Gu! gu! ndikatinka nkasinja.
Mai! tate! Zandia, gu!
Mwanawe uliranji?
Kuchenjera kwa amako,
Kundikwirira pa moto,
Kuti ine ndipsyerere.
It is not easy to get a satisfactory translation of this, though the words, on the face of them, are not very difficult. ‘Gu! gu! (the sound of the pestle descending into the wooden mortar)—I am going to pound corn; father! mother! Zandia! gu! (I take Zandia to be a proper name). You, child, why are you crying?—They are clever (or, they cheated me) at your mother’s—to cover me up on the fire that I might be burnt—Zandia!’ The ‘child’ addressed is perhaps the corn in the mortar, which cries out and complains of being crushed (‘burnt’), or it may be meant of some maize-cobs put down to roast while the pounding is going on, which may be heard popping and crackling.
Several songs I have taken down are full of allusions to local chiefs and events of which I did not succeed in getting the explanation; they show, at all events, how passing incidents are commemorated and kept in mind. One speaks of ‘Mandala, who ran away from the flag’ (mbendera—the Portuguese bandeira), and ‘Gomani (i.e. Chekusi), who died (or, no doubt, “was kilt entirely”—he being still alive at the time of recitation) in the dambo.’ This may refer to one of the many wars between Chekusi and Chifisi, or Bazale.
Some of the songs are difficult to understand, as, even if not very old, they abound in unfamiliar words and constructions, and also in local allusions, which need explanation to outsiders. One I have written down seems to be about Chekusi’s marriage, and brings in the names of several chiefs. Another says that ‘I have seen Domwe’ (a mountain in Angoniland)—‘Ntaja is dead,—we are ravaged this year.’ Another obscure effusion, after stating that something or other is at Matewere’s (a son of the famous Mponda), goes on to say that ‘I refuse (him or them) the oxhide shield,’ or, maybe, the oxhide to make a shield.
These are ‘Angoni’ songs, and recognised as such on the other side of the river, though the language is not Zulu, but ordinary Nyanja. The original text of the last named is this:—