The Bird Who Flew to Heaven

God lives in the sky. 

Long ago, people lived in the sky-heaven with God. 

Then, one day, a bird flew up from earth to heaven, carrying a rope in its beak. The people grabbed the rope and slid down to earth. They found grass and trees on the earth; they found cattle and sheep. They drank the milk of the cattle. 

Then a woman, heavily pregnant with twins, grabbed the rope. "I want to come too," she said, and her weight broke the rope. 

That left some people up in the sky, and the rest of the people on earth.

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Inspired by: "Nawuge: The Rope to Earth" in A dictionary of African mythology : the mythmaker as storyteller by Harold Scheub.

Notes: You can read the original story online. This is a legend of the Toposa people of the Sudan. The god's name is Nawuge.

a Toposa village