The Bini people of West Africa tell a story about a time when the sky was so close everyone could reach up and touch it with their hands. Individuals stretched their hands, at any time, to break off a piece of the sky for food.
The single rule dictated that families should take only what was needed for one meal, no more. No one was allowed to store food.
Everyone obeyed the rule until one greedy man broke off a large piece. He could not finish it and had to store it. The food rotted; its waste thrown away.
The sky, angry about the broken rule, shot up far away from the hands' reach. Since then people have had to work to get food.
Does your family have a story based on a family experience that has become a myth everyone tells in a variety of versions?
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