Matigari (African Writers Series)

179 Pages·1989·4.79 MB·English

by  Ngugi wa Thiong'o

NGfJGIWA THIONG'Owas born in Limuru, Kenya, in 1938.
He was educated at the Alliance High School, Kikuyu, at
Makerere University, Uganda and at the University of Leeds.
His novel, WeepNot, Child, was published in 1964 and this
was followed by The River Between (1965), A Grain oj Wheat
(1967), and PetalsojBlood (1977). Devil ontheCross(1980), was
conceived and written during the author's one-year detention
in prison, in Kenya, where he was held without trial after the
performance by peasants and workers of his play Ngaahika
Ndeenda (/ Will Marry WhenI Want). This was his first novel to be
published in his own language, Gikuyu, and then translated
into English and many other languages. Matigari was published
in Gikuyu in Kenya in 1986 and this is the only English
translation. The author has also written collections of short
stories, plays and numerous essays.
Ngugi is an active campaigner for the African language and
form, and he writes, travels and lectures extensively on this
theme. His work is known throughout the world and has made
a powerful impact both at home and overseas.
Wangfii wa Goro is a social critic, interpreter, writer and
translator, with strong interest in the development of African
languages. She writes and recites poetry. In 1989she published
her work of non-fiction on Mekatilili (Vita Books), and she has
translated all of Ngiigi's children's books into English.
NGUGI WA THIONG'O
MATIGARI
Translated from the Gikiiyii by
Wangiii wa Goro
HEINEMANN
Heinemann Educational Publishers
adivision of Heinemann Publishers (Oxford) Ltd
Halley Court, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8EJ
Heinemann: A Division of Reed Publishing (USA) Inc.
361 Hanover Street, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 03801-3912, USA
Heinemann Educational Books (Nigeria) Ltd
PMB 5205, Ibadan
Heinemann Educational Boleswa
ox 10103,Village Post Office, Gaborone, Botswana
FLORENCE PRAGUE PARIS MADRID
ATHENS MELBOURNE JOHANNESBURG
AUCKLAND SINGAPORE TOKYO
CHICAGO SAO PAULO
© Ngugi wa Thiong'o 1987
© English language translation Wangiii wa Goro
First published in Gikiiyii by Heinemann Kenya Ltd 1987
First published in the African Writers Series in 1989
Reprinted with corrections in 1990
Series Editor: Adewale Maja-Pearce
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Ngugl wa Thiong'o, 1938-
Matigari.
I.Title II. Series
823 [F)
ISBN 0-435-90654-2 cased
ISBN 0-435-90546--5 pbk
The right ofNgiigi waThiong'o to be identified asthe author of this work
has been asserted by him inaccordance with the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988
AFRICAN WRITERS SERIES and CARIBBEAN WRITERS SERIES
andtheir accompanying logosare trademarks intheUnited States ofAmerica of
Heinemann: A Division of Reed Publishing (USA) Inc.
Photoset by Wilmaset, Birkenhead, Wirral
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
Cox & Wyman Ltd, Reading, Berkshire
93 94 95 96 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5
CONTENTS
A note on the English edition Vll
To the reader/listener lX
PART ONE
NgariiTo wa KinTo
Wiping Your TearsAway
PART TWO
Macaria rnana Kihooto
Seekerof Truth andJustice 67
PART THREE
GUtherana Miiriiiki
ThePureand theResurrected 129
This novel is dedicated toall those who love agood story;
and toall those who researchand write onAfrican orature;
and toall thosecommitted to the development of literature
in the languages of all theAfrican peoples.
A NOTE ON THE ENGLISH EDITION
This novel isbased partly on an oral story about aman looking
for a cure foran illness. He is told ofold man Ndiiro, who can
cure his illness, but he does not know how to get to him. Sohe
undertakes ajourney of search. He meets different people on
the way and to each he sings the same description ofold man
Ndiiro:
Tell me where lives old man Ndiiro
Who, when he shakes his foot,jingles.
And the bells ring out his name: Ndiiro,
And again: Ndiiro.
Helped on by the different people, he eventually reaches his
destination, where he finds the necessary cure. The story is
simple and direct, and it dispenses with fixed time and place.
For effect, it depends on the rhythmic restatement ofthe motif
ofsearch; and forsuspense, onthe urgency ofthe man's need for
acure. Asthe story progresses, old man Ndiiro, whom wenever
