| Olorun
Yoruba
The "owner" of the world and the head of a pantheon with more than 1700 divinities. Death was his gift to humankind. The first men and women lived indefinitely. They grew big and strong bodies before deteriorating into weak, withered, superannuated sacks of skin and bone who crawled about in the dirt. The old begged Olorun for release from their sufferings and long life. Olorun pitied them and gave them Death.
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