Two separate prayers of the Nandi people, who live in the highlands at the edge of the Great Rift Valley in Kenya. These are songs that would be recited at dawn to Asista, the Sun god, along with offerings of beer and milk.
I
Asista, give us health!
Asista, give us raided cattle!
Asista, give us off-spring of men and cattle!
II
Asista, we have prayed to you: Give us rain!
Regard this beer and this milk:
There is no man who does not labour:
Guard for us the pregnant wives of men and of cattle!
translated by A.C. Hollis
from The Nandi: Their Language and Folklore,
Clarendon Press: Oxford 1909
