A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

Tortoise makes an agreement with a cloud: it will move aside when he requests sunshine and pour rain when he requests rainfall. Each service requires a payment of cowries placed on the ground. At first Tortoise pays, but he later sells these services to others while pretending to possess the weather-making power himself. For a wedding he claims that he can hold clouds on his hard back; for a fisherman he says a spear will force rain down.

The actual mechanism remains the cloud’s response to their bargain. Tortoise secretly calls from behind his house, keeps the customers’ money and grows wealthy without paying his partner. The cloud becomes angry at doing the work unrewarded. When Tortoise asks for clear weather on a family journey, it initially moves aside but returns after they depart. Torrential rain causes a flood in which the family drowns. The story gives the cloud intention, anger and control of its own rain; Tortoise’s claims about physically bearing or spearing clouds are sales deceptions.

Responds to agreed callsRequires cowrie paymentWithholds or supplies rainFlood punishment
01

Origins & earliest records

Ogumefu’s preface attributes the collection to Yoruba country in southern Nigeria and notes that songs are abbreviated. No individual storyteller or field date is supplied for this episode; the preface’s Christian judgments are editorial framing.

02

Records & interpretation

Complete selected chapter read: XL, Tortoise and the Rain, pp. 84–87

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    Yoruba Legends

    M. I. Ogumefu · 1929

    XL, Tortoise and the Rain, pp. 84–87

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Collected narrative; digitized historical editionOgumefu — XL, Tortoise and the Rain, pp. 84–87Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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