God knew that Life and Death both wanted to enter the people's village, so he summoned Dog and Goat. "Guard the path," he said. "Let Life pass, but not Death."
Goat and Dog went to stand guard.
"Look at my skip and jump!" said Goat. "I'm so lively that I'll never fall asleep."
"I'll stay awake," said Dog. "I'm a much better guard than you!"
That hurt Goat's feelings, and he went away.
Dog stood guard alone. Life walked by, and Dog let him pass.
Then, Dog fell asleep... and Death entered the village too.
That is why people die.
Inspired by: "How Death Came Into the World" in The African Storyteller by Harold Scheub, 1990.
Notes: You can read the original story online. This is a Luba story by storyteller Ina Banza, told in 1929 at the village of King Kabongo in what was Zaire and is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Scheub's source is an article by Agnes C. L. Donohugh and Priscilla Berry, "A Luba Tribe in Katanga, Customs and Folklore," published in Africa, 1932. In the other original story, Dog and Goat exchange insults back and forth.
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