Case file · Folklore / legend
Unkulunkulu and the origin of death
In the Zulu tradition recorded by Callaway, Unkulunkulu, 'the very old one', came out of a bed of reeds and sent a chameleon to tell people they would live, but a lizard outran it with the message of death.
1868 CE · -29.50, 30.90 · status: legend
The account
The story of the slow chameleon and the fast lizard appears in many southern African traditions as the reason people die.