"Are you being called Nyagua III?"

I made a promise in my last post to introduce two new elements to the Notebook. The Analecta is one of those elements. There's no need here to define what analects are, or to hold forth about the word. That'll be quite clear as we go along.

From time to time I shall be bringing you excerpts from the songs and stories of Salia Koroma: maxims and parables, quips, and reflections on the relationships between individuals and on those between man and his society; they touch on the relationship between rulers and subjects, between the fortunate and the less fortunate, and between the artist and the society in which he lives.

In each case I'll be doing my best to reference each saying to a particular song and ballad. Some are rather deep; those that seem light-hearted aren't necessarily so. Taken as a whole, the analecta show an artist who thought deeply on his subject matter; they show us an artist with a clear philosophical outlook on his art and on life. As he sought to enliven the ennui of the ruling class he served for most of his career, Salia was engaged also in educating his patrons and his fellow countrymen and women. These sayings show someone finely attuned to his people's cultural foibles and attitudes. What follow are the first segment.

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1-When a love affair's about to end, go plead with the talebearer.

2-Things may be at their sweetest but they won't last. If you wish the world all for yourself, can you support it? If you've the world all for yourself, then know that God doesn't love you.
By yourself, the beasts will have you for their evening meal.
Fear! God will never love anyone to that extent.

3-Many rips require many patches.

4 -A noble person is the Town Drum, but a heathen won't beat it.
A noble person is the town's refuse dump, but a child won't throw their rubbish there.
A noble person in the town is a pile of dry leaves.

5-You don't hand a man an axe in a forest to be felled for farming. My father, there's no way you hand a man an axe in a forest to be felled for farming.

When I spoke these words of wisdom, the elders told me I was talking rubbish.

( all the above from Seigbema)

6-The court had just gathered when I arrived in Kpanguma from Kenema.
There I met Gangu Vonjo installed as a prince. They were calling him Nyagua III.

There I stood before him and asked him a riddle.
I said-

"Is it you that's been elevated? Are you being called Nyagua III here in Kpanguma?

Well, if you don't own a gun don't flinch from wielding the sword.*
Oh, Gangu Vonjo! You'd be found wrong."

(-Gangu Vonjo)

*In a single line, Salia gives a complete history lesson.
Nyagua was sent into exile in the Gold Coast following the so-called 'Hut' Tax War of 1898, where he died in 1906. (In Mendeland it was called The White man's War, Puu Goie.) Did Gangu Vonjo know his history when he chose the title Nyagua III? In Mendeland it was common knowledge that Nyagua wasn't involved in the bloody uprising that started on April 27 1898. Had Nyagua failed to put up resistance, trusting in the treaties he'd signed with the British, or had he weighed the arms at his disposal against what Governor Cardew's Frontier Police had? Had he shied from the sword because he didn't have the Gatlin gun? Rulers make hard decisions. Will Nyagua III be like Nyagua?