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.
While passengers swam and climbed on mangrove trees, Ngowa remained in the water struggling for survival. Liwove who was resting on the branch of a mangrove tree then immediately discharged from his stomach hundreds of meters of thread, coiled the thread round Ngowa, and then pulled Ngowa out of the water on to a safe spot on the bank of the river.
Ngowa was restless. With further assistance from Liwove, Ngowa vomited the water he had taken in. When Ngowa recovered from the shock, he thanked Liwove, and informed the crowd that had gathered round him that he was already drowning, when Liwove rescued him.
Responding Liwove declared boastfully:
"wa lengi na Liwove, asa nwa maliva”;
(“Whoever is a friend of me Liwove will never drown. I, Liwove, will pull a drowning friend out of the water – river, lake or sea, even when a mermaid (Liyengu la Mwanja) has tightened her stranglehold on him”.
“Ngowa is my good friend. One good turn deserves another. When my wife's Mwengu mwi Isasa dropped in a swamp in Metombo-lombo in Tiko, Ngowa went into the trouble of digging and wading through the mud, and to my delight, Ngowa found the Mwengu
A fiend in need is a friend indeed”.
“Wa lengi na Liwo-ve asa nwa maliva”.
Literally: It is a blessing to be a friend of kind and reliable persons of influence and authority.
Oma nanu.
Imba
Mola Mbua Ndoko
P.o Box 38 Buea, South West Province
Cameroon, West/Africa.
Email:[email protected]
Website: http://www.mbuandoko.com
Tata Mbua Ndoko,
This one is my all time favorite. "wa lengi na Liwove, asa nwa maliva; could also be restated to mean: Moto ema a wheni wato, asa tika njia wunya.
I sing this proverb everyday to my old and loving mother, and she too will respond in duala saying “O ben te moni, osi bene bato, ke o boli so nje”
Long live the Bakweri language.
Eszuka' Mbella
Posted by: Edwin Ndoko | February 26, 2009 at 02:41 PM