Mbeku (from the

Igbo Igbo may refer to: * Igbo people, an ethnic group of Nigeria * Igbo language, their language * anything related to Igboland, a cultural region in Nigeria See also * Ibo (disambiguation) * Igbo mythology * Igbo music * Igbo art * * Igbo-Ukwu, a ...

word for tortoise) is the

trickster In mythology and the study of folklore and religion, a trickster is a character in a story ( god, goddess, spirit, human or anthropomorphisation) who exhibits a great degree of intellect or secret knowledge and uses it to play tricks or otherwi ...

tortoise in

and West African

folktale A folktale or folk tale is a folklore genre that typically consists of a story passed down from generation to generation orally. Folktale may also refer to: Categories of stories * Folkloric tale from oral tradition * Fable (written form of the a ...

Tales

In one aetiological tale Mbekwu gets taken by the birds to a feast in the sky. When he eats all the food, the birds stop him from flying back to the earth, and he falls, which is how the tortoises got the patterns on their shells. In an Igbo fable Mbekwu (or Mbe) persuades Grasshopper (''Ukpana'') to help fake sadness on the death of his father-in-law, so that he can get food from his kinsmen, but breaks his pledge to share the food. The grasshopper betrays him to his kinsfolk, who kill him.

Bibliography

* The Flying Tortoise, Tololwa M. Mollel, illustrated by Barbara Spurll, Toronto, Oxford University Press, 1994, . * Anthropological report on the Ibo-speaking peoples of Nigeria. Northcote W Thomas, 1913, London, Harrison

References

African fairy tales African folklore African mythology Fables Folklore characters Oral tradition Storytelling Mythological tricksters Igbo culture Legendary turtles {{Africa-myth-stub