If you pick up a burning piece of wood, know that you have picked up smoke as well.
Fables of the Animal World.
Yasi nanu: When Yoongole received news that his friend Mbai matono Luuwa was seducing Ejoso, the wife of Kaave Nyame, Yoongole advised Mbai against a marriage with Ejoso. Yoongole explained:
“You are creating trouble for yourself by seducing Kaave’s wife. Kaave will bear a grudge against you. Since Ejoso already has seven children with Kaave she may not be capable of delivering more children. You must understand that if you marry Ejoso you will become the de facto stepfather of her children. You will then without doubt be required to endure discomforts that you will suffer as a consequence of marrying the mother of those children
“owo te efa-nya, oma owo fe yututu. nanu ndi ese eveli”.
(If you pick up a burning piece of wood, know that you have picked up smoke as well).
Besides, even though Ejoso will be physically present in your house, her heart will always be in Kaave's home where her children are. She will have to visit her children in Kaave’s home from time to time. In that situation you will eventually realize that Kaave and you will be sharing the services of Ejoso. It is therefore not worth taking the trouble to marry Ejoso.
Mbai retorted:
“I am marrying Ejoso and not her children. I will not allow Ejoso’s children to settle in my house. The children have their father. As soon as Ejoso gets into my house I will forbid her from visiting her children in Kaave’s home”
Yoongole laughed and said:
“That is an illusion. No traditional or conventional court will uphold your ban. You can’t stop a woman from visiting her children. Even if you lock her in your house she will create a vent on the wall and go out and see her children. The children too have to come to your house to see their mother
May be you are interested to have more children. If so, then arrange to marry a girl, and leave Kaave's etina Molana”. (etina molana = a middle age woman or an elderly woman)
Responding Mbai said:
“Kaave is arrogant;
I have to humiliate Kaave. I must therefore seize Ejoso from him even though Ejoso can now be classified as an etina molana”.
(“na-veni li-gbwa, lingi lifama lamba Kaave, o-se;
wenga, na-veni li-fotono Kaave ongo molana,
to nanu Ejoso ama-je etina”).
Less than one lunar month after Mbai and Ejoso had celebrated their marriage Ejoso’s youngest child escaped from Kaave's home and joined his mother in Mbai's house. Mbai was not happy with the child’s presence.
He complained that the child was crying unnecessarily, so, he suggested that the child should be returned to Kaave's home or to the home of the child's grand parents. Two weeks later Ejoso received a message that one of her children in Kaave’s house was very sick. Mbai refused Ejoso from visiting her sick child. Ejoso then reported the disagreement to the village council.
The women of the village (Wonya Valana) were enraged. They accused Mbai of being inhuman, and then asserted that Ejoso had a right to visit her children in Kaave’s home; the children also had a right to visit Ejoso, their mother in Mbai’s house.
The matter could not be the subject for a debate. It was non-negotiable. Mbai must understand that any one picking up a burning piece of wood will be assumed to be able to endure the smoke that must accompany the fire.
Then also some one cannot drink soup, leaving out excess taste of salt and pepper that are already dissolved in the soup. He has to decide either to drink the soup enduring the excess taste of salt and pepper or leave the soup without drinking it: The point at issue was: “take it or leave it”.
“owo te efanya, oma, owo fe yututu”. nanu ndi ese eveli.
(If you pick up a burning piece of wood, know that you have picked up smoke as well).
In the face of continuing disagreement between Ejoso and Mbai over Ejoso’s visits to her children in Kaave’s home, Ejoso and Kaave patched up their differences and remarried.
Lexicon:
Yoongoli/Yoongole = a chameleon.
Kaave/Kaava Nyame = a deer.
Mbai/Mbai matono Luuwa is the name of an animal that has patches of white spots on a brown background on its body.
ngondo = a teenage girl.
mbesa = a teenage boy.
lifoto/lifotono = to seize.
lifama = arrogance; vanity. lingi lifama leni = that his arrogance.
Wonya Valana = women as a unit; all the women.
Oma nanu.
Imba
Mola Mbua Ndoko
P.o Box 38 Buea, South West Province
Cameroon, West/Africa.
Email:Mndoko@Yahoo.com
Website: http://www.mbuandoko.com
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