Another thing that doesn't fit my narrative...

(do yourself a favor and read the previous post if you haven't already). After the dugutigi died, his oldest son was unceremoniously selected as the new village chief (he knew he was going to inherit the position soon enough). The new dugutigi has two twin girls. One day, I jokingly asked him which one was older. His response was interesting and I was surprised he even had a serious answer to begin with.

He definitively considered the girl who had exited the womb first to be younger than the one who came out second. This was contrary to the answer I was expecting. I mean, clearly the one who "entered the world first" should be considered the oldest, right? His explanation was that, in the womb, the older child gave deference to the younger one, allowing the younger twin to exit first as a matter of courtesy.

This anecdote struck me as interesting, especially since both theories are equally ridiculous! Infants who have never seen the light of day have no notion of courtesy. Likewise, what temporal difference is there between the inside and the outside of the uterus? The first relies on a customary logic while the other is grounded in the arbitrary notion of an apparent beginning. These are both, of course, not serious postulations concerning the proper age of the child, especially since Malians rarely keep track of their own ages and never celebrate birthdays. But it does seem to provide a little (naive) insight into the ways that each culture filled the ambiguous logical void left in the wake of my initial question. There's no veritable answer and yet it seems both cultures have collectively formulated a playful explanation with respect to their own unique priorities and assumptions.