So many years ago, there was nothing to eat, so Eze Nri (King of Nri) considered what should be done to remedy the defect. He took the drastic course of killing his eldest son, cutting the body into small pieces and burying them in order to reduce the rate of consumption of food so he could not die of starvation. His daughter met a similar fate. Strange to say, five months later, yam tendrils (me ji) were observed to be growing at the very places where the dismembered parts of the body had been enplaned. In a similar fashion, ede (koko-yam) began to grow where the remains of the daughter had been buried. After six months, the Eze Nri dug up fine large yams from his son's grave and Ede from the place where he had buried his daughter. He cooked both and found them sweet.
At this time, the king was unable to rest or sleep during the day. On one occasion, one of the children of the village came along in search of fire. Eze Nri gave a piece of cooked yam to the child who ate it, went home and promptly fell asleep. The child's people were surprised and, when he awoke, asked him to relate to them what had happened. He replied that he did not know what it was that Eze Nri had given him to eat. So the process was repeated and it happened again as at the first instance. Then the people asked for yam and Ede. The king demanded a great price before he handed out supplies, and gave instructions on how to plant the yam. From that time, yam and ede appeared throughout the nation.