actually meet, looms large and dominant, a force, a god, a
destiny.
Written largely in exile in the quietness ofmy one-bedroom
flatinNoel Road, Islington, London, in 1983,the novelhas had
its prophetic moments.
On page 151there isafictional radio newsbulletin about the
United States rejecting recent proposals by the Soviet Union
for the elimination of all nuclear weapons on earth. This was
some years before the summit between Gorbachev and Reagan
in Reykjavik, Iceland.
There are a number ofreferences to resurrection and to the
Second Coming ofChrist, with people actually believing that
Jesus Christ has appeared and isroaming the country. Well, in
1988 thousands in Kenya were flocking to the mass prayer-
meetings of a 'Prophetess' at Kawangware, near Nairobi,
Vll
expecting to see a miracle. They did see one. One day it was
claimed that Jesus had appeared to the thousands present. He
was even photographed. He was last seen in the streets of the
City hitching a lift ...
The references to resurrection have had interesting conse-
quences forthe novel. For a short period in 1987,Matigari, the
fictional hero of the novel, was himself resurrected as a
subversive political character. The novel was published in the
Gikiiyii-Ianguage original in Kenya in October 1986. By
January 1987, intelligence reports had it that peasants in
Central Kenya werewhispering and talking about aman called
Matigari whowasroaming thewholecountry making demands
about truth and justice. There were orders for his immediate
arrest, but the police discovered that Matigari was only a
fictional character in a book of the same name. In February
1987,the police raided all the bookshops and seized every copy
ofthe novel.
Matigari, the fictional hero, and the novel, his only habi-
tation, have been effectively banned in Kenya. With the
publication of this English edition, they have joined their
author in exile.
N.W.T.
Vlll
TO THE READER/LISTENER
This story isimaginary.
The actions are imaginary.
The characters are imaginary.
The country isimaginary - it has no name even.
Reader/listener: may the stOrytake place inthe country ofyour
-dlOice!··
The story has no fixed time.
Ycsterday, the day before yesterday, last week ...
Last year ...
Or ten years ago?
Reader/listener: may the action take place in the time ofyour
choice!
And it has no fixed space.
Here or there ...
This or that village ...
This or that region.
Rcader/Iistener: may you place the action in the space ofyour
choice! .
And again, it does not demarcate time in terms ofseconds
Or minutes
Or hours
Or days.
Reader/listener: ..may you allocate the duration of any of the
actions according to your choice! .. ...
Sosay yes, and I'll tell you a story!
Once upon a time, in a country with no name ...
ix
PART ONE
Ngariiro wa K'ir'iro
Wiping Your Tears Away
~~e~al~f;1;~!~~i}~·
~~si~~;:d~=~i~~fhl~~::,n::::s::~s~~~~
doi1e~oveT~~I1Yyears, across many hillsand valleys, inthe four
corners of the globe. Itwas all over now, but he knew he still
had to be careful.
Ariderless horsegalloped past him. Itstopped, lookedback at
him for a while and then disappeared into the woods. It
reminded him ofthehorses that Settler Williams and hisfriends
had often ridden as they went to hunt foxes accompanied by
packs ofwell-fed dogs. Itfelt likesolong ago; and yet ...
How the settlers had loved shedding blood! ... They would
dress in red, and the rider who got to the foxfirst would cut off
its tail in triumph; then he would smear the blood ofthe foxon
the face ofa woman ... Yes, it felt like a long time back ...
Well, there was no night so long that itdid not end with dawn
. . . He !t?ped _that tile last of the colonial problems had
disappeared with the descent ofSettler Williams into hell.
The sun wasjust rising, but the land was cloaked in fog.He
could not see far and wide around him. He was middle-aged,
tall and well-built. He wore a wide-brimmed hat, strapped
under his chin, its top decorated with a thin band covered in
beads of many colours. His leopard coat, which had now lost
most of its original fur, fell on corduroy trousers to his knees.
The boots he wore were covered in patches.
He walked along the banks of the-river. Then suddenly he
sawwhat he was looking for: a huge miigumo, afigtree, right in
Ihe middle ofa cluster ofother trees. Itwas remarkable for its
3