Perhaps it is worth mentioning here that this was the only occasion on which any such appellation was given among the many local names for the spouse of Ale. Ndiche, or Ndichie, itself is the ordinary Ibo word for the forefathers, and the relationship here mentioned between the Earth Goddess and these beneficent shades is significant in view of the co-operation thought to exist between them, not only as regards seed corn and harvest but also fertility of the hearth. Further it may be noticed that the primary cause of the coming of Ale, as here given, was not to provide a home for the living but a resting-place for the dead. To continue: There is a big bird in our country named Ogbughu (hornbill). Its mother died. In those days Ale was not, so that the bird could find no place to bury his mother. He went round and round and at last had to bury her on his own head. That is why he bears upon his head a mound the shape of a grave to the present day. After a while, as he flew over the water, seeking a resting-place but finding none, he saw one fine woman and one man swimming in the water. As he watched, he saw they were making something and, in a short time, the first land began to appear. When it had grown quite big, Ale cried: ‘When any man dies, let him be brought and buried here.’ Her own body she stretched over the land; she it is who made all, both the earth and the earth-folk, whom she bore from her womb. When the dead are buried they turn to earth, so that our people say: ‘We are of one body with Ale.’ The trees too she brought. Ojji tree was the first that ever grew upon earth. The second was Agbo (or Akpu, the silk cotton tree) and the third Odala. Food is still given to this tree for every child which is born to a house and, if a woman wants a piccan, she brings a fowl to the Odala tree. When a woman wants to become a mother, she lies down to sleep for night time after prayer to Ale. She dreams that Odala brings a piccan and lays it upon her breast. At daybreak she wakes and cries: ‘Where is the piccan that was over my heart?’ Then she takes a long piece of chalk,[22] called ’Nsu by Ibos, and lays it before the Odala tree, praying: ‘Make my dream come true.’ The fourth tree which Ale brought was the Kola Ojji, the fruit of which is often set out in offering to the ghosts. At an Ale feast the women bring food and the oldest man of the town offers it up. After a man has eaten of such a feast, should he do any evil thing that day, Ale would surely kill him.