With the dramatic gestures of an experienced storyteller, Bule Va´ge explained how early man and cattle both ate grass. “But there was not enough grass for man and cattle.”
The cows complained to god, “the humans ate our grass, so there is no more grass.
“Then the god called to the cows and people. The god said to the people, now you do not need to eat grass any more. You cows will be under the control of humans, even if the humans eat your meat and get your milk from your breast and take blood to drink.
“The god said to the cattle, all the grass is for you to eat. And he said to the people, all the cows are for you to eat.
“Problem solved.”
Three and a half days later, I'm in the Ethiopian Anthropological Museum in Addis Ababa studying the famous bones of Lucy, the missing link between ape and early man. I see that she had flat teeth of a vegetarian. The Aerbore myth had it right. Early man was a grass eater.
In that hushed museum room, in front of Lucy’s 3.2 million year-old bones, it struck me: The Aerbore myth was more accurate than my early images of caveman cooking big hunks of meat over the fire. Lucy, and now others, clearly show that early man was a vegetarian. The Aerbore myth was scientifically correct. Mine was wrong.
From my Africa’s Undiscovered Myths Journal
Aerbore (also spelled Arbore, Erbore) tribe, Omo River Region, Ethiopia
January 24, 2001
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