. He’s not exiled from the village so much as made comfortable in an environment more conducive to a snake’s natural way of life. When he transforms into a young man, everyone accepts him immediately. In plenty of stories, he would have been shunned or had to go on a great quest to prove his worth. Here, he simply had to summon enough wealth to pay the dowry of the rich girl he loved (which would have been true of literally anyone who courted her). Indeed, he became a great sage whose wisdom was sought out by everyone not in spite of his strange origin but because of it.
That’s it for this episode of Myths Your Teacher Hated. Keep up with new episodes on our Facebook page, on iTunes, on TuneIn, on Vurbl, and on Spotify, or you can follow us on Twitter as @HardcoreMyth, on Instagram as Myths Your Teacher Hated Pod, and on Tumblr as MythsYourTeacherHated. You can also find news and episodes on our website at myths your teacher hated dot com. If you have any questions, any gods or monsters you’d want to learn about, or any ideas for future stories that you’d like to hear, feel free to drop me a line. I’m trying to pull as much material from as many different cultures as possible, but there are all sorts of stories I’ve never heard, so suggestions are appreciated. The theme music is by Tiny Cheese Puff.
Next time, we’ll venture into the Norwegian mountains to see what lurks beneath their bridges. You’ll discover that some monsters are easy to trick, that you should never butt heads with a goat, and that sometimes the grass really is greener. You know, because you ate all the grass on this side. Then, in Gods and Monsters, a long-suffering wife will get tired of her husband’s bullshit and tell him to take care of the house for once. That’s all for now. Thanks for listening.