The Village of Round and Square Houses

The Village of Tos

• The village is located at the foot of Mother Naka in the Bameni hills of West Africa.
• The villagers grow yams, corn, tobacco, and fine coffee in the Cameroons.

The Natural Order of Things

• In the village, men live in square houses, and women live in round ones.
• The narrator grew up in their grandmother's farm in the village and thought this was the natural order of things.

The Eruption of Mother Naka

• One peaceful night, Old Naka began to groan and rumble, and awoke from a long sleep.
• The villagers were frightened and ran out of their houses, hiding in the bushes at the foot of the mountain.
• The night was split open by a great white burst of light, and the voice of Mother Naka thundered out, shouting her anger to the skies.
• Red rivers of lava flowed down her sides as she spoke.

After the Eruption

• When the sun rose, the people looked around to see everything covered with ashes, including themselves.
• They resembled gray ghosts, trembling with fear but grateful to be alive.
• The villagers, still covered with ashes, faced the mountain together and went back to claim their homes.
• Only two houses were left standing: one square and one round.

Rebuilding the Village

• The village chief called the people together to rebuild the village.
• He instructed the ash-covered men to live in the square house, the women and children in the round house, and the small gray stones to go out to the fields to plant crops again.
• The women prepared food for everyone in the round house, while the men stayed in the square house.