Lugbara Tower of Babel

  At the beginning of the world men and God were in a direct relation, and men could move up and down from the sky. Some say they were linked by a rope, others by a bamboo tower, and I have once heard it said it was by a tall tree. This bridge between heaven and earth was broken and men fell down, scattering into their present distinct groups each with its different language; before that all men spoke the same language, said either to have been Lugbara or Kakwa. Since that time all peoples have been separate, their constituent groups having their own ancestors and with them forming traditionally and ideally self-contained spheres of social relations, conceived and structured by agnatic kinship.

Middleton, John, Lugbara Religion: Ritual and Authority among an East African People, London, New York, Toronto: Published for the International African Institute by the Oxford University Press, 1960, p. 270.