The Dog and Legba's Message

Mawu-Lisa, the supreme creator, decided to give humans the secret to understanding the language of the gods. Mawu wrote the secret on a piece of parchment and gave it to Legba, the divine trickster and messenger. "Take this to humanity," Mawu said. Legba, however, was distracted by a pot of palm wine and a game of dice. He gave the important message to his faithful Dog to deliver instead. The Dog, understanding the message's importance, ran towards the village of men. However, on his way, he passed a great feast where people were roasting meat. The smell was too much for the Dog to resist. He put the parchment down to snatch a falling bone, and a gust of wind blew the parchment into the fire, where it was instantly consumed. The Dog returned to Legba, ashamed. Because of the Dog's moment of weakness and Legba's irresponsibility, humanity never received the message and can no longer understand the language of the gods, only the language of Legba's divination.