Category Archives: African Literature

“Fulani Creation Myth” by Anonymous [w/ Audio]

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At the beginning there was a huge drop of milk.
 Then Doondari came and he created the stone.
   Then the stone created iron;
   And iron created fire;
   And fire created water;
   And water created air.
 Then Doondari descended the second time.
   And he took the five elements
   And he shaped them into man.
 But man was proud.
 Then Doondari created blindness,
      and blindness defeated man.
   But when blindness became too proud, 
 Doondari created sleep,
      and sleep defeated blindness;
   But when sleep became too proud,
 Doondari created worry,
      and worry defeated sleep;
   But when worry became too proud,
 Doondari created death,
      and death defeated worry.
   But then death became too proud,
 Doondari descended for the third time,
   And he came as Gueno, the eternal one.
     And Gueno defeated death.

NOTE: The Fulani (also known as Fula and Fulbe) are a West African herding tribe that live in Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Guinea, and Senegal.

“An Akan Lullaby” by Anonymous [w/ Audio]

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Someone would like to have you for her child
   but you are mine.
 Someone would like to rear you on a costly mat
   but you are mine.
 Someone would like to place you on a camel blanket
   but you are mine.
 I have you to rear on a torn old mat.
 Someone would like to have you as her child
   but you are mine.

NOTE: I have no specific author or translator information for this poem. (The former may not be surprising as it may be lost to history.) At any rate, my source is Classic Poems to Read Aloud, an anthology selected by James Berry (1995; Kingfisher Publications,) and it was titled “Lullaby.” That book cites a Cambridge University Press volume entitled African Poetry, edited by Ulli Beier, as its source.