An invisible
voice spoke from the second clearing, “Greetings dear Master on your return.
Greetings to you who lights the way so that others may become enlightened too
and know the hidden meaning of cattle hides. Greetings to Koumen. Greetings to the one who accompanies Koumen if he knows how to keep to the discipline.
The snake, is it
subjugated? The frog, is it tamed? This way is the third clearing and we are its
guardians.
 |
| John William Waterhouse, Decameron |
Koumen replied,
“Silé is a singing shepherd. He would like to be a man of knowledge. He will
not expose his hairy chest except to defend the cow, the woman and the orphan.
His heart is pure, his hands are clean. He has learnt by heart the magic rites:
tukusum! mukusum! y a fuufay!”[1]
Satisfied by Koumen’s answer, the spirits spoke again to Silé: “Silé! Go into the valley, go to Foroforondou.
Stay silent as a statue letting nothing lift the tongue from your palate before
the appearance of the first sun.
In our rapture, we are spirits nourished on milk, bodies anointed with butter.
We shall stay now in the second clearing, but our thoughts go with you on your journey. Greetings to Koumen. Greetings to the one who accompanies Koumen if he knows how to keep to the discipline.”
Koumen introduced
himself in the third clearing, “I am Koumen with the fabulous beard. I am
equipped with creamy words for fine spirits and delicate souls. I am equipped
with a club for dense souls and impenetrable hearts. I am carrying against
brutes a cutting instrument and a magic powder which burns like fire. I cast
spells by means of an ostrich egg, the last from a brood which refused to
hatch.[2]
I speak to animals. The roots of plants tell me their secrets. The murmuring of
springs, the swaying of leaves in the branches, the trails of the shooting star
all confide in me their secrets. Even the dove which coos, I hear what she
says. And the bull which bellows, I understand his voice and I do not mistake
his far-sighted warning. While the eyes may look, it is the soul that sees. I
lead Silé to the river of life where he will fish for a magnificent amber destined
for souls without blemish: for the woman who is true and for the man who
defends rightful ownership. Greetings…”
 |
| Christina Rossetti, Remember |
The spirits were
full of questions: “Will Silé break the customs? Has he experienced the sound
of the seven-holed flute? Has he witnessed the croakings of the frog of
blessings?”
Koumen
interjected: “Silé is a poet. His words shall be sung. He will impart what
needs to be imparted. He will create new paths. He will discover new pastures.
He will free himself from his enemies whose look is haughty and whose speech is
malevolent. He shall follow me to the peaks. He shall not make fun of my
stature. He shall address Foroforondou. And he shall be answered.”
[1] This invocation means: “Be repelled, you
who stifle (us). Be pushed away, you who oppress (us). Go back to the farthest
reaches (or to the infinite) and be without merit.” It is addressed to any
agents of evil who work in the shadows.
[2] The last egg of an ostrich’s clutch is
used to make charms for conserving within the family temporal powers (political
and secular powers to be distinguished from spiritual and pastoral activities),
as well as fortune and glory. The egg must not have hatched and is used without
breaking it. But there must be only one. There is a relationship between the
ostrich egg and the hexagram (faddunde
ndaw), faddaade meaning to
protect, ndaw meaning ostrich and
that which the ostrich needs to protect is the eggs she has laid. When a band
of men or a herd of cattle stop, the head of the convoy draws, on horseback or
on foot, a hexagram on the ground within which to set up camp. The ostrich is
said to do the same: she dances tracing a broad hexagram on the ground before
laying. This figure has a rich symbolism representing the universe, its
cardinal directions, the zenith and the nadir, as well as time and its
divisions (seven days a week, twelve months a year).
A. Hampâté Bâ & G. Dieterlen (1961)
Text in French: http://www.webpulaaku.net/defte/ahb/kumen/
Amadou Hampâté Bâ
Introduction
English Translation:
First Clearing
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