Why Death Visits

Once upon a time, every living thing on the Earth was immortal. It was peaceful here, for the spirits and animals. Seasons, rainy and dry, came and went, and everyone continued living their lives, generation after generation. But when a spirit named Death started boasting... everything changed.

Not quite an animal, not quite a god, he existed as a spectre here and there, mostly keeping to himself near the rivers and streams.

It so happened that Death loved to fish in a huge river that flowed slowly over the earth. It was filled with a multitude of fish, and the birds of the world gathered on the river banks from time to time.

Every morning, animals saw Death as he fished on the riverbank. And every morning, the animals and death greeted each other kindly.

“How are you?” Death called to each one in turn.

“I’m doing very well,” they answered.

You see, in those days, it was important to greet your neighbors, and everyone followed the routine. Over time, whenever animals passed his fishing spot, Death began to call them over to see his catch.

“Hey there! Look at all these huge fish I caught! I have perch, crabs, and even catfish! What took me a day would have taken you weeks.”

His boasts got bigger and bigger every time. And as these things go, some of the animals started calling him a liar. First they muttered it under their breath, and later on, right to his face.

“That’s not true!” cried Monkey.

“I don’t believe you...” said Dog, looking back at his friend for support.

One day, Peacock had enough. She called Death a liar to his face.

“I’ve never seen anyone who can catch that many fish!”

Death, hurt and embarrassed, muttered “Die.” under his breath, and something terrible happened. Peacock and all the other animals standing around fell over, dead as rocks!

Now you know why death visits the animals.

Another hot morning, and Death was fishing on the river, harassing passers-by with his boasts. All the animals knew better than to reply, and just tried to ignore him as they hurried on their way.

Weaver Bird was passing by the river on her way to the market.

Death called her over. “Come look at my catch!”

Weaver Bird smiled, but didn't say anything. She politely excused herself, and flew back to her farm. She was going to teach Death a lesson!

After searching around her farm for a few minutes, she found a huge termite mound. Weaver Bird dug down to the bottom of it and found the termite queen's chamber.

She dug the whole chamber out and clutched it in her claws. The termites inside went wild, scratching and fussing inside the ball of dirt.

Weaver Bird flew back to the river where Death was fishing.

“Hey, Death! I wanted to catch some termites for dinner, but it was taking too much time to get them all," said Weaver Bird. "I just grabbed the entire termite mound and squeezed it down into this little ball. Now I can eat one whenever I want.”

“R… really?” Death asked. A worried look crept over his face.

“Let me see.”

Weaver Bird held out the little termite chamber to Death.

“Put your ear close to it- you can hear all the thousands of termites scratching around in there," she said. "I'm so strong, I can crush anything I want… including you, Death!”

For the first time, Death got really scared.
He didn’t want to get crushed! He decided to get as far away from Weaver Bird as he could.

Turning around, Death ran for a long time.
The first place he came to was the village of Man. He saw the open doors, and crept inside to hide.

These days, Death sneaks around in the shadows of our homes, constantly on the watch for the birds above.

And now you know why death visits humans.

Pixel Fable is a collection of Afrofuturist stories.

They feature tales of astronauts & starships, sailors & witches, people from the past & future. It is an interactive archive of African and Diasporan tales, created for the digital age.