Myth 2

There was an old mountain man. As he journeyed, he came across many women fishing at a dam. They took the fish out of the water and put them in their calabashes. The old man asked them for some but they refused and gave him nothing. He went off and took remedies from his skin bag. He put on a leopard skin and shook himself. He became a leopard. He sat down on a flat stone behind the women and roared. The women screamed and fled naked. The old man took the fish. This happened long ago. It is finished.

This was a story told me by various people at Kpan to explain the rainchiefs ability to change into a leopard. We see a common armature with Myth 1 (fig. 35) so that we can see that it is structured at least to that degree.

Myth 1 explains the distinction between leopards and ‘leopard's sons’ and thus between circumcisers and the clowns and candidates who adopt ritual roles with them. Myth 2 explains the similarity between leopards and rainchiefs, the relative status of hunting and fishing, and possibly the opposition between static and moving water.

Fishing is divided between the sexes. Men fish with traps and spears i.e. the same means as used in hunting. It is considered an occupation worthy only of boys and poor men.38 Women fish by building a barrage across the river and picking up the stranded fish, or by emptying the pools left as the rivers dry up after the end of the rains. Alternatively they may use poison.