Some people died, and when they went into the graves, they came out as goblins.
God called the goblins. "Come!" he said, and they all came.
Then he gave the goblins little bags. "Go give these to the people."
Some of the bags had seeds in them; some of the bags contained fleas.
When the goblins came and gave people the bags, they didn't want the fleas. The people took the bags of seeds, but not the bags of fleas.
Then the goblins threw away the bags of fleas; the bags burst open, and that's why there are fleas everywhere.
Inspired by: "Fleas" in Africana by Duff Macdonald, 1882
Notes: You can read the original story online. Macdonald collected these stories from the Yao people at the Blantyre Mission in Malawi. The Yao word for goblins is Chitowe (singular), Itowe (plural). Macdonald describes Chitowe as a malevolent deity associated with famine; Alice Werner quotes Macdonald and offers additional comments about them; Hynde's Yao-English Primer defines Chitowe as a Bogle.
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