Mola Mbua Ndoko: Wisdom and Ways of the Bakweri People

65. “Wa lengi na Liwo-ve, asa nwa maliva” !

Who ever is a friend of the spider (Liwove) can never drown.

Maito, maito kaii  !  It’s time to tell Tales of the Animal World.

liwo-ve = a spider. 

ngowa  wanga = a wild pig that lives in the forest.

mwe-ngu  mwi  isasa = a medicinal neck wear for a woman with a pregnancy.  The “mwengu” protects a pregnancy.

Ikanje = the Bakweri name for River Mungo.

Yasi nanu:  Ngowa Wanga was one of the passengers in a canoe that was sailing from Muyuka along River Mungo (Ikanje) to Douala. Every passenger, except Ngowa was a good swimmer. Close to the estuary a floating log hit the canoe. The canoe suffered severe damage and subsequently sank.

64. “Mwa-nyongo a-windeli te o-wolowa, wafe o-mwi-ndeya o-minyali”.

If your brother accompanies you to the latrine, you too should accompany him to the back of the house when he wants to urinate.

Maito, maito kaii.  It’s time to tell Tales of the Animal World.

Yasi nanu: A sheep (Molengu  Mbole) and Elela (a duck)shared a room in Mola  Mosongo  Inoni’s clinic. One night Elela had an attack of diarrhoea (luu-nga  la  moku-wako).  Molengu  Mbole accompanied Elela on all the occasions that Elela visited the latrine that night.  (Note: At that time latrines were located in bushes abou150 metres away from residential houses).

A week later Molengu Mbole was given a liquid medication that caused him to urinate frequently. At night when Molengu Mbole asked Elela to accompany him outside the house to urinate, Elela replied:

(“No, I cannot go out now.

I easily get frightened whenever I see ghosts (vekongi or vekumuti).
Urinate at that corner of the room.
Urine is like water. It will soon sink in the ground”).