Nana Nyame, the supreme 'God', lived in the sky, though not the sky. The sky was very close to the earth, occupied by an old woman (Abrewa) and her children. The only food they ate was fufu. But whenever she prepared the meal the pestle would strike 'God', meaning they could reach 'God' whenever necessary. This went on for a long time until one day 'God' asked her to stop or 'God' would move to a higher sphere. But 'God's' demands fell on deaf ears and rightly so since she and her children had to eat. So one day 'God' ascended higher so that the pestle was unable to reach anymore. Undaunted by 'God's' action the Abrewa instructed her children to pile up all the mortars they could find. Her aim was to restore the lost proximity to 'God' and she almost succeeded. It got to a point where only one mortar was needed to reach 'God', and after a futile search for the last mortar she instructed her children to remove the original mortar at the bottom of the pile to be place[d] at the top. This, of course, proved to be a tragic blunder because as soon as the mortar was removed, the pile collapsed and fatally injured some of her children.
- Anthony Ephirim-Donkor - African Spirituality: On Becoming Ancestors, (African World Press, 1997)
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