The Yoruba Blog

Ajá dúró dèmί lọna, fẹrẹ kun fẹ 2ce
Bί ὸ bá dúró dèmί lọna fẹrẹ kun fẹ
Makékéké Olóko á gbọ fẹrẹ kun fẹ
Á gbọ á gbéwa dè, fẹrẹ kun fẹ
Á gbéwa dè, á gbàwá nίṣu fẹrẹ kun fẹ
Ajá dúró dèmί lọna, fẹrẹ kun fẹ 2ce

You can also download a recital by right clicking this link: Ajá dúró dèmί lọna

“Àjàpá fẹ́ kó bá Ajá – Kàkà ki eku májẹ sèsé, á fi ṣe àwàdànu” – “Tortoise tried to implicate the Dog – The rat, even if it can’t eat the grain, would rather waste it”

Ni ayé atijọ, ìyàn mú ni ìlú àwọn ẹranko gidigidi, ti àwọn ẹranko fi ńwá oúnjẹ kiri.  Iṣu je oúnjẹ gidi ni ilẹ Yorὺbá.  Àjàpá àti Ajá gbimọ̀ pọ, lati lọ si oko olóko lati lọ ji iṣu.

Àjàpá jẹ ara ẹranko afàyà fà, ti ko le sáré bi ti Ajá ṣùgbọ́n o lọgbọn gidigidi.  Nίgbàtί Àjàpá́ àti Ajá ti jίṣu ko tán, ajá nsáré tete lọ, ki olóko má ba kawọn mọ.

Yorὺbá ni “Kàkà ki eku májẹ sèsé, á fi ṣe àwàdànu”. Àjàpá́ ri wipe ὸhun o le bá Ajá sáré, ó bá ti orin ikilọ bẹnu kί Ajá ba le dúró de ὸhun ni tipátipá.   Bί Ajá ko ba dúró, nitotọ olóko á gbọ igbe Àjàpá́, yio si fa àkóbá fún Ajá.  Àjàpá́ ko fẹ dá nìkan pàdánú nίtorί olóko á gba iṣu ti ohun jί kó, á sì fi ìyà jẹ ohun.

Titi di ọjọ́ òni, àwọn èniyàn ti o nhu iwà bi Àjàpá pọ̀, ni pàtàki àwọn Òsèlú. .  Ikan ninú ẹ̀kọ́ itàn àdáyébá yi ni, lati ṣe ikilọ fún àwọn ti o nṣe ọ̀tẹ̀, ti o nhu iwà ibàjẹ́ tàbi rú òfin pé ki wọn jáwọ́ ninú iwà burúkú.  Ìtàn yί  tún dára lati gba èniyàn ni iyànjú wίpé ki a má ṣe nkan àṣίrί si ọwọ́ ẹnikẹni pàtàkì ohun ti ko tọ́ tàbί ti ó lὸdì si ὸfin.  Yorὺbà ni “Mo ṣé tàn lówà, kὸ sί mo ṣégbé” bó pẹ bó yá, àṣίrί á tú.

Ẹ̀yin ọmọ Yorὺbá nίlé lóko, ẹ jẹ ká hὺwà otitọ kί á sì pa ὸfin mọ, kί a má ba rί àkóbá pàtàkì ọmọ Yorὺbá nί  Òkèokun/Ìlúὸyìnbó.

ENGLISH TRANSLATION

In the old days, there was a great famine in the animal kingdom. The famine was so bad that residents of the kingdom, began a far and wide search for food – going beyond their usual territory and confines, and even into places unknown.  Yam was the staple food in all of Yoruba land at the time.  As for the tortoise and the dog in this terrible situation, they made a plan to steal yams from the closest farm they could find and so they went in search of yam, from farms beyond their community  (the source of our beloved pounded yam).

The tortoise, a land dwelling reptile, although not as fast moving as the dog, made up for its lack of speed and agility in cunning.  The tortoise and the dog made their way to the farm where they were to help themselves to an unwelcoming farmer’s yams, and proceeded to have their stomach’s fill in food, taking what they needed to go.

A Yoruba adage says “the rat, even if it can’t eat the grain, would rather waste it”.  When the tortoise and the dog finished helping themselves to as much yam as they liked, both animals made their escape. The dog moved faster ahead as a result of its advantage in speed over the tortoise. And the cunning tortoise, noticing he could not catch up with the dog and not wanting to be caught in the act all alone, began to sing and yell a warning song to force the dog to wait for him or attract the attention of the farmer.

This song placed the dog in a difficult position. With all its speed, it was either going to wait for the tortoise or risk getting caught by the farm owner. Of course the cunning tortoise did not want to bear the repercussion for their trespass all by itself.  And so a Yoruba proverb comes to mind explaining such behavior, “the rat, even if it can’t eat the grain, would rather waste it”.

Even till this day, many people still choose to behave like the tortoise particularly the Politicians. One of the morals of this story that has been passed down from generation to generation is to discourage people from engaging in conspiracies and to avoid behaving in ways they would rather not be caught at or seen as, or committing crimes in concert with others. As another Yoruba proverb says, “you can only lay claim to the action, but not the consequence”.

Yoruba people everywhere should listen to the words of their ancestors, and people every where, should listen to these ancient words of wisdom. Everyone is encouraged to act responsibly and keep the law in order to avoid ending up in the position of the fleeing dog with all its great speed, who was forced into a dilemma by the cunning tortoise.

Originally posted 2014-11-14 10:15:01. Republished by Blog Post Promoter