The Royal Antelope, primary protagonist of Mende folklore.
The Mende are a Mande speaking people of the Southwestern branch. Traditionally rice farming warriors organized into clans, they makeup a third of Sierra Leone’s population. A small population exists in Liberia as well. Like many other ethnic groups of Upper Guinea the mystic Poro and Sande societies are the strongest social force which cuts across tribal boundaries. The Mende are descended from bands of warriors, merchants, and adventurers known as the Mane that moved out of the Mali empire as it declined. These conquerors often subjugated local populations of Atlantic speakers called Sapes who were likely ancestral to other local groups like the Limba, Sherbro, and Temne. The warlike Mende got as well as they gave in many cases, being among the many Greater Senegambians brought especially to the United States as slaves. The famous Amistad ship largely had Mendes as captives, including Sengbe Pieh or as he was known to his captors “Joseph Cinqué”.
History and legend were inextricably bound together as Njepe Wovei or “Old Talk”.
Tropes from Mende Mythology include:
- Arch-Enemy: Overlaps with Sitcom Arch-Nemesis. Kaso is constantly at odds with Hagbe.
- Babysitter from Hell: Musa Wo was tasked with looking after his half siblings once. He killed and roasted a toad to feed a baby brother with. As the baby didn't eat the toad, Musa Wo then roasted the baby which he tried to feed to the dead toad. Yeah.
- Bambification: Hagbe is a sweet and friendly Royal Antelope. That said, he is far from stupid or naïve and frequently gets the better of the wily Kaso.
- Creation Myth: Ngewo felt lonely living in his cave, so he spoke the animals into existence. The animals arrived in pairs until finally came the first human couple. They annoyed him with their endless questions, so he retreated to the heavens. Ngewo later returned with two chickens, telling them to make sacrifice whenever one human harms another.
- Crippling Castration: Musa Wo cut off the manhood of Grandfather Deer with a fire poker.
- Deal with the Devil: Ndogbojusui is said to appear like a hairy human man with exaggerated features. It lures greedy humans into a 7 year pact that yields the human riches and luck beyond their wildest dreams. But inevitably it brings the human back to the deepest jungle as their slave. If a human does manage to escape bondage, they are forever driven insane.
- Delicious Distraction: Ngewo once sent Dog to tell humans they would be immortal. The canine was distracted on the road with food, so Ngewo sent Toad with a message of death. And so, all people die.
- Drowning Pit: Musa Wo tricked his greedy father and his subjects into putting themselves into baskets under the belief they would become rich like Musa Wo and his mother. Musa Wo then threw all the baskets into the river and drowned them, claiming their remaining property.
- Enfant Terrible: Musa Wo (meaning Little Moses) was a complete maniac. He regularly committed gruesome murders and acts of perfidy.
- "Just So" Story: There once was a woman who had a daughter named Nuni. Nuni was married shortly after initiation but died. The woman was heartbroken, but also very wealthy. So she declared she would have someone Buried Alive as a funeral offering. She tied a goat and a great barrel of rice near the grave, and said the meal was free for anyone willing to join Nuni in her grave. Kaso was ready instantly by Nuni's pretty cowife crying. Kaso wolfed down the goat and rice all by himself and then felt dirt being dumped on him. He realized he was going to join Nuni in death. Day by day he rapidly lost weight. Luckily Ngewo sent ants to tunnel out of the grave. As Kaso squeezed through his neck was pushed to his abdomen and he could no longer walk straight. From then on spiders had narrow waists and an odd gait.
- Longest Pregnancy Ever: Musa Wo's mother was pregnant for 3 years before having him.
- Our Mermaids Are Different:
- Tingoi is a snakelike or fishlike creature with a woman's head. They are seductive and beautiful beings who sit on rocks combing their long hair in the mirror. When they see passerby they leap back into the river. Some people are so attracted they try to seize their combs or mirrors. When this happens they become enslaved by the spirit at the river bottom, who demands they give up a relative in exchange for wealth. Failure to comply with their demands always ends in doom.
- Njaloi are shapeshifting water spirits who lure mortals to them at night using a lamp or shining stone in their foreheads. Njaloi have many hungry offspring to feed and they accomplish this by catching unwary humans in their nets to be devoured by their broods. They have been known to seduce humans to lower their guard. Other times a mortal may negotiate not only their life but even riches from the creatures if they are quick thinking.
- Rain of Something Unusual: Long ago it used to rain kpohui (a confection made of sugar, rice, and peanuts). Eating it caused one to float into the air, then suddenly plummet and break their hips.
- Schmuckbait: Kaso refused to listen to his mother-in-law's warnings and ate the magic kpohui, causing him to float high into the air then fall.
- Sneaky Spider: Kaso has this in common with his counterparts Anansi, Gizo, Tule, and Wanto in other regions of Africa.
- Sociopathic Hero: Musa Wo was almost pure evil.
- Toilet Humor: Kaso once went to a Sande initiation ceremony in hopes of finding a feast and girls. Kaso saw one girl to his liking and asked her parents if he could marry her. They said they would only marry her to the man who couldn't shit. Kaso immediately lied that he never shit so they fed him a very spicy soup. Kaso quickly felt diarrhea bubbling in his stomach and his asshole burning so he ran off. The girl's parents sent a boy to see if Kaso shit himself. Kaso held it in and then told the boy following that he was going to wash in the river rapids. Kaso began to release a great torrent of diarrhea from his ass into the raging water. To distract the boy he began to ask frivolous questions about the boy and his family. When the last of the liquid shit was gone Kaso returned to land and met the parents again for his reward. They were suspicious and so fed Kaso an even bigger more spicy serving of soup. Kaso couldn't make it more than a few steps before a jet of shit erupted from his ass. Embarrassed, he fled. Ever since then we only ever see Kaso hiding just out of view.
- Top God: Ngewo is the supreme being who created all things.
- The Trickster:
- Kaso is one. Unlike Anansi who is more of a Loveable Rogue Kaso is a complete scumbag in Mende lore. Being compared to Kaso is an insult in Mende villages. One of his titles is "Meat lover" or "Food lover" indicating gluttony in the worst way.
- Musa Wo is another trickster. He is an outright Villain Protagonist who kills EVERYONE in some tales.
