The Story of Rain and Drought

When Drought is hungry, he is not selective.

Drought was an insatiable creature. He was born on a day when the earth was parched; it cracked as the sun rose in a cloudless sky. At first he was nothing more than a shimmer in the dry air or a puff of dust on the parched earth; but he was thirsty and nothing quenched that thirst. He sucked at the ponds and drank at the rivers drawing all the water he could find into himself. When everything was sucked dry, Drought lifted his arms to the sun; and gently he rose, spreading until he was huge, gaining strength from heat and covering the earth like a thick blanket. When sunset came on Drought’s first day, the heat remained trapped and all living creatures suffered.

Drought was a vile creature; he knew that one day he would have the power to destroy the world. Had he a mouth with teeth, he would have smiled a wicked but toothy grin while trying to drink all the water on the earth.

So powerful was Drought that Rain himself was trapped in the invisible world as the earth suffered. Wasting no time, he went to see the diviner, Mofá. He was a wise man and if there was a way to replenish the earth and destroy the spirit known as Drought, he would find it.

”Mofá,” he said to the diviner, “have you seen what this new creature, Drought, does on the earth? He’s destroying it.”

“Yes,” said Mofá, “he has the waters of the world tied up and everything dries up.”

“What can we do?”

“You can make ebó!”

“What ebó?”

Patiently, Mofá explained the ebó to his friend, Rain. “Bring me a goat,” he said, “and bring me dozens of bolts of black cloth. I want razor-sharp knives and machetes, and all types of sharp things that you can find. Bring all this to me—for that is what the orisha Elegguá wants as ebó.”

Rain scoured heaven looking for all those things. When he found everything he returned to the diviner. The world below looked parched and scorched. “How long can the world live like this?” Rain asked.

“Not long,” he said. “Now go into the world. You are the rain, and only you have the ashé to overcome Drought.”

Slowly, Elegguá feasted on the goat. He watched as Rain descended into the world; and he smiled as he became the rain. Light sprinkles and showers tickled the dirt and raised the dust. But Drought was too strong and the earth too dry; when the water hit land he sucked it up like it was never there, and the earth remained parched.

“I need help!” Rain screamed. His voice echoed through the cloudless skies. “Drought is too strong, and the world will die unless I defeat him!”

Elegguá finished his last bite of goat; and then he stood up and unrolled the black cloth across the sky. So dark was the cloth it blotted out the sun, and darkness spread. In the shadows Drought’s heat subsided. Elegguá took a deep breath and blew across the earth; at first it was a gentle breeze and then a wild wind. The earth cooled. Rain spread himself through the sky with the black cloth and managed a few more drops of water, but his brother, Drought, was hiding in the earth and sucked those up.

“Take these,” said Elegguá, handing the rain the bag filled with knives, machetes, and sharp objects. “Drought stands between you and the earth, and with these you can destroy him.”

So Rain opened the bag and began throwing all manner of sharp things to the earth. In the air they transformed into great sheets of water that sliced through Drought, and they plunged deep into the earth. So great was the downpour that all living things took refuge in their homes. Even Drought hid, and the earth was replenished with the rain.

So it has been since that day: when Drought threatens to destroy the earth, Rain unfolds his black cloth across the sky and slices through until the earth is moist again.