webPulaaku
Amadou Hampâté Bâ
Kaïdara
Translated by Daniel Whitman
With “Kings, Sages, Rogues: The Historical Writings of Amadou Hampâté Bâ”
Kaydara — Strophes 1215-1245
gorowoocol na rewondiri looci roondii
baaji e kaɓɓe huɗo huɗo hunndu-suudu
yalti e saare ndee ana paati warde. 1215
Nanndo e kawjo lamndii: « Hoto ɓe naati
Ɗenyere lamndorii: « Hoto yaadiraaɓe
naaddi e ɗaalli mum'en hoto ɓe njaari? »
Hammadi mo ɓe lamndii oo mo jaabii:
— « Ɓe nanngii ngol, be mbittii hono no ngardi. » 1220
— « Bone hippoyto kiirnduɓe ndunngu ɗanni,
sako kiikiiɗe hannde yo aawre ndunngu.
Han-jammaaku omtan baafe kammu,
omtan yaaja faa duufaani deertoo,
dewa dow leydi tonngita kala kenuuli. 1225
Diyaango dukan fa haljina nyaam-tewuuji,
ɗi njaltan nokku majji ɗi tefa to tappoo.
Aan, kaananke Naannaa-Koɗo wi'ii min,
min ngara kunnda suudu keɓaa ɗo tuɗo-daa,
keɓaa ndeenaagu toɓo ana faati wadde 1230
han-jammaaku ngoon toɓo mettukaata.
Ngo huumnan leyɗe goɗɗuɗe yaadu lebbi
tati naaqaawa sagata nga doddu haayraa. »
Hojom ɓee yimɓe Naannaa-Kodo kowoy nduu
sukkundu suudu huɗo sannyaa fa tiiɗi. 1235
Hammadi mbaynoyii ɗum mbii mo jam waal
hono no ɓe ngardi mbirfiti naati wuro mum.
Hammadi naati tawi ley suudu kala fuu
ko yelotoo wonki tuma wari jamma bonɗo.
Wakkati naange ɓadinoo peemu hoore, 1240
Baylal-kammu waɗɗii puccu muuɗum,
yo ngu tame duule koyduɗe mbeey-mbeyuuje.
Mo faati to mbayla makko ngaɗaaka luurde,
tekkunde foomre muuɗum foocitaande,
kammu e leydi hakkunde mum mahaande. 1245
Nde Baylal-Kammu kemnoo ɗoo e mbayla,
following each other, carrying poles,
wearing lianas and straw boots;
they had left the village and were coming in his direction.
The one who seemed in charge asked, “Where did they go?”
Nervously he insisted, “Where did your friends
go off to? With their carrier-oxen where did they go?”
Hammadi, to whom the question was directed, answered:
“They took that road and left as they came.”
“Woe to him who travels in the evening during the rainy season!
In fact, this evening is the first of the season.
Tonight, the sky will open its doors,
open them wide, will unleash a deluge
flooding the land, will set loose the wind.
Thunder will rumble, alarming all animals
who will flee their caves to take refuge.
As for you, the King of Nanni-Kodho 91 has charged us
to construct a roof, a house for you,
so as to shelter you from the rain that will fall
tonight, and it will be a calamitous rain.
It will cover a space of three months' walk
by an adult camel in shape for the trek.”
In no time at all, Nanni Kodho's servants covered
a thatched hut, thickly woven.
They took their leave of Hammadi, wished him good night,
and returned to the village they had come from.
Hammadi went back and found within the hut
all the soul could want on a bleak night.
At the hour when the sun approached its zenith,
the Blacksmith of the sky 92 put his mechanism in motion,
amassed the light clouds of his aerial steed.
He went towards the forge, in a black wave
thicker, horizontal, stretched
and built between sky and earth.
When the Blacksmith took to his forge,
Notes (Lilyan Kesteloot)
91. Forbidden village which “admits no stranger.”
92. A worker for Geno, Bayillo-kammu is the chief of all blacksmiths; his forge is lightning; it is formed in a certain cloud with a horizontal base, precursor of storms; this is why once he appears, they say Bayillo-kammu has returned to his forge. When a village wants to abort a storm, it is the blacksmith who will perform the incantation. Among shepherd and blacksmith Fulɓe, there are a series of prohibitions arising from their common origins.