Akụkọ Kpulu Ụwa Iru
(The Story That Turned The World Upside Down)
A Poem by Chinua Achebe
Danda ghelu enini
Ughe njenje
Ji lulu n'ikwu nnie
Na fa rasi k'okpu akia
5 Ji lulu n'ikwu nnia
Na fa rasi k'olu okpia
Diokpa mua kwokwokwo
Si n'oche kwepu ju ana
We sunye agba n'obo-oku
10 We gbalu fee n'owele
Imacha onu n'opi ede
Ebe ijiji n'akwo aka
Owe mapue nya afo
Ijiji efebe fululum
15 Je febanye Mbe n'imi
Ebe ono n'enu ogodo
Welu ata abacha-ncha
Mbe wesin'obunso
Si na nke bu alu emee!
20 Nya bu Mbe nwa Aniiga
Ogalanya ngada-nga
Ka ijiji n'eli nsi
Nesialu feba n'imi
Hia!
25 Mana alu nwelu ulu ya
Nso nwelu ife neso ya
Nke gabu emezughi fa
Ndi-mmoo gaba ogu
Onwu egbube alankasa
30 Owee bunite udu ngwo
Tiwasa Mgbada n'ukwu
Ebe Mgbada n'ezu ike
Nwa Mgbada soba ganagana
Solu ba n'ogbo-achala
35 Namaghi na Akege
Ghasa n'onwo anya anwu
We zolisie nya ose
Akege akpua wololom
Ka satawum n'onu ewi
40 Ebe ewi nata aku
Nyana umu neteghete.
Ewi enepuzia anya
Hei!
Beri ife di ogonogo
45 Kodine n'onu uzo ya
Osi obulu ogwu n'ole
Si umu ya n'agha awa!
Si umu ya na chi echiri!
Nyabu owele nalu jide!
50 Osi n'upu tipu gbawalu
Nyana umu neteghete.
Ebe fa n'agba onwu onwu
Ka nwa Enwe no n'enu
Nozi we fuchalia fa
55 Osi n'afua afunene!
Si n'aka n'aka akpoo
We maba sam-sam-sam
Si na nkwu felu n'ukwa
Si na ukwa felu n'ube
60 We tiwasa akwa okwa.
Okwa we kwaba akwa alili
We kwaba akwa ologholi:
Chi jil'eji efon'efo
Chi fol'efo ejin'eji
65 Igwe agbaba okilikili
Enu-uwa maba jijiji
Okpoko belu na ebenebe
Fu k'igwe n'erughali
Fu k'uwa n'emerube
70 Nu ka Okwa n'eru uju
Melu opi tinye n'onu
We guba egwu uwa mmebi!
Anu enu n'obu aghao!
Anu ani n'obu aghao!
Anu kpom, ngilima kpom
Mbenekwu yagham n'obu oso-o
Anu kpom, ngilima kpom
Kpom! Kpom! Kpom!
Anu kpom, ngilima kpom
Mbenekwu yagham n'obu oso-o
Anu kpom, ngilima kpom
§
English Translation
Whiteant spinned a yarn
Ughe njenje
That the yams that grew in his mother's home
They were as big as his fists
5 That the yams that grew in his
father's home
They were as big as his thighs
Cockerel laughed kwokwokwo
Fell from his seat and filled the ground
And pushed his jaw into live-coal
10 And ran into the backyard
To wipe his mouth on a cocoyam leaf
Where Housefly was washing his hands
And burnt open his belly
Housefly flew fululum
15 And flew into Tortoise's nose
Where he was lolling in his easy-chair
Eating tapioca with palmoil sauce
Tortoise said it was abominable
Said that a sacrilege had been committed!
20 How could he, Tortoise, son of Aniiga
Great lord of the land
Have a shit-eating Housefly
Fly into his nose
Hia!
25 But an abomination has its profits
Sacilege has things that go with it
Which if not done in their fullness
When spirits go to war
Death will kill people indiscriminately
30 And he lifted up a gourd of raffia wine
And broke it on Hare's waist
Where Hare was resting
Poor Hare ran ganagana
Blindly into a bamboo grove
35 Not knowing that Green Snake
Lay there basking in the sun
And bruised him sorely with his feet
Green Snake crawled wololom
Ka sawatum into Rabbit's hole
40 Where Rabbit was eating palmnuts
She and her nine children
As Rabbit looked ahead of her
Hei!
Behold a long object
45 Lying at her door mouth
And she said, if this is a charm, may it not work!
Told her children that war had broken out
Told her children that the compound was closed!
So, let the backyard take and hold!
And she stormed out through her exit hole
50 She and nine children.
As they ran with death in their heels
Poor Monkey sitting on a tree
Caught a glimpse of them
55 He said he had seen the unseeable!
Went from one dry branch to another
And jumped sam-sam-sam
Jumped from palmtree to breadfruit tree
Jumped from breadfruit tree to black pear tree
60 And crushed Bushfowl's eggs.
Bushfowl cried a cry of grief
And cried a cry of doom:
May night never break into day
May day never darken into night
65 The sky began to turn round and round
And the earth began to quake
Hornbill perched on an ebenebe tree
Saw the sky as it was swirling
Saw the world as it was rumbling
70 Heard the Bushfowl as it was mourning
Took his horn and placed it in his mouth
And began to sing of the world's end!
Beasts of the air, it is war!
Beasts of the earth, it is war!
Beasts kpom, ngilima kpom
Tortoise-on-heels yagham, it's time to flee
Beasts kpom, ngilima kpom
Kpom! Kpom! Kpom!
Beasts kpom, ngilima kpom
Tortoise-on-heels yagham, it's time to flee
Beasts kpom, ngilima kpom
Source: http://scholarworks.umb.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=africana_faculty_pubs