The Fulani Creation Story
At the beginning there was a huge drop of milk.
Then Doondari came and he created the stone:
Then the stone created iron,
And iron created fire,
And fire created water,
And water created air.
Then Doondari descended the second time,
And he took the five elements
And he shaped them into man.
But man was proud:
Then Doondari created blindness, and blindness defeated man.
But when blindness became too proud,
Doondari created sleep, and sleep defeated blindness;
But when sleep became too proud,
Doondari created worry, and worry defeated sleep;
But when worry became too proud,
Doondari created death, and death defeated worry;
But then death became too proud:
Doondari descended for the third time,
And he came as Gueno, the eternal one:
And Gueno defeated death.
Analysis of The Fulani Creation Story
The Fulani Creation Story is a poem of one stanza and twenty – one lines. The poem gives a historical account of the creation of man and his problematic condition on earth.
The poet – speaker begins the first line of the poem by asserting that, in the genesis of the world creation, “there was a huge drop of milk”. Symbolically, milk among the Fulani represents life as human and animal babies suck milk for sustenance of life and growth.
Line two was the arrival of Doondari who created the five elements. In Fulani myth, Doondari is regarded as an ancestral and powerful being capable of creating and recreating things. His first creation was a stone; the stone creates fire; and fire creates water; and water creates air.
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Doondari descends the second time, presumably from heaven, and uses the five elements to create man:
“And he took the five elements
And he shaped them into man.“
After man’s creation, Doondari realizes that man is extremely proud. Man, perhaps, does not acknowledge his creator. The thought of making man to be humble and respectful strikes Doondari, hence the dire need to create what will be superior both physically and spiritually to man. This leads to creation of blindness by Doondari.
Man’s submission to blindness and total vanish of proudness pleases Doondari. But blindness, having realized its creation was purposefully for the defeat of man, becomes boastful and eventually proud. Next came the creation of sleep, worry and death. But all were proud:
“Doondari created sleep, and sleep defeated blindness;
But when sleep became too proud,
Doondari created worry, and worry defeated sleep;
But when worry became too proud,
Doondari created death, and death defeated worry;
But then death became too proud“
Doondari came down from heaven the third time as Gueno. Gueno is the god of life and death. Gueno defeats death and put everything to absolute end.
Literary/poetic devices in The Fulani Creation Story
Personification: Personification is one of the figures of speech used in the poem, The Fulani Creation Story. The poet – speaker gives human attributes to blindness by portraying it as proud.
“blindness became too proud” – line 12
Repetition:There is a use of repetition in the poem; it is employed for emphasis. For instance:
“Doondari” – line 2, 7, 11, 13, 15, 17 and 19
“Gueno” – line 20 and 21.
“Man” – line 9, 10 and 11.
“Defeated” – line 11, 13, 15, 17 and 21.
Alliteration:
“Doondari descended” – /d/ – line 7.
“blindness became” – /b/ – line 12.
Language: The poem uses simple language. Its diction is clearly understandable as the words are constructed in simple sentence.
Theme in The Fulani Creation Story
The dominant theme in the The Fulani Creation Story is “proudness”. It is proudness that triggers off the poetic account of man’s problematic condition of worry and death.