(Efasa Mote's Legendary Sugar Cane Farm)
Efasa Mote/Ifasa Mote = the legendary King of e-Fako.
Mekoko = sugar canes; singular, mokoko.
e-Fako = the Mountain, generally known as Mount Cameroon .
Nyama ndoto – meat that someone sees in a dream; an illusion.
Panya = The Mokpwe name for the Island of Fernando Po ( Equatorial Guinea ).
Yasi nanu: It is said that there exists o-Fako a large mystery sugar cane farm that belongs to Efasa Mote.The canes are said to be very juicy, very sweet, and grow to heights of about five metres. The weary hunter or tourist may eat as many canes as he is able to inside the farm, but cannot carry a cane or even a bark of a cane away from the farm. A person who attempt to smuggle a piece of cane or even a small particle of a cane from the farm will find himself instantly covered and locked up in a thick black mystery cloud. The cloud will clear instantly when the piece of cane and all its particles are dropped on the ground.
Efasa Mote’s sugar canes are therefore for consumption by only persons who are strong enough to climb up to e-Fako and who are furthermore able to get into the sugar cane farm.
Mekoko Meyamba Efasa Mote (Efasa Mote’s sugar canes) is a literal reference to
(i). Wealth or good fortune, for instance salary, that its owner spends wastefully or enjoys alone away from the home and fails to make available for the welfare of even close members of his family.
(ii). Wealth acquired abroad that its owner is unable to bring to his home. It was no surprise therefore that when in a discussion with his friends in the village Mulungu who had lived for nine years in Fernando Po boasted repeatedly of his three storey residential house, two luxury cars and three commercial buses in Fernando Po, one of his friends retorted:
“That property that you claim you own abroad in Panya ( Fernando Po ) and have failed to bring here for us too to see and enjoy can be classified as Mekoko meyamba Ifasa Mote. Bring at least one of your cars here so that it can at least ferry some of us to a hospital when we are sick.
(“enge esango yango,
ova oma eveli ndi ongo Panya,
waa ewele lijana, lukana anu mbowa,
oma iso-fe i-yene, iso-fe je-gbwe-yane,,
eveli ndi na Mekoko meyamba Ifasa Mote,
nyama ndoto enge”= (that is an illusion).
Oma Nanu
Imba Thomas Mbua Ndoko
Dallas Texas, USA
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