Nyame

Hello there! My name is Nyame, and I am the sky. Long, long ago, I wasn't so far away. I was so close to the Earth that you could reach up and touch me! The world was soft and new, and the first people lived with the Earth Goddess, Asase Ya, right below me. They didn't have to search for food; they could just take a little piece of me, the sky, to eat whenever they were hungry. It was a peaceful time, but soon, things would change. This is the story of how the sky moved so far away, a myth the Akan people of West Africa have told for generations.

As more people came to live on the Earth, they started to forget how special it was to have the sky so near. They would wipe their sticky fingers on me after eating, and the children would poke me when they were playing. But the biggest problem was an old woman who loved to cook. Every single day, she would pound her yams for dinner in a big wooden bowl with a long stick called a pestle. Thump, thump, thump went the pestle. And every time it went up, it would poke me right in the belly! 'Ouch!' I would say, but she was too busy to listen. This went on day after day. It was noisy, and it hurt! I tried to be patient, but the constant poking became too much to bear. I realized that if I stayed so close, people would never learn to respect the world around them.

So, one evening, I decided to move. I floated up, up, up, higher and higher, until I was where I am today, far above the tallest trees and mountains. At first, the people were upset. They couldn't reach me for food anymore. The old woman even tried to build a tower of all the mortars in the village to reach me, but it came tumbling down. From then on, people had to learn to grow their own food and work together. They learned to be resourceful and creative. Though I am far away, I still watch over everyone. I send the sun to warm the days and the moon and stars to light the nights. And this story is how people remember that we must take care of the beautiful world we have. It reminds us to look up at the vast, wide sky and feel a sense of wonder, just as the storytellers have for centuries, inspiring art, songs, and dreams about the great, wide world.