The Kpelle belong to the Southwestern branch of the Mande speaking peoples. Their ancestors were part of the initial expansion of Mande speakers into the forested regions of Upper Guinea, later followed by the Vai people and Mane warriors who brought with them systems of social organization and religion from the Northern Mande toward the Sahel. Owning to the dense rainforests and isolated settlements Southwestern Mande speakers like the Kpelle followed a usually stateless lifestyle closer to the surrounding Atlantic and Kru speakers, with weak or non-existent social castes along with less extensive genealogies. Along with this the mythology of the Kpelle is rather divergent from that of their kindred Northern Mande. That said the Poro and Sande societies can be considered a cognate to the secret societies of the Northern Mande such as the Ntomo, Kono, Nama, Komo, Chiwara, and Kore. The popularity of the Poro and Sande societies of which the Kpelle take part extend across linguistic and ethnic lines throughout Upper Guinea.
The Epic of Woi is a celebration and reaffirmation of Kpelle culture, performed with much pantomime. Like many folk legends throughout the forests of the Guinea and Congo regions, musical interludes and audience participation are a significant aspect of the telling. The central story concerns the misadventures and fantastical battles between the culture hero Woi with his family against various adversaries such as demons and wild creatures.
Tropes from the Woi Epic include:
- Adam and Eve Plot: Woi and his wife Gelengol parent every species in the world.
- All Your Powers Combined: In versions where Woi is born last of all beings, he has the combined powers of all living creatures because they came before him. In Kpelle culture the last born boy is called “Father” and the last born girl is called “Mother” for this reason.
- Annoying Arrows: Averted. Meni-maa-fa’s colossal lizard form is destroyed by his wife Maa-pu and his brother-in-law Zu-kpeei wielding their father Woi’s iron bows & arrows.
- Balloon Belly: Gelengol’s swollen stomach reached the ocean when she was pregnant with everything.
- Bat Out of Hell: Meni-maa-fa lies to his bat allies and tells them his bride Mani-pu has been taken from him against her will by her family. The bats attack the Kpelle tribe and their flying house because Meni-maa-fa is a fellow creature of the night, with innumerable Chiropterans being slain.
- The Blacksmith: The Beetle Kpayang-Miling forged Woi’s sword for him.
- The Beast Master: Woi is joined in battle by squirrel-monkeys, tsetse flies, and horse flies.
- Big Eater: Sii the spider is a glutton who eats every variety of food by himself while he plays the slit-drum, and still wants more to eat.
- Cool Airship:
- Woi gathers up his forces and they travel to heaven using a flying house.
- After the tree Yele-lawo created is cut down Woi discovers an even bigger flying house. This is the one he gathers the entire Kpelle people with for battle.
- Drums of War: The spider Sii plays the slit-drum as a prelude to Woi’s war. The rhythm is what the Tuu Tuu bird uses to strike the bellows as weapons are forged for Woi.
- Floating Continent: Yele-kolong is the near sky that people can sit and walk on.
- Eye Scream: The demon Gemila enjoys plucking out people’s eyes in battle.
- Green Thumb: Yele-lawo causes a massive tree to grow to prevent Woi’s flying house from reaching him in the sky.
- Giant Food: Meni-maa-fa conjures a giant pumpkin in the sky to block Woi’s flying house. Woi slices through it with his knife.
- Heaven Above: Yele-polu is “behind the sky”.
- High on Catnip: The bats are defeated when Woi gets them all high on dried Koong leaves and harmlessly stuffs them into a bag.
- I'm a Humanitarian: Gemila devoured many people from many tribes.
- Interspecies Romance: Woi’s daughter Maa-pu is married to the demon Meni-maa-fa.
- The Green Eyed Monster: One of Woi’s many wives became jealous of the rest and Woi banished her to the fork in the road.
- Kaiju: The backbone alone of Meni-maa-faa’s lizard form was tall enough to reach the sky.
- Magic Music: Woi’s jealous wife carved bowls with her singing.
- Pain to the Ass: Woi tests his sword on the sleeping sickness infected Tuu Tuu Bird to wake him up.
- Proud Warrior Race: All the Kpelle join Woi in his quest to rescue his cattle and battle foes.
- Red Is Heroic: Kelema-Ninga the firebird dresses herself in beads and a red headscarf in preparation for her battle with an unrepentant Gemila.
- Sex for Services: Wii’s jealous wife retaliated against him by selling the intricate bowls and making men pay her with sex.
- Super-Strength: Woi wielded iron bows and arrows. The bows needed 200 people to lift and each arrow needed 150.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting:
- The demon Yele-lawo often takes the shape of a rattan plant.
- The demon Meni-maa-faa prefers to transform into a lizard.
