SUNDAY 10/16
so i been studying these african epics
and then kinda writing my own truncated version
real rough draft, mostly just my take, i will clean
it up later, after i determine if i can really use it
so i noticed in my historical riffs big gender imbalance
so im trying to address that as i go along, also i notice
in african epics in particular the women are either
the mother of heros, or a woman who betrays a man
in order to steal his secrets so another man can defeat him
so im keeping my eye out for when i can address that
so i was doing the epic of kambilil and kumba did the same old thing
and was being traded as wife of cekura or kambili and in no case
was of her own volition, so i told it from her pov, and im just as
tickled with myself as i can be, real rough, just notes really
dont judge me on it, but it will be strong when i work it . . .
some of the lines i took out of the old version
but they might not be digested yet, wisdom stuff
-------------------
the epic of kumba by sedou camara
come, let us look at the stars, for
rickydoc of Memphis has come
to sing songs of destiny and fa
I have come to sing them all
Between knowledge and sorcery lies wisdom
And when are the holy not holy
death is not the end if your song is sung
A holyman dies for the troubled, a king
For the people, a woman for us all
call out the hourglass drummers
The iron rasp and the jembe drummer
when i die sing the song of kumba
When kumba was young she was captured by cekura, the lionman
who then made her his wife and beat her when she refused him lionchildren
And so when she escaped she carried a full measure of bitterness w/her
And inquired of rthe villager who is the strongest hunter among you
That would be kambili, they told her, and so she asked dugo the owl woman
If he would be the man for her purposes and was assured that he was
whereupon she took up with him and married him and refused him children
Until he could bring her the head of the lionman who in his anger was
Terrorizing the village, roaring her name every night and calling on the
Lion people to kill any villager who ventured beyond its gates,
The farmer trying to bring in a crop, the women going to market, the children
at play, the hunter at work, all fell pray to the vengeance of the lionman
To each his destiny, to each her fa, only the brave are dangerous
When kambili agreed that it was hid duty to kill the lionman
they went then to bari the omen reader who told them he needed
a hair of the lions mane, a sandal worn and pants torn,
lay them on the omen board and the maneating lion will die
but it is a womans hand that must strike him
A name is bought and paid for, a name is not given, it is made
this thing is not easy, someone must be betrayed
I will not betray you, kumba told kambili, do this thing
for me and you will never know betrayal, only love
And so she returned to cekura the lionman and cekura rejoiced
the hunter has left you he said, they are a treacherous sort
All they know is how to kill
And she said that is why I have returned, he loves his talismans
More than he loves me, do not touch my talismans he says, a
Womans touch is taboo but I know how to defeat him and
when the lionman tried to lay with her she told him you must give
me a hair from your mane, one sandal and a pair of old pants
or keep your claws to yourself, to be free I must break his magic
And so cekura the lion man gave her what she asked
And became as a real man while she gave his totems
To bari the omen reader and by thenere tree she found
Mother dugo the owl woman who told her to sit at the
Crossroads and was told to kill the manlion she must
throw kola nuts and if they fall face to the ground the lionman dies
if they fall face to the sky she must accept a life w/o vengeance
it will, she said, be a good life, one the generaions will envy
and so the kola fell face to the sky but she defied them,
my vengeance, she cried, will not be denied
But wary of the gods kambili faltered and she cried out
No hunter is without courage, no hunter is without magic
Is this not what you do
And kambili laid a trap for cekura the man lion but
cekuras magic put him to sleep but just as he was
To be defeated kumba sang out ot him and he
woke to kill cekura the manlion w/one shot
and that song is waht we now sing, the song of kumba the
gracious, kumba the fierce, she who wears the lions mane
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