Mola Mbua Ndoko: Wisdom and Ways of the Bakweri People

38 “e-luwa, esi sii-se, esi tome-ya”.

 

 

Panic occurs in markets when business is at its peak.

Yasi  nanu:  Mola  Kumbu  a  Mosoke of the village of Woanda had mystic power of causing panic in crowds by lifting his head wear (cap, hat, helmet).  Order was restored when he returned the head wear on his head.

On one occasion when women from Mola  Kumbu's village met Mola  Kumbu in Tiko early in the morning of a Tiko Market day, the women asked him to cause panic so that they would freely collect fish when panic occurred.

Mola  Kumbu said he would comply with the wishes of the women. By eight o'clock the women urged Mola  Kumbu to cause panic so that they would commence their return journey home early. 

Responding Kumbu said:

37. “ Moma Wuva asa tonge-ya ekome yaa-ngani”.

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

36. “Malove mofe ame-ndeya e-mbamba”.

Malove  too was a victim of need of a mere mbamba.

mbamba = a cowrie.

Mbaa-mba = grandmother/grandfather.

Yasi nanu:  Malove was one of the most renowned wealthy men of his time.  He had several wives, and children, and hundreds of herds of cattle.  He owned a large farm of oil palms. 

At sea, he maintained a fleet of canoes in which his palm oil was transported to Douala and to Calabar.  He appeared to be a person who owned every thing and who would never, never be in want of any thing.  That assumption was wrong.  Malova did not own cowries (mbamba).

Malove was very pleased when his eldest and most charismatic son Ewane was responding very well to treatment he was receiving for a mysterious illness that had worried him for over six months. 

When the Doctor was about to carry out the final phase of the treatment he announced that a cowrie (mbamba) was an indispensable component part in the treatment. 

Malove had never considered it necessary to own a cowrie (mbamba).  He did not therefore own a mbamba. Malova then became a victim of desperate need of a cowrie (mbamba).

35. “Eyea Waanga na Mooli mo Waanga)”.

A tree and a climbing stem in the forest.

Maito, maito kaii.  It’s time to tell Tales of the Plants and Animals World.

Yasi nanu: Mooli  mo  Wanga and Eyea Wanga were born at a location close to a stream.  Both flourished very well. Eyea  Wanga and Mooli  mo  Wanga embraced each other and became close friends (‘yosa  ya  jono  na  nganda’).  Mooli wrapped himself firmly on the trunk of Eyee.

Eyee developed to a large and tall tree, with several big branches whose lengths varied from about six to ten metres.  The branches were covered with large leaves.  Mooli climbed on the trunk of Eyee right up to the top and spread to all the branches.

Eyee’s leaves and Mooli’s leaves blocked sunlight. Consequently the ground beneath Eyee was dark.  The area that was covered by Eyea Wanga and Mooli  mo  Wanga, and their neighbours became known as ‘Lkomba  la  Wanga’ - thick forest, distinct from areas covered by bushes and grass/savannah. 

Eyea   Wanga and Mooli  mo  Wanga never travelled abroad, and never paid a visit to any of their neighbours.  Mooli  mo  Wanga and Eyea  Wanga always held the same opinion and never differed. 

They were never in communication with any one or any authority and were never abreast with time.  Eyea  Wanga  and  Mooli  mo  Wanga led an exclusive and an unconventional life style that was frequently discussed in the Plants and Animals World.