A cock does not crow in the land of other cocks.
Maito, maito kaii ! Tales of the Animal World.
mome = male; plural, “wome”.
moma wuva = a cock.
tonga/li-tonga = to crow; to blow, for instance, a horn, a whistle, a bugle,
Yasi nanu: A Cock (Moma Wuva) was overtaken by nightfall in a strange village. The Cock then perched inside an uncompleted house that was not occupied. In the early hours of the morning when the Cock crew Cocks of the village panicked because they did not recognize the voice of the cock that was crowing. They assumed that the usual enemy cock had entered into the village again.
The village cocks surrounded the area from where the stranger cock was crowing, seized the stranger Cock and started to pluck its feathers, particularly the long feathers at the tail. At that junction the village head intervened and took custody of the stranger Cock.
At dawn the stranger Cock continued to plead that he was not an enemy; that he was merely passing through the village, when he was overtaken by nightfall. His plea was accepted, but he was rebuked for entering and spending a night in the village without announcing his presence to the Village Council.
He was reminded that inter-village relationship require that a stranger Cock on entering a village should, without delay, report his presence and his intention to spend the night in the village to the Village Council. The Council would then arrange when the stranger Cock may crow and how he would crow.
The Council pointed out that had the stranger Cock respected protocol there would have been no panic and no attack on him.
Oma Nanu
Mola Mbua Ndoko
P.o Box 38 Buea, South West Province
Cameroon, West/Africa
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