Of Psalms 23 and Riddle 23
by Cornelius Wambi Gulere on Monday, 07 March 2011 at 11:44
While going about my fieldwork studies at Nsinze village, on 21 August 2009, I participated in a riddle performance event where I recorded 101 riddle acts. The following riddle was performed coincidentally as riddle 23. I have translated it into English. With Psalms 23 in mind, I make a few observations about the community that performed it.
Lusoga version of the riddle
K.23 Katonda mu kikebe
1. Kikoiko? [Na]
2. kiidhe. [lu]
3. Katonda mu kikebe. [Na]
4. <
5. Katonda [Gu]
6. Hmm. [Na]
7. oba Katonga [Ba]
8. Amazi [Ja]
9. Mpirya [Na]
10. amatama [Jo]
11. Mpirya [Na]
12. Eli(.)ino [Hu]
13. Mpirya. [Na]
14. hm hm hm. E liiso [ ]
15. mpirya eh eh
16. <
17. Katonda mu kikebe [mu kikebe [Ba[Gu]
18. emmamba emmamba ensenkule [Gu]
19. mpirya eh
20. <
21. Mpirya. Yogera bintu biri natural. Kabiri iwe oli kuleeta. [Na]
22. Katonda mu kikebe [Ja]
23. eh Kaale! [Ja]
24. Katonda mu kikebe [Na]
25. obulemu mu ibeele [Ba]
26. mpirya [Na]
27. Amata mu ibeele-e-e [Ba]
28. mpirya [Na]
29. Eigi [Ja]
30. mpirya [Na]
31. Einhira mu nhindo [Hu]
32. mpirya [Na]
33. eh, Katonda mu kikebe, obwongo mu kaghanga [Ja]
34. mpirya [Na]
35. Soda mu nthupa [Ba]
36.
37. <
38. emamba ya mu nsagho
39. akakoko mu igi. [Ba]
40. mpirya etya? [Na]
41. Katonda mu kikebe(.) Eikundu mu kikalakambo [Jo]
42. mpirya [Na]
43. (.) Katonda mu kikebe(.) Tukughe omwami [Ja]
44. mumpe [Na]
45.
46. Ekitabo ekyo kyona kyoona tikinsobola aye nze nkisobola, naakakuba ennume eya ekigwo naakivuma nti Kikoiko? Katonda mu kikebe, envunza mu kigere. [Na]
47. Iye (.) enfunza. Enfunza mu kigere aba atya Katonda? [Gu]
48. Katonda ni enfunza [Na]
49. Hmm. [Gu]
50. mu kigere ni ekikebe [Na]
51. kigere kikebe [Jo]
52. Enfunza efuga ekigere [Gu]
53. < embuzi emeera> meeee!
54. Eh eh, nti gya mu maiso [Gu]
English translation of the riddle
K.23 God in a tin
1. Riddle!? [Na]
2. Let it come. [chorus]
3. God in a tin. [Na]
4. <
5. God? [Gu]
6. Hmm. [Na]
7. Or Katonga? [Na]
8. Human dung. [Ju]
9. No. [Na]
10. Cheeks. [Jo]
11. No. [Na]
12. A tooth. [Hu]
13. No. [Na]
14. Hmm hmm hmm. The eye. [Ja]
15.
16.
17. God in a tin [in a tin. [Gu[Ba]
18. Meat, meat which is grounded. [Gu]
19. No, eh! <
20. <
21. No. Talk, these things are natural. You are again bringing. [Na]
22. God in a tin [Ja]
23.
24.
25. Defect in a breast. [Ba]
26. No. [Na]
27. Mucous in the nose. [Hu]
28. No. [Na]
29. Eh. God in a tin, brain in the skull. [Ja]
30. No. [Na]
31. <
32. No. [Na]
33.
34.
35. < loud laughter >. [Ja]
36.
37. No. [Na[Ja]
38. Meat in a bag. [Ja]
39. A chick in an egg. [Ba]
40. No, how? [Na]
41. God in a tin (.) a tortoise in a shell. [Jo]
42. No. [Na]
43. (.) God in a tin (.) We give you a chief? [Ja]
44. Give me! [Na]
45.
46. <
47.
48. God is the jigger. [Na]
49. Hmm. [Gu]
50. In a foot and a tin. [Na]
51. A foot a tin. [Jo]
52. A jigger leads the foot. [Gu]
53. Meeee!
54. Eh eh! ok go ahead. [Gu]
Whereas Davidic Psalms 23 portrays a person enjoying plenty of goodness through God’s providence, the performing community of riddle 23 sees God as the jigger that torments them. Jiggers have claimed the lives of many and it is of no surprise that in this riddle 23 the mighty God is equated to the mighty flea that has made so many people helpless. It is the might that seems to trouble the people. A ccreature so tiny, everywhere and nearly invisible becoming like the proverbial mustard seed that becomes the biggest tree sheltering many creautres. This God in a tin is not enclosed and limited. It is limitless in its pastures moreless like the persona who is led into green pastures to graze. The flea inflicts pain to the pastures in which it graizes forming toes and fingers to become like faggots.
While other well endowed communities are occupied with bigger dreams and events, the people of Busoga community are bracing with death due to jiggers. Like God, the jigger ‘thrives where it wills’ even though it has been attributed mostly to poor hygiene here. Both the rich and the poor, wealthy and healthy have the risk of being infested by the jigger except that the intensity is less with those who can afford shoes and clean water.
While in Psalms 23, the Lord leads ‘me’ into quiet places to enjoy and celebrate with nature, in riddle 23, the jigger leads many into quiet places to suffer ridicule and entanglement with death. Human dung, toothache, the eye, mucous, brain, soda, meat, chick, tortoise, are some of the thoughts about the likes of God. This is a story of ugliness and pain where the riddlers envisage God to be dung in the bowels waiting to be excreted, a tooth that aches ready to be extracted, mucous in the nose ready to be blown out.
A brain in the skull and a tortoise in its shell are heavily given protection by God. This is the positive side of God. However, the hard shell portrays captivity, lack of freedom and ugly torment. The thought about soda is equally revealing in that the chemicals that make up the soda drink so much desired by many is like a death trap. This is very different from the fresh waters that flow in the green pastures of psalms 23. The meat in a bag and a chick in an egg, one dead carrion, the other living are both trapped in a kind of bag. Is freedom denied? Are they peaceful and happy? I wonder, but the testimony presented here is of torment, enchantment, uncertainty, death and dearth when God is envisaged in a tin.
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