Zoomorphic figurine, Yurugu figurine

Yurugu appears in many versions of the myth of the beginning of the world. Always emphasised is his single birth, without a twin sister. This feature is treated as a flaw and a handicap that pushes him to evil deeds. One myth states that the world was created from a tiny particle brought into existence by the word (so) of Amma. The pra-element is compared to po grain (fonio Digitaria exilis - a cereal with very small grains), an anagonno catfish egg (Clarias gariepinus) and to the white dwarf of Sirius B called Po Tolo. From this initial microparticle developed a world egg (aduno thallium) containing two placentas, which the creator intended to give rise to two mixed twin pairs. Unfortunately, one of them prematurely gave birth to Yurugu, who wanted to possess the forming world. At birth, he severed a piece of the placenta, turning it into soil and then into Earth. Yurugu searched for his twin sister on the planet, because only with her could he achieve perfection, but he did not find her, because Amma turned her into the Sun (or into fire) so that she would forever be unattainable for Yurugu. In another version of the myth, his sister Yasigi lived on Earth, but was as rebellious as her brother and died punished by Amma.Yurugu for his disobedience was turned into an animal commonly called a pale fox or jackal. In fact, it is an animal bearing the Latin name Vulpes pallidus. It is a small predator with greyish-red fur, which lives in small rocky clefts near human settlements. It feeds not only on meat, but also on seeds. The figurine was part of a divination set.

Ewa Prądzyńska