Kunawaraku's Song About Man-Eating Strangers
- Kunawaraku’s Song About Man-Eating Strangers Anonymous 1
| Jësinaewa ëhtëkëeirë | Weep and wail, |
| jekanawaimërë serë | for this is the giant canoe, |
| jarëtono jarëtono mëërë jënëtono mëërë | the cannibals are coming to get you, they’re coming to eat you up. |
| jepananakirii jesaututao tïrïkë | Let’s put some salt on him, the pananakiri says, |
| nïkatankene jënëtono | the man-eater says, |
| jesautupopa tïrï | let’s put some more salt on him, |
| jipoinje tïrï | to make him taste good, |
| nïkatankene jënëtane | the meat-eater says. |
| Jënëtono mëërë | The man-eater’s coming to gobble you up. |
| irëme | (and) so: |
| Jësinatëkë, jeponëhtëkë, sekanmeta manatirë | Weep and wail, listen to me now. |
| jekanawaimë meneti | You see the giant canoe? |
| jarëtonrë mëërë | It’s coming to take you away, to carry you off, |
| jarëtono jënëtono | to carry you off and gobble you up. |
| katoponpë mëe | Just as things used to be. |
| Jësinatëkë jeponëhtëkë | Weep and wail, |
| jënëtonrë mëe | it’s the man-eaters, |
| jesaututao rïtono | they’re coming to salt you, |
| jepëmëitao (tïïkaeken) | to cook you in pepper sauce (she said again and again). |
| Jarëtonrë mëe | |
| japëntono | They’re coming to take you away |
| jinkae japëntono | to tie up your hands, |
| jetoronpuimëtao (tïïkaeken) | to tie them behind your back, |
| Jekanawaimërë serë jepananakiri | to stuff you in their mutete 3 (she said again and again). |
| [Ancient Trio] | This is the pananakiri’s big canoe. |
from a Dutch translation by Cees Koelewijn
Francis R. Jones, a poet and freelance translator, teaches at the University of Newcastle, United Kingdom. His publications include a translation of Hans Faverey’s work, Against the Forgetting (1994). In addition, he has translated Vyacheslav Kupriyanov’s In Anyone’s Tongue (1992) and most recently Ivan Lalic’s Fading Contact (1997). He was the joint winner of the European Poetry Translation Prize in 1997, a prize he had also been awarded in 1991. In addition he has received the second prize of the British Comparative Literature Association Translation Award in 1994 and honorable mention in the James S. Holmes Memorial Awards (Columbia University) in 1989. He is currently at work on a study of foreign language acquisition.
Footnotes
1. Cees Koelewijn. Tarëno tamu inponopï panpira, Trio verhalenboek (Leusden: Algemeen Diakonaal Bureau, 1984). Rpt. Spiegel van de Surinaamse Poëzie. ed. Michiel van Kempen (Amsterdam: Meulenhoff, 1995), 38. 2. The reason for this song is the appearance of a low-flying airplane (C. Koelewijn’s note). 3. Basket (C. Koelewijn’s note).
