Tradition / Region: Cameroon Mythology
Alternative names: Mbe
Category: Insect
The Myth
Mbe the Cockroach is portrayed in Beba folklore as a small but highly respected healer associated with medicine, herbal knowledge, and dangerous intelligence. Though physically tiny and vulnerable, Cockroach possesses powerful medical skills feared and admired throughout the land. She carries bags of herbs, healing oils, and secret remedies, functioning almost like a wandering spirit-doctor among animals.
Despite her reputation, Mbe is also deeply mistrusted because of her ancient hostility with Hen. In the tale, Hawk and Hen are inseparable friends whose families live together peacefully until Hawk’s oldest child becomes gravely ill with painful scabies and fever. After every local remedy fails, Hawk travels to seek the help of Cockroach, believing her healing powers can save his child.
Cockroach arrives at Hawk’s compound carrying medicinal herbs and special oils, including python oil used to soothe wounds and induce sleep. Calm and professional, she carefully divides the herbs into piles and instructs Hawk exactly how to prepare the treatments. She promises the child should recover within a week.
But Hen immediately becomes hostile.
Seeing Cockroach inside the home, Hen begins screaming accusations, claiming the healer intends to poison the child rather than cure him. The old hatred between Hen and Cockroach overwhelms reason. Cockroach attempts to ignore the insults and continue her work, but Hen’s rage only grows stronger.
Finally, in a sudden burst of violence, Hen attacks.
She scatters the sacred medicines across the compound, destroying the remedies, then lunges forward and swallows Cockroach whole in a single gulp.
With the healer dead and the medicines ruined, Hawk’s child dies soon afterward.
Hawk becomes consumed with grief and fury. He swears eternal revenge against Hen and her descendants. From that day onward, according to the myth, hawks began hunting chickens and their chicks forever.
In this story, Mbe the Cockroach represents fragile wisdom and vulnerable healing knowledge destroyed by jealousy, mistrust, and uncontrolled anger. Though small and physically weak, Cockroach possesses life-saving powers that larger animals lack. Her death marks the collapse of friendship, medicine, and social harmony, transforming the natural relationship between hawks and chickens into permanent blood-feud.
Sources
Makuchi. (2008). The sacred door and other stories: Cameroon folktales of the Beba. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press.