Yaa Asantewaa and the Whiteman

 

 

 

                 Yaa Asantewaa and the Whiteman

 

                  ‘Muntie asem a aba yi

                  Akwasi Broni na nennfi kitwaa bi no se

                  Obroni krokrowaa na ne kokodro se entatia

                  Pese odi ne to Kankan no gu Sika Dwa Kofi ho fi

                  Motee asem a meka ye no; Opese otenna Sika Dwa Kofi so

                  Ei monwhe asem a mehunu

                  Sika Dwa Kofi a ye nana nom antenna so da

                  Obroni fitaa a ne nni nso adee epese o ka ntam

                  Whe; se abarima asa wo mo fie a

                  Nnye me fie; me fie dee abarima abu so

                  Ye be sore ama ye mu so

                  Asem hunu yi ennsin ye dwaree

                  Abarima asa ye be si wommu anan mu

                 Ennye Barima ni dee ose berma

                  Barima ne dee na koma mu ye dru

                  Akwasi Broni abeka entokwa kesee

                  Ye be di Asafo ne nnim akata Sika dwa Kofi so

                  Akwasi Broni Yaa Asantewaa se twen na wo be hu adee’

 

              

                  ‘Listen to this grave issue

                  This is what the Whiteman with the tiny rib cage says

                  This puny Whiteman with the intestinal fortitude of an ant

                  Seeks to defile the great Golden Stool with his stinking bottom 

                  Did you hear what I said? He wants to sit on the Golden Stool

                  Ei! Witness this grave affair by which I am confronted

                  The Golden Stool upon which our ancestors never sat

                  This disrespectful pale Whiteman wants to breach our taboo

                  Look! If there are no longer any brave men in your houses

                  Not in my house; in my house there is an abundance of brave men

                  We shall arise and stand up

                  There shall be no accommodation made for such absurdity in our bathrooms

                  If there are no men we shall stand in the place of men

                  The man is not he who is fashioned in the shape of a man

                  The man is anyone who has a courageous heart

                  The Whiteman has stoked a huge battle

                   We shall lead the war parties and protect the Golden Stool

                   Whiteman, Yaa Asantewaa bids you wait for the trouble you have summoned’

                    

 

Reviews

[Kpoh]

This poem is a fabrication of an actual event and meeting between the major chiefs and elders of the Asante Kingdom in the late 1800's. It was the response of a brave Queen known as Yaa Asantewaa who led the 'War of the Golden Stool' against the British in 1900 when then Governor Hodgson demanded that the sacred Golden Stool representative of Asante unity be brought to him so he could sit upon it. It was considered by the Asante chiefs as the 'mother of all sacrileges' for anyone, especially a foreigner to sit on the Golden Stool.