A Kisukuma hunting song from Tanzania. The hunter imagines, with some sympathy, the last thoughts of the wild pig he has killed with his trap.
I killed a wild pig in the trap.
It cried,
Where is my father?..
The Mahdi’s Boast
A war song from Somalia. The Mahdi, Muhammad Ahmad, was a nationalist and religious leader who expelled British forces from the Nile valley and governed the whole region for ten years before the British returned in 1898 to impose colonial rule. See also The Sacrifice.
No man exists who can lay hold of a wild elephant and lead him around,
No man exists who can grip a lion by the nape of the neck and give him a punch…
The Crop Thieves
A Sotho poem from Lesotho on the subject of weaver birds, at harvest time one of the worst predators. The sounds and rhythms of this poem, even in the English translation, imitate marvellously the twittering and bustle of the weaver birds which are stealing corn from the fields.
Tswi-tswiri! I the person, I suspect!
What have you heard that makes you suspicious?..
Farming Song
A song from the Embu region of Kenya, sung by women at work on their farms.
Ululate for me, my time for going home is not yet,
I shall go home as the sun sets…
Hunting Song
A Shona poem from Zimbabwe, sung by men hunting game in the bush. The names mentioned are all places, where different types of game are found.
Come on, men, let’s go hunting with the dogs,
Our dogs of Murewa, it’s their lucky day!..
