Well Suntou,
Thanks for forwarding Kay's interesting analysis. You see, every piece of
literature is amenable to any number of analyses. There is no single fair or
unfair analysis of any piece of writing. We all read similar or different
meanings into single pieces of writing. Kay's reading of my piece is
definitely very interesting and revealing. Thanks Kay.
Baba
>From: SUNTOU TOURAY <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: The Sheeks and the Goats
>Date: Mon, 7 Jan 2008 23:55:27 +0000
>
>Baba,this is what kay have to say.is that a fair analysis?
>
>
>---------------------------------
> While peeking at this link above, I came across Baba Galleh
>Jallow's article 'The Sheeks and Goats' which caught my attention. It is a
>very interesting article and a good read too. It is another of Mr. Galleh's
>witty socio-political satires. This is not in the mode of Dana Milbank's
>'Homo Politicus' though. It is also an easier read than many of Galleh's
>previous writings I have read.
>The author appears to be referring to the corruptive dealings of Gambian
>authorities and the subsequent socio-economic hardships facing the ordinary
>people. The author depicts an impending doom over the country as evident
>and as a result of a strange collaboration of the political elite as
>represented by Sumbul Ali (may be Jammeh) and the religious elite, the
>Sheeks (perhaps an improvised corrupted word for Sheiks). The religious
>leaders/elite have vacated their noble and sacred duty of standing for the
>truth and became willing participants to corruption and sycophancy.
>Santafara might have some take on this also. They became the 'goat holders'
>for Jammeh to 'milk' the Gambian people and their economy. With a twist of
>irony and mystery, Galleh asserts that "every goat was milked,...male or
>female...for the people of Hum were all milkable". You cannot help laughing
>at this point, I guess there is some humor here too.
>The name of the country "Hum" itself sounded like some strike of biblical
>dissaster. For the people of "Hum" the end of times is here because of the
>unimaginable happenings in the country. Perhaps this is Galleh's central
>message of the article- a warning of some kind of an end-either of Jammeh's
>order or whatever hope is left of the Gambia. "A corner of the sky would
>start rolling and folding like a carpet over their heads...".
>Thanks guys.
>
>Baba Galleh Jallow <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> The Sheeks and the Goats
>
>By Baba Galleh Jallow
>
>These were strange times in the land of Hum, everyone agreed. There was
>little doubt that these were the end of times. There had been talk of the
>end of times many times before, when times looked strange and unnatural.
>But
>all those times had come to pass. Now, there was just no doubt about it
>because things never seen and never heard of were happening before the
>naked
>and tear-filled eyes of the bewildered people of Hum.
>
>The great consternation and resounding hue and cry in the land of Hum
>bounced back from the skies and drove all the birds from the land. The
>trees
>now stood naked and leafless, the rivers devoid of fish and crabs. Even the
>toads in the swamps and ponds had hopped away from the deafening noise
>raised by the distraught inhabitants of Hum. Scenes of people beating their
>hands and heads against walls and tree trunks and angrily pulling their
>hair
>in the streets were common sights in Hum these days. The more religious of
>the people of this amazed land sought refuge in endless prayer, raising
>their hands to heaven, and banging their foreheads on the ground, repenting
>for their sins before the sound of the great bugle boomed, announcing the
>end of days, and before the cackling of the great fire from the east came
>and consumed them. Terrified folks gazed at the skies with tear-filled
>eyes,
>wet faces, and running noses, looking for the first signs of the skies
>beginning to fold, as they must at the end of days.
>
>This great consternation in the land of Hum was caused by quite an
>unnatural
>phenomenon. Over the past few years, the spiritual guardians of the people,
>the venerable sheeks of the land upon whose holy shoulders the moral
>edifice
>of society rested had been willfully reduced to mere goat holders for
>Caliph
>Sumbul Ali. The enormously wealthy Sumbul Ali had recruited the most
>prominent sheeks of the land and paid them fortunes to abandon their
>traditional roles as guardians of the people and become instead his royal
>goat-holders. The sheeks now spent their days and their nights holding
>still
>the goats of Hum, as their generous patron indulged in his most favorite
>and
>hallowed pastime – goat-milking. The venerable Sumbul Ali spent his entire
>days and nights milking the goats of Hum. The pious sheeks likewise spent
>their entire days and nights holding goat. It was a strange spectacle.
