Editing Efik mythology (section)

===Myths on the Origin of Ekpe===
[[File:Brass plate depicting the Ekpe spirit.jpg|thumb|Brass plate depicting an Ekpe spirit]]
The [[Ekpe|Ekpe society]] plays a prominent role in Efik society. During the Pre-colonial era, Ekpe was the government of the day at Old Calabar.<ref name="auto9"/> The society operates via a grading system.<ref name="auto10"/> Some ekpe grades include Nyamkpe, Okuakama, Okpoho, Mboko and Mboko Mboko.<ref name="auto10">[[#refAye1967|Aye]], Old Calabar, p. 71</ref> As much as Ekpe acted as the preserver of law and order in Efik society, the society is also grounded in esoteric rituals. Ekpe is the Efik word for "Leopard" and is believed to be a mysterious being or spirit residing in the forest.<ref name="auto9">[[#refAye1967|Aye]], Old Calabar, p. 70</ref> According to Savage,"...despite the fact that Ekpe is a forest spirit, very often when Ekpe chiefs go to bring it from the forest to the village, town or shrine, they do so by means of a canoe. Thus this forest spirit is convened by water transport to land."<ref>[[#refSavage1985|Savage]], p. 300</ref> It is also believed that only the initiates of the Ekpe society can see the Ekpe spirit. Several legends surround the founding of Ekpe. One legend as documented by Donald Simmons in 1958 states:
<blockquote>An Efut woman named Ata Iroko observed several supernatural spirits playing in the forest. When they departed they left behind the mbɔkɔ which Ata Iroko found and took home. This is the instrument which produces a sound similar to a leopard roar and knowledge of its mechanism constitutes the greatest secret of the Leopard Sooioty, Ata Iroko took the mbɔkɔ to her husband, who showed it to the town chiefs. They were so captivated they Immediately bribed the husband to kill his wife so that no woman would know of the mechanism. Accordingly, the husband killed Ata Iroko, The Efik subsequently purchased the secrets of the Leopard Society from the Efut,<ref name="auto11">[[#refSimmons1958|Simmons]], p. 246</ref></blockquote>
Donald Simmons also provides another narrative which states that Ata Iroko was shown the secrets of Mbɔkɔ by her father because he loved her so much.<ref name="auto11"/> On the death of Chief Iroko, Ata and her husband fled with her husband from Usakedet to Calabar.<ref name="auto11"/> Thereafter, Ata showed Mbɔkɔ to the chiefs who immediately decapitated her and her husband so that no one except the chiefs could dispense the secrets of Mbɔkɔ.<ref name="auto11"/> Donald Simmons further asserts that when the Efik desire to produce the mbɔkɔ sound, they first make a sound similar which represents the name Ata Iroko.<ref>[[#refSimmons1958|Simmons]], pp. 246–247</ref> In spite of Simmons assertions, the names mainly called during Ekpe processions include Eyo Ema, Esien Ekpe, Asibong Ekondo, Mutaka and Nkok Ofuta.<ref>[[#refOkon1976|Okon]], p. 120</ref><ref>[[#refHart1964|Hart]], p. 63</ref> Another myth narrated in 1964 at the Hart's Enquiry by Barrister E. Koofreh states, 
<blockquote>Asibong Ekondo discovered Ekpe floating on the river and he sold it to Esien Ekpe as his personal property. All the people of Usak Edet from where Asibong Ekondo hailed are reputed to be able to live under water and know what transpire there. Their souls normally lived underwater. Until recent times, they performed Ekpe plays under the water. When he sold the Ekpe to the Efiks whose souls do not live under water, Asibong Ekondo showed them how to use it.<ref>[[#refHart1964|Hart]], p. 75</ref></blockquote>
Aspects of comparative mythology can be observed in the tale narrated by Koofreh. The [[Balondo Civilization|Balondo]] of [[Cameroon]] equally narrate a similar tale regarding the origin of Ekpe. The Balondo of Cameroon call Ekpe, "Matamu". According to Roschenthaler as quoted by Nanji: 
<blockquote>In the Balondo version, the women had been fishing, the women caught the Nyankpe from
fishing in the river, the women caught a giant fish. The head of the fish produced a growling sound. The women made it sing, but the women did not know how to drum it. They tried in vain to control the sound of the fish. Their drumming did not help. The men knew how to drum. Then later they cut the físh, took the head for themselves and gave the tail to the women. Whenever Butamu (Ekpe) escapes into the river or forest, only the women can get it back... The myth does not explain how the men made the society and what it looked like at the beginning. It only says that the men took Nyankpe from the women and made its growling voice the basis of a powerful association.<ref>[[#refNanji2019|Nanji]], pp. 25–26</ref></blockquote>