A Yorùbá song from Nigeria, sung by the wrestler as a prayer as he enters the arena. Each of the images takes for granted the wrestler’s natural superiority.
O Rat, help me to knock him down.
O Broken Stalk, assist me to lay him low.
O Porcupine, aid me to tire him out.
The dry corn stalk does not presume to wrestle with the owner of the farm:
Fall down!
from Oral Poetry from Africa (1984)
compiled by Jack Mapanje and Landeg White,
Longman