>
>Every goat was milked, whether it was a male or female goat, for the goats
>of Hum were all milkable. What shocked the people of Hum was not Sumbul
>Ali’s fanatic goat-milking per se, but the enthusiasm with which the pious
>sheeks plunged into their roles as goat holders for Sumbul Ali. At every
>milking session, five to six sheeks, their boubous wrapped and firmly
>tucked
>around their waists, vigorously pounced on the goats and pinned them down
>so
>that Sumbul Ali would milk them to his satisfaction. Another couple of
>sheeks would roughly grab the mouths of the noisy goats so that their
>bleating would not violate the gentle sensibilities of Sumbul Ali. Yet
>another sheek or two would spread their palms or hold their pious caps just
>under the goats’ backside to make sure that their droppings did not roll
>anywhere near the venerable person of the spotlessly clad Sumbul Ali.
>
>When the business of goat holding and goat milking reached a fever pitch
>and
>Sumbul Ali gently grunted and repeatedly belched with satisfaction at the
>barrels of milk safely stowed away in his enormous milk tanks, his
>excitement inevitably rubbed off on the loyal sheeks. At such moments, to
>make sure that their share of the milk would be particularly generous and
>their overtime checks particularly smiley, the sheeks would often break out
>into Sumbul Ali’s favorite song about the kind and gentle caliph whom God
>loved so much that He gave him enormous herds of willing goats that he
>could
>milk all his life and even beyond. Sumbul Ali particular loved hearing the
>part of the song that told how God loved this caliph so much that He
>appointed the best among his people to be his loyal goat-holders.
>Sometimes,
>during short breaks when Sumbul Ali’s fingers got tired of forcing the milk
>out of the goats, one or another of the sheeks would suddenly improvise a
>heroic poem which he then recites in a pious and melodious tone amid
>unfailing ululations and shrieks of passion from his fellow sheeks.
>Sometimes, a sheek or two would suddenly see the light, feel the spirit,
>prance up, and swirl round and round like the dervishes of old to the utter
>satisfaction of the cool-eyed Sumbul Ali and the utter amazement of the
>ordinary onlookers of the land of Hum. Those sheeks who fell ill and did
>not
>have enough energy to physically hold the goats nevertheless dragged
>themselves to the goat-milking sessions to recite specially composed poetry
>or sing Sumbul Ali’s favorite song about the great caliph whom God loved so
>much that He gave him the best among his people to be his loyal
>goat-holders.
>
>It was this strange spectacle of the goat-holding sheeks that convinced the
>people of Hum that the end of days had really come. It was this strange
>spectacle of the guardians of the people, the custodians of their great
>traditions of truth and nobility turned into singing and dancing
>goat-holders for the callous Sumbul Ali that convinced the people of Hum
>that the sound of the feared bugle would soon boom, that the roaring of the
>great fire would soon cackle in form the east, and that one of these days,
>a
>corner of the sky would start rolling and folding like a carpet over their
>heads, and all the dead of the distant ages would rise from their graves,
>and the final judgment would be held.
>
>Yet, the sheeks were so engrossed in their lucrative business of
>goat-holding that they seemed totally oblivious of what was going on around
>them. They were totally consumed by the delightful specter of Sumbul Ali
>milking the goats, by the mouth-watering prospect of getting a generous
>share of the milk, and the even more delightful prospect of holding those
>bristling smiley checks in their pious fingers, or stuffing those bulging
>wads of new smiley bank notes into the great pockets of their generous
>boubous. For such delightful prospects, yes, they will grab and hold the
>goats down so Sumbul Ali would cheerfully milk them to his endless
>satisfaction. And yes, they would sing and compose pious poetry for Sumbul
>Ali, and they would gladly sing and dance the days and nights away. Were
>they not God’s pious favorites? How could they enjoy the great honor of
>being the great caliph’s loyal goat-holders if God wasn’t pleased with
>them?
>
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