Mawu’s Divine Justice

In the sacred days of the Dahomey people, when the goddess Mawu watched over the world with unseen eyes, she sent her divine messenger to walk among mortals, cloaked in human form. One evening, the messenger journeyed with a man who did not know his companion was a being of heaven. Together they passed through three towns, where the messenger’s actions seemed cruel beyond reason — he gave a powder that caused a sick child’s death, he burned a house that had sheltered them, and he pushed an old man into a river. Horrified, the human fled, unable to bear what he had witnessed. But Mawu’s messenger called him back and revealed the truth: the child’s death saved its parents from ruin, the burned house would lead its owners to hidden wealth, and the drowned elder’s passing spared a kingdom from famine and plague. “Mawu’s justice,” said the divine one, “is not for mortal eyes to measure. What seems cruel in a moment may guard the world from greater sorrow.” And when the traveler looked again, the messenger was gone, leaving only the whisper of wind — gentle, eternal, and wise.