New Telegraph

Kindonkind: Eni’s conquest stories resonate in Sundiata and Sumanguru

‘Kindonkind’, a book by Nigerian- German poet, philosopher and artist, Emmanuel Eni, aka Blackman in European, has continued to generate interest worldwide.

 

Published this March in Germany, the anthology of 600 poems is breaking grounds in the literature world.

 

Apart from hundreds of poems on love, nature, philosophy, there are poems on African legends – mythical and fantasy poems like ‘Origin of the bell’, ‘The Girl and the water spirit’, ‘Do you love machine’, ‘Short story of Electric light’, ‘Gbomo Gbomo’ the wicked Kidnapper’ and others.

 

Amongst the most fluent is his new narration of the story of ‘Sundiata and Sumanguru’.

 

This is apart from his long epic narratives on Nigerian Legend – kings and monarchs. ‘Kindonkind’ Anthology with ISBN: 978-3-00-068028-1 can be ordered from his official facebook site and worldwide through amazon.

 

According to Eni, the film adapted from the epic poems is to be shot in Nigeria and Mali this year, and it is likely to hit the cinemas in 2022.

 

Enis’s ‘Sundiata and Sumanguru’ epic poetic narrative reads thus: Great time it took / before sand, / gathered to make a hill. Greater time still / did it take a hill / to make a mountain.

 

Long ago stories / of bravery and valor / were told of men. / Not ordinary men.

 

An animal that / lives in the wild / seldom sleeps / inside a house.

 

These were tales of men, / heroes who marked / their time with warriors‘ acts, / thus taunting other men / to learn and live / in warriors‘ line /  and lead. Inside a shrub / is a caterpillar / a pearl, owner of wild thorns / and a flowery pattern / to admire. Is it evening, / is it dusk must we pull open / the shutters, / must we let in / the moon-light.

 

Time of harvest, / after a timely / preamble. / So came Sumanguru Kante. Eze du Eze lu / Sundiata, / the shining star, king who rose / from four limbs to seven. / His two legs, / Eshin hui’s, / his charmed horse / and Eka hien Esu / (devil’s right hand). / His lance.

 

You will not grow / to be like your father, / one leader no good / to throne, you will stand up / and not lie lazy. We women can / not lie low / in our shaded hut.

 

We search our men, / who from birth accepted only / the comfort of the desert. They know only, / land, far away.

 

Nwataju! / called Sundiata to his mother / whose legendary beauty / people say encompass / her with magical prowess. Does an eagle not love / souring in the sky / Does he not like seeing / the roof of the world.

How can a cripple / ride a horse / and fight wars / and rise to be / king or rise / to win kings / and be emperor. We the Mandingo, / love one another.

 

Our love bore / the great forests, / and our love gave / birth to the vast desert. / It is our love. You must not end up / like your father, / a chief without / a courtyard a chief who ties / his fence by his / own hands. / Stand up Sundiata!

 

Heaven is a witness, / mother called / and you have called Take your sword / take your stud / and ride. Hero. / Destiny has trust long / bestowed on you.

 

Sugulu Nnkeju / Prime beauty, / Queen, and mother / of conqueror Sundiata. / Grand Emperor / of the Mandingo.

 

Sugulu Nnkeju, / (Sundiata’s mother) / told her son / to use a long iron / to use as support / for his frail legs / for he was born / a cripple.

 

This rebirth brought Sundiata / freedom and his strength / strived far beyond his / mystical and physical power.

 

It went beyond his charm / and his charisma, / and even beyond / his large fellowship / his great army of / the fittest men and the many romances / with women of / enchanting beauty.

 

As an elephant grass / grows, so does a bamboo / grass. As sand followed yam back / from the farm, the farmer was / guilty as he washed off / the sand. / Did the sand not / help the yam grow.

 

Sumanguru Kante was / now well famous, / many stories about / his daring battles / were all about. He was known as / the one who fought, / invincible.

 

Like Sundiata, / he was born in the / house of kings and as famous as / his father.

 

More, so / people said. We will unite the land, / so that no foreigner / will attack our people, the Mandingo, is everyone / you see in the land.

 

With this zeal, Sumanguru / won one battle after another. / Winning over the fame / of his father and replacing him.

 

Many many followers, / left their fences and / came out to the new / leader, Kante. Outsiders were taken in.

 

Sundiata, fought / and gathered more / and more land – mass.

 

Sumanguru and his / soldiers fought more / and they grew far / into the central part of / the continent / at the equator.

 

Far out to the northern / part across the Sahara. / All the way up to the new / settlement of the famous / nomad tribes.

 

These two warriors, / loved and admired / for their loving attachment / to the noble

Read Previous

Lifeline for MSMEs in Lagos with Abiru’s N100m intervention

Read Next

Our teacher, Bayo Oduneye, sleeps

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *