“Come, children of the Leopard Clan!” Nketiah’s voice calls out, clear and strong above the sounds of the festivities. “Dusk has fallen! Let us call a moth to tell us a story!” As one, the Ekujae stand and hold their hands cupped in front of them, each conjuring a ball of light into their palms.

“I have caught a little moth!” Nketiah says, dramatically clutching the air in front of her. “It has a story to tell. It is a story of a Great Darkness.”

“We will listen,” the others reply.

“There was once a time of anguish. A time of destruction. A time of night so dark that even moths refused to fly. From a hole in this night came a Great Darkness, who saw the world suffer, and thought only that it wanted to see more suffering. The Darkness sought to burn all that remained, until there was nothing left but ashes.

“The first people that the Darkness found were a brave people, who stood before the Darkness with their weapons and did not run. The Darkness sought to destroy them, saying, ‘You shall fall before me, for I am Death and I am Fire.’ But the people were not afraid, and replied, ‘You shall not break us, for we are the guardians of this land, who stayed to defend it when all others fled.’

“Oh, what a terrible battle it was! The people shattered their spears against the Darkness again and again, but no living being could pierce its hide. At last, the greatest among the people, the kindest, the most righteous, gave their lives to forge their souls into weapons for the people to wield. Oh, how their souls burned, like bright coals in the night! The people took up the souls of those they had most loved, and in wrath split the skin of the Darkness. They spilled the blood of the Darkness across the whole of their lands. They broke the horn and teeth from the Darkness and flung them into the sea. Yet still the Darkness would not die!

“The people forced the Darkness back into the place from whence it had emerged. The people trapped it in the space between spaces. The people swore they would stand guard so that the Darkness could never escape to threaten the land again.

“Could the people imprison the Darkness forever, when even the best among them could not defeat it? Was it foolish to expect them to try?” Nketiah pauses, then says, “That is the story that we have been given.”

“We will remember,” the other Ekujae reply.