You have not yet attained the social status to qualify you to eat from the same bowl with me and consequently allow the back of your hand and the back of my hand to rub each other.
Yasi nanu: At an annual diner of a certain sect, participants ate in groups of four-five-six persons. Each group ate from a wooden bowl (ewoki).
Surprisingly, one youth abandoned the group to which he was assigned and joined a group of high priests of the sect.
As he was about to lower his hand into the bowl one of the high priests held his hand and asked:
“Young man, what are you about to do ?”.
The high priest then rebuked:
“imele, osuki foni moto o-tane lafa-fane mbusa ja maa ni iso”
(“Young man, you have not yet attained the social status that can qualify you to eat from the same ewoki with us and consequently cause the back of your hand to rub with the back of our hands).
“All of us eating from this ewoki are equals in mystic powers, so, even if in the course of either lowering our hands into the ewoki or pulling the hands out from the ewoki the back of our hands rub one another, none of us will suffer an adverse effect.
On the other hand since the mystic powers which you possess now are weaker than our powers, if the back of your hand knocks the back of our hands our stronger mystic powers will in a mystic process absorb the little power which you have as well as the blood and water in your body and leave you dehydrated.
We have no intention to either hurt you or to destroy you. So, go back and eat from the group to which you belong.
“osuki foni moto, isono wa, i-tane ja-fa-fane mbusa ja ma”.
Literally:
You are being wayward.
You aught to know that you and I are not colleagues and that your status is lower than my status.
Lexicon.
osuki = you are not yet; for instance, matured enough; you are still in the process of developing.
tane/i-tane = capable of doing a particular thing.
lafa-fane = to rub/knock each other or one another.
mbusa = the back.
lii-ya = a hand; plural, maa.
mbusa ja maa = the back of hands.
ewoki = a wooden bowl from which about four persons can eat together.
Oma Nanu
Imba Thomas Mbua Ndoko
Chicago ILL, USA
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