Takwe À Taamba: E-Book

Labah Nformi

• Herausgeber: BooxAi
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

A Long time ago;
Taamba was wooing a pretty damsel
Takwe, his best friend was his counsel
Who was always invited to accompany
Him every time he went to his in-laws. 
Taamba’s morals at times were so low
So,he needed Takwe with a honey 
Coated tongue to install harmony
In the songs of love with emotions
That suited the wooing occasions.
Where idiots fail;
The wise succeed.
Where would I have had a wife?
Thanks to my urine and excreta.
Where Idiots like Taamba fail;
The wise like Takwe succeed.
Where idiots fail;
The wise succeed
Where would I have had a wife?
Thanks to my urine and excreta

Leseprobe

Labah Nformi

Takwe À Taamba

All rights reserved

Copyright © 2023 by Labah Nformi

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Published by BooxAi

ISBN: 978-965-578-345-2

Takwe À Taamba:

The Wise vs. The Idiots

Labah Nformi

Contents

Foreword

1. Excreta Spoiled Taamba’s wedding

2. Taamba, the first thief in a village.

3. Takwe and Taamba killed their mothers

4. Takwe, the greatest groundnut farmer.

5. Taamba dies in a wildfire contest

Foreword

Takwe A Taamba are the main characters in the trickster tales of the Wimbum people. The Wimbum people are in the Nkambe Central and Ndu Sub Divisions of the Donga-Mantung Division of the North West Region of Cameroon in West Africa. The language spoken by the Wimbum people is Limbum.

I have just tried to retell the folktales as they were told to us. I’m simply a translator of the oral tales into English. I owe everything to my mother, Ancella Mutab Kijah Ndop, who narrated these stories and more to us over and over at the fireside for warm, cohesion, family communion. These used to be key moments of entertainment, fun and jokes from our parents and any elder gifted in the art of storytelling. The oral rendition was more lively, dynamic and so much improvisation on the part of the narrator and, especially with a participatory audience, listeners humming or singing the chorus, hand clapping, foot stamping. Our imaginations were expanded and stretched beyond the realm of the real and surreal and our curiosity to learn and know more was unbridled,

The first audience for my own folktales were my own children: Cheche, Tamfu, Nyugab, Nyufersii, Webchu and Ntunyu away from home wanted these stories written. I tried to satisfy them by narrating these folktales in (Limbum) our mother tongue and did translations into English a few years ago with much difficulty and much improvisation, missing the authenticity and flavor of the songs. I decided to publish them this time to enable them and many others who didn't have the opportunity to learn these stories at the fireside like us who grew up in a typical Wimbum village and most especially to pay homage to my (our storyteller) mother who passed away last year August 15, 2021.

Presently many stories about Takwe A Taamba can be found in literary journals in schools and students' magazines, pamphlets in English, Limbum and other Languages. Takwe A Taamba are no longer animal characters with human features which play tricks and distort the rules as we knew them as kids. In a derogatory sense, in the Limbum language, Takwe stands for any person (character) who is cunning, trickish, anyone envious or anyone who uses his wisdom for selfish and egoistic purposes. In a typical rural setting, anyone who works against the communal interest, anyone who wants to succeed alone or reap where he/she has not sown. Taamba, on the other hand, is literally a person (character) who is not clever, gullible or easily manipulated. It is for this reason that I captioned this collection; Takwe and Taamba -The Wise vs. the Idiots. Though the "Wise'' claim a monopoly over wisdom, they can still learn from the “Idiots."

Excreta Spoiled Taamba’s wedding

A Long time ago;

Taamba was wooing a pretty damsel

Takwe, his best friend, was his counsel

Who was always invited to accompany

Him every time he went to his in-laws.

Taamba’s morals at times were so low

So, he needed Takwe with a honey

Coated tongue to install harmony

In the songs of love with emotions

That suited the wooing occasions.

Taamba was lucky to have such a companion

Like Takwe, who worked hard to make the union

The topic of discussion in villages miles and miles away

Putting for the first time smiles and smiles

On the faces of Taamba’s admirers and distractors

Even Taamba’s enemies became his facilitators

In the engagement process they were not invited

But all of them were devoted and committed

To see Taamba succeed where many suitors failed.

Taamba was very brave and courageous,

Hard-working, friendly and very generous.

These are qualities that made him to shine

Like a Firefly in the dark above other suitors

Who could only shine when Taamba smiles.

Taamba happiest moments were when

He was chasing animals

Up and down the hills

Up and down the fields

Up and down the winding lairs

Up and down the zigzag lanes

Up and down the tough gulleys

Up and down the rough valleys

Up and down the turfy slopes

Chasing them out of caves and holes

Chasing them out of shrubs and herbs

Chasing them into the fangs of his dogs

Hitting them on and against the rocks

Hitting them with clubs and arrows

Hitting them hard to forget their sorrows

As he brutely fights for his morrows.

Takwe’s happiest moments were when

He was sharing the games caught

Especially when sharing the offals

To the poor hungry hunters

Keeping the hunches for himself

When he was munching the juiciest parts

Sucking the marrow and smacking his lips.

Takwe didn't have the weight, height and size

Of Taamba, his inseparable companion.

The presence of Taamba always overshadowed

Takwe's presence in all occasions but wherever

The imposing presence of Taamba's shadow

Was seen, everyone knew that Takwe's shadow

Was lingering somewhere around the corner

Many believe these two buddies were born

the same day; one in the day and the other at night.

Tamba's engagement to this pretty damsel

was big news in all the villages of the Grassfield

His admirers considered it a perfect match

that would define and refine an ideal marriage.

A young, pretty, charming, compassionate damsel

to a brave, courageous, hard-working hunter.

They said that marriage would be the best

because beauty had matched with bravery

and courage for the first time in the village.