My friend

My friend—for whom I was chasing the snake when I fell yakata off the ladder—just made me a to-die-for supper of amala and okra, with three types of fish, and two types of shrimps, topped with giant African snails. I polished the meal and felt so heavy that I couldn’t get back on my crutches.

I am tempted to break the second leg, given all the attention my friends have lavished on me in the past one week just for breaking one leg.

Do you know the story of Ijapa (the trickster tortoise), who broke a leg to get the attention of a crush, named Bùjé, who wouldn’t give him a break? It worked for the tortoise. We should all break a leg, trust me.

The folk song, with its translation below it, goes thus:

Bùjé-Bùjé pa mí o!

Chorus: Tere-Bùjé

Oko ò mi mò ń ro

Ọ̀nà à mi mò ń yẹ̀

Ó ní n wá yà pejò

Ò pejò pojúgun

Bẹ̀rẹ̀ gbé mi pọ̀n

Gbé mi pọ̀n

Gbé mi jó

Gbé mi síbàdí o

Ìbàdí layé wà….

Bùjé-Bùjé has killed me

Bùjé is in real trouble

I was minding my garden

I was cleaning my yard

She asked me to kill a snake for her

During which I broke my leg

Better bend down and let me mount your back

Let me mount your back

And play a game with you;

Place me on your laps

Where the high life swings….

Thanks, friends, for the love