A Yorùbá poem describing the performance of a magical enchantment performed at a crossroads by someone seeking wealth and good fortune in life.
I am waiting at the crossroads
I look to the right -
there is nothing
I look to the left -
there is nothing.
I look straight ahead -
there is silence.
I take the guinea pepper in my mouth
I recite the old incantations.
I walk a little while — I see a calabash.
I break it — there is a crown of brass.
I want to pick it — it says ‘No!
But you may ask for six things.’
I say, you crown of brass,
Let me have money,
wife,
child,
health,
victory,
let me return to try another life.
from Yorùbá Poetry,
Compiled and Edited by Ulli Beier,
Cambridge University Press (1970)
