He did his best to contend with those aggressive humans. Two warring tribes with a fondness for burning the enemy caused him terrible trouble. Each side pledged to fight fire with fire and a fiery arms race began. Pretty soon the whole Earth was being burnt to a crisp. This adds a whole new meaning to the term fire-fighting.

Olelbis stepped in with his wind and water servants who did a tremendous job extinguishing the fire and the war. Further retribution was put on hold as the humans had pretty much punished themselves.

As mankind was originally meant to live forever, Olelbis commissioned the building of a Heavenly Ladder so the elderly could climb up to eternal bliss. Which seems a bit unfair on the old folk as it was a very long way to climb. Surely a Heavenly Elevator would be more suitable?

Unfortunately, Buzzard Brothers Incorporated, the company in charge of construction, was persuaded to stop work by the naughty trickster coyote Sedit. The ladder was never finished and no-one could get to Heaven and eternal life. Which was a problem for Sedit — he suddenly realized he was stuck on Earth too — and subject to mortality just like the humans he’d tricked. In a panic, the crazed coyote tried to build a makeshift ladder out of old bits and pieces, but fell off halfway up and plunged to his death. (This sounds a lot like a Warner Brothers Road Runner cartoon. Was Chuck Jones the primordial animator of Native American mythology?)

To this day no-one gets to Heaven and death happens every day. Olelbis remains distant and aloof. This is a classic case of the African-style Heavenly Ladder/Unreachable God scenario. Could Olelbis have been one of the first African exports?

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Article last revised on October 23, 2018 by Rowan Allen.
Editors: Peter J. Allen, Chas Saunders

References: Coming soon.

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